SANParks seems to igonre all posts on the Malelane issue! Maybe we'll have to wait till the semi-permanent safari tents are erected in Malelane too :doh: As most of you know we have debated the Pretoriuskop issue in lenght. An official response from SANParks was the following:
Elsa on a previous occassion wrote:Many thanks and I have clarified the queries raised on the Facebook page a while ago, which I responded to. Let me clarify:
1. I am not aware of any rule or policy that prevents a tour operator (registered as such with SANParks) from on-selling their accommodation or camping product at a higher price. To my best knowledge, this product includes meals and game drives and is a full service product.
2. SANParks is currently investigating providing a product for group camping, thereby not impacting on the traditional camping market. How this group camping product will be designed, developed, where located and priced is at this stage not final.
3. This operator is subject to normal rules applicable to public and tour operators that book accommodation or campsites with emphasis on:
a. Opening of bookings
b. For the nights that the operator does not have a booking, paid for and confirmed, site must be vacated.
If there are any further queries, related to this matter, you are welcome to contact me.
With kind regards.
JOEP STEVENS
GENERAL MANAGER, STRATEGIC TOURISM SERVICES [...]
Potential unfair bookingsystem?
My concerrn are the issue communicated by Joep Stevens under point 3. He states that this operator (Tented Adventures which operates in Pretoriuskop and which is suspected of doing so too from November is Malelane aswell) '
is subject to normal rules applicable to public and tour operators that book accommodation or campsites' with reference to (amongst other things) the
opening of bookings. Fair enough: it sounds fair and it creates the impressoin that the playingfield for touroperators and Joe Public is the same. Well I can confirm:
IT IS NOT!
Testing of the 'same rules for all' principle
The bookings for May 2018 opened on 1 June 2017 (by phone) and it opens a day later for online booking (online account), therefore the latter on 2 June 2017. If the system is fair and accessible for anyone, thus Touroperator or Joe Public I should have the possibility to book the campsites aswell. I decided to test this theory in order to avoid any heasay and to be able to report it myself.
I phoned the sattelite offices at the earliest oppurtunity, being 7:30 on 1 June 2017. At 7:38 I got through and I managed to book
5 sites at Malelane for 1 till 4 May 2018. There were the only 5 campsites (Malelane has 15 campsites) left I was told, the other campsiteswere booked already!
When I asked how this is possible I was told that they had no idea how this was possible as I am VERY early. The regular guys aking bookings often would know it's quite fast. Its clear to me: the sites are booked out at an earlier stage and that ordinary tourists cannot book them as they have a disadvantage to the tour operators, or at least this particular tour operator! SANPArks creates the impression that everyone has a chance to book the sites however I seems the opposite is true. How is this possible?
Online bookings a day later?
Information about the online bookings can be found here:
https://www.sanparks.org/tourism/reserv ... eriods.php
A second thing I still find strange is that the online booking system can only be used a day later, thus not 1 June but 2 June. The reason for the 24 hours delay is not provided. However what I do know is that whenever one books online and pays via credit card the booking is secured immediately. Why is this not possible on the first of the month but only a day later? Is this done to give the touroperators a possible head start to Joe Public? Both the fact that I phoned at 7.38 am just to find out that the 10 (other) sites in Malelane were already booked and the fact that online bookings are only possible on the second day of the month, gives e the impression that the chances are not even. I think Joe Public has a right to know how the system works, and what is truly going on.
For some it might not be a surprise at all, however I'm testing it the way I did to show that the innocent tourist is not informed while he should be. Hence my post on this
.The death knell of KNP starting to ring over and over 
.
. Malelane is one of our favorites camp sites but it seems it will be pointless even trying to go there in future as the fenceline will be taken up with permanent structures 
so Sanparks will just sit with a campsite that always has 5 sites unused where previously we would go to the camp and move to the fenceline when another camper moved off . I think the fairness of the booking system has been raised repeatedly here over many years and there certainly seems to be special privileges given to the tour operators in the booking of sites