It was a cold day in Utrecht, and a small group of strangers met at the at Utrecht Central Station. They had traveled from various locations in the Netherlands, Germany and the UK. The occasion? The first ever SANParks Forum "Euro Meet". So how did a group of people who had never met each other before end up together in Utrecht? And where does SANParks fit in?
It all began a few months ago...Jan Kriel, head of Field Guiding in the Kgalagadi, and known on the SANParks Forums as the "Kgalagadi Guru", mentioned he would be in Europe in November and would like to meet some of the European SANParks forum members.
Our European members immediately began planning. "We were thrilled we would get the chance to meet Jan, and each other," said Gwen, one of our forum moderators based in the Netherlands. Using their own resources, members from Germany, the UK and the Netherlands made plans to meet in Utrecht on the 4 November, co-inciding with Jan Kriel's visit.
On the morning of the 4th a small group of forumites made their way from Utrecht Central Station towards Café Het Weeshuis where they met the rest of the group, including Jan. The group included members from the UK, who had arrived in Amsterdam the night before, and the “Dutchies” travelling by train from other areas in the Netherland.
After a warming coffee, the group visited the Dom church in Utrecht, on a tour organized by Gwen for the occassion. The group then had lunch at Café Reunie. More forum members arrived after lunch.
The group then made their way to a National Museum that houses a collection of mechanical music and musical instruments like Carillon clocks, musical boxes, pianolas, dance hall organs, sharing some of this European Culture with Jan. “Listening to all the music made us thirsty, so we headed off to another café”, laughs Gwen, “where we met up with Zypresse and her partner, after which Jan gave a speech. It was wonderful to hear Jan talk about his work in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. He is truly passionate about working for SANParks”, Gwen adds.
The group then went on to an African Restaurant to have a couple of castles and a few bottles red wine from the Cape and good conversation. Each other members were presented with certificates organised by Duques, another of the volunteer moderators based in the Netherlands. Jan unfortunately had his luggage stolen and could not give out the gifts he had brought with him from South Africa, but the guests were more worried about how he would survive the cold without his clothes!
The "Euro Meet" was a great success and has since been dissected and discussed on the forums. “It was super to be part of such a large meet, with people flying in from England, and driving all the way from Germany, and not to be forgotten, flying in from SA-this forum is really something special”, Duques concludes.
This meet is another example of how unique the SANParks forum community is. There are over seven and a half thousand registered members, all of whom are free to make use of this online platform to discuss, learn about and importantly, interact with SANParks as an organization, as well as other like minded individuals. They also fundraise for SANParks.
Says Head of Communications at SANParks, Wanda Mkutshulwa, “I don’t think there is another national parks body in the world that can boast this kind of a forum initiative! Most don’t have forums to start with, never mind people who expend so much of their time, energy and resources on promoting the organization, without expecting anything in return, other than the sound management of our parks for the enjoyment of future generations”.
As Pardus, a long standing and well respected member of the forum community sums up, "I think the forum has become a haven for like-minded people who wish to be associated with an organization like SANParks.Not only is it pleasurable to share with people all over the globe, but I think that we carry a message to the world about these special places that are the soul work of many men and women who serve in the Parks, not only for today but for our children”.