This week, SANParks is opening its gates for free. Here’s why

This week South Africans can visit national parks for free.

The initiative, National Parks Week, originates from the premise that the parks have, for many decades, been inaccessible to the majority of the South Africans.

In the past couple of years, visitors to South African National Parks (SANParks) has grown by 6.7 million, according to SANParks chief executive Fundisile Mketeni.

Mketeni spoke at the launch of National Parks Week at Golden Gate Highlands National Park on Sunday and said 60% of those are South Africans.

“We plan to continue these numbers by also attracting blacks, because people still feel these numbers are not affordable but we know that the black middle class can afford these parks,” he said.

“If they can afford coastal hotels and stay there for weeks, in our national parks they can do that in half the amount that they spend when they visit these coastal resorts.”

There will be free access to 17 national parks managed by SANParks in the country including one of Africa’s largest game reserves, the Kruger National Park.

All South African visitors will be required to produce their official identity documents. Young people under the age of 16 will be allowed free access without proof of identity.

Deputy Minister of Tourism Elizabeth Thabethe said that since the inception in 2006, more than 100 000 people accessed national parks during National Parks Week.

One of the main reasons to celebrate this week is in acknowledging the successes of our national parks as a system.

It is also a painful reality that processes of establishing parks before the advent of democracy in South Africa was characterised by alienation of black people from the land and property, she said.

She added that during the colonial and apartheid era, the creation of parks saw thousands of communities forcibly removed from their land and relocated to new areas, or losing their land.

* Entrance to 17 SANParks in South Africa is free until Friday September 22. Click here to learn more

https://www.sanparks.org/about/events/parks_week/