Kruger National Park

I didn't spend too long at Kruger, and dind't see a lot either. I am not a big fan of all the traffic, but you will see a lot of animals. Very good place for birding.

Amazing kruger

For a Malagasy that come from a tropical biodiversity hotspot, Kruger was an amazing experience.
My dream to observe the big 5 became a reality.

Just stunning

Kruger is a piece of Africa's heart. There are a lot of wild animals that are easy to spot, including mammals, birds and reptiles. I saw at least once a day lions, leopards, elephants, kudu, rhino, hippo, cebra, wildebeest and plenty of different species of bird. In addition, the landscape is awesome, specially the sunset, you can take amazing pictures.

The accomodations, shops and restaurants are really good.

I recommend to avoid weekends because there are too many people.

Good introduction, but perhaps not quite "wild" enough

I went to the southern section, from Malelane gate up to Skukuza. This is probably one of the the most popular parts of the Kruger. Access is easy, there are many lodges close by. But popular means busy; this is not the wide open savannah, its relatively dense lowveld, and visitors must stay on the roads and tracks. There are sightings on the roads, and some good ones too, but as guides usually have radios to keep in touch and report sightings, anything interesting tends to be soon surrounded by a traffic jam! I had a two guides, one okay, and one great which helped a lot, but even then we didn't see any cats at all. That's just down to bad luck. :-( Overall whilst it was a great introduction to the whole safari experience, I found it felt "managed" and somewhat canned and commercialised. I wanted and still want a "wilder" safari experience.

A Must See for Wildlife Lovers

Kruger is a wonderful National Park whether you are experiencing it with a tour or on your own. Roads are good and the accommodation is a welcome oasis after a day of game viewing. It's also the perfect place to meet up with other people and swap stories of the animal encounters of the day. Every day can bring something new from seeing a family of elephants enjoying the watering hole to following a lion on a hunt. A night drive is also a good way to see other animals that usually don't make an apperance during the day, such as a new hyena mother with her baby cubs enjoying the cool night air. Kruger National Park was a highlight of our travels through South Africa.

We were captivated by the pulse of the bush and variety of wildlife encountered.

We were very fortunate to see plenty of wildlife & had the awesome experience of coming across a pride of lions with their zebra kill at 4.30am very near our camp. The recent drought had taken its toll on the vegetation but the scenery was still interesting. We stayed at Satara & Lower Sabie Camps which were both very adequate & allowed us to self-cater breakfast & lunch & to either bbq or eat in the restaurant for dinners. I would recommend taking your own groceries as the choices at the camps we somewhat limited. We self-drove which was fantastic because it gave us flexibility in gaming times & when we could stop. We were on the road each day at 4.30, back at camp for lunch, swim & rest then out again late afternoon. I am a keen photographer and was like a kid in a candy store with all the photo opportunities that Kruger National Park presented but I am now keen to visit Sabi Sands and/or Okavango Delta where I understand the sightings are more frequent per kilometre travelled. This trip has certainly put the unique African bush & wildlife in our hearts & we can't wait to return in the near future.

Great, but often has too many people, and there can be too many cars at good sightings.

Plentiful and varied wildlife

We saw over 100 elephants, 2 rhinos, 50 cape buffalo, 1 lion

Kruger National Park - The best place on earth

Kruger National Park, South Africa.
We have visited Kruger many times and can only report positive about the park and the facilities. But you have to comply with a few traits to enjoy this park, (and any other nature reserve). You have to love: nature, a peaceful environment, absence of city life, no traffic lights, tranquillity and spotting and observing animals (including birds).
The park is large, about 400km long by 60km wide and is dotted with many so called rest camps for the lower budget travellers and lodges for the more upmarket visitors. All camps are fenced, so one can freely walk around. Most camps have a shop where one can buy groceries and other goodies as well as a restaurant. The restaurants used to be mediocre, but this has greatly improved lately now that Kruger no longer operates most of them, but rather commercial restaurant chains. Also most camps have a swimming pool. At various locations in the Park you will find picnic spots (also at every camp) where you can even hire a gas bottle and pan to prepare your own breakfast.
Accommodation in the camps varies from camping to chalets completely fitted with all requirements with various options in between like permanent tents, basic huts (with communal ablution) and more advanced huts. We only encountered neat and clean accommodation.
The occurrence of games varies, but Kruger is well stocked and there are also various waterholes where one can leave the vehicle and wait for the animals to come. The big five are there of course.
In case you go with a tour operator everything is organized for you. But if you want to do it on your own, here some tips:
Book in advance via this website http://www.sanparks.org/tourism/reservations/
One can drive by car (about 400km from Johannesburg airport, excellent road) or fly directly into Kruger to Skukuza airport with daily Airlink flights (from Johannesburg and CapeTown) and rent a car on arrival. (Avis) http://flyairlink.com/
There is a daily entry fee for Kruger of R280 for foreigners, which at the current exchange rate is about USD18, which you pay when entering the Park. If you go many nights you can buy a Wildcard making it cheaper. At the gate staff can advise you.
Don’t forget to buy a Kruger map at the gate where you enter, makes travelling so much easier.
Don’t forget your binocular and that long lens in case you like photography.
Every camp has one or more communal kitchens where you can cook a meal in case you want to skip the restaurants and stay in a tent or hut without kitchen.
Search for the Facebook page “Kruger National park – Best Place on Earth” if you want to see and read how others experience Kruger.
And once in Kruger you can follow other people’s sightings on your tablet at https://www.facebook.com/latestsightingskruger/
Kruger is large and the max speed 50km/hour, so don’t book one night in the South and the next in the far North, you won’t make it.
The southern part of Kruger is busiest as far as cars and people are concerned. The camps in the far North, like Punda Maria, Mopanie and Shingwedzi for example are much quieter.
In every camp you can book a game drive with an experienced game ranger, during the day or the evening. They mostly know where the animals are by talking to their colleges via radio.
All in all, Kruger is a fantastic place, it’s a place that missed most that we call progress !
And finally, having been in Kenya as well with its hectic traffic, corrupt policemen and parks costing USD70-UDS90 a day just to get in we can only conclude that Kruger is a visitors paradise.
Tjeerd en Diny de WIt

Wildlife, Birds, History, Nature, People, ... everything you need for a great Safari holiday!

Hello everyone,

I'm Simon, a guide and photographer. I have spent three months working and being on holiday in the Kruger National Park, South Africa. During these three months I was able to discover quite a large part of the park. I have slept in most of the rest camps, ate in most of the restaurants in the rest camps and travelled on most of the roads in the park.

There are a lot of Safari companies that will do guided drives in the park, in general most of those companies are well organised and if you wish to learn about the different aspects of the park ( animals, birds, history, trees, etc...) I would recommend to go on one of the drives. You can find plenty of those companies on google.

A great thing about Kruger is that you're also able to go in the park with your own car. Go where you want ( on tar roads or dirt roads), look at what you want for as much time as you want and sleep in the different rest camps. The rest camps offer basic but very good accommodation at a reasonable price, depending on which accommodation you book you will have a kitchen, each camp also has a shop where you can buy food. If you don't want to cook, each camp also has a restaurant that has very nice menus. All the camps have fuel stations and most camps also have communal swimming pools and organise bush walks, bush dinners and drives (morning, afternoon and evening) which are not expensive and where you can learn and discover new things.

Wildlife is plentiful in the park, you will easily and closely see general game including Elephants and Buffalos. There are also plenty of cats in the park, however you don't always have sightings of them next to the road. If you spent several days in the park though you will usually, at least have some nice sightings of cats. Same for Wild dogs and other rare game.

There is also a wide variety of birds in the park ( around 517 species), there are several bird hides throughout the park where you can go to observe them in peace and quietness.

The park has several historical sites and you can buy books in the shops that will explain the history of those sites.

As I said earlier, every rest camp has a shop where you can buy food, drinks,general utilities and a lot of books (maps of the park, books on the birds, animals, fiction, history, photography, true stories of the park, etc...)

If you like landscapes you will also enjoy every moment in Kruger, there are 5 different biomes. There are also plenty of view points in the park where you can get out of your car and enjoy the panorama.

If you drive by yourself you can choose to either drive on the tar roads or the dirt roads. Usually there will be less people on the dirt roads but you travel more slowly and for some dirt roads you need a decent car, it is also quite dusty. As far as wildlife goes, dirt road or tar road there is no road where you will see more animals, it is all luck!

If you drive by yourself, international visitors will pay 280 Rand as conservation fee per day, South Africans 70 Rand (because they already pay conservation fees in their taxes) at the entry gates of the park or the rest camps if you sleepover. However if you plan on staying several days it might be interesting to buy yourself a Wildcard, which will give you access to all South African National Parks for 1 year. For international visitors it costs 1920 Rand and for South Africans 470 Rand, there are several other options which you can ask for at the Kruger gates.

All in all if you plan on visiting South Africa I would really recommend you visiting the Kruger National Park, it is something you just can't miss!