GEORGE NEWS - The Garden Route National Park (GRNP) handed service excellence awards to 36 of its employees representing the three different sections of the park.
During the awards ceremony on Friday, guest speaker Ms Wanda Mkutshulwa, head of SANParks communications, said in many ways the park and its employees are pioneers in that the Garden Route park has a multidisciplinary function with a mix of urban and nature conservation areas all under one umbrella.
The park includes the Wilderness section, Tsitsikamma section and Knysna Lakes area, a mega park stretching more than 250 kilometres among the four local municipalities of George, Knysna, Bitou and Koukamma and two district municipalities, Eden and Cacadu.
There are many issues to contend with including illegal fishing, and the park not being fenced in makes it difficult to ma-nage and police. As a trailblazer, the Garden Route park has to set an example, but this requires dedication and hard work, she said.
"The GRNP staff should pay attention to detail and ensure that the public has a wonderful experience when they stay at any of our sections. In this way they can be assured of working toward service excellence."

Wilderness best performer
For the second year in a row the Wilderness section has outperformed other sections and won the prestigious Best Gate Entrance of the Year and the Park of the Year Awards.
Petrus Plaatjies and his team from the Tsitsikamma section as well the Beervlei team led by Cyril Sam received the Section of the Year Award, respectively.
The much sought after General Manager’s Awards were awarded to Marie Baard, Shantel Prinsloo, Ralie Klein, Abraham Windwaai, Phillip Williams and Shamley Titus
The Reception Team of the Year Award went to the Wilderness reception team consisting of Wendy Cyster, Elsabe Theunissen, Jacoba Rhode, Hendrina Vaas and Godswill Makalane.
The general manager of the Garden Route National Park, Dr Nomvuselelo Songelwa said enormous progress has been made in the park since its proclamation in 2009. She expressed the hope that the Kudu Awards will be further expanded in the near future and that the GRNP will increase its revenue and improve the quality of its service.
During the ceremony, human resources manager Portia Smith reminded the staff that they are the most valued asset that make service delivery possible.

Article and photos: Pauline Lourens


Kudu Awards recipients at the SANParks annual excellence celebration (in the general manager category) are from the left Shamley Titus, Abraham Windwaai, Ralie Klein, GRNP general manager Dr Songelwa Nomvuselelo, Shantel Prinsloo, Philip Williams and Marie Baard.



Thirty six employees received excellence awards from the SANParks Garden Route National Park. Here are the proud recipients together with management.


Jill Gordon, Wilderness area manager, and Andrew Reiley, area manager of the Knysna Lakes at the Kudu Awards lunch on Friday.