Kruger National Park

National park, South Africa.

Located in the northeastern part of the country on the Mozambique border, it was created as a game sanctuary in 1898 and in 1926 became a national park named for Paul Kruger. It covers an area of 7,523 sq mi (19,485 sq km) and contains six rivers. It has a wide variety of wildlife, including elephants, lions, and cheetahs. In December 2002 it became part of Africa's largest game park when Kruger National Park was joined with Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park.

* * *

▪ park, South Africa

 the largest national park in South Africa. It is located in Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, west of the Lebombo Mountains on the Mozambique border. Established in part in 1898, the park in 1926 was named for Paul Kruger (Kruger, Paul), former president of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) and builder of the Afrikaner nation. The headquarters of the park are at Skukuza. The park, with an area of 7,523 square miles (19,485 square km), is about 200 miles (320 km) long and 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 km) wide. The area has a generally flat terrain with low ranges of hills traversed by nearly 5,000 miles of paved and gravel roads. Vegetation varies from open veld to dense bush that includes mopane, acacia, marula, and baobab trees. Wildlife includes elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, rhinoceroses, zebras, wildebeests, impalas, and numerous birds. Although six perennial rivers cross the park, droughts often make artificial watering necessary.

 In 2002 Kruger National Park joined with Mozambique's Limpopo Park and Zimbabwe's Gonarezhou National Park to form the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, the largest game park in Africa.

 

* * *