Speaking to media during a site visit, Jooste said short-to-medium term interventions for ‘Operation Reboot’ will include equipping rangers with fresher skills and strengthening alliances with other law enforcement authorities – these also include other planned operational interventions. “We are making wildlife crime our core focus and we take them seriously,” said Jooste.
Although suspects in a recent incident were apprehended by the South African Police Service (SAPS), SANParks remains determined to implement stronger security measures for its Wilderness, Knysna and Tsitsikamma sections. The park spans across over 155,000 hectares including water bodies, forests and fynbos areas.
Park manager of the Garden Route National Park, Paddy Gordon says: The open-access nature of the park could make us vulnerable, but we’re moving ahead with operational systems internally as well as externally. The park is also fragmented with pockets of private land in between.”
In addition, SANParks continues to form part of the local policing forums in each town and works very closely with SAPS and rescue teams, which comprise mountain rescue and sea rescue efforts.
With the Easter weekend approaching, teams are preparing to co-host the third Garden Route walking festival expected to kick off on Easter Friday.
South Africans are encouraged to take up the offer to explore the Garden Route National Park on foot. The park has 14 Green flag status hiking trails, 12 in Tsitsikamma and two in Knysna. It continues to implement the certification programme for the rest of its trails. There are four multiple day hiking trails, not part of the Garden Route Walking Festival, which includes the Harkerville Coastal hiking trail (rerouted after the Knysna fires), the Outeniqua hiking trail, the Otter trail and the Dolphin trail in Tsitsikamma.
There are 10-day routes in Wilderness, eight in Knysna and 12 in Tsitsikamma open for the upcoming walking festival.
