SOUTH African National Parks (SANParks) will host the 15th annual SA National Parks Week from November 16 to 20.
This event , presented in partnership with Total South Africa and First National Bank, is a worldwide campaign which gives people free access to most national parks. The free access to parks does not include free access to accommodation facilities and other tourist activities.
SANParks Chief Executive Officer, Fundisile Mketeni, said, “SANParks has postponed the free access week, which is traditionally held in September, to November owing to the COVID-19 alert level 2 regulations, which restrict the number of persons allowed within public spaces. “Additionally, we have implemented extra visitor management procedures in the parks to manage visitor volumes in line with regulations to further mitigate the risk of the spread of coronavirus .”
Every year SANParks aims to increase the number of citizens that are granted free access to national parks during this time. Since the start of the programme in 2006, some 551 393 South Africans have been afforded the opportunity to enter national parks.
Mketeni said, “The purpose of this week is to cultivate a sense of pride in SA’s natural, cultural and historical heritage and a deeper appreciation of biodiversity. It is important for South Africans to visit and know the importance of national parks.”
Mketeni highlighted the growing need for national parks to be relevant, particularly to young people and communities living adjacent to parks.
“Through our Socio-economic Transformation programmes and our Expanded Public Works Programme, we work closely with communities living adjacent to national parks in order to be more inclusive, so we can tackle issues of wildlife crime with their help.
“We also want to afford more access to parks for cultural use, inform young people about the different career options that parks have to offer and create job opportunities. SANParks hopes to strengthen and enable those communities to reap the benefits of the national parks.”
) For more information visit www.sanparks.org/about/events/parks_week.
