KNP HISTORY: History of camps

Malelane (225,476288S 31,511246E) – the southern gateway to the Park

In Issue 18 of KRUGER MAGAZINE, we featured the history of Olifants. In this issue  we look at the history of Malelane Camp.

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.

The first ranger quarters for section 2 or Malelane section were at Boulders close to Kaapmuiden. Due to the excision of land from the Park in December 1923, warden Stevenson-Hamilton decided to move the ranger quarters to where the Malelane section ranger still operates from today, on the northern side of the Crocodile River, across from the Malelane railway station. The ranger quarters are about a kilometre from the river and were established in June 1925.

The wood and corrugated iron residence at Boulders was demolished and rebuilt at Malelane. This was shortly before the proclamation of the Kruger National Park (KNP) and there had been unhappiness among the farmers along the Crocodile River about cattle losses due to lion predation.

“The name Malelane means ‘there’ or ‘out of sight’ in siSwati.

Ranger Harold Trollope was appointed to solve the. Trollope earned the nickname ‘Vukani’ from the word meaning ‘the one who rises early’.