6-Day Kruger Park, Private Game Reserve & Canyon Safari

• You'll be collected from the airport.
• Accommodation before the tour starts can be arranged for an extra cost.

Johannesburg to Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor

Your safari does not wait until day three. A road transfer collects you from OR Tambo International Airport and heads northeast, roughly 5 to 6 hours, to Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor on the Rietspruit Big Game Reserve, situated in Hoedspruit, the safari capital of South Afria. Every lodge in this range is personally vetted by our team on the ground.
Within an hour of check-in, you're out on a sunset drive on the Rietspruit Big Game Reserve itself, part of the Greater Kruger. No fences between properties. Far fewer vehicles than the national park gates. Wildlife that moves freely across both, and your guide can close the distance with fewer other vehicles at each sighting.
Your guide is a qualified and experienced nature guide who works this reserve daily. As the light drops, you'll watch for the Big Five with a sundowner in hand before the spotlights come out for the drive back to the lodge for dinner.

Main Destination:

Rietspruit Game Reserve

Accommodation:

Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor

• Luxury lodge located inside Rietspruit GR

+3 Photos

Meals & Drinks:

• Dinner (Breakfast & lunch not included)
• Drinks not included

Panoramic Tour of the Blyde River Canyon

Most operators treat the Panorama Route as a single stop on the way in from Johannesburg: one viewpoint, a few photographs, then straight on to Kruger. This is a full day dedicated to the canyon, not a drive-by.

The Panorama Route runs along the edge of the Blyde River Canyon, one of the largest canyons on Earth, and a luxury SUV with a dedicate nature guide takes you there, not a scheduled coach working through forty other passengers' checklist.

You'll stand at the misty heights above the Drakensberg escarpment, the Three Rondavels viewpoint and the sculpted rock formations at Bourke's Luck Potholes.

Your guide explains the geology and the local history at each stop. The day ends in the mountain town of Graskop for lunch before the drive back to Khaya Ndlovu.

Big Five country in the morning. Canyon and mountain scenery by afternoon. A full day to explore, not a single stop ticked off during a road trip to your destination.

Main Destination:

Panorama Route (Highlight)

Accommodation:

Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor

• Luxury lodge located inside Rietspruit GR

Meals & Drinks:

• Breakfast & dinner (Lunch not included)
• Drinks not included

Full-Day Safari in Central Kruger National Park

A full day inside Kruger National Park, entering via Orpen Gate, roughly 45 minutes to an hour from Khaya Ndlovu. You're in your own vehicle, not one of several from the same operator moving in convoy, all competig for a spot of the same sighting.

Larger operators run multiple vehicles at once, sticking together and racing from sighting to sighting to keep every vehicle in the group happy. Your day doesn't work that way. Your guide sets the pace based on what's happening around you, not on keeping up with vehicles wearing the same logo.

Your guide reads tracks, signs and behaviour rather than following a set route, working the route based on where the game is moving. Sightings are never guaranteed, but a full day in your own vehicle, on your own schedule, puts you in more control of how the day unfolds than a convoy ever can.

Breakfast and lunch are both taken inside the park at a relaxed pace. You're not sharing the day with anyone else's itinerary.

Main Destination:

Central Kruger National Park

Best Time To Visit May to September (Dry season)

High Season December to January and July to August

Best Weather Apr-May and Sep-Oct (Mild and little rain)

Wildlife in Kruger NP

ElephantAbundant

GiraffeCommon

LionCommon

BuffaloCommon

ZebraAbundant

WildebeestCommon

Show more

HippoCommon

HyenaCommon

White RhinoOccasional

LeopardOccasional

CheetahOccasional

Black RhinoRare

Wild DogRare

Accommodation:

Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor

• Luxury lodge located inside Rietspruit GR

Meals & Drinks:

• Breakfast & dinner (Lunch not included)
• Drinks not included

Mohololoho Rehabilitation Centre and Boat Cruise

A guided visit to Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre starts the day: rescued birds of prey, big cats and other animals under veterinary care, and a first-hand account of what conservation work in this region actually involves. You'll learn about the threats the region's wildlife face and the conservation efforts working to protect and preserve their future, not the sanitised version most tour groups get from behind a fence line.

From there, a relaxed lunch on the banks of the Blyde River, before the 90-minute boat cruise across the Blyde Dam, the only cruise of its kind in this package range.

Sheer canyon walls rise on either side, waterfalls drop straight into the water in places vehicles on the Panorama Route never reach, and you'll watch for hippo, basking crocodile and fish eagles working the shoreline. The quietest stretch of the trip, after four days spent mostly in a vehicle.

Main Destination:

Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre (Wildlife Sanctuary)

Accommodation:

Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor

• Luxury lodge located inside Rietspruit GR

Meals & Drinks:

• Breakfast & dinner (Lunch not included)
• Drinks not included

Full-Day Safari in Central Kruger National Park

Back into Kruger for your second full day, and this time you're not starting cold. Your guide already has a feel for where the game has been moving this week, and today's route builds on that instead of guessing.

Early mornings are when the park is most alive: predators finishing a night's work before the heat sets in, herds moving toward water, the bush loud with birdlife in the half-light. You already know the rhythm of the vehicle and the terrain from your first day in the park, so today moves faster: fewer explanations, more time actually looking.

Breakfast and lunch are both taken inside the park, with no clock pulling you back toward the gate early. Two full days spent reading this stretch of Kruger, not passing through it once, is what turns a good safari into one you actually remember.

Main Destination:

Central Kruger National Park

Accommodation:

Khaya Ndlovu Safari Manor

• Luxury lodge located inside Rietspruit GR

Meals & Drinks:

• Breakfast & dinner (Lunch not included)
• Drinks not included

Sunrise Safari in the Pridelands and Transfer Back to Johannesburg

Your final morning includes a sunrise drive on the Rietspruit Big Game Reserve, no extra charge. It's the quietest window on the reserve: peak predator activity, golden-hour light, and a stop for tea and coffee in the bush. Two drives across the trip, sunset on arrival and sunrise on departure, both included in the price.

After the drive, breakfast at Khaya Ndlovu and time to pack before your shuttle back to OR Tambo International Airport.

Six days covers every highlight this region offers. You arrived not knowing what six days would cover. You leave having driven a private reserve twice, spent two full days in Kruger, crossed one of the largest canyons on Earth, cruised it by boat, and seen firsthand the conservation work protecting it all. The whole region, properly done.

By the time your shuttle leaves Khaya Ndlovu, this won't feel like a holiday you took. It'll feel like a week you actually lived in the bush, and that's the kind of trip people ask you about for years.

Main Destination:

Johannesburg Airport (Johannesburg)

Accommodation:

No accommodation (End of tour)

Meals & Drinks:

• Breakfast (Lunch & dinner not included)
• Drinks not included

• Additional accommodation can be arranged for an extra cost.
• You'll be dropped off at the airport.