South Africa’s National Parks are Open for Free This Week

Most of South Africa’s national parks – including the world famous Kruger National Park, Addo Elephant Park, Kgalakgadi, the Richtersveld and Golden Gate – will be open for free to any South African citizen for the next five days from Monday 14 September.

The annual SA National Parks (SANParks) programme is being funded this year by First National Bank and Total SA, the ministry of Environmental Affairs said in a statement. Since the launch of the initiative in 2006, it has attracted over 170,000 visitors to parks around the country.

The entry will be for day passes and will be handled on a first-come-first-served basis, with quotas for each park still being maintained.

Green bar-coded identification documents must be shown to enter if you’re over 16. SANParks hopes to attract more schools this year. And those South Africans with vehicles are encouraged to take along someone they know who may otherwise be unable to ever visit one of our precious parks.

SANParks CEO Fundisile Mketeni said that the five-day programme is intended to cultivate a culture of pride in all South Africans.

“SANParks started this campaign to encourage all South Africans, especially those from the communities around the parks, to share in what SANParks envisions to be the pride and joy of all South Africans and the world”.

SANParks noted on its website that some of the parks will extend the free entry through the weekend. Entry does not include free accommodation, the organisation added.

“September is both Tourism and National Heritage month,” said Kruger National Park’s William Mabasa. “We therefore encourage South Africans, young people in particular, to visit the park as the intention is to make them understand the value of the environment and the importance of conservation”.

MORE INFO

For details on which parks are included and on which dates, visit:
http://www.sanparks.org/about/events/parks_week/default.php