Natural surface water

[Hendrik84]

Hi all

I am a bit different in the sense that in Kruger bush I hate the sight of man made dams or windmills etc. I does put me in a spot of bother as for instance I love the s50 and s49 roads along the Nshawu marshes east of Mopani but I dont think theres much if any natural surface water in the dry season and would therefor be quite devoid of water dependent game during the dry season (Apart from the odd steenbok, cheetah etc). I also like Pretoriuskop but the H1-1 running west towards Skukuza is lying on the watershed/highground between 2 riverbasins to the North and South of which sadly there is very few roads closer to them. (Apart from for instance the s65). Again the 2 dams on this road is probably the only permanent water right? Obviously in the wet season its not an issue. Im not saying that the roads should all stick to the river like the Skukuza-Lower Sabie road at all as I want to experience different scenarios. Understandably there was different considerations when the roads were built many years ago. But thats enough waffling for now, I would love to read up a bit more on water availability during the dry season and how game react to this, but area specific, for instance the areas that I have mentioned and not just game's general seasonal habits. There also plenty of Kruger experts who can divulge more on this subject?

(O ja admin you are welcome to move the thread to a more suitable location if needed)

[Elsa]

Warm welcome to the forum Hendrik

Just trying to find if we have a topic specifically dedicated to what you are asking?

Obviously in the drier times or years you will find the animals will generally migrate to areas like permanent water sources like rivers, dams etc

Over the years SANParks have been undergoing a systematic Closing of the various Water points in Kruger which will provide you with answers and the reasons for this.

Have a look through the Archaeology, Astronomy, Geology and Meteorology forum where you could find some very interesting topics.

Waterholes

[Hendrik84]

Thanks Elsa

The post about dams and waterholes look very interesting. I have also been keenly following the closure of boreholes and demolition of dams and is fascinated in how it will change the animal dynamics. I fully support going back to a more natural system as far as possible (despite the park being a fenced in closed system yada yada..). Also it would be nice if they would build more roads towards naturally occurring water as they have proposed and already developed 1 or 2 roads.
When u play around on google maps u see there is just so many places in the park that look simply amazing from the air, and where we will never be able to reach

[Goggo EJ]

The Water Policy, like Fire Policy etc, is an evolving one. As more is learned about the environment and the effects of our intervention on it, the Strategic Adaptive Management approach taken by SANParks allows them to change what they do. They have learned that management must be different in different ecological zones - according to geology, landscape, local climate, size of reserve, etc. Old policies that were based on best scientific evidence at the time must give way to better informed policies, and these in turn will change.

New roads etc have to be thoroughly investigated and researched before being approved.

It is also important to keep areas free of human interference as much as possible to allow for scientific research into what happens in these more natural areas. This in turn will help inform management decisions.

It is a constantly changing and evolving process.....so much to learn.....so challenging!