THE Kruger National Park will auction off 20 white rhino next month in an attempt to raise funds for the South African National Parks (SANP) Park Development Fund. SANP’s director of parks, Johan van der Merwe, said on Wednesday that the auction is expected to raise at least R4,5-million for development projects in smaller game reserves. “We intend using the funds to acquire approximately 7_000 hectares of additional land within Addo Elephant National Park, Marakele National Park, Cape Agulhas and Namaqualand National Park,” he said. The land purchases are designed to help SANP meet government’s commitment to increase the size of formally conserved areas from six to eight percent of South Africa’s surface area by 2010. The sale of rhino, disease-free buffalo, elephant and other high-value species generated roughly R17-million for SANP in 2000.