Kruger Park Times | News Items Extracted from Print Edition

The list below is in the order of the issues placed online on this website. The earlier editions will be found towards the bottom of the page. The image refers to the print edition in which the original item can be found.

Skukuza provides 818 trees for Arbor Week celebrations Trees nurtured at the Skukuza nursery will soon be spread around the Mpumalanga lowveld and escarpment, after the department of water affairs and forestry (Dwaf) bought 818 indigenous saplings from the nursery for Arbor Week celebrations.

Small increase in wildebeest numbers in Sabi Sands As the increase in numbers does not yet meet the reserve’s goals of boosting the wildebeest numbers to over 500, Sabi Sand ecologist Jonathan Swart says that they will go ahead with plans to reintroduce another 600 wildebeest this year. Since 2003 the Sabi Sand Wildtuin has reintroduced almost 1,800 wildebeest into the

Kruger refines management plan For 10 years the Park has promised to do something about damage causing animals and it has done nothing. Will it do something now? This is one of many comments raised by stakeholders during several meetings hosted by the Kruger National Park (KNP). New legislation calls for conservation agencies like South African National Park (Sanparks)

Transfrontier conservation steps ahead in Mozambique The African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) is reiterating its commitment to the concept of transfrontier conservation by appointing a technical advisor for the Banhine National Park in Mozambique. From the beginning of September, Errol Pietersen, formerly the warden of the Umbabat Private Nature

Leadership for conservation in Africa launched For the first time in history, African conservation and business leaders have a platform through which they can discuss matters of common interest. This follows the launch at the end of August of the Leadership for Conservation in Africa (LCA) after days of deliberations involving

More than $3 billion for global environmental projects The third assembly of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) was held in Cape Town from August 29-30, 2006. The meeting saw the GEF gets its largest-ever financial boost with US$3.13 billion being received from 32 developed nations to finance environmental projects in developing countries over the next four years.

Wilderness trails to be expanded by foundation One of their first partners in the planned expansion is Alan McSmith, an independent Hoedspruit-based trails operator. The Wilderness Foundation has the three-pointed Erythrina (coral tree) leaf as its logo, depicting its belief in the interlinked relationship between humanity, nature and spiritual things, and their trails ethos reflects this.

One year later, plundered cycad shows signs of life Some of the magnificent cycad plant that was desecrated by plant thieves last July is beginning to make a recovery, and the first green shoots have begun to emerge from one of its stems. Prior to it being brutally hacked to pieces, the exceptional multi-stemmed cycad was probably the last remaining specimen of Encephalartos laevifolius of the Mariepskop

EWT calls for ‘radical rethink’ of water issues Some 2000 people from 140 countries came together to discuss issues of international importance relating to water in this year’s World Water Week held in Stockholm, Sweden from August 20-26, 2006 under the theme of Water, Environment, Livelihoods and Poverty Reduction. In the wake of this, the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT)

Top honours for Giriyondo’s official opening The Giriyondo Tourism Acces Facility is95km from the Phalaborwa Gate, and only42km from Letaba Camp. It is 75km from Giriyondo to Massingir, and about 270km from there to the coastal town of Xai-Xai. The border post is positioned relatively far south in the Limpopo National Park, with the Massingir Dam and the Olifants River forming the southern boundary of the LNP.

Heads of state put Giriyondo on the map The Great Limpopo Tran frontier Park (GLTP) Giriyondo Tourism Access Facility opened its gates to the public on December7, 2005. On August 16, 2006, those gateswere temporarily closed for the official opening by presidents Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Armando Guebuzo of Mozambique and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. The access facility links the 1.9 million hectare Kruger National Park (KNP)

New helicopter for Sanparks On August 8, 2006 Sanparks chief executive Dr David The second helicopter will be delivered in December. Sanparks is replacing its two EC120 helicopters with two new AS 350 B3 s/n 4091 helicopters from Eurocopter Southern Africa. The old helicopters have flown more than 3,900 hours over the last six years, and had reached their optimum buy-back value. The new helicopters are more versatile and have advanced capabilities.

Further chance to comment on Kruger’s management plan The Kruger National Park’s management plan has been drafted and stakeholders are invited to view the plan before it is finalised. To give stakeholders a chance to air their views about the plan, three stakeholder engagement meetings at locations strategically situated around the park have been arranged and all stakeholders are invited to attend.

TB INFECTED buffalo found IN FAR NORTH of Kruger However, because not all animals are tested and because the test is not 100 percent accurate, the veterinarians estimated that less than two percent of the buffalo might have BTB. With the new survey, several positive reactions were found from the blood test for BTB, and the animals were relocated and euthanased so that tissue samples could be taken to the laboratory to confirm that the buffalo

Lion killed after making a pig of itself The person resident on the land then shot at the lions. A bullet passed through an 18-20 month old male, who died about 100m away. According to Crispian Barlow, warden of Grietjie Nature Reserve, there is a possibility that the bullet may have harmed one of the other lions. Barlow says that lions had previously killed a cow on the land, and Limpopo environmental affairs officials met

Sanparks Reclaims Domain Names South African National Parks (Sanparks) has reached a settlement regarding the reclaiming of the domain names www.sanparks.co.za and www.sanparks.com, domains formerly controlled by a private tour operator. “In the past”, explains e-commerce manager Nedret Saidova, “in the public’s eye, the private tour operator (with whom the domain name dispute arose) was seen to be “Sanparks”.

Annual census reveals an increase in herbivore numbers The park changed from the total count method to the sampling method in 1998, partly because an enormous number of flying- and man-hours are needed to carry out a total count, but also because weather conditions made it impossible to complete the total count for several years prior to 1998. The distance sampling method works by dividing the park into equally spaced strips.

Corporate SA battle it out at KNP Golf Day More than 150 golfers from corporations all over South Africa met in Skukuza on Thursday, July 27, to battle it out on the fairways of the Skukuza Golf Course for top honours at the second annual Kruger National Park (KNP) Corporate Golf Day. “Golfers from all over South Africa are encouraged to make use of this facility which is certainly open to members of the public,”

GM sorghum project blocked Kenya, the home of the project, presently lacks the policies and legalities that would ensure the security and validity of the experiments. South Africa denied the application because of “biosecurity” issues that need to be dealt with. Apparently, the government is concerned that the project could contaminate local wild sorghum. According to Wambugu,

Great Karoo park gets more land When the new national park was announced environment minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said that they hoped to eventually link the park up with the Mountain Zebra National Park. Camdeboo’s park manager Peter Burdettt said, “The new property is a valuable addition to the park, not only in terms of expanding the conservation area, but also in terms of its aesthetic value as

Donation gives energy boost to CyberTracker programmeThe CyberTracker system was developed for application in conservation by Louis Liebenberg. It is a user-friendly interface for handheld computers (PDAs) that incorporates a GPS to give customised latitude and longitude descriptions. Douw Swanepoel, Olifants section ranger at the time, first recognised the potential of CyberTracker as an ecological data collection

Foot and mouth outbreak near Punda Maria Animals infected with the virus were found on July 31, 2006 in the Matiani village neighbouring Punda Maria during a routine weekly inspection by the state vets. Laboratory tests have since confirmed the exact strain of the virus infecting the cattle. This is the first outbreak of the disease in the Limpopo Province

Kruger’s western boundary fence gets a makeover The new sections of the Kruger National Park’s western fence currently being erected in the northern areas of the park will be very different to the electrical fence that has demarcated the edge of Kruger for decades. Three sections of the western fence are currently being replaced in areas where the elephants have been having a high impact on the electrical fence.

Can Kruger’s lions be in Lydenburg? Mpumalanga Province The residents of Lydenburg and Burgersfort have reason to keep their eyes wide open at night – in the last month there have been several confirmed sightings of lions in the area, and there have been reports of cattle deaths near the Spekboom River. Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency big cat specialist Gerrie Camacho believes that the lions may originally have come from the Kruger National Park (KNP), having travelled along river courses or green corridors to get to Lydenburg.

Crocodile Bridge Robbbery Suspects Arrested at Naas Trust in Tonga  Four suspects were arrested on August 3, 2006 in connection with the robbery that occurred at Crocodile Bridge rest camp on July 11, 2006. A fifth man is still at large, but Captain Ockie Brits, commander of the serious violent crimes unit in the lowveld, says that they are hoping to arrest him in the near future.