Tourism businesses were disrupted for more than a week after residents of Belfast and Justicia adjacent to the the Kruger National Park (KNP) barricaded the R536 to the park with sand and trees, demanding the upgrading of a road (D4382) linking the villages.

Protesters made sure no vehicles were allowed in or out of the KNP and allegedly even damaged some tour guide vehicles. Most of the tourists were forced to deviate from the original route.

The KNP’s general manager for communications and marketing, Ike Phaahla, says the protest has affected their staff, guests and delivery trucks, which normally use the Paul Kruger Gate into the park.

“We did not have any cancellations of pre-bookings into the park, however, guests not familiar with the area were inconvenienced as they had to find alternative entrance gates, which cost them extra,” he says.

Phaahla says the tourism business council is in talks with other stakeholders on ways to deal with these disruptions, as the closure of the R536 for an entire week cost local businesses a lot of money.

A local tour guide, Rofus Makwela, says the road closure cost them income. They usually transfer guests from Skukuza Airport to the nearest lodges and use Kruger Gate.

“One of our vehicles was damaged by the protesters. The fact that petrol prices are high, and we have to use another longer route to access the park is very challenging for us, because we are still recovering from the pandemic,” he says.

Makwela says some of the international tourists who witnessed the protest might consider not coming back, a definite loss to the tourism industry.

The manager of Kruger Gate Protea Hotel, Francois Meyer, says some of its guests were forced to reach the hotel on foot. Others had to spend additional money to reach them and some of the guests were harassed by the protesters.

“It is a bad image for the tourism sector because those who were affected will think twice before considering coming back. Some of them were forced to reroute to reach us, and had to use another KNP route to reach us where they were expected to pay an entrance fee, which they did not plan to,” he says.

The COO of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism, Linda Grimbeek, says a lot of businesses have been affected, especially in the tourism sector, and the fact that no politician intervened is a problem.

“Our members who are doing transfers to the nearest lodges had to pay double to use the KNP route to get to the private reserves, with international tourists paying extra just to reach their destinations.

“We are going to meet with the deputy minister of tourism and the national police commissioner, and we will address this so that they can prevent such things from happening again,” she says.

The spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, Bongani Dlamini, says they undertook various engagements with community representatives who are demanding the upgrading of the gravel road, D4382.

The road is one of the major commuter roads in Bushbuckridge, linking communities to tourism facilities and commercial centres such as Mkhuhlu and Hazyview.

“The department has advertised for tenders for the construction of the road and is now awaiting adjudication for the appointment of a contractor. The project is planned for construction commencement late in the fourth quarter of the budget of the 2023/24 financial year,” says Dlamini.

In the interim, the road is maintained through grading and spot gravelling to ensure it is in fair condition all the time.