Africa Wild

Kruger controversy: 'Rangers and guides should abide by the rules too'

2016-09-01 07:30 - Louzel Lombard

A social media message has hit a nerve with loyal Kruger National Park visitors, who feel that official rangers and guides sometimes act above the laws and rules stipulated by the Park.

The controversy was sparked after a ranger posted a message to the Guides & Rangers Facebook page, asking members of the public not to report rangers and guides with "little kak complaints".

The message has since been deleted but was reposted to the official SANParks - Kruger National Park Facebook page again. It reads, "It's been noticed that a lot of people have been taking pictures of guides lately and posting it to this group with negative feelings. Please stop doing this, you do not realise what impact you can have on a person's career by doing this. We have been seeing pictures posted of guides with the left wheels off the tar road and the post was complaining about this behaviour. Believe me, we don't do this because I want to get 1m closer to the animal...that's why we have cameras! We sometimes do this to create space because as any Kruger fanatic will know, traffic can be expected at a proper sighting.

Remember that we take around people who have never even seen an impala before, so sometimes we are under pressure to give that 'once in a lifetime experience'. But please take note, we do not agree with any unethical behaviour. We just simply want to ask that you guys stop posting little kak complaints to the group about guides. Rather concentrate on the important issues. And somebody really misbehaves and you would like to report it, do it via the correct channels then. Thank you."

The original message was slammed with negative responses of Kruger fanatics saying it was daft for rangers to consider their own law-breaking 'little' in comparison to other illegalities in the park.

When the message was resposted again, too, Kruger enthusiasts insisted all users of the park should be treated equal.

Kruger lover Jarryd Wilson says the rangers' guests are no more special than any other visitors in the park. "Whether they can see it or not they ruining the Kruger experience for everyone!" he writes.

"Not all but 99% of the tour operators are selfish, rude and don't actually care about anything but big game and making a tip... Kruger is also about the small animals birds and bugs! You are ruining the Kruger way just for an extra 'buck'."

Social media user Mark Roxburgh also says it's a shame the ranger deleted the original post. "It's a pity that [the Guides and Rangers page users] are not open to discussions around issues that affect the interface between OSVs and the public," he writes.

According to official SANParks laws, vehicles are not permitted to veer off designated routes in the parks. Reynold Thakhuli for SANParks told Traveller24, "guides are there to take visitors on game drives - the guides include both SANParks and private guides. These guides are only allowed to conduct their activities on tourist roads."

Officials in the Kruger National Parks have been called out before. But then, visitors were complaining about service delivery trucks failing to adhere to speed restrictions and general conduct in the park.

What are your thoughts? Please get in touch via email at info@traveller24.co.za and join the discussion.

Well if the ranger wants to open a can of worms he/she did a good job

Wonder if this is the normal out of context hysteria?

Storm in a glass of water

Is this more about SP vehicles or private OSVs?

Both I think

Rules apply for all and having the "left wheel off the tar road to create space but not to be closer to the sighting"... yeah, right... They ARE under pressure to provide a memorable sighting. And that's not my opinion, obviously

Kruger Controversy: Social media shaming won't do any good without proof

Despite rangers and guides being under fire over the past couple of days for not abiding by the official rules of the Kruger National Park, members of the public should be wary of pointing a finger...

Earlier this week, controversy was sparked after a ranger posted a message to the Guides & Rangers Facebook page, asking members of the public not to report rangers and guides with "little kak complaints".

Members of the public responded in outrage, with some stating that "Not all but 99% of the tour operators are selfish, rude and don't actually care about anything but big game and making a tip..."

This, however, is not the case, says Hannelie du Toit, manager of the Southern African Tourism Services Association's (SATSA) self-regulation project for Open Safari Vehicles in the Kruger Park.

According to data from the self-regulation project for Open Safari Vehicles over the last year, Du Toit says inappropriate behaviour and rule-breaking is a consistent problem experienced in the Kruger National Park.

More importantly, she says the data shows offenders across the board. They "exist amongst the public, OSVs and other official vehicles".

This is reflected in the various Kruger National Park social media groups, where ill behaviour of visitors in the park is often shared and talked about.

But merely talking and complaining about rangers and guides' bad behaviour won't do any good, Du Toit says. If visitors to the park want to contribute to regulating park rules, they need to report incidents correctly.

"It is disheartening to see incidents, often with no actual proof, being posted on social media sites instead of through the official channel," she says. Especially since the official reporting of bad behaviour is as easy as making a social media post about it.

The self-regulation programme requires of each OSV to carry a yellow sticker on the back of the vehicle, with a telephone number which park visitors can contact when they want to report bad behaviour. Cases with detailed reports of incidents, including proof of the bad behaviour, will then be investigated and dealt with accordingly.

You can read more about it here: New safari vehicle regulations to set rigorous safety precedent

The self-regulation project for Open Safari Vehicles was launched by Minister of Tourism Derek Hanekom, in May last year, as a partnership initiative between South African National Parks (SANParks) and SATSA.

I do agree that a lot of people do just love to complain and post negative stuff on FB, but the OSV's have brought this on themselves with their behaviour. Almost every traffic jam in Kruger is made up of mostly OSV's who are all in radio contact and rush from one sighting to another!

The guy who posted this is an OSV guide, not a Ranger...the heading is a bit confusing!