Kruger National Park

A very special and exhilarating experience in one of the great parks of Africa!

Sometimes photographing birds and wildlife just seems too easy. It's stunning how close you can get to the animals in their natural surroundings and the amount of wildlife you get to see is unbelievable. Having breakfast in the park (because you need and want to start your safari very early) is an extra bonus and was very well organized. We did more than one safari (recommended!) and all our guides were thorough professionals and very knowledgeable. Transportation in the safari vehicles was great; they are built so that everyone in the car has an excellent view which is, of course, very important.

Great wildlife sightseeing and infrastructure

I went to the Kruger Park in November/16, during 3 days. We entered the Park through the Phalaborwa Gate and drove via Olifants - Satara - Skukuza to exit using the Numbi Gate, overall good roads, ideal even for compact cars. You might look for a taller car (like a minibus/van) to have a better view (the higher the better). A 4x4 won't help much as most of dirt roads are closed to tourists.

There is abundant wildlife in the park: elephants, leopards, hippopotamuses, rhinos, giraffes, buffalos, zebras, waterbucks, just to name some of them.

Early spring is a great time to visit the park, as it is the start of the rainy season, so vegetation is green and there are lots of new-born animals to see.

The Park infrastructure for tourists is great, plenty of accommodation options in the various camps, reasonably good restaurants/markets.
If you want to enjoy the place, I would recommend a longer stay (5-7 days) with 2-3 nights in a camp. I strongly recommend to visit different regions of the park, as vegetation / wildlife / landscape quickly changes from one area of the park to another. Just be careful that searching for animals in the landscape can be quite exhausting, especially for people who are expecting something like a visit to a zoo.

The Park was not very busy, even in Skukuza, as we went during the low season.

Two final tips: get a binocular for every 1-2 person in the group ('any' binocular is better than no binocular) and buy the map/guide from SANS park that is sold in the gates, it has a lot of useful information and it has a better layout than most travel guides sold in bookstores.

Fortunate to have visited this region in time. Future of wildlife is in danger because climatchange

If you want to get the feeling of the wildlife and the region you must stay at least 3 to 4 days. Great to visit by own car, but certainly use the local organized sunset, sundown and night drive. We were lucky to spot the big five and the dangerous eight. Also many birds and small animals.
We stayed at Olifant rest camp. Great place to be with a spectacular view from the top of the hill. Good food, friendly people.
We visited SA self organized because as photographers it is very difficult to be part of a group. Be sure to get your bookings online long time before.

Unmatchable experience!

This was my first trip to Africa, and seeing so much wildlife, so close to our guide's truck, was breathtaking. Others have told me that they prefer other parks and game reserves because of the lack of greenery, but my group was very satisfied with our experience.

We were lucky enough to stay inside the park's borders, at Skukuza camp. We were glad to be able to do so, since having to leave the camp each evening and drive back in the morning would have minimized our morning/evening wildlife drive windows; most animals are more active during those hours.

It's impossible to predict what animals you will see on any given drive, and some of ours were disappointing. Others were stunning! After being told leopards are only rarely spotted in the park, we saw two on the same drive, one ambling across the road. On another occasion we hadn't seen anything particularly for the first hour or so, then stumbled across our first, huge herd of zebras.

There were plenty of other people around, both at Skukuza and driving around the park. It was impossible to forget the real world when you spotted other cars every five or ten minutes. Still, for someone who's previously only seen this kind of wildlife in zoos, it was a life-changing experience.

An incredibly humbling and rewarding adventure I WILL do again with my son when he is of age.

Kruger is a breathtaking and surreal place, I cannot effectively describe it but I will try. From the moment (and in the way) you arrive you Kruger you will feel like you're in a fairy tale, each camp receives you with such care and kindness, it even seems as if the animals all follow suit. The feeling you get while walking through the African wilderness with nothing but a guide and a bottle of water will drive you wild, you will begin to feel like prey and you will really grasp a better understanding of how big and beautiful the world is. The accommodation we stayed at (Tanda Tula) made you feel like you arrived in heaven. The home made local food, the interaction with all of the staff and the beautiful decor and provisions were always top notch, not to mention the drinks ;). A tour at 530am and then again at 4pm allowed you to see all angles and aspects of the wild. Our guides were so personable, and geared their tours to suit our personalities and needs. If you go - pray you get stuck in a down pour, its the most romantic experience.

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.

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

A self drive safari experience, a lifetime of memories, Kruger is amazing!

Six years ago, I was fortunate enough to spend 9 weeks travelling through Africa seeking out it's wildlife. during this time I spent a single day in Kruger National Park.
So when I was planning a photographic safari holiday on a tight budget, I considered my options carefully. The thing is safari holidays, are for some a once in a lifetime experience, so I wanted to get this right. The memory of that single day in Kruger, just kept popping back into my head, the roads, the rest camps, the weather and the wildlife, were all positives. So I opted for Kruger as my two week Safari destination.
Kruger National Park is exactly that, a national park! Not a safari park or a zoo, the wildlife isn't looked after, it looks after its self. This means it can be unpredictable. So if you are considering a self drive safari in Kruger, it's worth researching the behaviour of the game, especially the Elephants and Rhino's, as you will come into contact with these animals on the roads. So how good is Kruger as a safari destination? Well the main issue here is the wildlife and apparently Kruger has one of the largest bio-diversity's of life, of anywhere in Africa and plenty of large animals to keep your shutters clicking all day long. One particular morning we had seen the Big 5 by 9.30am. The birdlife here requires a mention too, it really is amazing, especially the raptors.
One thing to remember is that although you are not allowed out of your vehicle within the park, there are places where you can get out. there are some excellent hides, usually overlooking watering holes (great places for viewing game and birds). Some of the larger bridges also allow you to alight from your vehicle, theses can be great too. Rest camps are fantastic places, whether you are staying the night or not. Restaurants, toilets, shops, petrol stations and launderettes can be found at most. You can even continue your days wildlife watching here at the rest camps, with surprising success.
Our choice of time of year to visit was May, earlier would have given us a greater number of bird species, but still it was fantastic in May for birds. the weather was sunny nearly all of the time, yet not too hot!
Food and fuel was reasonably priced.
One thing I should mention is that we had a slow puncture in our hire car. After stopping at a rest camp for some food, a garage attendant advised us on our slowly deflating tyre and repaired it for us. 20minutes later we were on our way, with the knowledge that we weren't about to get stuck in the middle of the park.
If you are considering a self drive safari, I can't imagine a better place. the roads a fantastic, even the dirt roads. They are regularly maintained, which may cause some delay, but who's in a hurry whilst on holiday? There are speed traps, so do stick to the speed limits, remember the park is for the animals and we are just guests.
Another question you may ask is, do we stay in the park or outside the park? We stayed outside the park, but if I was to visit again, I would stay inside. The reason for this is, the entry gates can be busy and a little disorganised (Although, some are better than others.). Staying inside the park means you only have to enter once.
Will we see the animals close enough to get decent photographs? This is a question I asked myself before booking the trip, especially as you have to stay inside the vehicle and stick to the roads. Well, I need not have worried as the game was so relaxed and used to the vehicles, that it behaved as if they weren't even there. Hyaenas did come up to my drivers window, which was a bit unnerving and Bull Elephants in musth should be treated with total respect. Elephants with young, should also be given space, you wouldn't want to upset an animal that is bigger than your car.
Follow the rules and you should have a trouble free trip, the main thing is to enjoy it!

Kruger is simply one of the best safari parks in the world, where multiple wildlife sightings daily is all but guaranteed.