Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park sparks coronavirus fears
Thalefang Charles | Friday March 20, 2020 12:27
The Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP), a wildlife reserve shared by Botswana and South Africa, is still open and accepting visitors despite coronavirus fears.
Despite both Botswana and South Africa closing Twee Rivieren Border Control, which is also the entrance to the park, tourists from both countries can still enter the park, but will have to exit into the country they entered through.
Since the park is a trans-border and managed as a single ecological unit between two states, tourists from the respective countries could still meet, mingle and socialise, which could defeat the anti-coronavirus measures.
This week workers at the lodges in the park were already concerned that they were being deliberately exposed to coronavirus risks because tourists from South Africa were still being allowed into the park.
“Guests from South Africa can still enter the park without passports and they are exposing us to (the) coronavirus (threat) because it is already in that country,” said a Motswana worker in one of the lodges inside the park on Wednesday.
By Wednesday evening, South Africa had 116 confirmed cases of coronavirus. On Monday, Botswana and South Africa closed 12 borders including Twee Rivieren as a measure to block the spread of coronavirus into the country.
But workers in the park were concerned that the closure of the immigration offices did not help the situation because Twee Rivieren was a unique borderpost.
The Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources, Conservation and Tourism spokesperson, Alice Mmolawa told Mmegi on Tuesday that indeed the park was still open for both South African and Botswana tourists.