Save the Kruger National Park!

This is an unprecedented threat to the Kruger Park, known internationally as a unique, unspoilt and respected haven for wildlife.

A Parliamentary Committee itself advised Kruger to reassess its money-making strategy in 2011, yet the policy is being forced through despite our calls for evidence justifying the expansion.

Developers are pushing to build at least six luxury hotels within its borders, or alongside them in a new "buffer zone", along with at least three new entrance gates, tented camps in untouched areas, seven new picnic spots, a number of new tourist roads and a road link to Zimbabwe, all meaning more income and potential commercial traffic at a huge cost to the wilderness atmosphere and conservation security of the Park, and unless we speak out now, this wildlife sanctuary could be lost to future generations.

This move is part of an attempt to turn the park into a self-funded operation: putting cash revenue ahead of conservation with the sinister justification that this would somehow redress political and socio-economic issues in the surrounding communities. This should never be the purpose of a National Park, and many well-funded Government Departments are currently tasked with alleviating those issues!

Incredibly, Kruger openly states its intention of diverting tourist income away from neighbouring destinations on its borders, and into its own coffers through an elaborate and controversial rezoning plan that would curb public tourist development not approved by government, while possibly negating the need for proper developmental assessment within its own periphery!

Also, neighbouring communities will be given access to at least one thousand square kilometres of the Park for the purposes of "sustainable harvesting"!

South Africans and overseas visitors have already voiced their strong opposition to all this, but the process continues...

The shocking possibility exists that tourists, both local and foreign, may increasingly begin avoiding an already overcrowded Kruger in favour of other destinations, leading to an economic catastrophe in the area!

Let's come together to demand that this world-renowned wilderness area stays a wilderness area -- not an overcrowded money-spinner or a transit area for international commercial vehicles! Sign the petition to demand that the South African government prohibits any future commercial developments in Kruger National Park!

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