by In honour of Heritage Month, South African National Parks have provided all South African citizens with free entry. This special will run from September 18 until Friday 22 September.
Some of the smaller parks will extend this special over the upcoming weekend.
If you are older than 16 years old, you need to bring a copy of your identity document to the entrance and you will receive a full day pass for free.
What Is This Offer In Aid Of?
This is the 12th year that the SANParks are celebrating Heritage Month with the public. Each year they partner with First National Bank and Total SA to promote their annual South African National Parks Week.
This year’s theme is “Know Your National Park”. The aim is to get as many members of the public into the parks to enjoy the true beauty of South Africa’s natural environment.
Many of these parks boast a rich heritage which dates back to the stone age. Many of the caves contain remnants of rock art and stone tools.
“Last year we had just under 63 000 visitors. We want to double that number so we are really urging visitors to take advantage. We want to encourage youth groups to come and visit the parks as they are going to be the custodians of the park in the future,” explains SANPark’s Reynold Thakhuli.
How To Enjoy #HeritageMonth With SANParks
There are 19 National Parks around the country that are ready to provide you with the best nature has to offer. Thakhuli says that there are two of the parks that aren’t going be participating in the offer.
“We have 19 national parks and only two aren’t on offer which is Namaqua National Park. The park is full already to capacity because it’s flower season.We also have the Boulders section of the Table Mountain National Park which is not open due to the fact that its a penguin colony and its quite a sensitive area so we didn’t want to put the animals under any stress.”
The official launch of the National Park week was held at the Golden Gate Highlands Park in the Free State. This park played host to the oldest dinosaur embryo fossil ever found.
According to Thakhuli, the park is preparing to start building a Dinosaur Interpretative Centre which is expected to be completed by 2019.
If that’s not enough for you, here is a list of all the national parks that are fall under SANParks:
*For more information on the various activities that will be taking place, you can visit the SANPark Website.
