Pretoria - The Kruger National Park has advised day visitors to the park to make prior booking arrangements in order to secure their entry as daily visitor quotas will strictly be enforced throughout the festive season period.
"The gate quotas are mostly reached on long weekends and public holidays, vary from gate to gate and also depend on how fully booked the park is," said the park's head of public relations, William Mabasa.
Mabasa went on to advise day visitors to take note that even if they have pre-booked for their visit, this does not exempt them from queuing at the gates and from paying conservation fees upon arrival. It only secures them entry to the park.
Day visitors who pre-book their visit are expected to pay a non-refundable deposit of R28 per adult and R16 per child, which is meant to secure their space because they would have been counted in the number that made the daily quota.
Day visitors with advanced bookings are also expected to arrive at the booked gate by no later than 1pm on the date of the booking. After that, the booking lapses.
All visitors are also reminded to bring along their identity documents (IDs) or some alternative form of identity to avoid any hold ups at the gates.
Wild cards cannot be used to identify one as a legitimate holder and should be accompanied by some form of identity.
To increase efficiency at the gates, various field and honorary rangers will be deployed in order to assist gate staff with managing the queues and other different services available at the gates.
Each gate has its limited number of day visitors that can be allowed per day. For example the limit for the Phalaborwa gate is 600 and at small ones like Pafuri it is 300.
If anyone is planning a visit to the park, it is recommended that they either arrive at the gate very early as the service is on first come first served basis or pre-book their entrance via Central Reservations (012 428 9111).
