K2C team reconnects on the Finale Ecotourism Trails

The K2C team recently spent a day out of the office and in the landscape, coming together for a team building day on the Finale Trails.

Located about 32 kilometres outside Hoedspruit in the Maruleng Municipality, Finale is home to a growing community-led eco-tourism initiative supported through K2C’s Community Solutions work. The initiative includes an Eco Tourism Office and newly established hiking trails along the Olifants River, locally known as the Lepelle.

For the team building day, K2C staff walked the five-kilometre guided trail, took part in a few fun team activities along the route, and shared a lunch prepared by the Finale community.

The trail follows the river through a landscape that many people living nearby know well, but that is now being recognised in a new way: as a place of natural beauty, local knowledge, hospitality and opportunity. The route includes viewpoints, marked sections, basic trail infrastructure and access to Maburuburung Waterfalls, with trained local nature-based guides helping to lead the experience.

Finale’s eco-tourism work forms part of a broader shift that K2C has been supporting in communities living alongside conservation areas. In many of these places, landscapes have historically been seen mainly through the lens of pressure, extraction or conflict. Community-led tourism offers a different pathway, one that links stewardship, local enterprise, skills development and pride in place.

The Finale initiative was officially launched on 13 December 2025, following community dialogue, planning and practical support. The Eco Tourism Office now serves as a local hub for guided experiences and tourism coordination, while the trails create opportunities for local guiding, hospitality and visitor engagement.

For K2C, holding a team building day at Finale was a meaningful way to support and experience this work first-hand. It gave staff an opportunity to step away from daily project demands, spend time together in the Biosphere landscape, and connect with one of the community initiatives that reflects the heart of K2C’s work.

It was also a reminder that conservation and livelihoods are not separate stories. When communities are supported to build nature-based opportunities around the places they know and value, conservation becomes more locally rooted and more durable.

Community groups, organisations, schools, businesses and visitors who would like to experience the Finale Trails can book directly with the Finale team via WhatsApp on +27 71 769 0534.

Thank you to the Finale community for hosting the K2C team, guiding the trail experience and preparing lunch. Days like this show the value of walking the landscape together, listening to local knowledge, and recognising the potential that already exists within the Biosphere.