Nature-based tourism is, arguably, the most significant tourism subsector in South Africa. South Africa is also a country with a long history of oppression of indigenous communities. Apartheid legislation put major restrictions on mobilities for these communities resulting in nature spaces being essentially inaccessible to the majority of the population for nearly the entire 20th century. Despite the fall of the apartheid government in 1994, which eliminated these restrictions to mobility, nature-based tourism assets remain largely white recreational spaces. Although other tourism subsectors have experienced growth in the market share of South Africans from historical disadvantaged backgrounds, nature-based tourism has not experienced the same transformation. Several factors are at play in this scenario but of significance is psychological, social and emotional constraints to access of these spaces which were intrenched by the colonial and apartheid governments and thus persist today. In addition, the sector has not adapted its marketing and product offerings to appeal to this new and crucial market. This paper uses access theory to highlight the barriers to inclusion of indigenous Black South Africans into the nature-based tourism sector. This sector is not only historically significant and an important component of the South African tourism economy but also closely linked to South African national identity. Data is drawn from interviews and questionnaires distributed to Black South African nature tourists to highlight challenges to growth of sector and supplemented by an analysis of social media, marketing materials and field observations. The hope is that this work will generate information on the motivations and experiences of Black South African nature tourists and highlight the challenges they have experiences in order to increase engagement with nature spaces in the future.