KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

Limpopo Province offers access to the world-renowned Kruger National Park (70% of which is in the Limpopo province). In its eastern region through the Pafuri, Punda Maria, Phalaborwa and Orpen gates. This vast wilderness area stretches from the Limpopo River in the north to the Crocodile River in the south covering an area of 2 000 000 hectares (20 000 square kilometres) which is roughly the size of Israel or Wales. Approximately two thirds of the park (from the Limpopo to the Olifants River) fall within the Limpopo Province, while the southern region falls within Mpumalanga. The Kruger National Park has been incorporated into the Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Park, a transfrontier conservation area stretching over 35 000 square kilometres covering Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa, to become part of the proposed Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The park provides sanctuary to 147 species of mammals which include the Big Five (lion, leopard, buffalo, rhinoceros and elephant), 505 bird, 116 reptile, 49 fish and 34 amphibian species within its16 different ecosystems. The Kruger Park also boasts many cultural heritage and rock art sites. At Thulamela in the Pafuri area, the remains of a late Iron Age settlement believed to have been inhabited from the 15th to the mid-17th century has been restored and preserved. Guided tours can be booked at the Pafuri entrance gate into the park. The Masorini heritage site close to the Phalaborwa gate was inhabited by a group of the BaPhalaborwa people who made a living by manufacturing and selling iron artefacts during the Iron Age.