Review of "A Dictionary of Kruger National Park Place Names" ... Treasure of a Book ...
J J Kloppers and Hans Bornman are the authors of this great find. There are many photo-splendid books of the Kruger and lots about the birds and fauna and flora in general. All these add to the massive enjoyment that can be got from the Kruger National Park ... BUT none of these answer the questions on the lips of every visitor to the Park for the duration of the visit.
I'm quite sure at some stage or another every Kruger visitor that passes a sign on a bridge over a river which says for example N'WATIMHIRI says aloud or quietly "I wonder what that means ..."
This Kruger National Park website was
developed by my father, Tony Roocroft, to map all the roads in
this wonderful wildlife heritage site. He completed the project and
at the time of writing this is unfortunately not very well. His last
wish was for all the information he gathered and put together over
years of hard work was to be published... And this has become a
reality, together with lots of help from Africa On Paper publishers
the book is now available for sale, as you will see on the left. It is
unlike any other Kruger National Park and shares everything you can
imagine about the park... Please have a look at it, its great, just
click the picture to learn more about the book.
Here's The Answer: Every Name in the Kruger Park: What it Represents and also its Meaning. Researched and Compiled by Real Kruger Experts
For example:
Olifants Camp is situated on a hill that provides splendid long distance views of the Olifants River leading downstream to the famous crocodile-infested Olifants Gorge. What you almost certainly didn't know is the name of the hill and what it means ... this is what this treasure of a book says.
MANGWANDUNA (GR716453 - 2531BD)
Latitude 24:00:14 south, longtitude 31:44:05 east.
Hill on which the Olifants rest camp is situated. TSONGA: Mangwa nduna - "Zebra Stallion" (N J van Warmelo). Zebras are highly sociable animals living in family groups, which in turn can assemble in fairly large herds. The average size of family units varies in the different distribution areas. In the Kruger National Park the size of a family group varies from about 4 to 12 animals. It consists of an adult stallion and a couple of mares with their offspring. Stallions that are not able to secure family groups of their own join up to form stallion groups. About 85 percent of the zebra population in the Park are members of family groups.
Previous spellings: Magwaduna, Mangwa Nduna.
Need to know about Makuleke area which includes Crooks Corner? You'll Distribution Map & Identifiers | fascinating answers here along with many more answers in this 296 page masterpiece of Kruger knowledge and research.
The book is a special project being promoted by the Honorary Rangers of the Kruger Park (see below).
Honorary Rangers
Please click this link to learn more http://www.sanparks.org/groups/hr/ Here's a short introduction from the website of SANparks:
Public Volunteers in Conservation... The Honorary Rangers are a collection of dedicated people who contribute to South African National Parks (SANParks) in their private capacity in the same way as renowned charity groups contribute to various other social causes. Our contribution is manifested in many ways, such as raising valuable funds, creating vital public awareness and supplying much needed manpower and equipment to supplement various conservation, tourism and environmental education needs within SANParks. Without our assistance the parks would be so much poorer and in some areas struggling to survive.
Eduard de Koning and his wife Milda have been appointed to run this project and you can contact them using the information below. They will gladly sell you the book for R180 and no doubt provide you with other interesting information too. Do please help the cause and maximise the enjoyment of your next visit to the Kruger.
Enthrall your friends with the wonderful background knowledge you'll learn from buying the book. It makes a great birthday, or other special occasion gift.