Kruger National Park
The Skukuza Indigenous Plant Nursery
Plant List
Two plants from the plant list are on sale at the moment. These are tall baobabs (older than 7 years) for only R600.00 and a large selection of beautiful kudu lilies for only R70.00 each.
Contact Ona Davies with enquiries.
History
In August 1975, Harry Matthysen took the first steps to establish the Skukuza Nursery as it is known today. The initial objective of the nursery was to supply and cultivate the camps with grass and other indigenous plants and to enable resident personnel to plant indigenous plants in their gardens.
It consisted of a space of 100m x 45 m and had only one garden hose of 35m, with 28 leaks, as equipment. The office and one desk was made of split poles and there were only 3 100 plants. The area chosen to build the new (present) nursery in the Skukuza staff village was so dense with vegetation that Matthysen and his team were chased by three (3) lions when they went there to inspect it. The Skukuza nursery is now located 4 km from Skukuza camp on the main Kruger Gate road.
Due to public demand for indigenous plants, the nursery was opened to the public in 1977. Impala lilies cost R2.00 and cycads R10.00. (Impala lilies cost R25 for small plants and R70 for large plants in 2006). At one stage it was the largest indigenous nursery in South Africa and it played an important role to educate the public on the benefits of indigenous plants. The current buildings were erected in 1983. As the only access road was through the staff village, a road from the main Kruger Gate road was built in the early 1980’s to make public access more convenient.
The Nursery Today
Today the nursery continues to cultivate only indigenous plants and more over, mainly endemic plants to the Kruger National Park and surrounds. For R25.00 visitors can walk away with a broad selection of Lowveld species of both trees and scrubs. With the exception of cycads, all seed is collected in the Park and sent to the nursery for drying and cultivation. It also has satellite nurseries in Pretoriuskop, Malelane Gate and Letaba.
Education is one of the strong points of the Skukuza nursery. Through various KNP environmental education programmes, children are taken to the nursery and educated on the benefits of indigenous plants.
Although the collection and cultivation of plants with medicinal value was started on small scale early in its history, this is presently one of the focus points of the nursery. This initiative is based on the concept of sustainable utilization of natural resources as put forward by organizations like the IUCN (World Conservation Union) and the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism’s (DEAT) Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM). It was officially launched on 10 September 2004 when the first 10 trees of various species were handed over to traditional healers from the surrounding communities. The intention is that the traditional healers go back to their villages and plant these saplings, thus creating a sustainable resource at their front door – with the integrity of the wilderness of the Kruger National Park still kept in place.
The newest addition to the Skukuza nursery is an educational boardwalk that was opened in September 2006. Sponsored by Working for Wetlands this presents another educational opportunity for visitors.