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Kruger National Park
KNOWLEDGE OF Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in South Africa. It is roughly the same size and shape as Israel or Wales. It covers about 20,000 square kilometres and extends 350 km from north to south and 60 km from east to west.
To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Moçambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").
Evidence of early humans is found in the area, dating as early as 1,500,000 BC (african americans). The San people also existed in the area as far back as 100,000 BC. In 200 AD the first Nguni speaking people, looking for more grazing land for their cattle, migrated south into the area and displaced the San. By 800 AD the Arabs started raiding the area for slaves, using the ports in Moçambique. A civilisation also sprang up in the northern regions of the park. They built the Thulamela Stone Citadel which was occupied between 1250–1700 AD. They also extracted iron ore from up to 200 mines, converting it into iron for trade.
The first known European to explore the area was the Dutch Francois de Cuiper, who led a Dutch East India Company expedition from the Cape Colony in 1725. However, the expedition was attacked by local tribes-people near Gomondwane, and driven away.
Around 1838, Voortrekker expeditions led by Louis Trichardt and Hans van Rensburg explored the Lowveld. In 1845 João Albasini, an 18 year-old Italian, became the first European to settle in the area. He was stranded in Moçambique and set off westward, where he built a homestead and opened a trading store near modern day Pretoriuskop. About the same time, wagon routes were established across the Lowveld linking the Transvaal Republic to Delagoa Bay (Maputo).
Gold was first discovered in September 1873 at Pilgrim's Rest, and then in 1881 at Barberton. Fortune seekers rushed to the lowveld, the prospect of finding gold banished all fear of lions, crocodiles, and malaria. This started the dramatic decline of wild animals in the region, due to hunting and trading of animal horns and skins.
In 1896 the Rinderpest virus wiped out most of the region's game and cattle. Aiming to preserve game animals for future hunters, the Transvaal Volksraad voted in favour of a small government game reserve. Funds for the Sabie Game Reserve were allocated in 1898, but war broke out. After the Second Boer War, Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) James Stevenson-Hamilton was appointed the first warden in 1902, and a few months later the area from the Sabi river to the Olifants river was added.
The far north area gained protection in 1903 as the Singwitsi Game Reserve. This area included Crook's Corner, a small triangular tongue of land between the Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers, where the borders of Moçambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet. In the 1900s this area was a safe-haven for gun runners, poachers, fugitives and anyone else dodging the law. It was an easy hop across the river whenever police from one particular country approached. There is a large plaque here commemorating the legendary ivory hunter Cecil Bernard (Bvekenya), who hid on an island in the middle of the Limpopo to avoid being tracked down by pursuing rangers and police in the 1920s. Ironically, Barnard later became a ranger himself. A police station was later built here.
As a result of nearly a century of unbridled hunting, there were virtually no animals in the reserves, and with the reputation of the malarial Lowveld as a white man's grave, Stevenson-Hamilton removed all human inhabitants from the reserves. In addition, he and his assistants began shooting all predators in order to "bring up" the antelope herds.
In 1912, a railway line was routed through the reserve. Stevenson-Hamilton successfully used this to get tourists to stop over for lunch. By 1916 a government commission was appointed to assess the future of the reserves. In 1926, as an act of reconciliation, the British administration officially renamed the reserves after Paul Kruger, and declared it to be South Africa's first National Park. In 1927, the park was opened to the public who where charged a £1 fee. Only a handful of cars visited the new park that year, but in 1935 some 26,000 people passed through the gates. Today the number is around one million per year. Stevenson-Hamilton was surprised when lions became a key attractions, and he stopped the indiscriminate shooting of the predators.
Stevenson-Hamilton retired in 1946, and died in 1957.
In the 1960s, in an effort to boost game numbers, the Water for Wildlife project was started and erected about 300 windmills in the park. The waterholes attracted game into the area. At first this seemed a good thing; only decades later did the results show that with the impalas and zebras the waterholes attracted also brought more predators into the area. Before the waterholes, these dryer areas supported roan antelope, which are much easier for lions to catch — the roans weren't able to compete. The park has started to close the waterholes, and let nature take its course.
In 1991, Robbie Robinson became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the South African National Parks Board. Robinson began the transition of the park into the new South Africa. One of his many accomplishments was removing the fencing that separated the park's western border from numerous small, private game reserves, thus allowing the animals to roam freely between the private game reserves and Kruger National Park.
In 1998, the Kruger National Park's first black director was elected. David Mabunda is now CEO of the South African National Parks Board.
With the forming of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, large, unsustainable herds of animals in the Kruger National Park can now be translocated to near-virgin bush. The war ravaged 300 square kilometre Limpopo National Park in Moçambique (formerly known as Coutada 16) started receiving animals in 2001.
To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Mpumalanga and Limpopo. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Moçambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").
Evidence of early humans is found in the area, dating as early as 1,500,000 BC (african americans). The San people also existed in the area as far back as 100,000 BC. In 200 AD the first Nguni speaking people, looking for more grazing land for their cattle, migrated south into the area and displaced the San. By 800 AD the Arabs started raiding the area for slaves, using the ports in Moçambique. A civilisation also sprang up in the northern regions of the park. They built the Thulamela Stone Citadel which was occupied between 1250–1700 AD. They also extracted iron ore from up to 200 mines, converting it into iron for trade.
The first known European to explore the area was the Dutch Francois de Cuiper, who led a Dutch East India Company expedition from the Cape Colony in 1725. However, the expedition was attacked by local tribes-people near Gomondwane, and driven away.
Around 1838, Voortrekker expeditions led by Louis Trichardt and Hans van Rensburg explored the Lowveld. In 1845 João Albasini, an 18 year-old Italian, became the first European to settle in the area. He was stranded in Moçambique and set off westward, where he built a homestead and opened a trading store near modern day Pretoriuskop. About the same time, wagon routes were established across the Lowveld linking the Transvaal Republic to Delagoa Bay (Maputo).
Gold was first discovered in September 1873 at Pilgrim's Rest, and then in 1881 at Barberton. Fortune seekers rushed to the lowveld, the prospect of finding gold banished all fear of lions, crocodiles, and malaria. This started the dramatic decline of wild animals in the region, due to hunting and trading of animal horns and skins.
In 1896 the Rinderpest virus wiped out most of the region's game and cattle. Aiming to preserve game animals for future hunters, the Transvaal Volksraad voted in favour of a small government game reserve. Funds for the Sabie Game Reserve were allocated in 1898, but war broke out. After the Second Boer War, Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) James Stevenson-Hamilton was appointed the first warden in 1902, and a few months later the area from the Sabi river to the Olifants river was added.
The far north area gained protection in 1903 as the Singwitsi Game Reserve. This area included Crook's Corner, a small triangular tongue of land between the Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers, where the borders of Moçambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet. In the 1900s this area was a safe-haven for gun runners, poachers, fugitives and anyone else dodging the law. It was an easy hop across the river whenever police from one particular country approached. There is a large plaque here commemorating the legendary ivory hunter Cecil Bernard (Bvekenya), who hid on an island in the middle of the Limpopo to avoid being tracked down by pursuing rangers and police in the 1920s. Ironically, Barnard later became a ranger himself. A police station was later built here.
As a result of nearly a century of unbridled hunting, there were virtually no animals in the reserves, and with the reputation of the malarial Lowveld as a white man's grave, Stevenson-Hamilton removed all human inhabitants from the reserves. In addition, he and his assistants began shooting all predators in order to "bring up" the antelope herds.
In 1912, a railway line was routed through the reserve. Stevenson-Hamilton successfully used this to get tourists to stop over for lunch. By 1916 a government commission was appointed to assess the future of the reserves. In 1926, as an act of reconciliation, the British administration officially renamed the reserves after Paul Kruger, and declared it to be South Africa's first National Park. In 1927, the park was opened to the public who where charged a £1 fee. Only a handful of cars visited the new park that year, but in 1935 some 26,000 people passed through the gates. Today the number is around one million per year. Stevenson-Hamilton was surprised when lions became a key attractions, and he stopped the indiscriminate shooting of the predators.
Stevenson-Hamilton retired in 1946, and died in 1957.
In the 1960s, in an effort to boost game numbers, the Water for Wildlife project was started and erected about 300 windmills in the park. The waterholes attracted game into the area. At first this seemed a good thing; only decades later did the results show that with the impalas and zebras the waterholes attracted also brought more predators into the area. Before the waterholes, these dryer areas supported roan antelope, which are much easier for lions to catch — the roans weren't able to compete. The park has started to close the waterholes, and let nature take its course.
In 1991, Robbie Robinson became Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the South African National Parks Board. Robinson began the transition of the park into the new South Africa. One of his many accomplishments was removing the fencing that separated the park's western border from numerous small, private game reserves, thus allowing the animals to roam freely between the private game reserves and Kruger National Park.
In 1998, the Kruger National Park's first black director was elected. David Mabunda is now CEO of the South African National Parks Board.
With the forming of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, large, unsustainable herds of animals in the Kruger National Park can now be translocated to near-virgin bush. The war ravaged 300 square kilometre Limpopo National Park in Moçambique (formerly known as Coutada 16) started receiving animals in 2001.
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