From 1 December 2011 visitors who travel through the Kruger National Park and use its border gates as entry or exit through to the neighbouring countries such as Mozambique, will be required to produce a valid overnight booking for either the Kruger or Limpopo National Park.
The restrictions will apply to all entrance gates in the Kruger leading to the two border gates i.e. Pafuri and Giriyondo which are both found in the Nxanatseni (northern) region of the park.
Control measure needed
‘The intention of some travellers, who made use of these two border gates on a drive through basis, had a negative impact on the park visitors. We had to introduce these control measure on those routes in order to eliminate the undesired tendencies such as heavy laden, unroadworthy vehicles, speeding, road kills etc; all these which were against the National Road Safety Act and spoiling the experience for our park visitors,’ said the HOD: Public Relations, William Mabasa.
To allow visitors who have already planned their holiday schedule in Mozambique but have not secured accommodation booking yet, an additional fee of R150 per person will be charged to allow one to travel via the Park; however one should still provide valid proof that no accommodation is available in either of the two National Parks and possess the required travel documents. This option will only be available for a period of six months; effective from December 1, 2011.
Essentially, without a confirmed booking and confirmation that all facilities are fully booked, such travellers will be refused admission and they would need to use other routes outside the Park leading to their destination.
The road belongs to the tourists
‘The Pafuri and Giriyondo border gates are meant to afford tourists to travel between the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Parks without having to exit the parks. The routes for the border gates are classified as tourists roads and do not allow for commercial traffic therefore the idea is to encourage people to travel from one national park to another,’ concluded Mabasa.
So, be sure to keep all the transaction details of your next booking in the Kruger National Park and Limpopo National Park close at hand when travelling in that part of the country.
Find accommodation in the Kruger National Park and Mozambique.
Need more advice? Check out this blog on how to get your car through borders.
Image by © Duncan Smith/Corbis
