SASHNI PATHER

VISITORS to the Kruger National Park who don’t quite fancy roughing it in the bush can look forward to a new four star hotel next year.

But some are concerned that the new hotel will disturb the “sense of place” that visitors to the park enjoy.

The R115-million Radisson Blu Hotel will be built near the Malelane Gate, said the park’s spokesman, Laura Mukwevho.

She said the 200- to 240-bed hotel would be situated in the south-eastern corner of the park, at the confluence of the Timfene Spruit and the Crocodile River.

The hotel will be a world apart from the 12 existing rest camps and five bush camps in the park, which attract more than one million visitors a year.

SANParks CEO David Mabunda said the hotel would not be a high-rise building and the development would be in line with SANParks’s “environmental ambience that will complement its surroundings”.

Mabunda said: “The Kruger National Park currently offers self-catering facilities throughout the park which are hugely popular, but falls short of meeting the expectations of the current generation, who want a full-service safari.”

The hotel, which is expected to be ready next August, will have a restaurant, cocktail bar, spa and gym, and a pool.

Mabunda said the park had to supplement the shortfall in funding through ecotourism.

Democratic Alliance MP Gareth Morgan said the park was a “cash cow” but had concerns about the new hotel.

“This will attract more traffic to the area, which is already a concern, and one has to wonder whether the money generated from this hotel is going to be worth the disturbance of the sense of place of the park,” Morgan said.

Independent environmental consultant Ralf Kalwa said the southern part of the park was extremely popular.

"This is where you will find the majority of visitors because it is associated with more animals and has easy access for people travelling from Johannesburg and Pretoria to the park, making for a quick break away," Kalwa said.

Source: Sunday Times