Guests
to Addo Elephant National Park outside Port Elizabeth will no longer be able to
braai or picnic in the Park as from 16 December.
This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s latest call on Monday, 14 December to help curb the resurgence of COVID-19. This
particularly in areas identified as hotspots such as Nelson Mandela Bay, which
borders the Park.
This
specifically applies to the ever-popular Jack’s Picnic Site inside the game
viewing area and the picnic area at the Main Camp. The ablution blocks at
Jack’s will remain open.
In
addition, open safari vehicles for game-viewing will only load 50% of
the allowed capacity. These measures will prevail from 16 December to 15 January 2021.
Last
week the country’s body charged with the management of national parks, South
African National Parks (SANParks) called for shared responsibility in
exercising responsible travelling and behaviour in the midst of an increase in
COVID-19 cases in areas where some of its national parks are situated.
This
according to SANParks Acting Head of Communications, Rey Thakhuli who said
SANParks will continue to implement stringent protocols in all its national
parks including those in identified hotspots and those likely to be potential
hotspots.
He
indicated that the organisation is currently seeing a lot of uncertainty and
anxiety in particular concerning travelling in the identified hotspots with
some cancellations already effected by guests for bookings in Addo Elephant and
the Garden Route National Parks, starting from 16 December 2020 to 15 January
2021.
“Despite the negative effect brought by these cancellations, SANParks
welcomes the move by guests and would accept more voluntary cancellation as a
means of helping to manage lower occupancy levels and curb the spread of
COVID-19 especially in those parks that are situated within the Eastern and
Western Cape.”
Thakhuli
said to ensure that occupancy remains low during this difficult times, SANParks
has also taken a decision not to take new bookings if cancellations are
realised for Addo Elephant and Garden Route National Parks (Tsitsikamma,
Knysna and Wilderness) “and should travellers elect to cancel or postpone
their bookings to a later date for these specific areas, SANParks will not
charge fees or penalise cancellations, amendments and postponements for a 12
month period from the departure date of an existing booking in those areas”.
He
emphasised that cancellations, amendments and postponements for bookings in all
other national parks will carry penalties as per the SANParks Reservations
Policy.
He
added that ablution blocks and areas frequented by guests will be disinfected
often, sanitizing stations will be made available and travellers are also
encouraged to double the efforts by utilising their own sanitizers. Parents are
encouraged to monitor the movement of their children at all times.
Further
measures to be introduced in the parks in the Eastern and Western Cape include
a total ban on the transport or consumption of all alcoholic beverages for day
visitors within the parks, the introduction of day visitor quotas and closure
of some public areas – these include some picnic sites, day visit attractions
and some beaches managed by SANParks.
