The Lowveld of South Africa, a savanna biome region economically dominated by nature tourism, has experienced a prolonged dry period beginning in approximately 2015. Despite emerging literature on climate and tourism in southern Africa, the challenges to tourism in the region as a result of the drought remain under explored. This paper quantifies the extent of the reduction in precipitation during this period to determine its status as a meteorological drought through the calculation of the Standardised Precipitation Index (SPI). The impacts of the dry period on nature tourism within the Sabi Sands Game Reserve are then explored by means of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders. A composite timeline of the perceived severity of the dry period is produced. Key impacts and associated adaptation strategies are explored, along with the perceptions of stakeholders towards potential future drought events and climate change generally for nature tourism. Stakeholders are found to be highly knowledgeable regarding the climate of the region, as well as the nature and severity of the drought event. Although the overall impact on tourism is found to be lower than expected, this study concludes that droughts may pose a significant threat to the sector in the long term.

中文翻译：

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南非东部萨比沙禁猎区自然旅游面临的干旱挑战

南非的 Lowveld 是一个在经济上以自然旅游为主的热带稀树草原生物群落区域，从 2015 年左右开始经历了长时间的干旱期。 尽管关于南部非洲气候和旅游的文献不断涌现，但由于气候变化，该地区的旅游业面临挑战。干旱仍在探索中。本文通过计算标准化降水指数（SPI）来量化这一时期降水减少的程度，以确定其为气象干旱的状态。然后通过与主要利益相关者的半结构化访谈来探讨干旱期对 Sabi Sands 禁猎区自然旅游的影响。产生感知干旱期严重程度的综合时间线。探讨了主要影响和相关的适应战略，以及利益相关者对自然旅游潜在的未来干旱事件和气候变化的看法。发现利益相关者对该地区的气候以及干旱事件的性质和严重程度非常了解。尽管发现对旅游业的总体影响低于预期，但本研究得出的结论是，从长远来看，干旱可能对该行业构成重大威胁。