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Wildlife, Birds, History, Nature, People, ... everything you need for a great Safari holiday!
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
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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!
Des Maguire
IE
Visited:
March 2016
Reviewed: Mar 27, 2016
Email Des Maguire | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: first safari
Absolutely worth the visit.
We crammed a lot into three days in Kruger.Even though it was coming into Autumn, it was still very hot but with the luxury of some cloud cover. The scenery is bland but what amazed me was the ease at which many animals of different colours can blend into the background. We were pleased to see most of the big 5, only missing out on the Leopard.To be up close to such wild magnificent animals was truly amazing.Also for me the birds we saw were beautiful and varied.
The accommodation was perfect and the staff were very helpful.We could not fault anything except maybe the flying beetles which can drop in(literally) during dinner while dining al fresco.
Kathryn
US
Visited:
March 2016
Reviewed: Apr 2, 2016
Email Kathryn | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
Great variety of wildlife big and small
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
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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.
neill_scog
GB
Visited:
October 2015
Reviewed: Apr 18, 2016
Email neill_scog | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: first safari
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.
Graham
US
Visited:
November 2015
Reviewed: Apr 19, 2016
Email Graham | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
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.
thewildlifephotographer
GB
Visited:
December 2015
Reviewed: Apr 26, 2016
Email thewildlifephotographer | 35-50 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Kruger is fantastic for wildlife but becoming too crowded and hectic to enjoy the experience. It's a good place to visit for first-timers but tick it off your list and head somewhere more adventurous next time.
dstylebda- Herb Marshall
BM
Visited:
March 2016
Reviewed: Apr 27, 2016
The only thing ever on my bucket list, everyone should go!
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
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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!
Cat
NL
Visited:
April 2016
Reviewed: Apr 30, 2016
Email Cat | 20-35 years of age | Experience level: over 5 safaris
Fantastic Fun on Safari!
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
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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!
kaz3160
GB
Visited:
April 2016
Reviewed: May 8, 2016
Email kaz3160 | 50-65 years of age | Experience level: 2-5 safaris
wonderful experience, we were blessed to see the big five within two days, cant wait to return!!
The weather was perfect. In total we saw 555 animals! 28 different species. We only did 10% of the park!
We started at Crocodile bridge, spent the night there, which was idyllic. I saw my first bush babies there. They were about one metre away and were not scared. The following day we went to Lower Sabie. Stunning!! Elephants , hippos, crocs, monitor lizard, water buck , we stayed at Berg en dal that evening. We had a wonderful time driving around and stopping off at different places for brunch etc. I love the Kruger National Park. We will definitely be returning, but for a lot longer next time!! Please look at my Flickr account to see my photos kaz3160.
If undecided, I would definitely recommend that you go!!!
