Kruger2Canyons.com

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

SKUKUZA- Day visitors to the Kruger National Park (KNP) will no longer be able to book their entry as this will be done on a strict first come, first served basis.

"We decided to do away with this day visit booking system as it created logistical problems and was considered unfair by many of our visitors", commented the Park's Director of Public Relations, Mr William Mabasa.

Gate quotas will still be enforced, particularly over busy periods like the upcoming Easter Weekend, so it is suggested that members of the public get to their gate of choice as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

"We will honour those bookings already made for this coming weekend as long as the people that made them arrive before 9am at the gate specified on the day specified", added Mr Mabasa.

KNP gate quotas are based on considerations like the amount of tourist infrastructure in the vicinity of the gate, environmental impact and various other conservation reasons. Gate quotas do not affect guests with overnight accommodation bookings.

The KNP has ten entrance gates: Crocodile Bridge, Malelane, Numbi, Phabeni, Paul Kruger, Orpen, Phalaborwa, Punda Maria, Pafuri and Giriyondo.

The current quotas for day visitors are (# people NOT vehicles, by gate):

Pafuri – 300, Punda Maria – 300, Phalaborwa – 500, Orpen – 500, Kruger – 500, Phabeni – 500, Numbi – 500, Malelane – 500, Crocodile Bridge – 300 and Giriyondo – 300.

Labels: crocodile bridge, giriyondo, kruger, orpen, paul kruger, phabeni, Phalaborwa, punda maria

The Kruger National Park has opened a new overnight facility, the Tsendze Rustic Campsite.

Designed with a back-to-basics theme, Tsendze Rustic Campsite includes 34 camp sites, two ablution facilities and two camp kitchens. It received its first guests on November 1, 2006, and is located 7km south of Mopani Rest Camp.

In keeping with the rustic theme, services provided have been kept to the basics with warm water from gas geysers and lighting in the kitchens and ablutions provided by solar batteries.

No electricity will be supplied to the campers and generators will not be allowed to operate, ensuring that noise levels are kept to an absolute minimum.

Each campsite has braai facilities and shared taps. Ablution blocks feature outdoor showers. Guests will be required to check in at Mopani Camp where a specific site will be allocated to them.

Camping rates for Tsendze will be the same as the basic KNP campsite rate of R110 a night for the site itself (up to two people) and R38 per extra adult and R19 a child (up to a maximum of six people per campsite). Normal daily conservation fees will also apply to guests who do not own Wild Cards.

Veteran Mooiplaas section ranger Johann Oelofse, who was responsible for the environmental management plan, says the new campsite has been designed for campers who want to break away from the more modern campsites available in the KNP.

"Like Maroela Campsite near Orpen Camp and Gate, Tsendze Rustic Campsite, as its name suggests, will offer campers their very own camp where they do not have to share with brick and mortar-orientated fellow visitors," he said.

Situated in the shade of ancient and beautiful leadwood, mopane and appleleaf trees, the emphasis of Tsendze Rustic Campsite has been placed on a real rustic experience with the campsites placed in two circles around the ablution and kitchen facilities.

Regional manager for northern Kruger, Ben van Eeden, says the campsite is different to Kruger’s other sites, and will allow visitors to enjoy true bush quality and atmosphere. “It is not an open area. There are individual sites with privacy”.

In total there are 30 sites that can be booked in advance, plus four reserve sites for emergencies.

Van Eeden adds that the site will be a perfect stop over for those en route to the Giriyondo border post and a camping experience in Mozambique. However, the environmental impact process that was started about 3 years ago found that the known water resources would not sustain the camp.

It took several months of searching to find a suitable borehole, and planning came to a halt until one was finally drilled in November 2005.

Labels: giriyondo, kruger, maroela, mopani, northern kruger, restcamps, rustic camp, tzandze