Navashna Gajathar During my internship at SANParks, I was based at Groenkloof National Park under the watchful and skilled eyes of my mentors, André Spies and Kristal Maze. Given my legal background, I was placed in the Park Planning and Development Unit, where I learned how our national parks are protected physically and on paper,…
Rudi was born on 8 May 1975 in a small town called Pniel nestled at the foot of Simonsberg in the Western Cape, South Africa. He matriculated in 1993 at Luckhoff High School in Stellenbosch. Rudi started his career at SANParks in 1995 as a research technician with scientific services under Dr Mike Knight. In…
Mohlamatsane Mokhatla joined SANParks in February 2016 as a ‘social-ecological’ scientist, based in the Garden Route. He set off with great enthusiasm and dedication to better understand the relationship between people and nature, particularly with regards to the communities of Tsitsikamma and their interactions with the coastline. In the process, he played an invaluable role…
Avhavhudzani Phophe (affectionately known as Vhudzi) joined SANParks in 2013, as an Interpretative officer at Mapungubwe National Park. Whilst working at Mapungubwe National Park, she took a group of researchers on a museum tour. She grabbed an opportunity to share her interest and her dream of becoming a researcher with a SANParks biotechnician, Steven Khoza,…
Public participation in policy-making is a global standard for democracy. It implies an open, inclusive, transparent form of planning and policy-making. However, in most democracies meaningful public input in practice and provisions is discretionary. The process to bring about changes in legislation is never simple. This is more so in the conservation sector in South…
During 2021-2022, the COVID-19 pandemic continued to affect travel of external researchers to our parks, especially from abroad. The impact of the COVID-9 pandemic on registered research projects could clearly be seen in the reduced number of new project applications that were submitted for registration. As travel restrictions eased, researchers resumed field work, returning to…
SANParks’ science function has successfully leveraged numerous funding opportunities in the aftermath of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related budget cuts. This additional co-funding from external sources has been instrumental in filling capacity gaps and enabling critical research and monitoring activities. Various staff have engaged and successfully leveraged diverse national and international funding streams. The nature…
Twitter can be a very useful platform to share conference proceedings with a wider audience all around the world #spreadthescience The global Covid-19 pandemic has drastically changed the way we engage and interact with one another, both personally with family and friends as well as professionally with fellow scientists, managers and academics. The last in-person…
SANParks participated in a virtual workshop of the American Geophysical Union (AGU, December 2021, New Orleans) entitled ‘Bringing “parachute science” back to Earth to improve remote sensing of biodiversity for all’. Parachute science is broadly defined as science where international researchers (typically from wealthier nations) do research in other countries (typically less wealthy nations), without…
GRIN-2023 took place between 10 and 12 October at a new venue, namely The Moorings on the edge of the Knysna estuary. This was the 5th annual Garden Route Interface and Networking meeting, a community of practice, hosted in partnership with the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), Nelson Mandela University’s Sustainability Research Unit…
The Honorary Rangers presented an eight-module course, titled “An introduction to Table Mountain National Park”, at the Cape Research Centre from 8 October 2021 to 4 March 2022. The course was attended by park staff, including rangers, tourism monitors and environment monitors, and staff from the Cape Research Centre. The modules focused on the accommodation…
The study’s primary aim is to investigate the changes in the travel behaviour of national park visitors, in the context of significant recent world events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and challenging economic and geopolitical climates. In April 2020, while severe restrictions on mobility were in place in various countries, SANParks measured visitor perceptions and…