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SKUKUZA - To prevent day visitors from making a booking and then not arriving, Kruger National Park will now insist on a non-refundable deposit.

General manager of Tourism Operations at SANParks, Joep Stevens, said on Wednesday that there were repeated incidents in which day visitors failed to honour a booking, unnecessarily forcing the park to turn away other guests who arrived at the gates on the spur of the moment.

"The previous system was abused by visitors who would book and not arrive and this caused problems when waiting guests could also not gain entry to the park," he explained.

The park encourages day visitors to book in advance over peak periods so that entrance quotas are not exceeded.

As of this week, day visitors who make a booking will be required to pay a non-refundable deposit of R20 per adult and R10 per child before their booking is accepted.

Bookings can be made through any of the booking offices up to a day in advance.

Visitors must arrive by 13:00 or their booking will be cancelled.

Stevens said advanced day visitor bookings will only constitute 60% of the gate's day visitor quota, with 40% will be reserved for visitors on a first-come first-served basis.

Labels: bookings, kruger, SANParks

JOHANNESBURG- South African National Parks (SANParks) on Tuesday received the first of its two new helicopters at Lanseria airport near Johannesburg.

"We are one of the biggest users of helicopters in the country and we are ecstatic to have the helicopter as an additional resource," said Sanparks chief executive Dr David Mabunda.

The hand-over ceremony was also attended by Environmental Affairs and Tourism Minister Martinus van Schalkwyk. He said he was pleased with the new acquisition, and that government supported the aircraft investment as it would help preserve the country's national heritage.

The helicopter was the first of two bought from Eurocopter Southern Africa in July. Sanparks expected to take delivery of the second in December.

It decided to trade in its two older helicopters, acquired in 1999, for ones with more advanced capabilities.

Mabunda said the helicopters would be used for daily park management such as game capture and emergency rescues.

Sanparks spokesperson Wanda Mkutshulwa said: "The new helicopters will be based in the Kruger National Park but will also serve the rest of the country if necessary."

Labels: rangers, SANParks

HOEDSPRUIT (Kruger Park Times)- According to a report released by South African National Parks (SANParks) traditional barriers that kept previously disadvantaged South Africans away from experiencing South Africa’s natural heritage are falling by the wayside.

Latest tourism figures have shown that the number of black South Africans visiting national parks operated by SANParks has increased across the board to 19.7 percent from an estimated four percent in 2003.

“As this falls comfortably with our organisational vision and goals, we are happy with the results but encourage all South Africans to consider our Parks as possible holiday destinations,” said SANParks Chief Executive Dr David Mabunda.

Of the fourteen major national parks featured in the report, which excludes Table Mountain National Park, Mapungubwe National Park leads the pack with an impressive 62.2 percent of its guest profile made up of black people. Golden Gate National Park (22.8%) and the Kruger National Park (21.4%) follow in second and third positions respectively.

Other parks including Addo Elephant National Park and Augrabies Falls National Park have also significantly improved their statistics. “There are two factors that might have influenced this phenomenal growth,” commented Dr Mabunda, “firstly, the efforts of our outreach programmes run by our People and Conservation Department and secondly the fact that this market segment is being targeted by intensive marketing and public relations campaigns.”

The statistics also confirm that the majority of guests visiting South Africa’s national parks are predominantly South Africans.

Latest figures show that 74.6 percent of visitors are South African with the rest being either SADC (0.6%) or international (24.8%). Tsitsikamma National Park receives the highest percentage of foreign guests (55.7%) followed by Addo Elephant National Park (48.2%) and Bontebok National Park (44.5%) second and third respectively.

The nine month report, ending 31 December 2005, shows that the Kruger National Park received most guests at 1,005,012 followed closely by Table Mountain National Park with 1,001,123 guests and Tsitsikamma National Park in third place with 113,368 guests.

by Lynette Strauss, Kruger Times

Labels: annual report, SANParks, statistics

SKUKUZA - Twenty white rhino in the Kruger National Park (KNP) are up for sale.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has put the animals up for sale to address concerns of an over population of white rhino in the Kruger, particularly in the southern part of the park.

"The sale is held annually to reduce the number of white rhinos," said Kruger spokesperson William Mabasa on Monday.

Prospective buyers have until February 10 to make an offer and will be expected to pay cash or with a bank guaranteed cheque seven days before the animals are captured. The rhinos are scheduled for capture during February and March.

Mabasa said buyers must also have import permits for the rhinos from their respective provinces, and must be responsible for their own transport and transport costs.

The white rhino population in the Kruger stands at about 6 000, while there are only 350 of the endangered black rhinos.

Mabasa said the white rhino population was growing between eight and nine percent per year.

In 2005 the cost of male white rhinos ranged between R60,000 and R100,000 depending on their size, while females sold for about R110,000 each. Rhinos from the park are also sold through a public tender process or on auction.

Some are destined to be hunted once they are sold. A week ago, a rhino bull was offered for a bow or ordinary hunt. In the advert, the rhino was described as having originated from the Kruger National Park and was said to be tame as it had been held in a 150 hectare camp for two years.

The park does not prohibit buyers from hunting the rhinos, but requests that buyers not hunt the rhinos within the first 12 months after being sold from the Kruger National Park.

Labels: rhinos, SANParks

Different arms of the government are at one another’s throats over a proposed 21-storey dam on a major river that passes through the Kruger National Park and feeds Mozambique.

South African National Parks (SANParks) has threatened legal action against its principal sponsor, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, and the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry.

Water Affairs plans to start building the R4billion De Hoop dam on a tributary of the Olifants river in the middle of this year, mainly to feed mining interests.

But SANParks and critical NGOs protest that the project violates national and international laws and pits ministries against each other.

“It will boil down to which department has the most political clout,” said Nick King, executive director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), which rejects the project. “Water Affairs’ mandate is the delivery of water; Environmental Affairs must conserve the resource base and SANParks protects biodiversity.”

In last year’s State of the Nation speech, President Thabo Mbeki announced the proposed De Hoop dam is “to provide water for platinum mining and agriculture”. Half a dozen platinum mines are planned for surrounding Sekhukhuneland, which straddles the border between Mpumalanga and Limpopo.

But the Steelpoort river, where the dam will be built, is a major tributary feeding the Olifants. For the first time on record, the Olifants stopped flowing last year for 78 days because of drought and growing demands on its water.

Late last year, Environmental Affairs approved Water Affairs’ application for construction of the dam in a controversial record of decision, against which SANParks and at least four NGOs have appealed.

Water Affairs said one reason it wants to build the dam is to supply three local municipalities with domestic water. But, asked the EWT in its appeal, “How will domestic supply be guaranteed? No evidence is provided that local communities will receive water, let alone be able to pay for it.”

In its appeal, SANParks said the dam would negatively affect tourism, wildlife and concession areas in the Kruger. “If our rivers dry up, the value of the tourism experience in Kruger will be diminished and tourism support for the area will cease.”

If the project went ahead without clear assurances that Kruger would continue to receive its share of downstream water— known as an “ecological reserve”— “SANParks will have no alternative but to approach an appropriate court for appropriate relief”.

SANParks added that the dam proposal “seriously compromises the relationship between South Africa and Mozambique”, which is upgrading the Massingir dam on its end of the Olifants river. Massingir has also come in for criticism, because it will flood parts of the Kruger and endanger an important breeding habitat of the Nile crocodile.

Vera Ribeiro, coordinator of the Mozambican environmental NGO Geasphere, said the Mozambique government had been notified about the De Hoop development. “But we are concerned there hasn’t been enough information adequately disseminated or disclosed on the project and about the potential impact on communities. The available information is mostly in English and almost impossible for Mozambicans to assess and make informed decisions on.

“The two governments must adhere to the Southern African Development Community’s protocol on shared watercourses, with close cooperation to ensure the sustainable use of shared water bodies.”

Ribeiro expressed concern not only about the quantity of downstream water on the Mozambican side, but that chemical pollutants and heavy metals from mining would affect water quality.

Ironically, the EWT added, environmental affair’s own research had identified the Sekhukhuneland region as one of nine national conservation priority areas because of its high biodiversity and ecosystems service value. At least 20 species of plant found nowhere else on Earth will be flooded by the 1,700ha dam, along with at least 20 animal and reptile species already threatened with extinction.

Opponents of the dam were furious when environmental affairs released its record of decision in late November, giving them 30 days over the holiday period to appeal. SANParks said it was given no official communication of the decision, but “only received notification early in December 2005 through other means”.

JP Louw, head of communications at environmental affairs, said there was nothing malicious or intentional about the timing. “The fact that both the Wild Coast [N2 tollroad] and De Hoop decisions were issued towards the end of the calendar year is purely coincidental, and there is certainly no deliberate intent by the department to issue decisions on big or controversial applications during this period.”

After the furore over the Wild Coast decision in December 2004, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk extended the appeal period for 30 days. But no such concession was made for the De Hoop dam this week.

“The law does not provide for an extension of the appeal period. Appellants will, however, be provided a second opportunity to make inputs when the minister avails the applicant’s responses to the grounds of appeals to appellants,” said ministerial representative Riaan Aucamp.

Read about the Kruger Park's river systems here.

Labels: conservation, dams, de hoop, massingir, olifants, SANParks, van schalkwyk

JOHANNESBURG– South African National Parks’ commercialisation strategy, which has seen the establishment of about a dozen private concessions, mainly lodges, at parks around the country, is not proving the conservation money-spinner it was hoped it might be.

In its annual report for the 2004/05 financial year, tabled at Parliament, SANParks notes there has been “a considerable drop in (lodge) concession fees”.

According to its financial statements, the fees collected have dropped by almost half- from R15.9m in 2003/04, to R8.6m last year.

The report attributes this to “financial constraints experienced by the concessionaires”, which led to a change to their contracts and the cancellation of certain fixed concession fee commitments.

“A relief mechanism was implemented during the year. The fixed concession fees were dropped to provide flexibility to the concessionaires, enabling them to adapt to fluctuating market conditions.

“While this has led to a considerable drop in the income for 2005, it is anticipated that the benefits for SANParks in the long term will surpass the initial decline in concession fees,” the report states.

When concessions were first granted to private operators, allowing them to build and operate tourism facilities within national parks, SANParks’ stated intention was to generate additional revenue for conservation.

According to the report, it appears the private lodges now brought in less last year than did SANParks’ trails and game drives, which contributed R12.6m and R14.8m respectively towards turnover.

“Many challenges are still being faced with regards to the implementation of the commercialisation strategy,” the report states.

Most of the private lodges are located in the Kruger National Park.
Income from the rental of facilities in national parks to private business- including shop and restaurant operators- was R18.2m last year, slightly down on the previous year.

Labels: annual report, SANParks, statistics

JOHANNESBURG- The Kruger National Park wants to shoot up to 6,000 elephants as part of a national culling programme that could start next winter.

Thousands of elephants in other state and private reserves around the country will also be culled, if a South African National Parks (SANParks) report on elephant management submitted to Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism Marthinus van Schalkwyk is endorsed by the public.

Van Schalkwyk said this week that culling— stopped more than a decade ago, mainly because of local and international opposition— had been approved by the Cabinet as a solution to growing elephant numbers.

“I would rather not do culling, and this is the view of the government as well. But there comes a time when not doing anything is not good enough,” he said.

A recent census in Kruger recorded close to 12 500 elephants in the park itself, and there are about 2,000 more living in private reserves on the park’s western boundary.

According to SANParks figures, the Kruger population is increasing at 7% a year and could reach 20,000 by 2012. If the culling plans are approved, culling could start in the middle of next year— the cooler winter months being the most suitable.

Before Kruger closed its abattoir in Skukuza in 1995, its annual culling programme aimed to keep the elephant population at about 7,500. SANParks officials are loath to discuss figures now, but scientists working with the organisation say high-ranking officials still support the original “carrying capacity” figure and are known to want to almost halve the present population over a number of years.

In its report to Van Schalkwyk, released last week, SANParks avoided mentioning the park’s “carrying capacity”, but referred to a management plan drawn up in 2000 by scientists that divided Kruger into six zones.

This plan recommended culling between 400 and 1,000 elephants a year over five years. In zones of envisaged “low impact”, elephant numbers would be reduced; in “high-impact” zones around the central section of the park, numbers would be left to fluctuate.

“We envisage that in those areas where maximum population management will be needed we will be looking at a reduction level of about 7% annually, a figure which will be revised year on year,” David Mabunda, chief executive of SANParks, said in response to M&G questions last week. At current numbers, this would mean culling up to 900 elephants in the first year.

Mabunda denied the plan was to get rid of 6,000 elephants. “It is irresponsible and untrue because SANParks has not put a figure on numbers of elephants that need to be culled in the national park. The issue of numbers is one that is often miscommunicated to the public, resulting in several unnecessary misunderstandings.”

SANParks says in its report to Van Schalkwyk that culling is needed to conserve biological diversity in protected areas and support sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of communities.

Communities would be involved in processing carcasses, canning plants and butcheries, and in carving tusks and bones, elephant hair products and other by-products.

Van Schalkwyk announced on Tuesday that national guidelines for elephant management would be drawn up by early next year and published for public comment. The national framework will be adapted to the individual needs of different national, provincial and private reserves.

There were about 17,000 elephants in South Africa’s 80 nature reserves and “some commentators suggest [this] is at least double the carrying capacity”, he added.

Critics, including scientists who formerly favoured culling but now reject it, have questioned the accuracy of SANParks figures and the impact SANParks says elephants have on biodiversity.

“While the concept of a static carrying capacity within a dynamic environment has no scientific basis, the idea that Kruger can only support a population of 7,000 elephants has nevertheless become deeply entrenched within the minds of the general public,” Michelle Henley of the Associated Private Nature Reserves, on the western border of the Kruger, recently wrote for an international NGO called Save the Elephants.

She said misconceptions were being fuelled by statements such as “there is an overpopulation of elephants” or “elephants have exceeded their carrying capacity. The majority of scientists do not agree with these perceptions.”

Scientists attending a workshop in Johannesburg in July said the impact of elephants on biodiversity should not be considered in isolation. Factors such as the closing of waterholes in the Kruger, fire and the impact of other browsers such as impalas had to be taken into account.

Where elephant numbers had to be reduced, the workshop concluded, there were alternatives to culling such as expanding parks, elephant “corridors” between reserves, translocation and contraception. Van Schalkwyk said he was considering these non-lethal reduction methods.

Click here for the original article.

Labels: contraception, culling, elephants, SANParks, van schalkwyk

According to an ancient Bushman legend, Giraffe was given the task of helping Sun find his way around the heavens. Giraffe took his job so seriously that the Creator rearranged a few stars in the sky to resemble a giraffe, in Giraffe’s honour. The Bushmen called the pattern Tutwa and they navigate by it. We call it the Southern Cross.

The legend sprang to mind when South African National Parks (SANParks) recently began restocking the Makuleke region of the Kruger National Park with wildlife, and started the project with giraffe.

Giraffe (and lion, rhino, wildebeest and even impala) disappeared from the area after the Makuleke community were forcibly removed from their land in 1969. This strip of land, which lies on the border between South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, was used as a buffer zone by the former South African Defence Force.

In 1998 the Makulekes became the first community in post-apartheid South Africa to get their land back in a formally protected reserve. They decided not to resettle on their ancestral land, but rather to let it remain part of the Kruger Park so they could earn benefits from commercial safari operators.

In 2003 the community signed an agreement with private company Wilderness Safaris to develop a series of lodges. This contract means that 24,000ha in the Pafuri sector in the north of the Kruger will be commercially developed over the next three years.

The gross income earned by the community will be approximately 50% of profits. Although there is a guaranteed minimum, “rental” will be linked to turnover. The Makulekes could earn some R44-million over the next 20 years, which will be administered by a trust.

Members of the Makuleke community are receiving training to fill positions in the camps, ranging from guides to cooks and management roles. Some 120 jobs are expected to be created in the lodges, anti-poaching and associated small businesses. About 70 local people are building the lodges.

Twenty community members have completed the most advanced field-ranger training course on offer in South Africa and a number of these candidates graduated recently. Wilderness Safaris is providing training for community members through an ecotraining camp set up in the Makuleke region.

The wildlife relocation is a joint project of SANParks and Wilderness Safaris. As the giraffes put their hooves on the Makuleke land, they also marked the first initiative within a contractual national park in South Africa where SANParks supports the establishment of a community-based field-ranging and anti-poaching unit.

Labels: makuleke, northern kruger, pafuri, SANParks

JOHANNESBURG- More than R32 million will be spent on improvements to the Kruger National Park over the next few months, a spokesperson for the Park said on Friday.

"The developments and upgrades will include camps, day-visitor areas, reception buildings, entrance gates and facilities for scientific research at various locations throughout the two-million-hectare National Park," spokesperson Raymond Travers said in a statement.

The money will come from the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism.

River-view accommodation units will be upgraded and the Keartlands guest house will be rebuilt at the Lower Sabie main camp, while the sewage works at the camp will also be upgraded.

The Orpen camp and entrance gate will be developed to the tune of R4.5 million. Existing accommodation units will be upgraded and a new day visitors' area will be created. A new swimming pool and reception building are also on the cards.

At Satara main camp, development and construction worth R10.4 million is planned.

A day visitors' site and swimming pool will be added, while the caravan park and some of the accommodation units will be upgraded.

The Frankel guest house, which was destroyed by a fire, is also to be rebuilt.

The sewage works and oxidation plant will also be upgraded.

Letaba main camp will get a facelift of about R4.5 million.

Construction of a new day visitors' site and swimming pool has already started, Travers said.

"The camp itself will also receive a new swimming pool."

Phalaborwa entrance gate will be upgraded and an office complex and research facility added. These upgrades will cost R5.8 million.

Shingwedzi main camp's tourist accommodation will see upgrades worth R1.6 million, and Punda Maria camp will receive accommodation upgrades worth about R500,000.

Some of the work has already started and most of it will be completed in the next year, Travers said.

Labels: letaba, lower sabie, orpen, Phalaborwa, punda maria, restcamps, SANParks, shingwedzi

JOHANNESBURG- South Africa's national and private parks are prepared to put elephants on the pill, re-introduce culling and send them overseas in order to reduce overpopulation.

South African National Parks, which this week admitted that the problem was "quite serious", said it would be holding a conference next month to find solutions to the problem.

The country's tourism jewel, the Kruger National Park can only accommodate 7,500 elephants but has a population of over 12,000.

Two national parks in Limpopo, Makalali and Mapungubwe (which was officially opened on Friday) also face an elephant explosion that poses a threat to biodiversity.

SANParks, which imposed a moratorium on the culling of elephants in 1995, said it might consider culling "if it is one of solutions considered to be viable".

Wanda Mkutsaqlwa, head of communications for Sanparks, said: "We have been told that elephants have the ability to re-engineer or change an ecosystem.

"Trees are being uprooted. We are losing a number of trees. Some of the animals are dependent on the trees which are eaten by the elephants."

Dr Douw Grobler, owner of a company specialising in wildlife capture, said contraception was working well with smaller elephant populations on private land.

Grobler, who managed Kruger's game capture unit for 14 years, said 350 elephants were culled during the last organised culling at Kruger in 1994

"Kruger really has a problem with the elephant population going so high. There's huge overpopulation there. They have to bring the figure down to between 8,000 and 9,000.

"Unfortunately culling is the only way they can reduce their numbers at this stage. There's no other viable method."

New ways of managing elephant numbers were discussed at a symposium in Phalaborwa last week which was attended by 140 elephant experts and others involved in elephant management.

Chairman of the Elephant Managers and Owners Association, Dr Marion Garai, said that long-term planning was needed.

Howard Blight, chief executive of Elephants For Africa Forever, which trains and tames wild elephants, said: "To retain the integrity of the habitat and have a balanced biodiversity, elephant numbers need to be reduced. It's practical and easy to introduce contraception in small reserves."

But elephant expert Rory Hensman said contraception was not the answer to the elephant problem. "Contraception won't take any elephants out of the equation. It slows population growth down but it's invariably brought in too late. If you sterilise them, you will be landing up with huge behavioural problems. The most dangerous thing is to allow the elephant population to get out of control.

"I believe that we should look at all options, including contraception, relocation and taming and training them. But, at the end of the day, if it means culling, then culling it will have to be."

Mkutsaqlwa said SANParks was willing to offer elephants to other countries but said this was an expensive exercise. "They will have to bear the costs of transportation," she said.

Labels: contraception, culling, elephants, SANParks