Kruger National Park in the 1970s

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1970[edit]

Number of annual visitors to the Kruger National Park: 1970–1979[1][2]
Year Total visitors Year Total visitors
1969/70 349 710 1972/73 330 565
1973/74 341 232 1974/75 363 482
1975/76 374 892 1976/77 357 473
1977/78 372 488 1978/79 391 512
  • January 18 – A Skukuza post office clerk, Marius Meyer, is caught by a crocodile at a Sabie River fishing spot near Skukuza. His remains were never found.[3]
  • July 10 – A train hits a herd of buffaloes on the Selati railway line near Bume, killing 19 animals.[4]




1971[edit]

  • January 9 – The new Engelhard Dam near Letaba Rest Camp spills over for the first time.[2]
  • February 19 - A Midas free-tailed bat, Tadarida (Mops) midas midas, is caught near Skukuza. This species has not previously been recorded in South Africa.[5]
  • May 17 – Black rhinos reintroduced to the Park. Twenty of these animals were released between Skukuza and Pretoriuskop.
  • September - An anthrax epidemic breaks out in the northern areas of the Park, nearly wiping out the already small roan antelope population.[2]

1972[edit]

  • February 24 - Olifants Camp was struck by disaster when the main complex, housing the shop and restaurant, was destroyed by a fire thought to have originated in the kitchen chimney.
  • September 21 - A further twelve black rhinos from the Zambezi valley in Rhodesia arrive in the Park.[6]

1973[edit]

  • March 21 - Paul Kruger Gate near Skukuza opens.[2]
  • October 23 – A new frog species, the knocking sand frog, sometimes also known as the sandveld pyxie (Tomopterna krugerensis) is discovered around the Machayi and Mathlakuza Pans in the northeastern part of the Park near the Mozambican frontier.[7][8]

1974[edit]

  • November 1 - Mooiplaas ranger post, close to the later Mopani rest camp, opens with Bruce Bryden as the first ranger stationed there.

1975[edit]

1976[edit]

  • February 27 - The last Mozambican recruits cross the border at Pafuri. The northern Kruger National Park was one of the main routes used by the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association (WNLA) to move black recruits from Mozambique to the Witwatersrand gold mines.[4]
  • March - The new Frelimo government close the border between Mozambique and the Park, including the Pafuri Border Post.
  • September 16 - The memorial bust of President Paul Kruger, sculpted by Coert Steynberg, officially unveiled at the Paul Kruger Gate near Skukuza.[1]

1977[edit]

  • February – Cyclone Emilie causes damage to various dams, including the Engelhard and Kanniedood, in the northern region of the Park.

1978[edit]

  • July – Wolhuter, the first wilderness trail, opens near Malelane in the south of the park.[10]

1979[edit]

  • August 13 - The first sighting of Yellowbilled Oxpeckers Buphagus africanus in the Park was made along the Mphongolo River north of Shingwedzi. The species disappeared from the Transvaal Lowveld soon after the 1896/97 rinderpest epidemic. Before 1979 the closest population occurred in Rhodesia's Gonarezhou National Park, but regular dipping of cattle in the corridor between Gonarezhou and Kruger prevented the migration of the birds to Kruger due to their sensitivity to poisoned ticks. Due to the Rhodesian Bush War, there was a general breakdown of veterinary services in this corridor after 1977 and presumably facilitated the migration of the birds to the Kruger National Park.[11]
  • November – The Olifants Trail opens.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Joubert, Salomon, The Kruger National Park: A History Volume II, High Branching, Johannesburg, 2007
  2. ^ a b c d Bulpin, T.V., Treasury of Travel Series: Kruger National Park, Creda Press, 1974.
  3. ^ Paynter, David, Die Krugerwildtuin in Woord en Beeld, Macmillan Suid-Afrika Uitgewers, 1986.
  4. ^ a b Pienaar, U. de V., Neem uit die Verlede, Sigma Pers, 1990.
  5. ^ Pienaar, U. de V. (1972). "A new Bat record for the Kruger National Park". Koedoe. 15 (1): 91–93. doi:10.4102/koedoe.v15i1.673.
  6. ^ Custos (October 1972). "Black Rhinos arrive safely in the Kruger Park". CUSTOS. 1 (10): 22–31.
  7. ^ Pienaar; Passmore; Carruthers (1976). Die Paddas van die Nasionale Krugerwildtuin. Sigma Press.
  8. ^ Passmore, N. I.; Carruthers, V. C. (1975). "A new species of Tomopterna (Anura: Ranidae) from the Kruger National Park, with notes on related species". Koedoe. 18 (1): 31–50. doi:10.4102/koedoe.v18i1.913.
  9. ^ Bryden, Bruce, A Game Ranger Remembers, Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2005.
  10. ^ Schreiber, Arrie (October 1988). "Ten years of trails in the Kruger National Park". CUSTOS. 17 (7): 20–23.
  11. ^ Hall-Martin, A. J. (1987). "Range Expansion of the Yellowbilled Oxpecker Buphagus africanus into the Kruger National Park, South Africa". Koedoe. 30 (1). doi:10.4102/koedoe.v30i1.505.
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