WITH the silly season fast approaching, world-renowned Kruger National Park (KNP) has come up with an initiative to prevent long queues and crime at its parks.
The park has launched a cash-free initiative at five of their gates, found in the southern part of the park, as well as fuel stations from the first of December.
KNP spokesperson Ike Phaahla said the initiative was part of a broader cash-free digital drive, which South African National Parks introduced in 2021 to improve customer convenience and reduce contact time at entry points especially during peak times.
“The initiative will be piloted from the 1st of December. The Skukuza Gas station will also be going online. This is to prevent problems associated with handling cash and the inconvenience of waiting for long periods at the gate.”
Entrance gates to the KNP which will be launching the cash free payment methods are Paul Kruger Gate, Phabeni Gate, Numbi Gate, Malelane Gate and Crocodile Bridge Gate.
The system in the KNP will be implemented in a two-phased approach at some facilities, while the remaining gates and camps will go online in early 2024.
KNP Managing Executive, Oscar Mthimkhulu, said that because the park was expecting a plethora of visitors, the initiative would impact the time it took to get into a park.
“We therefore would like to encourage clients to make use of either the online pre-booking payment systems which offers a no hassle of having to transact on arrival or speed point payment systems at the gates,” he said.
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za