SANParks.org Forums

Calling all Kruger Park “oldies”

The Midrand Region of the SANParks Honorary Rangers produced a 2011 calendar of “Kruger Park Memories” and it proved to be a highly successful fundraising project. We are now hard at work on the 2012 calendar but would like to include you, the loyal Kruger Park visitors….

Each month features an old picture and a bit of history about it. For the 2012 calendar we would like YOU to submit your personal memories and we will choose the 12 best photos and descriptions.

Please scan and email your photos to midrandregion@gmail.com . They need not be high resolution at this stage – when we have chosen the best photos we will contact the relevant parties and request originals or high res. attachments.

Please supply your name, address and phone number as well as the story behind each photo. Closing date is the end of May 2011. There is no limit to the number of photos you can submit, but please note SANParks may request that the photos be added to their archives.

Happy memories!
Midrand Region
SANParks Honorary Rangers

Hi Forumites,
My eyes are burning, read the whole thread, excellent!
I must say looking at some of the old photos... I think our mother all shopped at OK.
I recognise the clothes!
Please.. just a minute silence for our parents taking 5 children to Kruger.

Foxy found an album from days long past, in 1939 to be exact.
Some are family photos, but they nicely show the real dress to be worn in the bush, so I left them in.
No explanations needed, the captions are in the photos.

The enamel wash basin, jug and chamber pot ('koos') can still be found in Balule's chalets, Spaniel.


And of course, not all camps have electricity like stated above. Some of them still operate with gas.

I also do not have photos and only started going to Kruger in 2002, 2003. Geez, years wasted...
But I would like to share this story that is in the book "Prime Origins Guide to Exploring Kruger" by Brett Hilton-Barber & Professor Lee R Berger, which I found humerous when I read it.

Lion Encounter

Being drunk in the bush is an invatation to danger. However, to every rule there is an exception. In Wild Life in South Africa, James Stevenson-Hamilton recounted the experience of a ranger called Sakubona in the early days of Kruger's history. Late one night an inebriated Sakubona returned home from a party at a nearby kraal when he literally walked into a lion along a narrow bushpath.

"According to his own account, he felt indignant, and after inquiring of the lion what it meant by blocking his road in this manner, poked it on the nose with his stick, on which it growled, bit him in the leg , and then ran away." The next morning a ranger examined the footprints and tracks and confirmed there had been some sort of incident involving man and lion.

"Of course no-one, not even Sakubona himself," wrote Stevenson-Hamilton "Knows what exactly did happen but he assuredly did have a single-handed and unarmed encounter with a lion in the dark, and came off best. Personally, I think had he been sober the result might have been unfortunate for him, but he was in just that condition when it is impossible to know fear. He had arrived at just that stage of spiritual elevation when a man feels there is nothing in the world of which he is not capable. Also of course, there are lions and lions!"

When the Park opened to tourism Sakubona supplemented his income as a gate guard by rolling up his trousers and showing his scars to tourists for a small fee.



Quite an encounter, ain't it..?

Dear Stephan,

Thanks for reminding and I will post three sets of old camp pics with old and current for each - like a 'then and now'.


This particular one is of the big sycamore fig (ficus sycamorus) in front of Skukuza restaurant. One taken in the 1950's when tree was small and one as it looks now.
Enjoy!

Kind regards.

JOEP

Thanks Eagle Owl, the first was taken in the 1950's and is an image I got from a post card. It shows how fast the figs can grow if conditions are good!

Kind regards.

JOEP

Dear All,

The next is of Satara camp. Few people know that the camp originated where the D circle is now - right on the far edge of the camp. The first taken in 1933 of shop/ dining hall and reception. Second taken in same place recently - only identifiable using the trees. Here we see the relative slow growth of Marulas (nearly eighty years difference) and these have been protected from elephants for many years.

Kind regards.

JOEP

Dear All,

Next is one of Shingwedzi and taken in circle A, being the first series of huts in this camp. The old hartebeest style huts have been kept intact although the interior has been upgraded. Like the others, this could be found using the trees, in this case the Mopani's and specifically the two slanted ons on the right. Note how vehicles were parked on the inside of the circle and also note the tiny impala lilies (ademium multiflorum) in the older photo's. These have now grown into huge mature plants which have become an attraction of this camp. In the wild they are stunted due to feeding by antelope, but being in a protected environment such as this, they are able to grow beautifully.

Kind regards.

JOEP

Dear Bennivis,

You requested a picture of the old well known Acacia Tortillis that once was a main feature near Satara Restaurant (old one). I enclose two, one an aerial shot (1948) showing the tree on the left of the image just behind the ridge of the building on the left. The second taken later (50's or 60's) shows the actual tree in ita mature phase with branches being supported and the expansive shaded area used by many a visitor from the start of the camp (late 1920's) until it eventually succumbed in the late 70's.

Kind regards.

JOEP

Hi Joep,

The row of tents in the middle of the first photo...were they the permanent "safari tents" or was there no permanent tents those days? They kind a look like the British army tents you see in movies.

Dear Eagle Owl,

Thanks for query. Keeping in mind that with the exception of Pretoriuskop, all other camps closed during the summer months, tents were provided during the winter season in most camps. Provided were beds (steel) mattreses, table and chairs and basin for washing. No they were not permanent like the safari tents.

Kind regards.

JOEP

Dear Joep.

Thank you for the old Satara photos! I bet you had to dig deep and far
I was about 4 or 5 years old when I first sat under that tree! Brings back so much memories.

Thank you for making my day!


PS - Note the perimeter fence!

Dear Eagle Owl,

Your question on camps opening all year relates. This was rather progressive and started in the south and gradually crept northwards. Is essence there were various deciding factors, namely roads and also supply of electricity from main grid (Eskom). Anyway, last camps to open were Punda and Shingwedzi and that was in the summer of 1977.

Kind regards.

JOEP

Joep. I love the "then" and "now" photos!

Here is one photo of my grandma in Skukuza. I'm not sure about the time period, but it must have been the late forties.