Kruger National Park, South Africa

  • Kruger
  • Kruger
  • Kruger

Images courtesy of Michael Voysey

Kruger National Park is the largest national park in South Africa, and the sixth largest across the African continent, spanning 19,633 km². The park was first proclaimed in 1898 as the Sabie Game Reserve, and expanded in 1926 to include the Shingwedzi Game Reserve, forming the Kruger National Park, which is managed today by South African National Parks (SANParks). Kruger is located in the lowveld region of South Africa, and shares its eastern border with Mozambique and its northern border with Zimbabwe. Kruger is dominated by savanna vegetation and receives most of its rainfall during the summer months, from October to April.

In addition to hosting healthy populations of iconic, large mammal species, such as elephant, rhino, buffalo, leopard and lion, Kruger is also home to an incredible diversity of other species, including 507 bird species, 147 mammals, 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, and 114 reptiles. The major driver of vegetation patterns, which underpin the distribution of this diversity, are thought to be abiotic, such as geology, topography, soils and rainfall. Two main geologic substrates exist in the park, which influence the density of trees and grasses. Basalt geology is found on the eastern side of the park, and is characterized by fertile clay soils dominated by grasses with Acacia trees. Granite is dominant on the western side of the park, and is characterized by less fertile sandy soils dominated by high tree cover, including Combretum and Terminalia species. Kruger’s unique geology, prominent north to south rainfall gradient (450 mm in the north; 750 mm in the south) and diverse animal communities make it an ideal location to conduct research on the relative importance of abiotic and biotic drivers of vegetation patterns and ecosystem functioning, including their interactions with disturbances such as fire and drought. 

Current projects in Kruger make use of LiDAR data to quantify vegetation structure and assess the relative influence of biotic (e.g., large mammalian herbivores, termites) and abiotic factors (e.g., soils, geology, fire) drivers on ecosystem functioning, and how these elements interact to create the landscapes we see today, and how they might change in the future. These scientific objectives are supported by a number of long-term fire and herbivore exclosure experiments in Kruger that are maintained by SANParks. Ongoing projects in Kruger include an assessment of the effects of fire frequency and intensity on woody plant structure; the role of megaherbivores in modifying thermal landscapes by altering woody plant structure; and uncovering the role of ecosystem engineers including white rhinos, hippos and termites as ecosystem engineers.