Bicycles in Kruger

[BunnyHugger]

I can see you feel very strongly about this BH , and I share your sentiments, maybe just not so vehemently! In my opinion there is no need to provide kids with further entertainment in Kruger....they are visiting one of the top nature reserves in the world, after all!! :roll: If the abundant wildlife is not enough to enthrall them and if parents can't entertain their kids within the rules, then they must take them somewhere else.

VERY. Whenever nature is under threat from humans, we need to be there to speak out against it.

Finding places to hide the bodies is also an alternative Flutts.

When my LO was about 4 or so, we used to take hi trike down to the coast with us. Then after a day on the beach, we would take a walk with him while he rode his trike along the beach road. When we heard a car, we would hurry him off to the side of the road. When we took him to Kruger we explained that he could not have his trike. Simple.

It just needles me that conservation is being pushed further and further back. Tourism and money making is more important. It seems to me that there are too many silly people with really stupid ideas running the show these days.

[Lisbeth]

I might have missed something somewhere, but are bicycles still being complained about? The above is from October as you can see.

BH reopened the question quoting Joep Stevens post from the month of October last year. Are bicycles still a problem in the camps?

[iNdlovu]

It seems it is still a problem Lis, somewhere on Africa Wild someone posted that there were kids riding their bikes right outside the Skuks offices or restaurant and nobody lifted a finger, so although I admire Michelle's take on the bike/skateboard issue, it is typically just another of the many rules that is not enforced or enforced rigidly enough.
Here's a list:

getting out of cars
hanging out of car windows & sunroofs
riding bikes & skateboards
speeding
littering
venturing off roads
quiet after 21:30 at night
overnighting in Kruger or LTP before being able to use border gates
bringing alcohol into the park for day visitors
Day visitors being able to purchase alcohol at restaurants
taking alcohol on guided night drives
Misbehavior at swimming pools

....and there's probably many more i can't even think of. Now tell me that the ones listed above don't all tie in with behavior expected at a resort.

[Richprins]

Well, littering and speeding and noise etc. have been complaints for decades...but bicycles not until very recently...I don't know if that makes a point or not...just my experience!

I'm with the kids on this one...they are getting so fat and lazy..let them ride! They will scream anyway, and the bikes don't make noise?

And they get "cabin fever" after being cooped up in a car all day!

[Sprocky]

RP sorry, but that doesn't gel with me!

If one rule can be broken (sp. bent) then why not test them all. I want to drink beer as a day visitor, if bikes are allowed what stops me from taking beers in?

[Richprins]

I also want to drink as a day visitor, but that's not quite the topic here!

That's my take on the story, so there!

[Poplap]

Well, littering and speeding and noise etc. have been complaints for decades...but bicycles not until very recently...I don't know if that makes a point or not...just my experience!

I'm with the kids on this one...they are getting so fat and lazy..let them ride! They will scream anyway, and the bikes don't make noise?

And they get "cabin fever" after being cooped up in a car all day!

No, definitely not! We had this experience in Tsendze (supposedly a quiet camp in June/July and I hope I never have to live through it again.


We had a fully erected volley ball field on one of the open stands. True story. We had the full "Tour de Fence" whilst we were there. RP, are you saying it is acceptable to drink a sundowner, staring into the veld, and the next moment five yelling kids drive past - between your spot and the fence? Are you honestly serious?

Kids can shake their fat or excess energy in many ways, but not in MY park! They have approximately 350 days a year to do that. I'm sure they'll live through two bike-less weeks. I have never tolerated my daughter 'screaming' or disturbing the peace for others. She goes into Kruger-mode when we enter one of the main gates. As simple and as pure and elitist as that.

Cooped-up? Say what??!! Don't make me laugh. They can sit on their bums and play video games and watch dvd's the whole day long. The young folk are quite used to being 'cooped-up'. Sorry, that is absolutely no excuse.

And this is my take on the story. :evil

[Flutterby]

I agree with Poplap 100%. Children can learn and indeed greatly benefit from being taught and encouraged to:

1. respect the peacefulness of nature and being in the park to enjoy it on its own terms
2. respect the rights of other to enjoy no.1
3. learn to have quiet time to think and relax quietly

Too many kids in my opinion need constant stimulation, go go go... it is not an inherent kid thing, society has allowed or even facilitated this - if children learn to slow down sometimes and reflect on whats around them quietly it will only benefit them in the future.

[Lisbeth]

Definitely no bicycles in any park and Sanparks had better start keeping their promises of controls of all different kinds.

[Flutterby]

Jeezlike...there is nothing more annoying that a little plastic scooter going up n down past you the whole evening!!!!

Complain to the office and you get told, "we never knew there was such rule". So you just end up shoving a pamphlet in their faces and phoning the duty manager yourself.