Residential Estate Industry Journal REIJ 6 ARC Journal 2019 | Page 33

The final phase has been launched, offering some stunning bush properties at R849,000 to R1,499,000. There is also a down-to-earth clubhouse with a farm-style swimming pool. MAKING IT HAPPEN In terms of bush development, legislation called the Development Facilitation Act – a parallel piece of legislation but different to the normal Provincial Ordinances – was used to establish Boschhoek. It was the only way to establish a full title bush estate as this legislation enabled them to deal with the Department of Agriculture’s opposition to the subdivision of agricultural land. This legislation has since been removed from the law books, meaning that the current supply of available bush stands will be the last, while the demand is continually conservative maximum game carrying capacity – particularly useful in years of drought. ‘We brought wildlife back in, changing things back to nature. By bringing back all the major nature components and having people share in it in a limited and responsible way, we have seen how nature responds by bringing back all the other little things. We brought in giraffe, kudu and waterbuck, red hartebeest, impala and everything that occurred here naturally except for the dangerous animals like buffalo and rhino.’ It is amazing to realise that once all the houses on Boschhoek are built, only around 0.25% of the estate will be under roof. The rest belongs to nature. Camera traps now show evidence of civets, escalating. This results in a substantial increase MANAGING DIVERSITY in investment value and growth. There is a variety of landscapes on the estate, game, and there are small existing brown hyena including savanna, mountains, bushveld, a and leopard populations on the farm. aardvark, porcupine, genets and other small Boschhoek Mountain Estate also offers a mountain stream and dams, and, with an fractional ownership investment – one of the altitude difference of about 300 metres, there The estate manager, Jandre Higgo, grew up on stands was developed into a stunning 12-sleeper is a distinct change in vegetation from proteas a farm and is a qualified FGASA nature guide, so bush lodge with 10 shares at R 350,00 per share, up on the mountain to grassland down on the he is well suited to managing an estate of this only a couple of which are still available. Every savanna, and bushveld in between. Herbert nature. His can-do attitude combined with the shareholder has a week every two months (10 tells us that the land was fairly untouched, estate’s ethos of ’n boer maak ’n plan (a farmer weeks). With the use roster working on a 50- except for the 10% of savanna that was probably makes a plan) makes the day-to-day activities week cycle, it moves forward every year, giving agricultural farmland at some point. One of their of game management, fence repairs, road each owner a turn to occupy during peak holiday first priorities was to develop an environmental maintenance, checking water pipes and supplies, periods. management plan for the estate specifying a and cutting fire breaks in winter a breeze. 33 INDUSTRY JOURNAL