SANParks.org Forums

Hey , DB is back Welcome from wherever you hav been and hope you enjoyed as much as if you had visited KNP instead

DB , perhaps you can clear up a question ? What are the rules against driving with your sunroof completely open ( slid back ) , as against merely having the SR tilted open ? I cannot find anything about it in general park rules

Okie,

Sorry I am not DB but here is my take, sunroofs are in my opinion pretty much the same as the car window. Close it when needed, eg. when the big male baboon jumps on the car's bonnet. I surely hope there is not a rule against an open sunroof, apart from your head sticking out of it.

Bennievis haven't seen you in a while.....

I agree with regards to the sunroof. Don't think there's a rule against it being open, except from body parts protruding from it.

A roof that folds back all the way, thus a convertible, is another story all together.

Pros and cons. (I am not promoting it.)

Pros
1) You are closer to nature
2) Better view.
3) You can feel the wind through your hair and the sun on your skin.
4) Easier to take pics.

Cons
1) You are more vulnerable to an attack.
2) The sun may burn the living daylights out of you.
3) Your aircon will be useless.
4) On the dirt roads, your fancy Porsche will collect tons of dust.
5) The gallery of shame has your name and number.

Thanks Okie - did have fun, but different fun from a KNP visit. Failed as a parent ... never thought to train my kids that they had to settle and live and work next to Kruger, so instead they set off to a far off land


Will ask Lesego to clear this up for us Okie.

Bennievis - way back , I think around 1990 , we went to KNP in a Mercedes with sunroof , and drove around in it fully open . We thought it was great to " pop up " at sightings ( there , I even admit we transgressed the rules , but .. we were somewhat ignorant )
I do recall however , that at one of the camps , ( I think LS ) , a ranger told us that it was not allowed to drive with the runroof fully open except tilted up
We will wait now for official ruling

Hi all,

I was under the impression that it’s against the rules of KNP to drive around the park in a cabriolet. The rules on second inspection seem a bit silent as found here: http://www.sanparks.org/assets/docs/tou ... ations.pdf

I am under the same impression, though I assume a cabriolet is fine as long as you keep the roof up. Just yesterday, Latest Sightings posted a pic on Facebook of visitors in a cabriolet with the roof off at a lion sighting!

There is another thread called "Going Topless in Kruger" where the same question was raised about vehicles of which the top can be removed.

I just cannot comprehend that anybody wants to end his/her life by driving in Kruger in an top down sedan vehicle and then stopping at a lion sighting of all places .

I think the problem that SANParks management has, is the fact that with the top up these vehicles are as safe as any other vehicle. If one applies the same rules one surely cannot let the roof down.

You as the owner of such a vehicle should have the common sense and responsibility, not to put the top down where your life as well as that of the animal is placed in jeopardy.

This has been debated for ages but to revisit the topic again, why is everybody so concerned about the safety of other people? If someone is killed because he took a risk, will we don our black clothes for a week to mourn the death of this person? Certainly not, so do why do we all have this big issue if someone drives 'topless' ? I have my reasons but lets hear from others.

It has already been discussed at length Here
altho the type of car referred to was more of the T roof type.
but to add to it, it seems there is no specific rule that says cabriolet type vehicles with the top on may not enter the park but it appears that the same rules would apply as per a sunroof, i.e. where you may not protrude any part of your body out of it, so in effect if they took the top off they would be breaking the rules.
I would think SANparks have not even considered that anyone in such a low slung car would be silly enough to drive around with the top completely off thereby exposing themselves to all sorts of dangers but it seems there are!

........but I would don my black clothes for the poor animal who would be put down because they had killed a visitor!!!

Val and Rooies,

I am 100% with you. I also don't have a problem if somebody that stupid, is eaten alive. My issue is the fact that it will be SANParks employees that will be blamed and we all know that the preditor who did the deed, will never see a sunrise again

Not all animals have killed a human are put down. If the animal becomes a problem, then it will be killed. To me it is the visual pollution that bothers. If everybody sit on roofs, lean out of the window or drive topless, it will resemble a University rag procession, which will negatively affect my enjoyment of Kruger. I am a regular visitor to a private non commercial reserve on the edge of Kruger, and there we travel on an OSV without a roof, side panels and with the windscreen folded down. Mating lions came to within 10 yards from us without even looking at us.

Perhaps the mods could merge the two topics/ discussions??