Africa Wild

They seem to be doing a series of Kruger development stories!

Maybe it's now a follow-up operation, rehabilitating the site, clean-up or similar

Kruger National Park
The park is in the process of demolishing its dams and in the first week of school holidays access to Shingwedzi and Sirheni will be blocked off to the public including some other roads.

The dams that are being demolished are currently obsolete and with them gone river connectivity in the park will be improved.

Nice timing SP

Media Release: KNP to continue demolishing redundant dams

14 June 2019

Kruger National Park (KNP) will continue with the demolition of artificial dams in Shingwedzi and Sirheni, starting on the 18th to the 28th of June 2019. This process has been going on over the years to allow a free flow of fish species in the river.

KNP harbours over 40 fish species and the artificial redundant dams become a hindrance to their migration and livelihood. KNP is the first Park in Africa to demolish dams for ecological purposes. This will also improve river connectivity and natural hydrology in the Park, as well as remove barriers within the river system.

The process will affect some tourist routes in the Shingwedzi and Sirheni area as they will be closed off completely for the next two weeks. The dams to be demolished are Louis se Gat and Kanniedod Dams. SANParks advice tourists in the mentioned areas to respect the no-entry zones and take seriously the necessary instructions that will be given by HSMs.

Issued by:
Communications & Marketing Department – Kruger National Park

These rivers only flows once a year. So who is making money out of this exercise

They have been attacking these two dams for 5 years now, AFTER floods destroyed them!

KNP TO REMOVE THE RESIDUAL PART OF KANNIEDOOD DAM

The Kruger National Park (KNP) in conjunction with South African National Defence Force (SANDF) will demolish the remaining part of Kanniedood dam found on the S50, about 9km south east of Shingwedzi Camp.
The demolition operation will be conducted from Friday 29 November until Friday, 6 December 2019.
Explosives will be used to demolish the structure; after which the rubble will be removed as part of the rehabilitation process undertaken by the Expanded Public Works, Biodiversity Social Program.
To ensure safety of tourists, all roads in the areas will also be temporarily closed from 29 November to 6 December 2019.
The affected roads are the S50 gravel road, this will be closed from S50 and S134 junction in Shingwedzi to the S50 and S143 junction in Mooiplaas from the 29 November to 6 December 2019”, said the General Manager:
Communications and Marketing, Isaac Phaahla.
Further safety measures have been put in place as follows:

KNP ranger teams and SANDF fire fighting teams will be on stand-by to extinguish any wild fires that may arise.
The area around the target structures will be cleared on the ground to ensure animals and human beings are safe;
An aerial flight will be dispatched to the area immediately prior to detonation to ensure no tourists, animals or staff members are near the target.

Kanniedood dam wall was breached by the floods in January 2013 on the southern anchors of the wall causing the river to open a new channel by passing the dam wall on the southern bank of the Shingwedzi River.
The wall thus became redundant after the floods because it could no longer serve the purpose of retaining water.
“KNP has an artificial water provision policy which allows for the closing and removal of artificial water points.
Artificial water holes where water did not previously occur naturally have led to numerous ecological problems such as erosion and other environmental degradation (such as barriers to fish migration routes)”, explained Phaahla.
Conservation management has taken steps to rectify these negative consequences by closing and demolishing certain artificial water holes.
To enhance tourist experience, alternative game viewing opportunities will be provided in the future at areas of naturally occurring surface water.
Issued by:
South African National Parks - Kruger National Park: Communications & Marketing Department.
Enquiries:
Isaac Phaahla, Media Specialist - SANParks. Tel: 013 735 4363/012 426 5034, cell 083 673 6974 or email: Isaac.phaahla@sanparks.org

The war continues!

Obviously it was not done in June

A few years ago i have spoken to the previous camp manager and she told me the camp get its water from that dam and they are in the process of doing a survey to see how they can rebuild the dam wall

So all this is very confusing to me