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Maybe this question was asked before, but why are sanpark personell alowed to travel after gate closing time? Im in lowersabie at the moment and noticed this since yesterday. And they travel in their personal vehicles. This afternoon there was a guy going past me on his way to skukuza i presume, from lower sabie just as i was making my way back to camp.

And this morning at 3.30 a car also came from skukuza. Please can someone inform me?

But afterall all sightings are good.

I am aware of this too. I know that there are cars which will accompany people if they are latecomers. Or perhaps emergencies. I do wonder though about them driving around so much

My neighbours and i talked and they told me that this morning on their way to croc bridge, a sanpark vehicle coming from croc bridge had a bird lodged in the grill of the bakkie , and that when they stayed at pretoriuskop they also noted the "afterdark traffic" , as they call it.

With our last stay in Satara, 18-20 May, there were also vechiles driving late at nite. On monday morning at 4.00 three vechiles left the camp at a very high speed. Ok, maybe it was for the schoolkids that must be somewhere at a specific time,or for any other reason, but what worrys me is the high speed of this vechiles, driving thru the camp. Even the staff that return from work after the shops closed do the speed thing. Cant somebody do something aboud it???

Yup Zeelie there are plenty of Sanparks vehicles that travel after gate closing. And they are allowed to. I have for one been escorted in convoy to Skuks from Paul Kruger long after camps closing. It can be arranged if you call the camp in advance. Also there are staff that need to get from place to place.
And before gates open, there are game trucks that take off with passengers that are going on morning walks.

cheetah...I think you are being too kind.

last august while in Lower sabie we witnessed the same car driving 4 times , twice they came speeding past us; in the morning on our way to skukuza and then less than an hour later it came hurtling in the opposite direction.

The next morning it left through the gates early while we were all queuing, it went right, then a few mins later came past quickly to the left and again past us on our way to skukuza.

The last time was on our sunset drive we had gone north from lower sabie towards skukuza; again the car and same driver came hurtling up, asked if the driver wanted anything from the shops outside croc bridge, to which they said no, and the car turned around and sped off!!!!

If workers; and some obviously have no interest in animals, can go out at night, why havent sanparks seen a money urner......could they not charge guests to drive a set route in their own cars after closing time. Maximum 3 cars per camp and charge like the 4x4 routes R500 per vehicle.

just my two pennies worth
john

That is interesting
Thanks John

I have noticed this trend too. In fact this is one of the reasons we refuse to stay at Skukuzaanymore, because during our last stay at Skukuza about four years ago, it seemed the traffic never stopped throughout the night.

Ja nee Bundi. Skukuza is the main camp with a lots and lots of staff. So one can expect the most night traffic at Skukuza.

I guess there is always going to be either a need or a desire for staff to be able to travel after gate closing time, but is there some sort of curfew in place between certain hours ie 9pm - 3am no travel allowed? I would have thought there is a larger security issue here.
Lesego would you be please be kind enough to find out for us know if there are curfews for staff in place of any kind or any other staff travelling rules which are relevant to this - thanks.

When we stay at our lodge at the Paul Kruger Gate you can hear the traffic right through the nigh! They scream up to the closed gate, stop for a second or two and then take off again across the bridge. You can hear the vehicles pick up speed the moment they get to the other side of reception so they must put their foot flat. This happens every single night of the week, right through the night. The Concessions also have use of the roads at night to take their staff home and if you are staying at Talamati you can hear the vehicles travelling very fast down the dirt road towards the Orpen Gate and the same at Crocodile Bridge. Given the fact that a rhino was poached last week virtually alongside Skukuza camp this is indeed very worrisome and is one of the things Sanparks needs to address as soon as possible. They have absolutely no idea who is staying in their staff villages, with or without permission and for how long, nor what they are doing there.

Hi

I do think that Kruger need to do something about excessive speeding. Why is this happening now? I am not someone who lives in the past. But the truth is it was not so noticable years ago. I think Sanparks should look at this surely there should be some discipline. Sorry but I need to ask this. I also need to say that in the silence speed can be misread. Perhaps they are not speeding it just seems so.
I wonder how many animals have died in the night due to this? Does anyone know?

Wouldn't it be achievable to have staff dog tags or the like (my SO has to have one to get into his place of work)
to gain access in and out of camp staff villages and gates after hours? Staff and immediate family only? Yes, yet another cost, but I think security should be a very high priority.

...................another reason to stay further North, where this seems to happen less!!