Kruger National Park

Petting a Cheetah

I visited Kruger National Park after three weeks of a study visit in South Africa. Unfortunately, we only had two days in Kruger and the trip was all organized by the host organization - so a lot of details regarding accommodations, transportation, and the like were not part of my trip.

Kruger Park for me was an absolutely fantastic experience. First of all, many people complain that the place has asphalt roads and that at times it can be crowded - and these all valid complaints. However, Kruger Park is so vast and crude - approximately the size of Switzerland. One of the guides that was driving us around told us that even if we were to travel every road in Kruger, we would be able to see only about 3% of all Kruger National Park. Needless to say, the scenery was absolutely stunning.

As for the animals, you can find there all sorts of animals. By the end of the day, we had seen at least some 27 kinds of animals, including four of the big 5. The only animal that we did not see was Leopard, and that was due to them being overall shy animals. However, keep in mind that this was only during one single day.

During the two nights, we slept at two different places - the names of which, unfortunately I can't remember. However, both of the places were great. One of them had animals running around within hotel area, but was slightly poshy. The meals were fantastic - especially if you are into meat and of different game. The other place where we slept was much more rudimentary, but it really made you feel the 'bush vibe'. This place was located within a game reserve, which included giraffes, elephants, rhinos, lions, leopards, cheetahs, hippos, etc. There was no fence that separated these animals from you. Only walls of the lodges. At some point we met the 'tamed' cheetah which would hang out with us. We petted the cheetah and she would purr, but moments later she went on a hunt - one of those wilde hunts you see on TV. That was quite an experience.

I cannot possibly sum up in words the experience in Kruger, but I know that it was a great experience of which I did not get enough. What I do know is that eventually, I will go back again and get to stay a little longer.

Great Place for the Big 5

It's a huge park and your odds of seeing what you're looking for are pretty good. We spent two days here and of the big five we got all but the lions (however the leopards are rarer and we did get them) plus zebra and several varieties of impala, gazelle and monkey. We also saw tons of birds including many Lilac-breasted rollers, red, yellow and ground billed hornbills and even a purple crested turaco. The facilities are well maintained and the park is one of the most easily accessible in Africa.

Kruger National Park is breathtaking.

Wildlife is abundant and diverse in this huge area of wilderness. As a photographer I had lots of opportunities to take fascinating wildlife portraits. Besides the animals, there's also the breathtaking scenery. I advice you to get up very early in the morning and be ready at the rest camp gate until it opens at 06:00 AM and then jus drive your car and enjoy. The mix of the sunrise, temperature, weather and smell in this natural spectacle will take you away. And each day the spectacle will be different.
The accommodations are just fine as the concept is a rest camp in a wilderness environment. There are several camps located throughout the park.
You can eat in the rest camps. A lot of visitors love to braai, especially the South Africans. Food can be bought in the shops. You can also buy your food supply outside the park which is cheaper.
Being a photographer, I travelled alone and I hired a car. If Johannesburg is your starting point in South Africa you can drive from there to Kruger National Park. But I took a flight to Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport where I could pick up my car.
I'm sure a guide might be very interesting in terms of learning aspects and so forth but as my goal was to take pictures, I preferred to do most things alone. I did a guided bush walk though which you should do also.
Finally there are always surprises. I figured out I hadn't seen a leopard and had two more days to go. But it was okay. And then suddenly the last day as a kind of goodbye present, I saw a mom leopard with two cubs. Superb.
I could go home now. But I went back...

Great scenery and all the animals & birds you could wish to see.

Great variety of wildlife big and small

We stayed in two of the private reserves that are part of the Kruger Park system: Sabi Sands and Ngala Reserve. Staying in private reserves afforded us the opportunity to go off-road in appropriate conditions and meant few encounters with other safari vehicles. However, it also meant we did not have permission to cross boundaries into the park proper or other reserves—a downside when trying to track African wild dogs, but the downside goes both ways (you can't cross from the park proper into the reserves, either).

We saw just about everything that could be seen by daylight: lions and leopards (almost daily), Africa wild dogs (two days out of six), jackals, spotted hyenas and their young, elephant herds, giraffes, rhinos, Cape buffalo, terrapins, tortoises, hippos, giant land snails, dung beetles, wildebeest, baboon spiders, baboons, vervet monkeys, half a dozen kinds of antelope, and birds galore. Only one crocodile because the rivers were dry. No cheetahs, which are less common there and difficult to spot because of the tree density. (The areas we stayed were not open savannah, but rather dense savannah and veld.)

Our &Beyond guides from Kirkman's Kamp and Ngala Tented Camp were incredibly knowledgeable. They knew the mammals, birds, insects, plants. When they found out we were more interested in insects, plants and soil/geology than the average safari-goer, they made accommodations to get us off the vehicle now and again to look at termite mounds, watch dung beetles, squint at mites, inspect flowers, or admire the dirt.

It rained two days of six (two of eleven game drives). The safari vehicles are open, so raincoats and ponchos were a must. Some people in our group opted not to go out, but we went and didn't regret it. Both times, the rains brought African wild dogs, and the rain was not cold so it wasn't too uncomfortable.

The other days were hot and dry (we went in March, late summer, in a drought year). That meant few mosquitos. We forgot about the heat when we were watching animals, and when the vehicles were moving we had a breeze.

In the private reserves, it's permitted to be out on game drives after dark. We did not do any specifically night drives, but drove back at dusk/nightfall on our afternoon safaris. I appreciated that at Ngala they had red filters on the headlights, which don't interfere with animals' night vision. We saw nightjars, a hippo, and a few other things.

Breathtaking, destination and an absolute awe-inspiring trip!

Fantastic place to spend ones time. Nature at its finest. Peaceful with the the potential to see animals in their natural environment. All the facilities at the camps where clean and the staff were friendly and professional.

Fantastic place needs more cats.

When i went the weather was fine in the mornings, not too cold. Throughout the day it got very warm so sunscreen and a hat is vital in a tour jeep. The animals were amazing. The first time we saw an elephant we were over the moon. We then came to learn how common they were. The cats were very illusive and in 3 days we saw lions at a distance once and a single leopard walking through dense bush. The boards in the camps and park facilities saying where the animals were was very helpful. I understand why rhino's were not allowed but a little frustrating from a tourist perspective. I would recommend always using the jeeps. One day we had to travel through the park and used a minibus the glass made pictures a lower quality and it was hard to get a good view.

Kruger is the crown jewel of the South African National Park system. It's huge and it has everything. It would be hard to name a better national park in Africa, or even in the world.

The only thing ever on my bucket list, everyone should go!

The Kruger was everything I had dreamt about, and more. I stayed with god friends that live in Jeffrey's Bay and have been several times. We stayed at the Mopani Rest Camp. The accommodation was spotless and even though your neighbors are close, there is plenty of natural bush between them that it is still quite private. The restaurant at the dam has some amazing views. Sunset there is incredible!! Was lovely to just sit there in the evening and watch the birds and look out for other wildlife. We did a night drive, a sunset drive, and a game walk. Amos was our guide on all three (the walk also had Able) he was amazing, funny, informative, professional, polite.

We did self drives days, this was incredible. We saw so many elephants, water buffalo, zebra and all so close. The birding is incredible, not a major birder but getting into it, and coming from Bermuda every bird in South Africa was new. The Kruger helped my bird list reach 118 species spotted! Many of the raptors were easily spotted. We saw jackals and hyena but no big cat, but that didn't impact the joy I got on my trip!

We did visit Letaba for a little while, the river, the different landscape, it was awesome. The fact that you can drive around and see different types of terrain, dry areas of scrub brush, to lush plains. This experience is the best of my life! I hope to return one day and visit more of the Kruger!

Fantastic Fun on Safari!

Visiting Kruger in early April, we were lucky with the weather as it was dry and warm. Kruger National Park is absolutely huge and I can only comment on the tiny portion I have seen, however I had the opportunity to do both an evening sunset safari and a full day safari and was lucky enough to see a huge range of wildlife.

Guides
The guide for the sunset safari, Rick was brilliant: loads of fun, had a good sense of humour, great interactions with everyone in the jeep and of course was incredibly knowledgeable about the park and the wildlife. The guide for the day safari, Nicky, unfortunately was not as good. She was knowledgeable about the park and wildlife, but wasn't great at interacting with the clients and rushed from place to place without giving us the time to really watch the animals interacting with their environment.

Wildlife
No matter who the guide is, the park still has loads of absolutely amazing wildlife to observe and the best time to see the animals is at the cooler parts of the day around sunrise and sunset. In all my safari's I have been ridiculously lucky and have seen so many different animals, including the solitary ones such as Cheetah and Leopard. In my two safari's at Kruger I had the opportunity to see Lions, Elephants, Cheetah, Leopard, White Rhinceros', Giraffes, Impala, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Hippos, Buffalos, Zebra, Warthog, , Scrub Hare, Blue Duiker (smallest antelope breed - almost extinct), Nightjar (part of owl family), Kudu, Hyenas with pups, Klipspringer, Water Terrapin, a Water Monitor and Woolley Neck Storks.

Park Facilities
The park is well set up and the roads are all clearly marked. There are toilet facilities provided at set locations in the park and there are also places to stop for food and souvenirs. We stopped for morning tea at Skukuza, which was brilliant, there were a few different food options, accommodation options and a large souvenir store. We spent our lunch stop at Pretoriuskop which was tiny and had very little to offer (we were very unimpressed that this was our lunch stop as Skukuza was so much better).

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Kruger National Park and would highly recommend visiting!