Conservation authority the South African National Parks (SANParks) has announced its state of readiness for the 2024 festive season, under the theme “SANParks is Ready to Welcome You”.
SA gets about 13 million visitors every year with about seven million visiting SANParks across the country and the world-renowned Kruger National Park (KNP) and Table Mountain getting the lion’s share of that number.
Addressing the media at their Cape Town offices on Monday, the entity’s managing executive for 20 of the 21 parks across the country, Property Mokoena, with a comprehensive Festive Season Readiness Plan (SFSR) in place, said they were aiming to ensure a safe and enjoyable experience for visitors across all the parks.
He said they had partnered with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and South African Police Service (SAPS) to mobilise an operational plan for the KNP including intensified routine patrols, fire safety awareness, water saving initiatives, aerial support and emergency centre service activations.
Additionally, SANParks has implemented various interventions, including safety campaigns, to minimise crime and ensure visitor safety.
Mokoena said R700 million allocation from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) has enabled SANParks to refurbish infrastructure across national parks, including Kruger National Park, Addo Elephant National Park, and West Coast National Park.
He added that visitors would enjoy a range of activities, such as guided game drives, hikes, interpretive centres, and accommodation options from camping to 5-star luxury.
“SANParks, SANDF, and SAPS will conduct joint operations, including stop-and-search exercises and safety awareness campaigns. Visitors are urged to follow park rules and report any incidents,” Mokoena said.
“We are committed to providing a safe and enjoyable experience for our visitors. Our festive season readiness plan ensures that we are prepared to welcome you to our national parks,” said Mokoena.
The parks have recently been marred by crime inside the parks. In 2022, a German tourist was murdered outside the KNP’s Numbi gate in Mpumalanga and recently, the body of a woman was found at Table Mountain.
“The types of crime differ from park to park. For instance, Table Mountain is an urban park so you get reports of mugging, illegal fires, you get issues of people breaking cars and even baboons breaking cars and attacking people.
“In the KNP, there is poaching but we are intervening so we can address all that…So we want to minimise that so that we have an incident-free festive season,” Mokoena said.
IOL previously reported that SANParks had announced that crime had drastically decreased across their parks.
Its spokesperson, JP Louw, had said: “Over the last year, the official crime statistics has drastically decreased from 16 and 32, respectively, in October and November 2023 to six in July 2024 and three in August 2024. These are objective and verifiable statistics. As such, SANParks vehemently discourages the use of unverifiable and subjective statistics.”