ABSTRACT
The Kruger National Park (KNP), an iconic wildlife destination in South Africa, is one of the success stories of tourism development in southern Africa. This well-established tourism destination, which is more than 100 years old, received more than 1.8 million visitors in 2017. The KNP is the antithesis of the paper parks 1 phenomenon that exists in some African countries. It has been transformed from being a conservation and tourism island to being embedded in the social-ecological system of neighbouring communities. It furthermore plays an important role in both the local and regional economies of South Africa. However, it is in its mature life cycle phase, and the aging of its superstructures can be viewed as a slow-changing variable that currently challenges the resilience of the destination.
