Arguable, South Africa is one of the best safari destinations in Africa. It’s more like a dream vacation location for travelers traveling within the African continent. Kruger National Park is a must-visit destination if you are planning a trip to South Africa. I’m pretty sure you Google it and that is why you landed on this page.
Mrpocu.com has put together this piece to help you know more about Kruger National Park as you are planning a trip to SA.
Here you’ll find useful information and tips to help you plan your visit. it is free and if you find it useful, you can share it with others to also help them plan their trip.
History About Kruger National Park
The Kruger National Park is South Africa’s largest national park. It’s west of the Lebombo Mountains on the Mozambique border, in the provinces of Limpopo and Mpumalanga. The park was named after Paul Kruger, the previous president of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) and creator of the Afrikaner country, in 1926.
Skukuza is where the park’s headquarters are located. The park is around 200 miles (320 km) long and 25 to 50 miles (40 to 80 km) wide, with an area of 7,523 square miles (19,485 square km). The terrain is mostly flat, with modest hills and almost 5,000 miles of paved and dirt roads running across it.
The vegetation ranges from open veld to deep bush, with mopane, acacia, marula, and baobab trees among the species. Elephants, lions, leopards, cheetahs, buffalo, rhinoceroses, zebras, wildebeests, impalas, and a variety of birds are among the wildlife. Despite the park’s six perennial rivers, droughts frequently necessitate artificial watering.
Kruger National Park merged with Limpopo Park in Mozambique and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe to become the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, Africa’s largest wildlife park, in 2002.
What Kruger National Park is Know for
The Big Five, the Little Five (buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, leopard tortoise, ant lion, and rhino beetle), the birding Big Six (ground hornbill, kori bustard, lappet-faced vulture, martial eagle, pel’s fishing owl, and saddle-bill stork), and more species of mammals than any other African Game Reserve can be found beneath the baobabs, fever.
The Kruger Park is a self-drive location with great infrastructure that offers picnic spots, rest camps, waterholes, and hides, while guided tours are available. The Kruger Park is a magnificent reserve that provides an unforgettable glimpse of Africa in its natural state. (For overnight and package tours spanning from one night and two days to weeks, see Kruger Park Tours; for single-day guided journeys into Kruger National Park, see Kruger Park Day Tours.)
Things To Do At Kruger National Park
Game drives, bush walks, foot safaris, wilderness paths, and even a self-drive eco-trail are just a few of the ways to take in the Kruger National Park’s breathtaking beauty and wildlife.
Game Drives
The Kruger National Park is known for its game drives. If you’re on a Kruger Park safari, the highlight of any day is riding in the back of an off-road vehicle with binoculars in one hand and holding on for dear life to the constantly rolling vehicle as it makes its way through the bush in search of the latest pride of lions, spotted feeding on a kill just over the rise.
Regular game drives with an experienced ranger are included in the price of a safari or a stay at a private game lodge, and for those on self-drives through the Kruger National Park, Olifants, Mopani, and Letaba rest camps offer night drives, while most rest camps offer early morning, mid-morning, and sunset game drives. Game drives typically last 3 hours, and most private lodges and game farms include a coffee break, brunch, or sundowners in the bush as part of the game drive experience.
Foot Safari
Foot Safaris in the Kruger National Park – Walking through a wilderness area on foot is the epitome of a fantastic safari experience. This is an experience that may be had at Mohlabetsi Safari Lodge. Tony and his team understand the importance of a Foot Safari and consider themselves fortunate to be able to share the bush with their visitors.
Bush Walks
Nothing compares to the adrenaline rush of tracking rhino, elephant, and lion on foot through the bush in the heat. But it’s also one of the best ways to learn about the Kruger Park’s fragile ecosystems and to observe the park’s smaller, but no less fascinating, animals and insects, such as termites, spiders, snakes, and plants, which are often overlooked in the park’s faster game drives.
Bushwalks can last up to four hours, with rest pauses to allow for replenishing and to take in the scenery. It’s best to bring your own snacks and sunscreen to the Kruger Park, and most camps provide morning and afternoon treks.
Wilderness Trails
Metsi-Metsi, Bushmans Wilderness Trail, Nyalaland, Napi Wilderness Trail, Wolhuter, and the Sweni Wilderness are just a few of the amazing wilderness paths in the Kruger National Park, some of which are in places completely unspoiled by people. The majority of these walks are roughly two days long, with three overnight stays in rustic huts with basic ablution in reed-walled showers and flush toilets, but they’re all booked out months in advance.
These are designed for smaller groups than bush treks, and participants must be reasonably fit, as they average 20 kilometers per day at a slow pace.
Lebombo Overload Trail
This fantastic five-day ‘wilderness trip on wheels’ takes you from Crocodile Bridge to Pafuri and is well worth mentioning. It’s an environmental route that runs from the far south to the far north of the Kruger National Park’s eastern frontier, across the Lebombo hills (thus the name). The 500-kilometer path is completed by a maximum of five vehicles, each with four occupants, in order to minimize environmental impact.
It’s a self-drive environmental route where you operate your own car and cater for yourself, crossing spectacular rivers and passing through some of the park’s most stunning scenery — wide open areas, bushveld, and majestic trees at their best. Lower Sabie, Olifants, and Shingwedzi restcamps are where the trail spends the night. This walk is considered the best in southern Africa merely because of the rich diversity of animals and plants en route, will be led by experienced and professional guides who will interpret the different ecozones and explain the terrain.
Kruger National Park Accommodation
No other national park in the world comes close to matching Kruger in terms of lodging options. The South African National Parks Board runs a number of rest camps, bushveld campgrounds and lodges, and even some overnight hides in the Kruger National Park.
When vacationing in the Kruger National Park, however, it is the magnificent privately-run game lodges that steal the show, as a journey is transformed into more of an experience – the pace of life slows to a leisurely tempo, and your every need is cared for, and extravagance is not spared. With all of this in the untamed heart of Africa, it’s no surprise that Kruger Park has earned its reputation.
Private, Luxury Game Lodge (Kruger Park Concessions)
The only places to stay in the Kruger until recently were government-run rest camps. However, the park has leased extensive swaths of unspoiled territory to private operators in a unique commercial maneuver, akin to the opulent private reserves on the park’s western border, such as Sabi Sands and Timbavati.
Although most of the Kruger park’s rules still apply, these private game lodges provide wonderful luxury, excellently guided game drives, and the ability to travel outside of the park if desired, but there is much to keep you occupied while staying here. The enormous Kruger Park is made more intimate and exclusive by these private game lodges.
Buhala Game Lodge, on the banks of the Crocodile River, is the most well-known of these luxury private concessions, where you may hear the familiar call of the Fish eagle, beautifully thatched housing, and breathtaking surroundings.
The old waggon path from Delgoa Bay to the goldfields of the interior forms the southern limit of Jock Safari Lodge, which provides romantic and sophisticated suites influenced by indigenous Zulu and Swazi cultures.
The Private Game Reserve Within Kruger
A number of private game reserves line the western border of the Kruger National Park. Despite the fact that none of them are within the park’s boundaries, they collectively form the heart of South Africa’s big game region, with some of the world’s most famous private lodges and some of the best wildlife watching. The unfettered movement of animals between private reserves and the Kruger National Park – at least 100 kilometers of fencing has been eliminated, freeing the area of man-made barriers – is the main cause for abundant game watching.
Vehicles are allowed to exit highways on private game reserves, and animals are more accustomed to human presence, thus there is a better possibility of seeing them. Sabi Sands Game Reserve, home to the well-known lodges Ulusaba and Lions Sands; Timbavati Game Reserve; and Klaserie Game Reserves are among the private game reserves.
Kruger National Park Nearby Activities and Attractions
There are also other fabulous activities in the surrounding areas that will enhance your Kruger National Park safari experience. How about an amazing Kids’ elephant safari or a majestic hot air balloon flight? These are real once-in-a-lifetime experiences! Other options include horseback riding, blissful spa treatments, and golf.
You can also see what is being done on a grassroots level for the survival of African wildlife at rehabilitation, breeding, and endangered species centers.
Combining any of these activities with your Kruger Park safari adventure is something you definitely should consider – maximize your holiday experience in every way.
Visitor Tips
- All accommodation, ablution, and kitchen facilities are serviced by cleaning staff on a daily basis.
- Day visitors will no longer be allowed to bring or consume alcohol in public areas such as parking lots, picnic sites, wildlife viewing areas or roads, gates, and all other areas designated as public.
- As outdoor lighting in camps is limited, a torch/headlamp is required when walking outside at night.
- Most rest camps have retail facilities and restaurants. Tariff prices do not include meals.
- Plan your trip – do not try and cover too great a distance. The Kruger National Park is a massive tract of land and frequently visitors try to cover too much ground. Slow travel and regular stopping produce much more action than covering a lot of ground.
- Early mornings and evenings time are usually the most productive game viewing periods.