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26 March 2025

Strengthening Marine Conservation: Bilateral Discussions Between West Coast National Park MPA and Bassin d’Arcachon Marine Nature Park

As part of the South Africa-France partnership, SANParks hosted a bilateral exchange from March 10th to 14th at West Coast National Park (WCNP). This collaboration, supported by the French Biodiversity Agency (OFB) and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD), brought together six French delegates and SANParks representatives to share knowledge on the management and monitoring…

17 March 2025

Exploring African Seamounts on the OceanXplorer

From January 30th to the 23rd of February, OceanXplorer and OceanQuest hosted 18 visiting scientists from nine different nations on the first Science Leg of the “Around Africa Expedition.” Led by a South African scientist from the South African Environmental Observation Network (NRF-SAEON), Dr Lara Atkinson, this expedition aimed to improve our understanding of seamount…

29 January 2025

Introducing the SANParks Biodiversity Information Management System

South African National Parks (SANParks) has a new Biodiversity Information Management System that was funded by the JRS Biodiversity System and developed by the Freshwater Research Centre and Kartoza (Pty) Ltd. It builds on the functionality of the Freshwater Biodiversity Information System (FBIS). The SANParks BIMS enables the input of different sources of occurrence information…

23 January 2025

Effective management of Invasive Alien Species is possible

Background Despite the often-encountered perception that managing Invasive Alien Species (IAS) is too costly, often unsuccessful, and there are few tools available to managers, a major global assessment found this not to be the case. Acknowledging that controlling Invasive alien species is complex, in assessing management challenges, opportunities and lessons learned it was well established…

23 January 2025

Big Trunks, Bigger Questions: Rethinking Elephant Numbers in Kruger

What the Research Says About Elephant Numbers So, how many elephants is too many elephants? It’s a question people have wrestled with for ages. Kruger National Park, home to one of Africa’s largest elephant populations, has seen their numbers grow from just a handful in the early 1900s to over 31,000 by 2020. That’s a…

17 January 2025

Reflection, deliberation and co-learning at Mountain Zebra National Park’s annual Science-Management meeting in December 2024

Early December 2024 saw the gathering of scientists and managers in Mountain Zebra National Park (MZNP) for the annual science-management meeting. Discussions and reflections focused on topics or actions outlined in the management plan and/or November 2023 science-management forum. On the regional scale, this included park expansion opportunities towards Rockdale with its thriving mountain reedbuck…

17 January 2025

SANParks and OFB colleagues meet in Addo Elephant National Park to share expertise, experiences and exchange knowledge on governance and management planning of Marine Protected Areas in South Africa and France

Under the 2022 French-South African cooperation agreement on biodiversity, an expertise and capacity exchange programme between the French Office Français de la Biodiversité (OFB) and SANParks was established to collaborate on various issues relating to the management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). This is financed by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) for three years under…

14 January 2025

Using BRUVs to monitor Robben Island MPA’s locals – while they monitor us too!

Beneath the waves lies a world of curious creatures whose secrets we are still busy uncovering. Unlike taking a leisurely drive through the Kruger National Park, observing marine communities requires specialised tools and techniques. Today we invite you to dive into this hidden world with us, as we monitor the fascinating marine life at Robben…

11 December 2024

From Dream to Reality: My Journey with SANParks in the Garden Route National Park

From following SANParks on LinkedIn to adding it to my LinkedIn experience, this has been a journey I could only dream of. I was always captivated by the content they posted and envied the people who worked there. Everything about the organisation aligned with what I wanted for my career. So, when I received that…

11 December 2024

Protecting South Africa’s Endangered White Steenbras: Lessons from Two Estuaries

The white steenbras (Lithognathus lithognathus), an endemic South African fish, is an important species targeted and caught by recreational and livelihood fishers in coastal and estuarine environments. Due to a combination of overfishing and environmental pressures, white steenbras populations have plummeted, resulting in the species being rated as Endangered on the IUCN’s Red List for…

05 December 2024

SANParks Sustainable Holiday Message: A Call to Action for a Greener Future

As the Black Friday sales frenzy and the holiday shopping rush surround us, it’s easy to get swept up in the excitement of buying more “things.” But amidst the seasonal chaos, this is the perfect time to pause and reflect on how we can live more sustainably. Not just for the Earth, but for our…

13 November 2024

Challenges and Insights from Whale Carcass Management in South African Marine Protected Areas

In September 2019, a dead humpback whale washed ashore in South Africa’s Tsitsikamma Marine Protected Area (MPA), a hotspot for both tourism and conservation. The stranding highlighted the complexities of managing whale carcasses within protected areas but provided a learning opportunity to further our understanding of public perception, monitor decomposition, and ultimately offer insights into…