African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, Volume 7 (1) - (2018) ISSN: 2223-814X Copyright: © 2018 AJHTL - Open Access- Online @ http//: www.ajhtl.com 1 Rural geotourism as an option for development in Phuthaditjhaba: Golden Gate National Park area, South Africa Wisemen Chingombe University of Mpumalanga School of Biology and Environmental Sciences P. Bag X11283, Mbombela, 1200, South Africa Wisemen.chingombe@ump.ac.za and Phillip Taru* Chinhoyi University of Technology Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation P. Bag 7724, Chinhoyi, Zimbabwe philiptaru@yahoo.ie Corresponding author* Abstract Geotourism is a dynamic and competitive industry taking a clear and certain form in its development. One of the Geotourism products which is growing under the umbrella of rural tourism is the recently named notion of ‘Rural Geotourism’. Studies of tourist motivations have improved understanding of travel motivations and in segmenting the markets, thus allowing tourism marketers to allocate scarce tourism resources more efficiently. Segmentation is often viewed as a very powerful and useful instrument to market goods and services to targeted markets and targeted groups. Segmentation techniques based on motivations provide insights that destination marketers could use in developing and promoting their tourism destinations more effectively. This paper identifies the main drivers for travellers to participate in rural geotourist activities in different times of the year. The main purpose of this study is to characterise rural geotourists’ motivations undertaking their rural geotourism experiences in a given period. The sample population used consisted of tourists who visited the Lehaheng la Wetsi Cave in Phuthaditjhaba. A convenience sampling method was used and an on-site survey was administered during July and August, 2014. A self-administered questionnaire was also used. As a result, 502 questionnaires were used for further data analyses. Different types of appropriate statistical techniques were used, including factor analysis and cluster analysis. The results of this study reveal that geotourists motivations can be placed into meaningful and manageable groups and they are identified as rural geotourism participants. Push and pull motivation items were also analysed. Factors were identified and categorized based on the months in which visit was made. Tourism managers should distinguish between the winter and summer tourist markets in their promotional strategies. Key words: Rural tourism, geotourism, segmentation, motivations, tourist markets, Introduction Geotourism is a dynamic and competitive industry, and as a new tourism product it is taking a clear and certain form in its development as was noted by Costa and Buhalis (2006). One of the geotourism products which is growing under the umbrella of rural tourism is the recently named ‘Rural Geotourism’ (Allan and Shavanddasht, 2017). Rural geotourism is a form of natural tourism that occurs in the countryside which includes unique geological and