Under siege from an outburst of a catastrophic flood engulfing her surroundings, Letaba Rest Camp hospital services manager Mpho Mudau, chose not to run away.
Letaba (meaning river sand),located on a sweeping bend of the Letaba River, midway between the southern and northern boundaries of the Kruger National Park, faced the heaviest floods experienced by staff and tourists on the morning of Thursday, 15 January 2026.
Amid the forceful flow of a deluge gushing through the camp, causing destruction and rendering Letaba Bridge impassable from the southern and northern side, Mudau’s focus was solely on saving lives.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian, Mudau painted a picture of a Kruger National Park faced with what had the hallmarks of a tsunami.
Narrating her encounter with the floods, which ripped through roofs, buildings, roads and bridges, Mudau, who has worked at Letaba for the past 13 years, said evacuating all guests and staff took priority.
At around 8am, the rising water swept through the camp, with the Letaba River breaking its banks.
As head of the evacuation team, Mudau compiled a guest and staff list – assigning roles to her team — ensuring “nobody was in danger”.
“We had to act very fast — no time for anxiety or anything like that.
“Saving lives was all we cared about, making sure that everyone was safe and out of danger. We realised that anything else was replaceable but not life,” she said.
On what drove her passion to save lives during the crisis, Mudau said: “Something in me said I needed to make sure that everyone was safe, with no loss of life reported.”
Drawing from her experience in dealing with floods, which hit Shingwedzi Rest Camp, a rustic, mid-sized rest camp in the northern part of the Kruger National Park, near the Punda Maria and Phalaborwa gates, Mudau said she knew “what to do during a crisis”.
“What made the evacuation easy was that the floods happened during the day, not at night. We were able to see how the river was flowing, the strength of the water and who was where and at what time.”
SANParks has lauded her for her bravery,
Amid adverse climate change-driven global weather patterns, Mudau is confident about the Kruger National Park dealing with disasters.
“In the park we stay ready for any type of disaster — fire or rain. We hold monthly and quarterly meetings with our fire teams, knowing exactly what to do. We stage dry-runs to see how much we act in case disasters strike. With the right equipment, also relying on the strength and the knowledge of our well-trained staff, we are ready to deal with whatever crisis,” she said.
As part of its recovery programme after the destructive floods in the Kruger National Park, SANParks has been hard at work to restore the infrastructure.
This has culminated in Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister David Maynier, handing over reconstructed culverts on the H4-1 route between Skukuza and Lower Sabie.
Also restored are Letaba High-Level Bridge and the reopening of tourism facilities at Letaba Rest Camp.
Strengthening resilience, reducing vulnerability and ensuring that national parks remained safe — functional and accessible in the face of increasingly severe weather events — has been a key driver behind the recovery programme, Maynier said.
Engineers said work on Letaba Bridge commenced in February 2026, with the bridge opened to traffic in March — reconnecting the northern and southern sections of Kruger.
Final work, including sand-sealing of the road, was completed last month.
The R9.5 million project included the reconstruction and stone pitching of the damaged bridge approach, together with improved drainage.
At Letaba Rest Camp, 25 tourism units in Circles A to C have been restored at a cost of R19m.
The completed work includes furniture and 10 family cottages, with 64 tourism units under restoration. They are expected to be reopened in phases, with completion anticipated by 30 November.
Kruger National Park managing executive Oscar Mthimkhulu told the M&G that the large-scale infrastructure renovation was “not the only project”.
On why the infrastructure overhaul has taken 50 years to put in place, Mthimkhulu said there was “nothing wrong with the infrastructure until 2023, when we were hit by floods”.
“There was no reason at that time for us to consider the reconstruction project. Repair work did not take place because the infrastructure was functioning well until the outbreak of heavy floods flowing from the south, necessitating a reason for us to upgrade the infrastructure.
“The infrastructure which was washed away was 50 years old,” Mthimkhulu said.
With South Africa bracing itself for a potentially record-breaking and powerful El Niño weather system, expected to bring severe heatwaves and below-normal rainfall during summer, Mthimkhulu said he was confident the Kruger National Park could weather the storms.
“We are obviously ready in terms of the infrastructure that we have upgraded. Upgrades will help us to test withstanding weather patterns going forward. We are putting measures in place to adequately deal with challenges ahead — not just floods but droughts and fires too.
“From a flood's perspective, what we are building now shouldn't be affected by what is going to happen in the foreseeable future.”
On the impact of the recent 21st SA National Parks Week, SANParks head of communications JP Louw, said he was happy about the growing numbers.
“By the end of last year’s campaign, we reached a cumulative total of 982 034 free day visitors since the 2006 launch. Because SA National Parks Week prioritises free day access, it does not directly drive gate entry revenue. However, it acts as a powerful commercial catalyst.
“It significantly boosts auxiliary spending on normal-fee services, such as guided game drives and park retail-concessions, while building a vital pipeline of lifelong domestic travellers. This allows families, communities, schools and first-time visitors to experience the majestic protected areas that belong to them. As a conservation agency, we firmly believe national parks cannot operate as isolated islands,” Louw said.