Due to congested roads, traffic incidents and complaints about a lack of maintenance in the Kruger National Park, SANParks is being forced to consider updating rules for visitors.

In early January a CNN report stated that park officials were considering new rules to limit the impact of tourism in the park. The article cited several sources blaming apps that post the sightings of animals, not only for the congestion, speeding and overcrowding in certain areas of the park, but also for potentially providing poachers with information on animals’ whereabouts.

Tourism Update spoke to a frequent patron of the park who agreed with the challenges raised about the apps, noting that “the apps do cause a lot of congestion, and there have been complaints of people speeding to sightings and knocking over buck or little mongooses”.

While there is no definitive proof that use of these apps directly correlate to any of these issues, Isaac Phaahla, GM of Marketing and Communications at KNP, said: “It’s disingenuous of the people who own these apps to absolve themselves.”

He added that park management was still deliberating and considering ways to deal with the issue, clarifying that no new rules had yet been implemented.

Addressing the complaints of lack of maintenance in the park, Phaahla said it had been difficult as the park had to abide by the procurement rules of the state.

“For the past three years we haven’t had a contractor in the park, but in September last year a new contractor was appointed.”

This means that maintenance catch-up has begun in Satara, Lower Sabi and Skukuza camps. “It’s going to take some time because of the three-year lag,” explained Phaahla. “It is something that we are aware of and that we are working on.”