Army to blow up dams in the Kruger National Park – Here’s why
· Citizen
For almost two weeks, explosives will be heard in the Kruger National Park (KNP) as the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) demolishes the Kanniedood and Sirheni dams.
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The demolition will happen from Monday, 9 March, until Friday, 20 March.
The S50 road near Shingwedzi, between the S134 and S143 junctions, and the S57 road that starts at the Shisha crossing and meets the Sirheni bush camp detour will be closed from 8 March until 21 March.
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Army assistance
KNP ranger teams and SANDF teams will be on standby to extinguish any wildfires that may start during the explosions.
The crew will fly over the area right before the blasts to confirm that no tourists, animals or staff are near the target.
Teams will also clear the ground around the dams to protect animals and people.
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Why the dams are being removed
The destruction of the Kanniedood dam is part of a years-long operation to remove man-made infrastructure from river systems.
The January 2013 floods breached the southern anchors of the Kanniedood dam wall.
It caused a river to open a new channel bypassing the dam wall on the southern bank of the Shingwedzi River.
The floods made the wall redundant because it could no longer retain water.
“Artificial water holes where water did not previously occur naturally have led to numerous ecological problems such as erosion and other environmental degradation such as barriers to fish migration routes”, said SANParks.
The park has already partially removed the Kanniedood and Sirheni dams.
“The purpose of this exercise is to remove the remaining concrete structures after floods in 2013 and earlier partial demolitions.”
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