Pretoria: South African National Parks (SANParks) is gearing up to accommodate an anticipated surge of visitors during the 2024 festive season, implementing a series of interventions aimed at ensuring visitor safety and curbing environmental crimes. These measures, which vary across different national parks and regions, are centered on leveraging technology, utilizing the K9 unit, providing aerial support, and fostering partnerships with provincial and local authorities, civil society, and community groups.
According to South African Government News Agency, SANParks has reported success stories from recent joint planning and operations, which included intelligence sharing and capacity strengthening among partners. The interventions for the festive season will include safety campaigns, routine patrols, fire safety awareness, water conservation initiatives, and aerial support. The Kruger National Park is set to engage in joint operations with various authorities, including the Cross-Border Management Authority
and the South African National Defence Force, to enhance safety measures.
Further bolstering these efforts, SANParks has introduced the Table Mountain National Park Volunteer Safety Services (VSS), a collaborative initiative with civil society organizations aimed at improving responses to crime. This program will integrate civil society contributions into the park’s safety strategy and provide a framework for ongoing joint efforts in crime prevention and visitor safety.
In addition to safety measures, SANParks is investing in infrastructure upgrades across several national parks, with an allocation of R700 million from the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment for the 2023/2024 period. This funding boosts the total budget for infrastructure improvements to R1.1 billion through 2025/2026, allowing significant developments, such as refurbished accommodations and a cashless payment system, to be implemented in parks like the Kruger National Park. Visitors are encouraged to remain patient as the
se upgrades are completed.