Greater Kruger
The world-renowned Kruger National Park in South Africa’s North East offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. The park itself is some 20 000 square kilometres in extent, and is also now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park – which includes reserve areas in both Mozambique and Zimbabwe. On the Western border of the Kruger National Park (mostly within the Hazyview to Phalaborwa stretch), there are a number of private reserves, such as the Sabi Sand Wildtuin, Timbavati, Thornybush, Manyeleti and Balule - which are collectively known as the Greater Kruger Park (some 23 000 square kilometres in total) – thus forming a unique combination of public and private lands. This huge area offers an extraordinary selection of habitat, experiences and accommodation.
This new conservation entity, created in the early 1990's, contains no internal fencing (apart from small amounts used to isolate a few camps, in order to exclude the more dangerous species). This has opened up a vast stretch of wild land to the free movement of wildlife throughout what is now, in effect, a single conservation area. This situation is good for both wildlife and tourists: wildlife has access to more area and resources for their seasonal movements, tourists are offered a wider range of eco-tourism facilities.
The Kruger National Park itself has been in existence since 1926, effectively, in its present form. It is virtually unrivalled in species diversity (both animal and plant), and is a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Recent figures indicate that there are some 147 species of mammal, 507 species of bird, and in excess of 1950 plant species in the Park.
On 5 December 2018, a Co-Operative Agreement was signed by the Kruger National Park and all the open Greater Limpopo Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas. This formalized what is now known as the Greater Kruger National Park. This agreement enables a cooperative, integrated and consistent management and development approach to all stakeholders within the area.
It is a landscape-level legal agreement between public and private conservation entities in the Greater Kruger open system. The agreement ensures that land in South Africa is protected in terms of the National Environmental Management Protected Areas Act (NEMPAA, Act 57 of 2003). Briefly, the Agreement ensures that national parks, nature reserves and protected environments follow common approaches towards managing nature, and the relationship between people and nature, in the Greater Kruger area.
The Agreement therefore ensures a uniform framework for the protection, management and sharing of socio-economic benefits within this shared open system. Through the Agreement, all stakeholders in the landscape now cooperate to address significant risks, to develop more opportunities and economic benefits for landowners, management authorities and communities living within the GLTFCA.
This new conservation entity, created in the early 1990's, contains no internal fencing (apart from small amounts used to isolate a few camps, in order to exclude the more dangerous species). This has opened up a vast stretch of wild land to the free movement of wildlife throughout what is now, in effect, a single conservation area. This situation is good for both wildlife and tourists: wildlife has access to more area and resources for their seasonal movements, tourists are offered a wider range of eco-tourism facilities.
The Kruger National Park itself has been in existence since 1926, effectively, in its present form. It is virtually unrivalled in species diversity (both animal and plant), and is a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Recent figures indicate that there are some 147 species of mammal, 507 species of bird, and in excess of 1950 plant species in the Park.
On 5 December 2018, a Co-Operative Agreement was signed by the Kruger National Park and all the open Greater Limpopo Trans-Frontier Conservation Areas. This formalized what is now known as the Greater Kruger National Park. This agreement enables a cooperative, integrated and consistent management and development approach to all stakeholders within the area.
It is a landscape-level legal agreement between public and private conservation entities in the Greater Kruger open system. The agreement ensures that land in South Africa is protected in terms of the National Environmental Management Protected Areas Act (NEMPAA, Act 57 of 2003). Briefly, the Agreement ensures that national parks, nature reserves and protected environments follow common approaches towards managing nature, and the relationship between people and nature, in the Greater Kruger area.
The Agreement therefore ensures a uniform framework for the protection, management and sharing of socio-economic benefits within this shared open system. Through the Agreement, all stakeholders in the landscape now cooperate to address significant risks, to develop more opportunities and economic benefits for landowners, management authorities and communities living within the GLTFCA.