Johannesburg - Staff and guests at the Kruger National Park woke up to the welcome sound of rain on Wednesday morning for the first time this year.
Letaba rest camp reported receiving 25mm of rain overnight, while, in a different part of the park, the newly reconstructed Phabeni Gate bridge was closed after it cracked in the rain.
According to field guide Elvis Mokoena, last year was the driest year in the park since 1904.
Wilderness trails ranger Ronnie Mulhovo said the drought had had a devastating effect on the park.
“It is bad for big animals like hippos (that) have big bodies and need a lot to be maintained. The hippos and buffaloes were the first to be affected,” he said.
While elephants are the park’s largest animals, they were able to survive due to their ability to push over trees to eat leaves from the canopy layer.
“Impalas are fine because they can browse and graze successfully. The other antelope are either grazers or browsers. The grazers have been very badly affected,” Mulhovo said.
Driving through the park, visitors were greeted by stark landscapes. In huge sections along the road between Letaba rest camp and Satara, the complete lack of grass and leaves painted a heartbreaking picture.
Massive riverbeds were exposed, with animals searching their sandy expanses for any remaining pools of water or signs of plant life.
The severity of the drought had forced the park to reopen man-made waterholes.
“There was a time when Kruger closed all its man-made waterholes,” said Mulhovo.
Now, in the sweltering heat, animals flocked in desperation to the many small pans that were being filled using borehole water pumped by solar-powered pumps.
He said staff living at the park had been warned a number of times to fix leaking taps and to use water sparingly.
Mulhovo said the overnight rain alone would make a massive difference to the park.
“It’s not wasted, even if it stops now. If you drive around the park in the next three days you will be surprised at what’s coming out. It will look different,” he said.
“If you look at the type of soil we have, especially in the south of the park, it absorbs water easily. The grass doesn’t need a lot of water.”
The rain would also benefit the five major rivers that crisscross the park.
“The drought isn’t about the amount of water in the rivers but the amount of food for the animals,” said Mulhovo.
@Gabi_Falanga
The Star