 At the time of its establishment in 1980, the park was fragmented, and parcels of land were bought over the following two decades to unite segments into a more contiguous protected area.Sometimes these acquisitions required protracted negotiations (and legal disputes) with land owners.The name is a phonetic translation of the local indigenous tribe who had lived in the area, and had formerly been transcribed variously as Jeigir, Jiegera, Jungai, Yagir, Yegera, Yegir, Yiegera or Youngai.