After the occupation of the Transvaal by British forces, Captain H. F. Francis was appointed as the first Warden of the Sabi Game Reserve in 1901.
Captain E. G. (Gaza) Gray and Rupert Atmore only lasted for a few months and they were replaced with Harry Wolhuter (August 1902) and Thomas Duke (December 1902).
The report recommended that there should be no changes to the boundaries of either reserve; that additional staff should be appointed; and most importantly made the following pronouncement: In the course of our investigations we were not a little struck by the uselessness of having these magnificent reserves merely for the preservation of the fauna - in an area practically unknown and, by the effect of a somewhat stringent policy, made to a great extent inaccessible to the bulk of the people - a policy which it will be increasingly difficult to maintain as applied to so large an area ... for these and other reasons we recommend that the policy of the provincial administration should be directed toward the creation of the area ultimately as a great national park where the natural and prehistoric conditions of our country can be preserved for all time.
During 1923, the first large groups of tourists started visiting the Sabi Game Reserve, but only as part of the South African Railways' popular "Round in Nine" tours.
The tour included an overnight stop at Sabi Bridge (now Skukuza) and a short walk, escorted by armed rangers, into the bush.
It soon became a highlight of the tour and it gave valuable support for the campaign to proclaim the Sabi Game Reserve as a national park.
Not only was the effects of rain chaotic on the primitive roads, it also caused a public relations disaster in March 1929 when a large group of American tourists arrived by luxury train at Crocodile Bridge.
During October 1936, the last black rhino in the park was seen by ranger Harry Kirkman in the dense Nwatimhiri bush between Skukuza and Lower Sabie.
[10][11] Because the park shares a long (and unguarded) border with Mozambique, the outbreak of World War II in September 1939 caused little panic among locals and government officials in Pretoria.
In June 1940 an alarming report of some two thousand Nazis concentrating on the Mozambican side of the frontier was received by the chief of the Union Defence Force General Staff.
The bemused Warden managed to calm down the agitated members of the General Staff after explaining that, not only would the Portuguese authorities allow no such thing to happen in their colony, the arrival of even one strange European in the tribal areas would be discussed within days for many miles around.
[8] Despite the war and a steep decline in the number of foreign visitors, 1940 turned out to be a fairly prosperous year for the park.
With better roads, more of the park was opened throughout the year, Skukuza from 1962; Lower Sabie, Crocodile Bridge and as far north as Tshokwane in 1963; and the whole area as far as the Letaba River in 1964.
Later that same year, construction started to reroute the Selati railway line next to the western boundary of the park between the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers.
[3] During the late 1960s, the Portuguese colonial authorities in Mozambique started the construction of the huge Cahora Bassa Dam on the Zambezi River.
It became apparent that the shortest and cheapest route of the powerlines from the dam to the distribution stations near Pretoria would lead through sensitive ecological regions in the northern Kruger Park.
In 1969 Eskom agreed to run the powerlines to the north of the sensitive Nyandu thickets and during the same year work started on the unsightly lines.
To restore balance, the park ceased the culling of wildebeest (1972) and zebra (1974) and re-introduced carnivore control in December 1974 in selected areas.
[18] By 1980 it was becoming clear that the National Parks Board needed to take a hard look at the racial discrimination against visitors from different race groups.
Not only was there a steadily growing demand from other race groups (especially black and Indian) to visit the Kruger Park (bed occupancy increased from 6,783 in 1976 to 7,371 in 1980 and entrance fees paid increased from 14,733 entrants to 18,967 for the same period); it also attracted mixed race groups from the neighbouring self-governing homelands and independent states such as Swaziland who demanded internationally accepted standards of courtesy.
Starting in 1983, ten new camps (Jock of the Bushveld, Berg-en-Dal, Biyamiti, Talamati, Roodewal, Shimuwini, Boulders, Mopani, Bateleur and Sirheni) were built over the following decade.
Despite sharing a border with two hostile states; Mozambique since 1975, and Zimbabwe since 1980; the Kruger Park was remarkably little affected by the political turmoil in southern Africa between the early 1970s and 1994.
A South African Air Force helicopter gunship was called in to help the park staff and a day later two insurgents were killed close to the main entrance of Shingwedzi Rest Camp.
An inquiry by Mr. D. D. Ngobeni of the South African Police Service, concluded that the fire was manmade and began in the area close to Napi boulders.
[22][23][24] In the 2000s, rhino poaching started to become a major issue for Kruger National Park, with numbers increasing rapidly between 2000 and 2014.
News came out after rangers discovered the remains of the body in the Crocodile Bridge section of the park on 4 April 2019 and a police incident was filed.
In July 2007, it was discovered that algal poisoning was the cause of the deaths of at least 54 animals near Crocodile Bridge, after which the Nhlanganzwane Dam was breached in order to prevent further algae buildup.
On 15 April 2008, the Kruger Park rangers and conservation management began draining Silolweni Dam near Tshokwane in order to prevent algal poisoning of the area's wildlife.
[50] A phased reopening of the parks was announced in August, with Skukuza and Lower Sabie operating at reduced capacity and Biyamiti, Maroela and Orpen remaining closed.
The second, at Berg en Dal Rest Camp, affected the kitchen, deli and bar areas, which were rented out by Tindlovu.