SANParks CEO Fundisile Mketeni said SANParks used this week to prepare for the expected arrivals of guests to parks. “We appreciate that after two months of confinement, the public is keen to engage with nature and the excitement as shown by enquiries from our loyal visitors is encouraging. We are obligated to ensure that the opening of our national parks for self-drive excursions is done under the strictest health protocols to safeguard both our staff and guests.”
As a result, the parks will be limiting face-to-face contact between staff and guests by encouraging online and telephonic day visit bookings and full payment of conservation fees before arrival where possible. Bookings can be made at 012 428 9111 or www.sanparks.org from Monday, 8 June. In the case of Wild Card members, guests have to ensure that their membership is valid before arrival.
Mketeni said Namaqua National Park, as well as Boulders and Cape Point in Table Mountain National Park, remain closed for the meantime and the majority of gates at Kruger National Park will be open except Pafuri and Numbi gates. Gate quotas for Kruger have been revised to approximately one-third of what they were before Covid-19. Three time slots for arrival will be introduced with the understanding that booked day visitors must arrive at the gate within that period. Slot one is from 6am to 8am, slot two from 8am to 10am and slot three from 10am onwards.
Hides and picnic spots at all parks remain closed; braaing at picnic sites will also not be allowed during this period. Ablutions will be open in camps, at gates and some picnic spots. A limited number of shops and petrol stations will open in some parks during the week and will be operated by relevant Level 3 lockdown regulations. Further information and updates will be available on our website on Monday, 8 June 2020.
The national lockdown regulations relating to movement between provinces must be observed within the parks. “This means inter-provincial travel within parks that stretch between two provinces will not be permitted. Guests, therefore, must exit into the province from which they entered the park.”
He said everything as we knew it has fundamentally changed by Covid-19: “Therefore, we are requesting guests to adhere to all official alert Level 3 regulations when inside the parks including wearing masks, keeping social distance and following transport capacity directives. We also implore guests not to deposit their litter inside the bins within the parks but to leave with as much of it as hygienically possible.”
