Day visitors planning to visit the park during this festive season are reminded that gate quotas will be enforced. Day visitors are advised to make a pre-booking to secure their entry at the entrance gate.
Day visitors who make a booking prior to their arrival are expected to pay a non-refundable deposit of R28 per adult and R14 per child. The amount is meant to secure the space so that they can be counted in the number that makes a daily quota at that particular gate. Kruger National Park (KNP) uses a gate quota system to control the influx of people coming into the park to avoid overcrowding.
“During long weekends and the festive season most of the gates reach the daily quotas in the early hours.
“We encourage anyone who is planning to visit the park to either come early or make a pre-booking to secure entry.
“Pre-bookings can be made via SANParks Central Reservations (012 428 9111),” said KNP’s Head of Department: Public Relations and Communication, William Mabasa.
Once the daily quota has been reached, only people who made pre-bookings are allowed to enter. The rest will have to queue and wait for people to move out of the park to create a space for them. However, this situation does not affect overnight visitors.
“We appeal to people who made pre-bookings to arrive at the gates before 13:00, because after 13:00 the booking lapses. An advanced booking does not exempt daily visitors from paying the conservation fees upon their arrival at the gates,” said Mabasa.
All visitors should be able to produce their identity document or any alternative form of identification at the gates to avoid problems. Each gate has its own number of daily visitors allowed per day, eg, the Kruger Gate quota is 750 people.
Furthermore, Mabasa reminded day visitors not to bring alcohol in the park.
“We urge all visitors to please adhere to the KNP’s rules and regulations as stated at the back of their green entrance permits. These include the gate opening and closing times.
“Our traffic officers will be on the ground to deal with rule breakers,” said Mabasa.
Visitors to the park can gain access through one of the following KNP gates: Crocodile Bridge, Malelane, Numbi, Phabeni, Kruger, Orpen, Phalaborwa, Punda Maria, Pafuri or Giriyondo.