« Nick Zambatis was the former Manager: Biodiversity Conservation in Conservation Management: Kruger National Park. He retired in 2016. His first job in the Kruger was as a research technician based at Skukuza, which he started in 1987.
“The transfer from Pretoria to the Lowveld was ecstasy and the Kruger appointment was a dream come true,” he recalls. He holds an MSc degree on the determinants of grass composition and production in the Kruger National Park, from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Perhaps few visitors to the Kruger National Park (KNP) know that three indigenous palm tree species occur in the Park, while a fourth was introduced many years ago. These are the wild date palm, the northern lala palm, and the southern lala palm, and the introduced species being the Borassus palm.
Wild date palm
(Phoenix reclinata, Afrikaans: wildedadelboom, Xitsonga: ncinszu, and Tshivenda: mutshevho).
This is the most widespread and frequently seen palm throughout the Kruger, occurring It is an evergreen tree with an unbranched, cylindrical stem, 3-6m tall and up to 300mm wide, generally occurring in clumps and growing upright or reclining. Elsewhere, it is reported to grow to 15m tall. Mostly however, it occurs in a low, bushy form, with the stem hidden from view by the fronds, some of which droop down and touch the ground. Stems are characterised by a succession of leaf bases or leaf scars of shed leaves.
