Abstract
The South African current ruling government led by the African National Congress (ANC), has
promised to serve the people of South Africa without discrimination, respecting the dignity of all and
ensuring that the needs of the majority of the population, particularly those who had been
disadvantaged in the past, would be met efficiently and effectively. The needs of South Africans
encompass many things which include the right to access public spaces for health and leisure
activities. The idealisation of Batho Pele “people first”, is seen as a key on gaining the buy-in for the
continued survival of national and provincial parks through encouraging the participation of many
communities who may see the South African national and provincial public wildlife/wild area parks as
historically - ‘not for them’. This study sought to understand how to encourage racial and cultural
diversity participation in the Honorary Rangers (HR) of South Africa who actively recruit volunteers
from the South African public to work with and for the wild area parks.
The wild area parks are not only custodians of the country’s national ecosystems and ecodiversity,
but also play an important role for domestic and international leisure tourism activities while providing
many diverse business tourism related opportunities. The activities of the HR are strongly supported
by SANParks in their efforts to engender citizen-centred support. The focus area of this research is
the Kruger National Park. The study has used a predominantly qualitative approach to investigate the
potential value of volunteerism through Honorary Rangers. Research samples for this study were
collected from six stakeholder groups (chapter 3) as follows: 9 samples from Honorary Rangers
(qualitative interviews, September 2014); 9 samples from KNP staff members (qualitative interviews,
October 2014); 2 samples from government tourism experts (qualitative interviews, October 2014 –
April 2015); 4 samples from high school tourism educators (qualitative interviews, October 2014); 65
samples from undergraduate tourism students (quantitative survey, October/ November 2014); and 71
samples from local Kruger Park community members (qualitative interviews, October 2014).
A key finding is the multiple roles of types of communication required to talk to South Africans about
conservation. Overall, the findings make recommendations for a more holistic approach, beginning
from government departments such as the Department of Education through communities and parks,
to community youngsters. The findings also strongly support the role of Honorary Rangers to bridge
and influence stronger community alliances through improved communication channels to
communities on ecotourism and eco-education. These actions can become a powerful part of
conservation reality, giving a sense of ownership between all South African communities and their
National Parks.
M.A. (Tourism and Hospitality Management)