JohnM
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I made mention in comments on my TR on the E Africa safari of my trip to Kruger NP in S Africa just on two years ago. Here’s a short TR, with a few pics, on that trip as it may form an addendum of interest to some folks.
The great thing about Kruger and S Africa is that it’s very easy to do independently – in fact IMHO, it would be pointless to do as an organised tour. Being government-based and long-established, there is a lot of comfortable but slightly old and basic accommodation. But the advantage of that is that it’s not expensive – and it is great for families.
They also have an excellent website where you can put together your full accommodation itinerary and pay all your park fees before you go (South Africa National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations) . You then just check in at one of the entry gates and they know you’re in the park and where you’ll be each night.
Each ‘rest camp’, as they call them, is closed from dusk until dawn, so it is mandatory to be inside a camp at night. All camps have a mix of accommodation: campsites, caravan sites, onsite tents and cottages, and they have a café/restaurant and a general store. At most camps they also offer activities such as night game drives, where they take you out of the camp in a safari 4WD for some spotlighting – at very reasonable cost.
There are quite a few rest camps across the park, so it is easy to gradually move through without having to go backwards. Kruger is quite long N-S and, essentially, there is one main sealed road through the middle, with plenty of good unsealed roads meandering out and about from that.
The southern part is the most visited and can feel a bit touristy; the northern part is noticeably quieter.
The speed limit is 50kph on the sealed road and 40kph on the unsealed – but you wouldn’t want to go any faster as it becomes hard to spot the wildlife.
The park is about 5h drive from JNB on the superb dual-carriageway M4, so it’s dead easy to get to. I had decided to do the full length of the park so I decided to deviate northwards to Phalaborwa, a town about halfway along the W side and use that as an entry point. After a day there to recover from the CX flight from S Korea xHKG-JNB (the Kruger trip was part of a DONEx) and the quite long drive, staying at a very comfortable and reasonably-priced B&B, I entered the park for 8 nights.
I would say 6-8 nights is about right to cover the whole park N-S.
Apart from the rest camps, there are picnic spots with brais (small BBQs that S Africans love to use for cooking whenever they stop) and toilets. Outside these and the rest camps, getting out of vehicles is prohibited.
Basically, it’s just nice to slowly cruise around looking for wildlife (with iconic, more cryptic species such as leopard often signalled by the presence of a group of stopped cars). A picnic spot or rest camp is never a great distance away so it’s easy to work out when you need to get moving towards your next camp before they shut the gate.
The other thing to consider is to rent an SUV for a little more height. It may aid the game viewing. The best time to go is in the dry season (around August-September) because the grass is shorter and the animals are congregating around water-points.
Anyway, I think Kruger is a great introduction to Africa and its wildlife and is not intimidating in the slightest for the Africa-nervous. It would be a great, and very educational, place to take kids for a family holiday at quite reasonable cost.
Here are a few pics:
The general route that I took. The Pafuri border site is quite interesting as it is the meeting point of S Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Gardens of the nice family-run B&B in Phalaborwa.
Some examples of cottage & on-site tent accommodation in the park:
Cont...
The great thing about Kruger and S Africa is that it’s very easy to do independently – in fact IMHO, it would be pointless to do as an organised tour. Being government-based and long-established, there is a lot of comfortable but slightly old and basic accommodation. But the advantage of that is that it’s not expensive – and it is great for families.
They also have an excellent website where you can put together your full accommodation itinerary and pay all your park fees before you go (South Africa National Parks - SANParks - Official Website - Accommodation, Activities, Prices, Reservations) . You then just check in at one of the entry gates and they know you’re in the park and where you’ll be each night.
Each ‘rest camp’, as they call them, is closed from dusk until dawn, so it is mandatory to be inside a camp at night. All camps have a mix of accommodation: campsites, caravan sites, onsite tents and cottages, and they have a café/restaurant and a general store. At most camps they also offer activities such as night game drives, where they take you out of the camp in a safari 4WD for some spotlighting – at very reasonable cost.
There are quite a few rest camps across the park, so it is easy to gradually move through without having to go backwards. Kruger is quite long N-S and, essentially, there is one main sealed road through the middle, with plenty of good unsealed roads meandering out and about from that.
The southern part is the most visited and can feel a bit touristy; the northern part is noticeably quieter.
The speed limit is 50kph on the sealed road and 40kph on the unsealed – but you wouldn’t want to go any faster as it becomes hard to spot the wildlife.
The park is about 5h drive from JNB on the superb dual-carriageway M4, so it’s dead easy to get to. I had decided to do the full length of the park so I decided to deviate northwards to Phalaborwa, a town about halfway along the W side and use that as an entry point. After a day there to recover from the CX flight from S Korea xHKG-JNB (the Kruger trip was part of a DONEx) and the quite long drive, staying at a very comfortable and reasonably-priced B&B, I entered the park for 8 nights.
I would say 6-8 nights is about right to cover the whole park N-S.
Apart from the rest camps, there are picnic spots with brais (small BBQs that S Africans love to use for cooking whenever they stop) and toilets. Outside these and the rest camps, getting out of vehicles is prohibited.
Basically, it’s just nice to slowly cruise around looking for wildlife (with iconic, more cryptic species such as leopard often signalled by the presence of a group of stopped cars). A picnic spot or rest camp is never a great distance away so it’s easy to work out when you need to get moving towards your next camp before they shut the gate.
The other thing to consider is to rent an SUV for a little more height. It may aid the game viewing. The best time to go is in the dry season (around August-September) because the grass is shorter and the animals are congregating around water-points.
Anyway, I think Kruger is a great introduction to Africa and its wildlife and is not intimidating in the slightest for the Africa-nervous. It would be a great, and very educational, place to take kids for a family holiday at quite reasonable cost.
Here are a few pics:
The general route that I took. The Pafuri border site is quite interesting as it is the meeting point of S Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.
Gardens of the nice family-run B&B in Phalaborwa.
Some examples of cottage & on-site tent accommodation in the park:
Cont...
