"The farm is situated in the foothills of the legendary Modjadji Cycad Reserve"

Doug and Heather bought Sunland in 1990. The entire farm was under sisal, there was no electricity, a ramshackle homestead and a brackish 200 gallon borehole.

The farm is situated in the foothills of the legendary Modjadji Cycad Reserve, home to the Rain Queens. The Modjadji cycad, which grows up to 13m, has been protected by several generations of Rain Queen.

The farm was totally underdeveloped and its history was buried with previous generations, some of them in a graveyard 50 meters from the tree.

Not scared of hard work, Doug set to work, clearing the land and setting up the nursery. On the cleared land he planted mango trees, with palm trees in between, to best utilise the meagre water resources. Each time there was enough money, it was used to drill new boreholes in the search for water.

Doug reasoned that if an enormous Baobab could survive for millennia, whilst further north trees had perished in the drought, there must be water somewhere. And that belief was vindicated when they struck a source with the second strongest yield in Mooketsi, the immediate area.

The van Heerdens have cleared 80 hectares of the 110 hectare farm and planted 10 000 Mango and Avocado trees and thousands of Palms.

Doug and Heather actually thought about selling Sunland a few years ago and were even advised by a spiritualist to accept the first written offer as it would be the right one. "The next day our phone cables were stolen and not replaced for 6 months!" says Doug. Perhaps the spirits had decided that the van Heerdens were the right custodians! Doug and Heather, with their two children Dean and Holly are still there and have no further ideas of moving on.

MOPANI DISTRICT MUNICIPALITY: A Real Tourist Destination

Mopani District Municipality was established in 2000, in terms of Municipal Structures Act as a Category ‘C’ Municipality. Situated in the North Eastern corner of Limpopo it is dubbed the “tropical paradise” of the province. It is the home of the legendary one and only Rain Queen in the country and the world: Queen Modjadi. As the Provincial bread basket the district boasts of Mopani worms, marula fruit (oils) and it is the biggest tomato producer in the Southern Hemisphere. As a district rich in tourism potential it boasts of the only pub in a tree (the baobab tree), the world’s largest concentration of cycad species (Encephalitis transvenosus), rich and diversified cultural heritage sites and it is also a gateway to the Northern parts of the Famous Kruger National Park.

The District Municipality consists of four local municipalities, namely: Greater Giyani, Greater Tzaneen, Greater Letaba and Ba-Phalaborwa. The Population of the District is 1, 082,693 and the settlement patterns are rural with almost 335 dispersed villages. His Worship the Honourable Executive Mayor, Councillor Matome Humphrey Mokgobi has been the political head of the Municipality since its establishment and the Municipal Manager Mr Tim Maake have been the administrative head since May 2005. The Municipality currently has a staff component of 120 employees and its moving up with speed to fill all outstanding posts. The district has four major towns (or growth points) namely Tzaneen, Modjadjiskloof, Phalaborwa and Giyani with the following smaller towns emerging: Lenyenye, Lulekani, Namakgale, Sekgosese, Mokwakwaila and Mageva.

This peaceful district is known for its cultural diversity and pristine natural environment. The beautiful scenic mountains and natural forests of the Makgoebaskloof area, the “two summers” climate of Ba-Phalaborwa area, the abundance of the rich cultures of the Vatsonga and Bapedi tribes, the sub tropical farming area of Tzaneen, Modjadjiskloof, Letaba and Letsitele valley and a great variety of game farming along the Phalaborwa Corridor, are but a testimony of the wild and unending opportunities that the District area can offer to investors and tourists alike, particularly in the dominant economic sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing and mining.

Mopani district is also home of the African Ivory Route. Three camps in this route are situated in the district area, and these are Baleni, Modjadji and Mtomeni. All these camps offer natural heritage sites of significant environmental importance. For those more inclined to wild life, Mopani district finds itself at the doorstep of Kruger National Park. Its close proximity to the park also offer investors with the opportunity to invest in game farms which can host South Africa’s famous big 5, most of which can already be experienced at the numerous private game farms in the area.

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