Look | Kruger National Park celebrates 100 years

The Kruger National Park celebrates its 100th anniversary on 31 May, a milestone that this national park celebrates with dedication to science, conservation and tourism.

The game park is South Africa’s largest and most famous and its history begins as early as 1898, when President Paul Kruger founded the Sabie game reserve to protect animals from extermination by hunters.

Later, the Shingwedzi Reserve was added and in 1926 the two together were officially declared the Kruger National Park – South Africa’s first national park.

The first chief ranger was James Stevenson-Hamilton, who played a major role in combating poaching and developing the park. Over time, the Kruger National Park became world famous for its nature conservation, biodiversity and the Big Five.

Today it still attracts millions of visitors from all over the world.

“Over the years there has been an evolution of what the park looked like, management aspects, how the environment has recovered and changed and also how the tourism product has developed,” says Danie Pienaar, head of conservation management of the Kruger National Park for Maroela Media.

“That development has been going on for 100 years and it is not going to stop. It is important to look back, reflect and think about the future.”

Pienaar emphasizes that the park’s tourism offer is of crucial importance for the Kruger National Park’s survival.

“This is where we get most of our funding to run the park. Currently less than 20% of our budget comes from the government and our income is self-generated.

“We have a zoning plan that determines where certain development can take place. As part of this plan, there are also large areas of Kruger that are zoned as wilderness areas and where no development may take place.

“If you put all the infrastructure of the park together – every path and every camp – we arrive at 4% of the wildlife park’s area. The park is not overdeveloped.

“The infrastructure can sometimes be under pressure from tourists, which gives the feeling that it is overdeveloped. It is of course important to look at development, that the infrastructure keeps up with the times. Doing the maintenance is very important – things get old. It costs a lot of money. To maintain roads, sewage works and pipes, the things that the tourists don’t always see.

“That funding has to come from somewhere – and we get it from our tourism product.”

Pienaar has been working in the park for decades, although his career actually started there as a child. His father was also a warden and Pienaar simply followed in his footsteps.

“This is the place where I grew up. This is where I started my career and where I will also end it. I have spent my whole life here. For me, the Kruger National Park is a wonderful national park, but it is also my home and environment. It is very close to my heart.”

Furthermore, the park seeks to continuously expand its research projects, says Cathy Greaver, head of SANparks’ Savanna research unit.

“SANparks is driven by science. Much of the work we do and the questions we want to answer are based on the research we do. This plays a very important role, because we are also a conservation organisation,” says Greaver.

“The results and recommendations are applied in our various parks. This is important research that contributes to how we manage SAN parks.”

For Greaver, too, the park is not only where she lives out her passion, but where peace and quiet can be found.

“Before I became the manager of the research unit, I was a regional ecologist for the area. I had the opportunity to fly around in helicopters and airplanes to count the animals. It was also an opportunity for me to see the park in ways that the public doesn’t usually do. It was very special for me and revealed the love for the park.”