Graves of the fallen dot areas throughout the Kruger National Park and many of them are unnamed. From rest camps to the remotest parts of the park, guests travelling through the park will come across these monuments to early prospectors and others whose unfortunate endings are marked where they fell in the park.
At Skukuza Rest Camp park visitors can find some of the graves of fallen prospectors who once searched for gold in the area. Most of these graves are unnamed, the identities of the dead now lost to time. An interesting fact about these graves is that while some lie in the traditional east to west fashion, others face north. In times gone bye, those buried facing north were usually criminals executed for their crimes. Burying them this way was said to rob them of their peace in the afterlife.
Famous Graves
While many are unmarked, there are those of park founders and important park figures which are commemorated with a plaque. Some of the more popular graves include:
Anna C Ledeboer
The second wife of an elephant hunter and one of the parks earliest rangers Leonard Henry Ledeboer, Anna died from either a heart attack or malaria and is buried at the end of the 3rd turn off when you travel the S62 road.
Gert Frederik Coenraad Stols
A blacksmith and a hunter from White River, Stols died near the Bukweneni River, presumably from malaria while hunting. The area has been named Stols Nek in his honour.
Louis Trichardt
Although there was once a town named after this gentleman, he is buried in the Kruger National Park. While trekking with a group across the park’s border in March 1838, the group stumbled into an area heavily infested with mosquitoes. Trichardt as well as many of his followers died from this illness and were buried where they fell. At Tshokwane, park visitors can visit a memorial plaque erected to remember these early adventurers.
Willem Pretorius
A voortrekker who believed that staying on elevated ground at present day Pretoriuskop would save him and his party from the scourage of malaria learned the hard way that these insects would stop at nothing to get their feed. Willem Pretorius died from the infection and was buried by another park figure, Joao Albasini. His grave is on the main Skukuza Road.
These are just a few of the famous graves and landmarks that park visitors who wish to learn more about the park should take the time to see a few of the graves.
