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I was dismayed to hear the Vutomi Dam and Lugmagdam dam have been earmarked for drainage. Could somebody from the Parks board please comment.

adw there is a water management plan in action at Kruger. Many of the waterholes and dams will in due course be closed and drained.

Lugmag dam and Vutomi are both on the list to be closed.

Does anyone know what the reason is why the S33 is still closed. We're almost 3 months after the flood.....


Ruud

Hi Cheetah,

still no official response on my question about the S33?????

IMHO it shouldn't be so difficult

Ruud

It's definately also 1 of our favourite spots..... I realy don't know what is the reason why the road is still closed.
I will send an email to joep stevens. maybe he can try to explain....

Ruud

The floods caused a lot of damage , and it takes time to repair . A lot of repairs are done "in-house " by Sanparks of course , and obviously they would focus on priorities first , such as camps and picnic spots
Low water brides and causeways all have to be repaired , many many have been washed away . I understand Vutomi dam-wall was also washed away .

Where did you hear that the wall has been washed away okie ?
Well, I guess that wont be repaired then

If that's the case - so be it.
I realize the scientific approach behind such decisions, but still find it sad to see such beautiful landmarks disappear.
Rabelais Dam used to be my most favourite spot in Kruger because of the beautiful sightings that I have witnessed over many years around the dam.
For quite a few years it is gone now.
I still travel the S106 regularly just to experience some nostalgia when I pass the area where the dam was located.

I had an interesting discussion with my neighbour a few weeks ago.
Piet van der Hyde was ranger at Kingfisher Spruit (his photo can be seen in Rabelais Hut).
I thought that Piet (being of the older ranger generation) will be against the closure of water points in the park.
I was surprised to hear his support for the decision.

Big parts of the western boundary (between Kruger and the neighbouring private reserves like Sabi Sand, Timbavati etc) has been dropped.
Piet was very much against the erection of the fence to keep the game inside the park boundaries.
That prevented game like wildebeest and zebra to follow their natural migration routes.
And as wildebeest is very dependent on water, the man-made water points had to be made.

He told me those days the migrating game was shot on neighbouring land, but it did not have a negative impact on populations of the abundant species like wildebeest.
But the artificial water points had detrimental effects on some of the already scarce species as predators were drawn to the drinking places (attracted by wildebeest which had to come for water).

If Vutomi has to disappear I will experience it as a sad day, but will have understanding for it.

do we have any information if this route is still closed,and if so for how long will it be closed,planning a trip to KNP and trying to work out some of my routes hence the question.

Anybody have any info on whether the S33 and/or Vutomi are going to be reopened / rebuilt ?

Hi Highbury

Joep did reply to you on this Q over here.

Does anyone know if this road is open yet, or will be by January ?

Granny, going on the last report which was some time ago, it would seem then as if it had not yet been reopened.
I will try and get an update asap but Lesego is out of office for the next few days.

I drove past there on Sunday, and the road is definitely still closed. It is actually quite overgrown now, and you can hardly see the road anymore....

Eish ...