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Friends arrived yesterday in CT and wanted to buy a Wild Card.
Different Information centers did not have any idea about where to purchase one.
They than visited the following places:

Table Mountain: No wild Card available - paid two times R 85
Boulders: Customer must first pay entance fees (R 45 p.P.) than go inside and buy a Wild Card there.
Cape Point: Customer must first pay entrance fees (R 85 p.P.) than go inside and buy Wild Card there.

There is no refund of the before payed entrance fees. They did refuse paying extra entrance fees and did leave CT.

Guys, are R 2,195 for a couple visiting SA for 4 weeks not enough? Why are you ripping of tourists from overseas bringing good money into SA?

And why do official Informations not know anything bout where buying a wild card?

Diana,

I will pass on this complaint to the Wild Card staff.

Hello the best way to get a wild card is to do it on line .. and then print out the proof of payment and the letter they send to you via e-mail and then just hand that in when you want to go into a park .

hello Dianaincapetown,

i've had the same problem in october this year - i wanted to renew my wild card, before i started my trip i asked joep stevens but there was no satisfactory information - so i tried for myself but is was difficult. at every point of interests (for tourists) i asked - no at table mountain, no at boulders, no at office in burg street, no at office at waterfront ... at cape of good hope gate i asked aswell ... it is possible to renew and buy a wild card at buffelsfontain visitor centre.

in my opinion it is a no go, that there is no possibility to buy or renew the wild card at tourits most interesting points like table mountain, boulders or at waterfront!

Just to make absolutely clear. You do not receive a physical Wild Card when you buy from the parks. You will receive a confirmation letter that all parks will accept as proof when you enter them. You then need to go online and enter your details to receive the physical Wild Card. Because the card has your name on it it cannot be issued straight away.

Because the Wild Card Scheme is now run by SANParks you cannot buy them from tourist offices because they are not linked into the system.

And because there are many entry points to Table Mountain National Park there are issues with buying a Wild Card in Cape Town.

As Hugh says the easiest way is to go online before you travel, purchase the Wild Card and print out your letter of confirmation which you show when entering the parks.

i know that you don't receive a physical wild card, but i think that san park want to sell the wild card but in cape town you can get the impression that san park isn't interested in. and the most tourists don't know that there is something like the wild card or that you could buy it online respectively don't want it, the most tourists want to buy it (spontaneously) on location. a tourist don't drive to tokai forrest for buying a wild card, a tourist is interested in to get the wild card (or the confirmation letter) at poi like table mountain main entrance, at the gate to cape of good hope or boulders or at central places like tourists informations e.g. waterfront.

the easiest way for (normal espc. overseas) tourist would be the possibility to buy the wild card at "tourits points" in cape town.

Just to make it clear but these people came yesterday! to SA and could NOT buy a Wild Card at Table Mountain NP. So they also did NOT get a confirmation letter. As there is NO information in the Sanparks Email, when you book online, nor on their website, that you must buy it online, they did not know about that.

And is it really satisfying for SA's flagship, that NO Tourist information in SA knows about WC? Or that there is NO information at the Sanparks website? Or that the Sanparks website links to the wildcard website telling you by the card there, but you do not find anything at the wildcard website where you can buy?

And why is it possible to renew and buy a wild card at buffelsfontain visitor centre? Why not outside? Why is the first thing Sanparks is making, ripping of Tourists?

Shouldn't have any tourist visiting SA get the possibility to buy a Wild Card everywhere where a tourist comes along?

Diana (and M@rie), I'm not disagreeing with you and I have passed on your comments to the Wild Card team.

Thanks

Eish - another case of bad PR from SANPARKS and another thread that will be locked soon

Will see. Even if the thread will be closed, you can post that on Facebook and Twitter !

Update:

I wrote an email to Sanparks ( SANParks Wildcard <wildcard@sanparks.org>)
to get a list of gates, where I can purchase aWild Card directly,
the email I wrote at the 14. November, it was read TODAY!

No answer or list yet.


Eisch, what a response time?????

If a copmpany would react in that time, what would happen?

Update January 2012 - still no list.....

I know some mites have had problems obtaining a wild Card in the cape...Please just look at the top of the Sanparks Home page and you will find all you need to know about the wild card and its so easy to just book online. As some folk are from the cape how many of you know about the card you can buy for Cape Town residents only .. ( my green card) look under TMNP on this forum and its all there . its a Sanparks thingy !!

Emailed them again today and eisch, got an answer in less than a day.
Asked for International WC!



From own experience I kown that Buffelsfontein VC is INSIDE the park. My friends also reported that at Boulders you also must pay entrance fees before you can buy the Wild Card.

Lets see....