SANParks.org Forums

I am not sure why but it seems as if some of the Honorary Rangers projects are not well advertise and the public are not informed about it when viewing information on the specific parks. Under the projects listed are the Mokala MTB Rhino classic and Rhino sales. The first one I could at least browse and found out its a bicycle race from the 20 - 21 April in Mokala NP, but on the Rhino sales project I received a message

"You are not authorised to view this resource"

Does this means rhinos are for sale or is this project something completely different?


Why are the public not made aware of events like the Mokala MTB race by notice under the park specific sites. The Kgalagadi Desert classic planned for September 2013 is currently not listed as a project and the notice under Kgalagadi Park site has been removed. Is this event still going to take place and have the final arrangements been made on the route it will follow.

Currently no birding events listed as well. When will the date of these events be announced and made open to the public to enter? I remember last year there was a birding weekend to Mapungubwe, but I only read about it when it was too late to enter.

Other media might be used like facebook and Wild Magazine for advertising events, but we are not always logging into those sites when planning trips to national parks or making bookings. It will be a good idea if there are notices under each park site of upcoming events so that you can either plan to participate or change your date if these events do not interest you.

Its not only cycling that has it downs but birding as well, due to the fact that game driving vehicles might not be available for guest when their is a birding weekend as I have experienced before.

Hi Son godin

One of the biggest challenges facing a large volunteer organisation functioning in many different parks and which is completely run by volunteers, is getting information readily available to all.

It is a challenge to get people who are often not in their ordinary lives accustomed to marketing things aware of the importance of good communication. They do not necessarily have tools and experience to be able to do this effectively. Often a handful op people are involved in organising an event and it is a big enough challenge to run it, never mind thinking of all these other things.

Having said that the communication and marketing of our activities is something the SANParks Honorary Rangers has been actively encouraging and we have made huge strides in this in the past few years. We have put a number of platforms in place to enable our members to communicate their activities and have done a lot to raise awareness of the importance of this. After all, the more people know about our activities the better! We want the public to be aware of and support our activities. That is what the SANParks Honorary Rangers is about! We are a public volunteer organisation.

One thing we have done is to create a single website where we post all our information. If you want to know about our activities .... go there. www.sanparkshr.org

Now to answer some specific questions you asked:

The KNP birding information is not yet available because the organisation of the activities is still in the planning phase. The region involved always gives information well before bookings open and are quite good with and experienced in the running of this project.

There are however a number of other birding events in the pipeline. All the information is available and has been for quite some time.

The Rhinos we are going to sell .... we were thinking of selling a few endangered java rhino.

No, you were just too quick off the block for us. It is a link which has just gone live since the project was only launched this weekend. You caught us while we were still placing the pages on the website. But please go here and see what it is all about:

http://www.sanparksvolunteers.org/rhinosales

And support it by buying a rhino!

We have intentionally chosen to have our own website which is linked to the SANParks site and not to post our information on the various pages within the SANParks site. Updating and keeping track of information on to the SANParks site has been just too difficult and often led to information being outdated and wrong. From an organisational point of view our current system is the most effective and works fine.

You are quite correct. We do also use a number of other media including magazines, newspapers and the radio.

An excellent way to keep updated with the latest activities is to follow us on Facebook and Twitter. We use it virtually daily to update the public on the latest events and happenings.

Twitter

Facebook

If you have any other ideas on how we can promote the SANParks cause ... please do make suggestions!

Hi Imberbe,

Thanks for your reply, but my questions was more directed to SANParks who does not employ personnel on a voluntary base to update there website and issue media releases. I noted your website is separate from SANParks and it is therefore that I've asked the question on why does events organised by the Honorary rangers not get advertise on SANParks website.

When I plan or make bookings at national parks I do not login on the HR website but under http://www.samparks.org

The owner or manager of the land where an organisation wants to hold an event should in some way inform their clients of such an event. An example is the Cavern Hotel who informs you on their website of upcoming events on their land or in the area such as Royal Drakensberg Mountain Bike Challenge from 5 - 7 April. This event is not organised by them, but because it runs over their property and a few others land owners potential visitors to their hotel are informed.

This is also not something new for SANParks, because a few years back events were announced through a media release a few months or at least weeks before the event. Lately I am missing those releases and were therefore not aware of cycling in Mokala, birding in Cambedoo, Karoo and Tankwa and marathon in Marekele. See the link below on how it was done before unless I am just browsing on the wrong pages.

http://www.sanparks.org/parks/karoo/new ... rjf0vc46a4

Maybe Lesego can implement these announcements again and we all can be aware on when to start practising for the next cycling or running event in a national park.

Or avoid that Park when the event is being held Son godin

Hi Sharifa its easier said than done. I had to double check that the bookings I made a few months back at Mokala from the 21st did not overlap with the cycling event, but luckily it was for March and not April.

Now I am going to miss out on some unique photographic oppurtunities.