Lowveld bursts at the seams over Heritage Day weekend

Over the Heritage Day weekend, the Lowveld received an astounding number of guests to many of its attractions.

These included, among others, the Kruger National Park (KNP) and the various other nature reserves the province has to offer.

According to its spokesperson Isaac Phaahla, the KNP boasted a total of 29 027 visitors through its gates from September 24 to 27. “The busiest gates were Crocodile Bridge, Phabeni, Paul Kruger and Malelane,” said Phaahla.

In a recent statement Trans African Concessions (TRAC) specified that the N4 experienced the highest traffic count for 2020 over the weekend, with traffic reaching its peak on Sunday.

“Figures peaked on Sunday with more than 1 900 vehicles (both directions) passing at Middelburg per hour. A major traffic influx was also experienced at Machadodorp with more than 1 500 vehicles (both directions) passing per hour at the local plaza during the early and late afternoon.”

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From the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency’s (MTPA) side, effects of this influx were also seen, according to spokesperson, Kholofelo Nkambule.

“The sites were definitely busy during the long weekend, although at this stage we cannot quantify it in specific numbers per nature reserve. It was evident that people have been waiting for leisure travel to open so that they can explore parts of the province.

“As we speak our reservations office has been inundated with a lot of bookings for later in the year. The interest to travel again is definitely there and we’ve seen it from the past long weekend.”

Naturally, accommodation establishments also benefited from the traveller injection. Linda Grimbeek, chief operating officer of the Kruger Lowveld Chamber of Business and Tourism, said they had received feedback from various establishments across the Lowveld of an extremely busy weekend indeed.

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“As far as we can tell, all accommodation was operating at 100 per cent or very close. Even Mbombela seemed to have been nearly full, which is unusual for a holiday period.

“This just goes to show that people stayed in town and took longer drives to the Kruger National Park, Panorama Route, Hazyview, etc. as all the accommodation closer to the popular destinations were full.

“Not only is this a welcome economic injection, but it certainly is a morale boost for the tourism industry. It is proof that the demand for visiting the Lowveld is still there and very much alive.

“We also look forward to the opening of the borders today, which will bring a large portion of the Mozambican travellers back to Mbombela. It is vital for our local businesses to serve that market and we will only fully recover once that is back to normal.”

With the large amount of traffic, congestions formed a part of travellers’ journeys.

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Congestions were mainly caused by the extensive roadworks taking place along the routes, and despite TRAC’s best efforts to manage this by, among other things, having plazas operate at capacity, it apologised to road users for any inconvenience they may have experienced.

“Although we understand the frustration caused by traffic backlogs, we are pleased to see how eager South Africans are to travel again. The improvements that are currently under construction along the N4 will ensure an improved experience to our road users, once concluded.”