January 08 2010 at 09:03AM

By Mercury Correspondent

A visitor to the Kruger National Park has written scathing remarks on a 4x4 website about his experience in the park over the festive season where he saw broken fences, leaking toilets, overgrown firebreaks, speeding taxis and a speeding vehicle that killed an impala.

The man, who did not identify himself, also said Kruger Park staff, their families and day visitors had been allowed to use rest camp swimming pools, which are reserved for rest camp residents only, which then became so overcrowded that the residents could not use them.

The man, who said he had been visiting Kruger for the past 20 years, spent a couple of weeks in Kruger and had "toured through the park from south to north and spent a few nights in the majority of camps".

He claimed that the perimeter electric fences did not work at more than half the camps he visited; fences were overgrown and poles rusted; "almost 90 percent" of taps and lavatories were leaking and shower windows rusted through; many camp gates were "falling apart" and many braai pans had developed holes from rust.

Asked to comment, a Sanparks spokesman in Pretoria, Reynold Thakhuli, said: "There has been an oversight on the part of our officials. We appreciate the reports of these matters, and in future we would like the public to report matters to the camp staff straight away." - Mercury Correspondent

This article was originally published on page 3 of The Mercury on January 08, 2010