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Kruger National Park
IUCN Category II (National Park)
Map of South Africa
Location	Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, South Africa
Nearest city	Nelspruit, South Africa
Coordinates	24°0′41″S 31°29′7″E / -24.01139, 31.48528Coordinates: 24°0′41″S 31°29′7″E / -24.01139, 31.48528
Area	18,989 km²
Established	January 1, 1926
Visitors	1,336,981 (in 2004)
Governing body	South African National Parks

Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve in South Africa. It covers 18,989 square km (7,332 sq mi) and extends 350 km (217 mi) from north to south and 60 km (37 mi) from east to west.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. In the north is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

The park has 8 main gates that allow entrance to the different camps. The names of these gates are Paul Kruger, Numbi, Malelane, Crocodile Bridge, Punda Maria, Orpen, Phabeni, Phalaborwa and Pafuri.

The park is the site of the popular eyewitness viral video Battle at Kruger.

History

The area that the park currently encompasses was occupied by nomadic hunter-gatherers for thousands of years. People from Europe arrived in the early eighteenth century.^[1] In 1898 Paul Kruger, the president of the Transvaal Republic, created Sabie Game Reserve in order to control hunting^[2] and protect the diminished number of animals in the park.^[1] James Stevenson Hamilton became the first warden of the reserve in 1902.^[2] The reserve was located in the southern one-third of the modern park.^[3] Shingwedzi Reserve, now in northern Kruger National Park, was proclaimed in 1903.^[4] In 1926, Sabie Game Reserve, the adjacent Shingwedzi Game Reserve, and farms were combined to create Kruger National Park, which was opened for public visitors in 1927.^[5] During the apartheid era, the 1950 Group Areas Act and the 1953 Separate Amenities Act prevented black Africans from visiting South Africa's parks.^[6] In 2002, Kruger National Park, Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique were incorporated into the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.^[5]

Geography

The park lies in the east of South Africa,^[3] in the eastern parts of Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces. It is one of the largest national parks in the world, with an area of almost 20,000 km².^[7] The park is approximately 360 km long,^[3] and has an average width of 65 km.^[5] At its widest point, the park is 90 km wide from east to west.^[3]

Flora and fauna

Plants

The Kruger National Park is divided into six eco-systems: Baobab sandveld, Mopane scrub, Lebombo knobthorn-marula bushveld, mixed acacia thicket, Combretum-silver clusterleaf woodland on granite and riverine forest. Altogether it has 1,982 species of plants.

Birds

Out of the 517 species of birds found at Kruger, 253 are residents, 117 non-breeding migrants, and 147 nomads. Also, eagles can be found there.

Mammals

Panorama view of Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers at Crookes Corner in Pafuri triangle

All the Big Five game animals are found at Kruger National Park, which has more species of mammals than any other African Game Reserve (at 147 species). There are webcams set up to observe the wild life. ^[8]

As of 2004^[update], the park has counted approximately:

• 25,150 African Buffalo
• 200 African Hunting Dogs
• 350 Black Rhinoceros
• 32,000 Burchell's Zebras
• 500 Bushbucks
• 200 Cheetahs
• 300 Common Eland
• 9,000 Giraffes
• 5,000 Greater Kudus
• 3,000 Hippopotamus

The park stopped culling elephants in 1989 and tried translocating them, but by 2004 the population had increased to 11,670 elephants (2006: approximately 13,500). The park's habitats can only sustain about 8,000 elephants. The park started using annual contraception in 1995, but has stopped that due to problems with delivering the contraceptives and upsetting the herds.

Kruger National Park holds over 480 tons of ivory in storage. According to Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), it is allowed to sell 30 tons.

Accommodation

The Kruger National Park has 21 rest camps, as well as 7 private lodge concessions, and 11 designated private safari lodges. The concessions are parcels of land operated by private companies in partnership with communities, who outsource the operation of private lodges.

Wilderness trails

Nine different trails are on offer in the Kruger National Park. Some are overnight and last several days in areas of wilderness virtually untouched by humans. There are no set trails in the wilderness areas; a visitor walks along paths made by animals or seeks out new routes through the bush.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kruger National Park

• Protected areas of South Africa
• Peace park
• Abel Chapman
• Battle at Kruger

References

External links

Tourism

• Official Homepage for South African National Parks
• Kruger National Park travel guide from Wikitravel
• Webcams in the Kruger
• Interesting video from Kruger National Park

Map

• Map of Kruger National Park & surrounding reserves
• Kruger National Park Map
• Kruger National Park Map with camps, waterholes and dams marked
• Kruger National Park Google Earth layer (2MB .kmz file) including travel (lodges and restcamps, roads, gates, airstrips, distances), ecological (biomes, rainfall, animal census) and historical (evolution of the park since 1884) layers.

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