Kruger National Park

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

One of the best value for money locations for safari I have ever come across

I initially visited Kruger as an extension to another trip I was doing in South Africa so it was never my main focus. As I love to focus on wildlife photography, I contacted a company that provides guiding for such trips (Wild4 Photographic Safaris) and they set up an excellent custom trip for just myself with a guide focusing mainly around the Lower Sabie area. I have to say that having been on safari to other places (in other countries), my initial expectations for the photographic aspect of this trip weren't too high.

It all changed on the way from Skukuza airport to the camp, with the airport in Skukuza offering a fantastically easy way to access the park. Just along a single stretch of road, in less than 1 hour, we saw Lions, Elephants, and Leopards. Throughout my time spent there, it was relatively easy to find and photograph the Big 5.

What really impressed me however, was the bird sightings. The road and areas became somewhat congested when it came to sightings of Lions and Leopards which were easier to come across than I initially expected in the Kruger. Having said that most of the self-drive tourists didn't really seem to care about the other stuff, especially birds. One episode I will not forget was how we spent hours with a Juvenile Bateleur photographing it in spectacular light all by ourselves (just me, and my guide at the time - Etienne Oosthuizen). Based on my experience, I thoroughly recommend having a guide as you would otherwise end up missing the vast majority of wildlife you can potentially see.

Having stayed in a hut in the Lower Sabie, accommodation can be best described as basic. The hut itself was adequate. Small, but clean and did the job wonderfully, but the common ablutions were often left in a pitiful state by some of the other visitors to the camp (they were, however, cleaned every day by the excellent staff). As a result, I would probably recommend people consider a room with private facilities.

In conclusion, I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and it is by far the best value-for-money safari I've ever been on (even if I was all on my own!) and it ended up being an integral part of why I'm planning to visit South Africa again - this time looking forward even more to my time in the Kruger.

Love it - grew up in this area