Safety of travel in South Africa: the Kruger National Park

[Extract] South Africa is a flourishing tourist destination and the South African Tourism Board (SATOUR) recorded a steady growth in international visitors of about 11% per annum for the period from 1994–1999.1 The four most popular sites visited by tourists are Cape Town and environs, the Garden Route, Oudtshoorn ostrich farms, and the Kruger National Park. The Kruger National Park(KNP), which at over 1.949 million hectares, is the largest wildlife or nature reserve in a single African country, affords the visitor the opportunity to appreciate a magnificent variety of flora and fauna, in their natural environment (Fig. 1). In 1998 almost one million tourists visited the KNP