Despite a history of ineffectual game protection laws in the Transvaal Republic and Colony, four state game reserves existed there at the time of Union in 1910. Two of these were subsequently abolished, while the Sabi and Singwitsi Game Reserves were combined to form the Kruger National Park in 1926. Game protection proved a contentious issue between Africans, denied their traditional access to hunt wildlife, and Europeans. British South Africans led the conservationist battle to establish the national park, eventually enlisting Afrikaner nationalist sentiment by the use of Paul Kruger’s name.
