South African national parks

I received an email a while ago regarding a post I made recently about South Africa’s national animal parks. The writer was rather upset that I would be going to animal parks where animals were kept in captivity. I was not quite sure how to reply.

I suppose that, in a sense, the animals are kept ‘in captivity’ in that there are fences around the parks. But these parks are HUGE. The Kruger National Park is the size of Wales, Israel or Slovenia. It is larger than the state US states of Connecticut, Delaware, or Rhode Island. It is 360km from north to South. And within these vast reserves, the animals roam free.

There is some human intervention – for example the building of man-made dams and waterholes to support larger populations; veterinary intervention during outbreaks of serious diseases; veterinary intervention with illnesses of endangered species; tracking; culling due to overpopulation. There is also conservation management, anti-poaching measures and the building of low-impact accommodation for visitors.

This is an approximation of the number of animals within the Kruger Park. So it is very definitely not a zoo, or animal park in the traditional sense.

South Africa has 19 public national parks. They are very affordable to visit (particularly for South African visitors), and the accommodation ranges from spartan and very cheap, to luxurious.