Table Mountain National Park received, after the Kruger Park, the highest number of visitors of all the 22 national parks in 2005.


The South African National Parks' nine-month report to December 31 shows that the Kruger National Park received the most visitors, 1 005 012, and the Table Mountain National Park, 1 001 123.


The Tsitsikamma National Park was in third place, with 113 368 visitors. This national park, however, received the highest percentage of foreign guests (55,7 percent). It was followed by the Addo Elephant National Park (48,2 percent) in the Eastern Cape and the Bontebok National Park (44,5 percent) in the Western Cape.


According to SANParks, the latest tourism figures show that the percentage of black South Africans among visitors to national parks run by SANParks has increased across the board to 19,7 percent from an estimated four percent in 2003.

Of the 14 major national parks featured in the report (excluding the Table Mountain National Park) the Mapungubwe National Park in Limpopo leads the pack, with black people accounting for an impressive 62,2 percent of its guests. Of the Golden Gate National Park's visitors, 22,8 percent were black people and of the Kruger National Park's, 21,4 percent. 



Other national parks, including the Augrabies Falls in the Northern Cape and the Addo Elephant, have also significantly improved their figures. The figures also confirmed that most of the people visiting the national parks were South Africans, Mabunda said. Latest figures show that 74,6 percent of visitors are South African. The rest are international, 24,8 percent, or from other Southern African Development Community countries, 0,6 percent.

Source: The Cape Times 17 Feb 2006


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