At the Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism Annual Awards banquet, held on the 27th of October 2006, the Mountainlands Estate won the coveted Ecotechnik / LCBT Environmental Award. The awards banquet which is regarded as the most prestigious business event of the year in the Lowveld was again hosted at the Emnotweni Casino in Nelspruit this year.

The Environmental Award recognizes organisations for excellence in activities which are developed, planned and managed for the benefit of the sustainability of human society and the environment on which we depend. KaMaqhekeza Water Management System, Mbombela Multi-Purpose Stadium Project and Mountainlands Estate were the finalists in this category.

The Mountainlands Estate nomination described the develop as follows: “Given the unique natural and scientific attributes of the area it was therefore imperative that the Mountainlands Estate which lies in the epicentre of this world renowned area be developed in a responsible manner. This involved a bottom up approach to fully integrate and contextualise the development both in the region and the Mountainlands Nature Reserve. The development had to be socially, environmentally and economically sustainable (the triple bottom line philosophy) and the developed went to some extremes to achieve this.”

In its approach to sustainable development the Mountainlands Estate, in a uniquely sensitive and vulnerable environment “… exceeded international best practice by some considerable margin… .” and “ … set a new standard for corporate and social responsibility which serves as an example for responsible development across the globe.”


From left: Mr. Danie Neumann of Ecotechnik Environmental Consulting, Mr. Mark Schormann, Chairperson of Lowveld Tourism, Mr. Eric Oosthuizen and Mr. Nico Oosthuizen, developers of Mountainlands Estate and Mrs. Helen Thrush, President of Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism during the handover of the Environmental Award on 27 October 2006.