News

KNP Management has noted with concern incidents of visitors who disregard road closures, remove “no entry” signs whilst in the park and end up stuck on closed roads, requiring an emergency search by ranger and other essential teams. SANParks acknowledges that whilst people’s lives are of priority in emergency situations, guests who deliberately open closed roads and then get stuck may be fined as per the relevant regulations and held accountable for costs incurred from search and rescue operations.

Not only is this a contravention of the National Environmental Management: Protected Areas Act No. 57 of 2003; but also misleads other visitors to drive through when they find closed roads illegally opened; putting all involved parties at great risk. The situation has reached a stage wherein the park ends up spending a lot of resources; thereby incurring costs from the search and rescue operations undertaken.

Apart from the operational impact of fuel, road repairs, deployment of rangers and air services resources away from the conservation mandate, tourists driving on closed roads continue to worsen the already damaged road infrastructure, increase maintenance costs and delay the reopening of roads after wet weather. In a typical missing tourist incident wherein the location of the tourists is unknown, a minimum of four ranger vehicles and eight rangers are deployed to search until the tourists are located. This significantly increases operational costs and places additional pressure on already limited resources.

These actions also cause panic from staff at respective camps expecting the guests as well as guests’ family members; which in turn prompts them to report the affected guests as missing after not hearing from them or not having arrived at their booked camp. Due to limited network in the park, it is not always possible for guests or staff to contact anyone for assistance if they find themselves stranded on some of the roads. Once a tourist is reported missing, the Mission Area Joint Operation Centre (MAJOC) embarks on a search, checking for information on the camera detection system, informing ranger sections, and as guided by the findings, deciding to deploy the SANParks aircraft for assistance in locating the missing guests.