Tips for visiting The Kruger National Park - "How to Kruger" Part 8 - Hot Take 003 - The Elephant Dilemma

Send us Fan Mail The Greater Kruger National Park currently has an elephant population of over 31,000 animals. This is just not sustainable. There are no easy or "warm & fuzzy" answers to this. This podcast lays out a bit of the history of the "elephant management" issues, where it comes from, some of the main players in the ongoing debate - and the final question: How do we fix it? ====================================== Here are some selected references: Barnes, R. F. W., Craig, G. C. & Dublin, H. T. (2010). The African Elephant: Status, Ecology and Management. Cambridge University Press. Cumming, D. H. M. (1997). “Elephants, woodlands and biodiversity in southern Africa.” South African Journal of Science, 93(5): 231–236. Ferreira, S. M. et al. (2023). “Spatial trends in elephant populations in Kruger National Park.” Koedoe, 65(1): a1714. Helm, C. & O’Connor, T. G. (2012). “Woody vegetation structure and composition under different elephant impacts in Kruger National Park.” African Journal of Ecology, 50(4): 404–413. O’Connor, T. G., Goodman, P. S., & Clegg, B. (2007). “A functional hypothesis of the threat of local extirpation of woody plants by elephants in Africa.” Biological Conservation, 136(3): 329–345. Owen-Smith, N. & Kerley, G. I. H. (2020). “Elephants and fire in savanna ecosystems.” Ecological Applications, 30(3): e02017. SANParks Research Report 2023–24. South African National Parks Research and Scientific Services Directorate, Pretoria. Conservation Action Trust (2023). “Elephant carrying capacity is an antiquated concept.” Support the show The Road Trip SA app is available for download. Do you want to visit and explore South Africa? Touch Africa Safaris

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Tips for visiting The Kruger National Park - "How to Kruger" Part 8 - Hot Take 003 - The Elephant Dilemma is an episode from Road Trip's Podcast - Travel, Touring and Holidays in South Africa using the Road Trip mobile app by Road Trip.

This episode is 36:09 long.

This episode was published on Nov 19, 2025.

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