KNP HISTORY: Establishing the game reserves – the founding years
« Joep Stevens is a keen historian who was introduced to the Kruger National Park by his parents in 1966. This ignited his interest in and passion for the Park.
» Part 2: From 1898 to 1926
It is widely acknowledged that the Kruger National Park was conceived with the proclamation of the Gouvernements Wildtuin on 26 March 1898. This was when the Park fell in what was then known as the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) or South African Republic (more or less comprising the current provinces of Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng and the North West).
The primary purpose was to protect the rapidly diminishing wildlife, which had been decimated at an unsustainable rate since the arrival of the Europeans.
A little more than 18 months later, in October 1899, Paul Kruger declared war on the mighty British Empire. As the powerful British forces gradually took over the ZAR (from the south west), with the capital Pretoria falling into British hands on 31 May 1900, Paul Kruger set eyes on the fledgling game reserve for the last time on 11 September 1900 as he passed its southern boundary, travelling by train to Maputo (then Delagoa Bay) on the Eastern Line (Oosterlijn).
The ZAR forces did not intend to surrender, and a drawn-out guerilla phase ensued, especially in the remote peripheral region including the Lowveld.
With the South African War (1899 to 1902) coming to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Vereeniging
