South Africa: The History of Kruger National Park

South Africa’s Kruger is one of the two most popular National Parks in Africa, the other one being the Serengeti of Tanzania.

But covering an area of 19,623 square kilometers, Kruger is bigger than Serengeti by about 5000 kilometers square.

But how did this wildlife-rich conservancy come into being?

For starters, the park was named after Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, the former South African (Transvaal) President who ruled between 1883 and 1900.

Kruger is said to have been a pivotal force towards the establishment of this popular conservancy.

However, as early as 1867 individual farmers in the South African Republic started publishing notices in the Staatscourant which prohibited hunting as a measure to preserve game on their private land.

In this manner a total 200 owners protected game on some 300 farms between 1867 and 1881.

The farmers and ranches

One of these farmers was pioneer Alexander Marsh Robertson who owned two adjacent farms, Rolfontein and Elandsberg, extending over 65.1092 kilometers square in the Wakkerstroom district.

Robertson was the first farmer to fence part of his property to create a game camp in the eastern Transvaal, some 500 morgen 4.2835 km square using leadwood and barbed wire.

According to Wikipedia the creation of the game camp however was serendipity.

Robertson initially erected the fence to restrain his horses, but the fence also provided the added benefit of protecting the ground game.

Kruger steps in

President Paul Kruger regularly toured the rural areas to visit his people.

He heard about the success of Robertson’s “game camp” and wrote to Albertus Stoop, his son Tjaart’s future father-in-law, himself a keen conservationist and neighbor of Robertson, to arrange a visit to Rolfontein so that he could see the experiment firsthand and stay the night. Kruger was very impressed.

He visited Rolfontein again in 1892, and it was at this visit, at a great braai held in his honor that he spoke to the importance of Rolfontein in protecting smaller game and proceeded to lay out, for the first time in a public forum, his plan to establish the first Game Reserve in Africa along the Sabi River to preserve the big game that needed a much larger protected habitat to thrive.

But there are reports that a Game Commission had already been established in 1891 with J.M. Malan of Rustenburg as its chairperson.

This is what resulted in the establishment of the game law of 1891.

On 26 March 1898, the area between the Sabie and Crocodile rivers was officially proclaimed as the Government’s Wildtuin.

In June 1902, the Government Game Reserve was re-proclaimed by the British authorities as the Sabie Game Reserve.

James Stevenson Hamilton who was born in Scotland, was appointed in July 1902 as the first warden of the reserve.

In 1903, Harry Wolhuter, a veteran of Steinaecker’s Horse Regiment, became the first game ranger.

Initially, the park was only open to government officials and select visitors.

In 1903, an area between the Letaba and Limpopo rivers was proclaimed as the Shingwedzi Game Reserve.

On 28 August 1903, the area between the Sabie and Olifants rivers was added to the Sabi Game Reserve.

In 1914, the area between the Olifants and Letaba rivers was added to the Shingwedzi Game Reserve.

In 1916, Shingwedzi and Sabie Game Reserves were merged and became known as the Transvaal Game Reserve.

The first tourists allowed access to the park arrived in 1918 when the South African Railways offered a rail trip of the Lowveld, along the Selati railway line.

Night Train …. Smooth alligator

Tourists spent the night on the train at Selati Bridge with a game ranger.

The Kruger National Park was proclaimed on 31 May 1926 when the Sabie Game Reserve and Shingwedzi Game Reserve were merged into one.

As tourism started increasing, simple rondavels and rest camps were constructed in 1928–1929 to accommodate travellers. The first overnight facilities were opened in 1928, at Pretoriuskop, Satara and Skukuza (then known as Sabie Bridge). In 1930, 900 cars entered the park.

During World War II, Stevenson-Hamilton left the park for military duty. When he returned, he found facilities and conservation efforts in poor condition. He worked on restoring the park and retired in 1946.

Between 1935 and 1946, Eileen Orpen donated 24,528 ha of land to the park.

On 08 March 2003, for the first time, the Kruger National Park received over one million visitors in a 12-month period.

Additional inputs taken from the South African Researcher – Family History & Heritage.