News

Addo Elephant National Park’s rangers responsible for the main game-viewing area of the Park came up tops in the Best Performing Ranger Post category at this year’s SANParks Frontier Regional Achievement Awards.

The awards evening takes place annually, giving recognition to individuals, teams and parks for outstanding service in the previous financial year – in this case 2018/19. The Frontier Region is made up of the Addo Elephant, Camdeboo, Garden Route, Karoo and Mountain Zebra National Parks. The event took place at the Africanos Country Estate near Addo on Thursday 25 July.

The Addo team of dedicated rangers were commended for their high levels of conservation management, despite caring for the section with the most tourist pressure in the region. Not only did they not have any incidents of serious poaching, but they also participated in several joint security operations with the SAPS and private game reserves. Several of the team members even assisted other sections or parks when in crises – the most notable being the search for the missing lion from Karoo National Park earlier this year. During a time of persistent drought, these rangers have also been responsible for maintaining the most water points in the Park, ensuring constant water supply to its inhabitants.

Three individual awards were bestowed on staff who were deemed to have excelled in their duties, namely:

• Excellent Performance in the Workplace – Chad Nelson (Receptionist)
• Regional Manager’s Award – Nwabisani “Korsten” Hendricks (Marine Ranger)
• Regional Manager’s Award – Sinor Witbooi (Duty Manager)

Frontier Regional General Manager, Dries Engelbrecht, congratulated all the recipients on their awards and thanked them for their selfless work. He was joined in congratulating his staff by SANParks’ Managing Executive: Parks, Property Mokoena, who flew in specially to attend the awards. “You are examples of the quality of staff we have working in our national parks. Your dedication, passion and loyalty are evident in everything you do, and we hope that receiving these awards tonight will go a long way in not only motivating you to carry on in this fashion but also see your colleagues striving for better. I, along with your Regional Manager and other top management in the region, am very proud of all the winners this evening, as well as all the other staff members who were nominated,” he said.

Issued By

South African National Parks (SANParks) Frontier Region Communications

Enquiries

Fayroush Ludick
Regional Manager: Communications, SANParks
Tel: 082 888 0201
Email: [email protected]