descriptive essay about kruger national park

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Kruger National Park

- a different side to my south africa -.

Commended Entry: Kruger National Park essay by Sheridan Kuhn from South Africa

This article was submitted in the Kids World Travel Guide Essay Competition 2023 in the Junior Category 8 - 11 years.

I went to Kruger National Park in South Africa in August this year. I went with my family and friends for our family camping trip for 10 days. I would like to share with you my trip to the Kruger National Park and how different it is to my home - a small farm town on the east coast of South Africa.

When I arrived in Kruger Park, I was taken aback because it was so dry and yellow. I come from KwaZulu-Natal, so it is very green and near our farm I am surrounded by gorges and rivers. Kruger Park is only green by the Crocodile River, and we drove along this for a while from our camp, Berg-en-Dal. I soon found out that Kruger Park has lots of thorn trees which was new for me, and there are also a lot of thorns on the ground - I found this out the hard way! There are short trees with few leaves, which was new too because by us the trees are tall and leafy. Kruger has very red and soft sand which gets hot quickly. I know, I burnt my feet. Here at my home, we have yellow soil with small stones.

The first animal we saw was the Impala antelope. Kruger Park has so many different types of animals. I think God blessed us for we saw the South African Big 5 in 2 days - the lion, rhinoceros, leopard, buffalo and elephant - and the cheetah on the third day. I thought that was amazing. We were driving to our next camp, Satara, when I saw a Nile Crocodile. We also saw a few other reptiles like the rhombic puffadder and Southern Agama. A dream come true was to see the African wild dog in the wild. I had seen a wild dog before, but it was in a small enclosure at a rehabilitation center. I have always loved the African wild dog because they are shy, beautiful and smart.

In the first few days we saw most things we wanted, which was a wonderful surprise for me, so we decided to look for birds. Kruger Park is well known for its birds. We looked and saw some that we see at home and saw a lot that I have never seen before like the Saddled-billed Stork, Lilac-Breasted roller, Southern Ground-Hornbill. Most of the birds that live in Kruger are birds that love dry grass and can live with little water. Birds near us need lots of water. We saw the Cori Bustard more than once and my brother and his friend went crazy when we saw it.

Now I know what a big part of South Africa looks like (I did think it was greener), I think people must go to the Kruger National Park if they are looking for new animals and an adventure.

Congratulations on your essay about Kruger National Park, Sheridan! This is must have been such a wonderful family trip. I trust you and your brothers have many fabulous stories to share!

Sheridan Kuhn is homeschooled and lives in KwaZulu-Natal/ South Africa. English is her first language.

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Kruger National Park

Kruger national park: the complete guide.

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Safari Drives

• Best Hikes & Trails

Where to Camp

Where to stay nearby, how to get there, accessibility, tips for your visit.

Arguably the most famous game reserve in all of Africa, Kruger National Park is a vast tract of land covering nearly 20,000 square kilometers (7,722 square miles), in the northeast corner of South Africa . It spans the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces, and runs along the national border with Mozambique. It is the ultimate safari destination for visitors to South Africa, offering day visits, overnight stays, self-drive safaris, and guided game drives. 

Kruger National Park was first established as a wildlife refuge in 1898 when it was proclaimed as the Sabie Game Reserve by the president of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger. In 1926, the passing of the National Parks Act led to the merging of the Kruger with nearby Shingwedzi Game Reserve, creating South Africa’s very first national park. More recently, the Kruger became part of the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park, an international collaboration that joins the park with Limpopo National Park in Mozambique  and Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe . As a result, animals can now move freely across international borders as they would have done for thousands of years. 

The vast majority of people visit the Kruger to go on safari. You can drive your own car along the well-maintained tarred and gravel roads or book a guided game drive through any of the rest camps. Options for the latter include drives in the early morning, late afternoon, and at night. One of the best ways to experience the park in all its beauty is on foot, either with a guided walk at the camps or on one of the multi-day Wilderness Trails. Four-wheel drive enthusiasts can test their vehicles (and their mettle) on the park’s off-road trails, while mountain biking is offered at Olifants camp. Golfers can even tee off at Skukuza Golf Course , whose un-fenced green is frequently visited by hippo, impala, and warthog. 

Kruger also has a fascinating human history, with evidence of people and their prehistoric ancestors living in the region for up to 500,000 years. More than 300 Stone Age archaeological sites have been discovered within the park, while other sites relating to the area’s Iron Age and San occupants also exist. In particular, the Kruger is known for its San rock art sites , of which there are approximately 130 on record. Sites of particular anthropological interest include the Albasini Ruins (the remains of a 19th-century Portuguese trading route), and the Iron Age settlements at Masorini and Thulamela .

TripSavvy / Anna Haines

A safari drive is the main activity at Kruger National Park, and the park’s incredible size means that it spans a number of different ecosystems including savannah, thornveld, and woodland. This diversity creates the ideal habitat for an astounding variety of flora and fauna, including nearly 150 different species of large mammals—more than any other African game reserve. Amongst them are the Big Five safari animals, which are buffalo, elephants, lions, leopards, and rhino (both black and white). The Little Five are also present in the park, and are some of the smallest creatures at Kruger. Other top wildlife sightings include the cheetah, the Sharpe’s grysbok, and the endangered African wild dog. The best time to spot wildlife is in the early morning or late afternoon, while guided night drives provide a unique opportunity to look for nocturnal species . 

Hiring a driver or joining a tour group is the best way to explore the massive park, since guides are in communication with each other and can alert one another when there's an animal sighting. You can book a tour through the park itself or contract a private tour guide for more personalized attention. Renting a vehicle and driving yourself through the park is also an option for those who want the freedom to explore on their own.

Best Hikes & Trails

Driving around on a safari sounds like a dream vacation, but embarking on foot through the national park and literally stepping into nature is truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. There are several Wilderness Trails that are multi-day hikes led by a local guide, where campers explore the bush and camp out. The hikes move at a leisurely pace, but hikers may be trekking up to 12 miles per day and endurance is necessary.

• Bushmans Trail : You'll have one of the best chances for getting up close and personal with big game on the Bushmans Trail, especially white rhino. The area is made up of low valleys surrounded by tall rocky hills, providing some excellent scenery while walking. This walk also includes important historical sites, like San cave paintings dating back thousands of years.
• Napi Trail : The campsite on the Napi Trail is at the confluence of two rivers in the national park, which naturally attracts all types of wildlife who come to drink at the riverbank. One of the best experiences, however, is nighttime as campers fall asleep to the lively sounds of the bush.
• Sweni Trail : Hike along the Sweni River and you'll come across not just the animals that graze near the water, but their predators as well. Hearing the roars of nearby lions is common once the sun goes down, which you'll be able to hear while stargazing at the night sky.
• Guided Day Treks : For those who want to hike around without the rustic bush camping experience, you can join a guided hike that leaves in the morning and lasts a few hours.

There are several options for camping at Kruger National Park at over a dozen different campgrounds, ranging from primitive campsites where campers need to pitch their own tent to luxury bungalows and cottages. There are 12 main rest camps at the national park, all of which offer electricity, a camp store, a gas station, laundry facilities, and a restaurant or self-service café. In addition, there are five "bushveld camps" for campers who don't mind trading in the amenities of the main camps for a more intimate and remote experience.

You have to reserve your place to sleep before you arrive, choosing which campground you want to stay in and the type of accommodation you'll be sleeping in.

• Skukuza Camp : This is the largest campground at Kruger National Park and includes the most services for guests, such as multiple restaurants, a golf course, and the only airport inside the park. There are observation decks around the camp and you're likely to see animals without leaving the grounds—lions and cheetahs occasionally interrupt golfers by hunting prey right on the course.
• Berg-en-Dal Camp : Berg-en-Dal is one of the most accessible campgrounds as it's only an hour away by car from the major city of Mbombela. The Rhino Trail is a hiking path that goes around the camp and offers great views of wildlife. The campground also has a swimming pool for cooling off after a day of exploring.
• Bushveld Camps : There are five bushveld camps—Bateleur, Biyamiti, Shimuwini, Sirheni, and Talamati. These are restricted to overnight guests and have fewer facilities than the main rest camps, but they do give guests a unique feeling of remoteness and at night you're more likely to hear the sounds of the park.

There are also 10 private lodges  and three luxury tented camps located on concessions within the park. These are five-star, ultra-upmarket options for those that want to combine days spent game-viewing with gourmet meals, spa facilities, and impeccable service. Whatever accommodation option you choose, booking in advance is essential and can be done online. 

• Skukuza Safari Lodge : Of the high-end lodges, the Skukuza Safari Lodge is the most low-key and more like a hotel than a luxury safari getaway, also making it much more accessible. It's in the same area as the huge Skukuza Campground and near the Skukuza Airport for easy transportation.
• Lukimbi Safari Lodge : This family-friendly lodge offers the full five-star package. Parents enjoy chef-prepared meals with kid-friendly options, and there's a spa for total pampering. The rooms overlook the nearby river, which is a gathering spot for animals you can see directly from the lodge.
• Singita Lebombo Lodge : Floor-to-ceiling glass windows, premier bottles of South African wine, and elephants grazing outside your room make the Singita Lebombo Lodge stand out as one of the extravagant places to stay in the whole park.

The Kruger is easily accessible via road for self-drive guests, with tarred roads leading to all nine entrance gates. Make sure to leave plenty of time when planning your journey, as all gates close at night (although late entry may be permitted for a fee). Overseas visitors generally choose to fly into Johannesburg  and then catch a connecting flight to one of four airports. Of these, only Skukuza Airport is located within the park itself, while Phalaborwa Airport, Hoedspruit Airport, and the Kruger/Mpumalanga International Airport are situated close to its boundaries. Daily flights also exist from Cape Town and Durban .

Upon arrival at any of these airports, you can hire a rental car to take you to (and around) the park. Alternatively, some private bus companies organize shuttles between the airports and the park, while those on a packaged tour will likely have their transport taken care of for them.

Visitors with mobility challenges can fully enjoy several areas of the park, including safari drives, camping, and reaching scenic outlooks via accessible boardwalks. However, the facilities vary greatly depending on which area of the park you're in, so take a look at the detailed accessibility guides for each camp area to confirm what is available. Mobility impaired guests who need accommodations in the park can also reserve one of the campsites or bungalows designed with accessibility in mind.

The tour vans provided by the park don't have lifts or ramps to accommodate guests in wheelchairs, but there are multiple providers in the area that are focused on tours for guests with disabilities, such as Epic Enabled Safaris .

• Early morning and evening are usually when animals are most active, making for the best time to spotting wildlife.
• Many first-time visitors make the mistake of trying to cover too much ground. Plan out your visit and take your time to explore the park, since slow travel is the best way to see animals. Every camp area maintains a list of areas with animal sightings that's updated daily, so inquire before you set out.
• Malaria is a common issue when traveling around the bush of South Africa. Take malaria precautions like medication, long sleeve shirts, and insect repellant.
• Pack a flashlight if you're camping in the park. The campsites are not well-lit and a flashlight is required for walking around after dark.
• April to September is the dry season and the best time to visit, with warm days and cool nights. October to March is hot and rainy, which brings lush green landscapes that are pretty but make it harder to see animals.
• No pets are allowed inside the park.

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A Complete Guide To Visiting Kruger National Park, South Africa

Kruger National Park is one of South Africa’s largest game reserves. It is one of the best places to see the Big Five and is teeming with all kinds of wildlife! Planning a visit to Kruger, especially if you haven’t been on a safari before can be very daunting! This post is a complete guide to visiting Kruger National Park. In this guide, I will explore accommodation options, share tips and valuable links to planning and booking your visit to Kruger National Park.

Note: This post is a complete guide to visiting Kruger National Park. In this guide, I will explore accommodation options, share tips and valuable links to planning and booking your visit to Kruger National Park.

Table of Contents

Where is kruger national park, how to get to kruger national park, how to get around kruger national park, how long to stay at kruger, when to visit kruger, park opening times, accommodation options at rest camps, amenities inside a rest camp at kruger, how to reserve a rest camp inside kruger, pros and cons of staying inside kruger, pros and cons of staying at a hotel outside the park, luxury private reserves in kruger, pros and cons of staying at a private game reserve, what to do in kruger, can you get out of your vehicle, tips for visiting kruger, what to wear, additional resources, pin this post for later.

Kruger is located in the northeastern corner of South Africa bordering Mozambique! It is about 200 KM from north to south and 50 KM from east to west and covers 20,000 square KMs of land. It is home to what is famously known as the Big Five (lion, elephant, leopard, buffalo, and rhinoceros).

There are several ways you can get to Kruger when visiting the national park.

The drive to/from Kruger National Park to/from Johannesburg is about 5 hours (if you are on the south side of the park).

You can also fly to Kruger via 4 airports. In addition to flights to Johannesburg, some even have direct flight to Cape Town. These 4 airports are:

• Hoedspruit Eastgate
• Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport /Nelspruit 
• Skukuza Aiport

Skukuza Airport and Kruger Mpumalanga are the 2 common ones. Skukuza Airport is only 9 minutes away from the Skukuza Rest Camp.

You have a few options for getting around Kruger National Park when visiting. One is to self-drive. I cover this in more details in the post below. The other is to hire a private guide who will take you around in their vehicle. Another option is for  pre-arranged game drives. If you are staying in a private game reserve, these are more likely included. However, if you are staying in a rest camp, you can still hire a vehicle and driver for the entire day.

If you opt to self-drive and are staying at a rest camp, know that the park is only accessible during certain times of the day. However, most animals come out dusk to dawn. In order to go out of the camp gates during these times, you can easily book sunrise, sunset or night time game drives with the park.

More on all of this in the post linked below!

Self-Driving Kruger National Park, South Africa

This is a little tricky! You can visit Kruger just one day and see all of the Big Five within a couple of hours or you can be at Kruger for a week and come back only seeing a few of the Big Five. 4-5 nights divided between a couple of rest camps/regions should give you a good sample of Kruger. This being said, you will still see a lot regardless of whether you stay 1 night or 30 nights. That’s the beauty of the animal kingdom! You never know what you will get and no two drives are alike.

This is also a little tricky! Kruger is divided in to the dry winter season which runs from May to October and the summer rainy season which runs from November to April. Generally, Kruger is a year-round destination. Each season bring with them different experiences. Some say September and October are great as the dry season brings more animals to the road and watering holes. I visited in May and still saw plenty! I say any time is a good time!

Park opening times differ by season. Generally summer hours are 5:30-18:30 and winter hours are 6-17:30. Falls and spring hours change a bit. Click HERE for all the times by month.

One very important thing to note is that, rest camp gates open 1 hour prior to the park gates are open to the general public. Why is this important? As I mentioned, animals, especially the predators are out from dusk to dawn. It’s not uncommon to see lions chilling on the road at dawn before vehicles start coming through. When vehicle traffic starts piling up, these animals tend to go deeper into the bush. The rest camp gates opening 1 hour prior to the park gates is a MAJOR advantage of staying inside a rest camp. More to come below!

Park closing times are not recommendations. They are strictly enforced. If you are self-driving, you have to be either out of the park or inside the camp gates at the designated times.

Where to Stay at Kruger?

Rest camps are run by the government and are managed by South African National Parks (SAN Parks).

If Kruger were a country, Skukuza is its capital. Skukuza is a great first timers rest camp. There is no limit to the game you will see in and around Skukuza!

Lower Sabie

Lower Sabie is a popular rest camp at Kruger. It is located in the heart of the most productive game viewing areas. Lower Sabie lies in an area with high habitat diversity where lots of different eco zones come together. Which means there’s also diversity in animals. It is also considered a great place for elephants and lions.

Satara lies in the south central part of the park. The habitat in this area consists of grass plains, which is good for herd animals and therefore great for sighting lions and other big cats.

In addition to the 3 above Crocodile Bridge and Olifants rest camps are also frequented by safari goers.

There are a wide variety of options at rest camps, from campsites to bungalows. Here is an example of all the options at Skukuza. You can check out the options at the other camps HERE

The main camps are like little self-sufficient villages. Some of them have shops, where you can purchase from groceries to souvenirs and everything in between, ATMs, swimming pools, ATMs, fuel stations, spas and restaurants. I was really impressed by the amenities inside our rest camp.

You can reserve your accommodation on the official SanParks site  HERE . In addition to booking your accommodation, you can also book various activities (more below) and pay the conservation fee online as well.

• You get early access to the park! Rest camp gates open 1 hour before the main camp gates do
• You are inside the park and may even see animals from your rest camp
• After hours game drives
• Affordable and have varied accommodation options for every budget
• Accommodation is very basic. I booked a Riverside Bungalow and it was clean and served the purpose, but there was nothing luxury about it
• You have to get your own food which you can either cook or purchase

Hotels are a middle option between rest camps and luxury lodges. Some of these even include breakfast and dinner. You may even see some animals if you select a hotel closer to the park.

The following 3 hotels are good options if you want a little more comfort than a rest camp but won’t burn holes in your pockets like the luxury private game lodges do.

• Kruger Gate Hotel – Literally just outside the Paul Kruger gate. You won’t waste time driving back and forth with this option
• Burchell’s Bush Lodge by Dream Resorts – This one is also just outside Paul Kruger gate
• Sabie River Bush Lodge – About 20 minutes from Paul Kruger Gate
• More comfort than the rest camps
• Some meals included
• A drive to the park gates so you need to wake up early and factor in that time
• May have to line up at park gate
• People (the ones staying inside camp) are already on the road
• No access to the affordable after hour drives offered by the rest camps

Ah! I wish I could afford to stay in one of these private game reserves. These reserves usually either border the park or are just outside Kruger National Park, often sharing a fenceless border with the park.

Here are some options:

• Jock Safari Lodge
• Idube Game Reserve
• Lion Sands River Lodge
• Leopard Hills Private Game Reserve
• All meals and drives are included (most of the time)
• Luxury and comfort
• Freedom with game drives – since these are privately owned lands, they can go off-road or be out after hours
• Very expensive!

You may think this is a strange section! But, there is so much to see when visiting Kruger National Park! These are:

• The Big Five – Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion and Rhino.
• The Little Five – Buffalo Weaver, Elephant Shrew, Leopard Tortoise, Ant Lion and Rhino Beetle.
• Birding Big Six – Ground Hornbill, Kori Bustard, Lappet- faced Vulture, Martial Eagle, Pel’s Fishing Owl and Saddle-bill Stork.
• Five Trees – Baobab, Fever Tree, Knob Thorn, Marula, Mopane.
• Natural/Cultural Features – Letaba Elephant Museum, Jock of the Bushveld Route,  Albasini Ruins ,  Masorini Ruins , Stevenson Hamilton Memorial Library,  Thulamela .

How do you see #1-4 on this list? One is to self-drive BUT you can book game drives during after hours when only official vehicles are allowed out (recall this is the best time for game viewing!)

• Sunrise drive
• Sunset drive
• Night time drive

In addition to these, you an also swim in your hotel or rest camp, watch the night sky (one of my favorites!), relax, braai (BBQ). If you are staying at the rest camps, you can also shop!

If you are a bird lover, check HERE for official recommendations from the park!

Click HERE to see all the activities you can do when visiting Kruger National Park!

There are a few designated areas around the park where you can get out and stretch your legs. The map above has these areas marked. There are also picnic sites where you can enjoy a picnic lunch. Another place you can be out of your vehicle is at a hide. A hide is a little hut where you can sit and watch birds.

• Book your accommodation well in advance. The rest camps fill up fast! This is especially true during the summer months
• Study the rest camp accommodation maps before you book your accommodation to see where they are in relation to the amenities of the rest camp
• Also book your activities like game drives early. There are limited spots in these and they also tend to fill up
• Bring a good camera (unfortunately phone cameras don’t do a good job with distance) and memory cards
• Pack a good pair of binoculars. This is an absolute must have when visiting Kruger National Park
• Bring bug and mosquito repellant
• Check for the malaria advisory for the Official park site and speak to your doctor if you may need malaria prevention tablets
• Start you day early! As I mentioned animals, especially predator’s are out and about dusk to dawn. The earlier you are out of the gate, the better chance you will have of seeing them
• Drive very very slowly and keep your eyes peeled. Divide and conquer the left and right side of the road among people in your car
• Stop by the dams and watering holes and look up trees for leopards
• Check the sightings boards at the rest camps to see what and where people have seen game that day
• Stop and chat with people driving from the other direction! They may have seen something worthwhile up ahead!
• This is not a tip per se but you have to pay a conservation fee to enter the park so factor that into the budget

You may have heard that you need to wear neutral colored clothing while on safari. This is especially true if you are planning on doing a bushwalk. If you are going to be inside your vehicle, you really don’t have to stick to the neutral color palette. Animals see a vehicle as one unit. However, maybe skip the neon pink or yellow top!

If you are going to be in an open vehicle (most game drives are in open jeeps) during winter, you should pack a jacket and a head cover of some sort. While it’s not as cold when you are stationary (relatively speaking but I’m a polar bear!), it definitely is cold when the vehicle is moving.

If you are self-driving in Kruger, check out the book below that gives the best routes and roads. It has great reviews online and is sure to help you plan your trip! Click the picture below to check it out!

All roads inside Kruger and well marked with distances. However, it is advisable to have a map with you at all times. You can purchase a map inside the park when you arrive or if you like to purchase one ahead of time, check out the one below.

D id you find this Guide To Visiting Kruger National Park useful? Please let me know by liking/commenting below or sharing this post on social media! Thank you!!

See all my posts on South Africa HERE

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We visited there all over Africa. Kruger National Park was such an amazing site. Thanks for sharing this idea. Anita

Hi Anita! Thank you for your comment! Kruger is indeed amazing! I would go back in a heartbeat!

Yes such an site .Anita

A thorough guide of a place we would love to visit someday. Lovely shots of people, beasts and the varying shades of light. Sunrise and sunset of course fuels the wanderlust, though my favourite might be Mr. Man with the rhino skull.

haha that last line made me chuckle! Mr. Man was a wonderful guide! Thanks so much for the lovely comment, Leighton! I can’t wait to go back to Kruger and hope you get to go soon as well!

[…] A Complete Guide To Visiting Kruger National Park, South Africa […]

Hi. Love your post. I’m a first time visitor to South Africa which we are going first week September 2024. Do you need Malaria shots? I’m very concerned about this as I have read multiple opinions??

Hello! Thank you!! Yes, I took Malaria tablets on the advice of our guide at Kruger.

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Welcome to my blog and thank you for visiting! Believe it or not this blog is not my full time job! I work 8-5 in Supply Chain and run this blog after work!  I’ve dreamed of traveling the world since I was a child and at 48 countries and counting, I am so grateful to get to live that dream.

To say travel is my passion is truly an understatement! What I love most about travel is that I get to connect with locals and meet with fellow travelers from around the world. In addition, travel also enables all my other interests like photography, architecture, art, music and food!  Please feel free to share any posts or leave me feedback on how I can improve. Thank you and happy travels!

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30 Interesting Facts about Kruger National Park

30 interesting facts about the kruger national park.

Kruger National Park  is the largest national park in Africa and the oldest in South Africa. The iconic wilderness region is situated in the north-eastern part of South Africa. It covers an area of 2 million hectares which makes it a little smaller than Belgium.

In 2002,  Kruger Park  became part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park. The Transfrontier Park now comprises  Kruger National Park  in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe and Limpopo National Park in Mozambique. Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is otherwise known as a Peace Park.

A Peace Park is a multi-international agreement that has led to the fences being taken down between political boarders. In this case, 5 protected wilderness regions spanning South Africa, Mozambique and Zimbabwe were included in the massive project.

The Peace Park allows free movement of animals, safeguards animal migration patterns and ensures sufficient water and food sources as the animal populations increase. In addition, the Peace Park improves tourism and economic development that is mutually beneficial across countries.

Most visitors to the  Kruger National Park  are interested in the Big 5 which includes lions, leopard, elephants, rhino and Cape buffalo. The Big 5 was the collective term given by hunters to 5 of the most dangerous animals to encounter on foot during a hunt expedition. Despite extensive anti- poaching efforts, all 5 species remain listed as endangered.

Kruger Park  has 500 species of birds and 6 of these belong to what is affectionately known as the Big 6. These include the lappet-faced vultures, martial eagles, saddle-billed storks and Kori bustards, Pels fishing owl and ground hornbills.

The Big 6 are six large species that are by and large endemic to the  Kruger National Park  conservation area, meaning they are not found anywhere else in the world.

Many endangered animal and bird species are found in  Kruger Park . It’s home to the only viable wild dog pack in South Africa and the highly-threatened rhino.

On the birding list, there are a number of species that are endangered and being monitored. These include the Bateleur eagle, southern-ground hornbill, lappet-faced vulture, martial eagle, Kori bustard and grey-headed parrot.

The African fish eagle is a prized sighting. Its signature call brings delight to all who hear it. The many dams, rivers and biospheres makes the  Kruger Park  are popular for bird watching, particularly between November and January when thousands of migrant birds descend on the region to escape the cold European winter.

The best section to visit for outstanding birding in  Kruger Park  is in the Far North region, around Pafuri Camp.

South Africa has 93 percent of the world’s combined population of black and white rhino and Kruger is home to half of these precious endangered animals.  Kruger Park  has approximately 12 000 of these fascinating, beautiful creatures.

The anti-poaching units responsible for protecting rhino, elephant and other threatened animals in  Kruger Park  use highly-skilled game rangers and trackers, drones, dog handlers and bush helicopter pilots. These teams work in conjunction with the police and defense force. Many of the rhino in South Africa have been dehorned and chips devices have been inserted in their thick skin in order to monitor their location and keep track of their movements.

A herd of grazing buffalo, one of the Kruger’s Big 5, might look docile but don’t be fooled. They are powerful, dangerous animals. A lone male buffalo is called a “dagga boy” (mud boy). Dagga boys have typically been kicked out the herd or have gotten too frail to keep up with the group. They are regarded as one of the most dangerous animals to encounter on foot in the  Kruger Park .

What about the Little Five? The buffalo weaver, elephant shrew, leopard tortoise, ant lion and rhino beetle are another interesting list to look for in your explorations in the  Kruger Park . The best way to discover the Little Five and other important species that are vital for the ecology of the bush veld is on a guided wilderness walking trail in  Kruger Park .

The Big 5 trees to spot in Kruger Park are the magnificent baobab, fever tree, knob thorn, Marula and Mopane tree. All are very different and beautiful trees with unique features.

Kruger National Park  is a fascinating destination for botanists. There are 6 biosphere regions within South Africa, of which the Kruger to Canyon Biosphere is the third-largest in the world.

The Kruger to Canyon biosphere received international recognition in 2001 when it was registered as a UNESCO World Natural Heritage Site. There are 4 bush veld regions that all have their own distinct appeal.

Kruger National Park  lies is in a subtropical zone and experiences hot and humid temperatures. The north-eastern region receives rain in the summer month between late October to mid-March.

The driest period in  Kruger Park  is in September and October. This is also regarded as the best time for animal viewing in  Kruger Park  because the grass is less thick and shorter and the animals tend to congregate close to permanent water sources.

Fifteen 

There are 9 different guided wilderness trails in the  Kruger National Park , run by SANParks. A walking trail offers an extreme wilderness experience and participants are accompanied by highly-experienced trained guides who is armed.

The Mphongolo, Lonely Bull and Oliphant’s Backpack wilderness trails are the toughest and most adventurous. They’re conducted in remote areas where very few tourists travel and the walkers are equipped with the bare essentials, sleeping under the stars and carrying all their own provisions. Guided wilderness trails in Kruger Park are for travelers with an adventurous spirit and one of the best ways to experience the bush veld.

Kruger Park  is a fascinating destination for archaeological enthusiasts. There is ample evidence that prehistoric man (Homo erectus) lived in the area over 500 000 years ago. There are 254 known cultural heritage sites in the Kruger Park, which includes 130 rock art sites.

Archaeological sites have been found in  Kruger Park  that date back to the Stone Age and Iron Age. There is also ample evidence that Bushman tribes inhabited the region many decades ago

The first official tourist cars entered the Kruger Park in 1927. The gate fee was one pound and the visitors had to arrange to be accompanied by a guide. The only mode of transport was via railway, ox wagon, donkey or horse. It’s a scary thought, considering the number of wild animals in the area. Now at least 1.4 million visitors pass through the Kruger Park gates each year.

Kruger National Park  was proclaimed in 1898, originally as Sabie Game Reserve. The game reserve later merged with Shingwedzi Game Reserve to form the  Kruger National Park .

Kruger Park  is named after the man behind the drive to create a no-hunting zone, the then-president of the Transvaal Republic and passionate conservationist, Paul Kruger. At the time, conservationists were alarmed at the scale of unchecked hunting in the area.

Paul Kruger was a fascinating man with strong leadership skills. He was instrumental in negotiations with the British on behalf of the Boers that helped to end the first Anglo-Boer war. He had 7 daughters and 10 sons. Despite little formal education, Kruger was an intelligent man. He died in exile after the second Anglo-Boer war.

The Tsonga people were displaced from their historical lands and relocated in some areas to form  Kruger National Park . This caused great upset at the time.

What is now  Kruger Park  had been under threat in previous decades before it received national park status. There were numerous factions that wanted the area for farming, prospectors wanted access for mining of gold, copper and coal; and vets were campaigning for the eradication of wildlife to contain the tsetse fly disease that threatened livestock.

During the First World War, the national park had been mismanaged and was nearly taken over by developers wanting the wilderness area for agricultural land.

Twenty Three

Kruger Park  has periodically experienced crippling droughts. The worst one was in 1993 and went on until 2016. This lead to the heart-breaking culling of many hippos by Park management.

Twenty Four

The first warden of  Kruger National Park  was a Scotsman named James Stevenson-Hamilton. He was appointed in 1902 to run what was then Sabie Game Reserve. His nickname was the Zulu word Skukuza, meaning to “sweep clean or broom”. His no-nonsense approach earned him a fearsome reputation with poachers and illegal prospectors.

Twenty Five

Dr Ian Player was a renowned conservationist and environmentalist in South Africa (15 March 1927 to 30 November 2014). In addition to his many accomplishments, Dr Player developed the first wilderness trails in the  Kruger Park  in 1957.

Dr Player was also instrumental in moving a rhino herd from the Umfolozi area to Kruger Park to save the animals from ultimate death from excessive poaching and the anthrax disease. Dr Player’s actions ensured the survival of the rhino herd and provided a bigger gene pool in  Kruger Park .

A world-famous vet by the name of Toni Haarthoorn pioneered the “dope dart” technique that was used in Operation Rhino. The dope dart has been instrumental in the successful translocation of animals between national park and game reserves.

Twenty Seven

The location of  Kruger Park  is interesting. In the Pafuri region in Far North  Kruger Park , you can stand on a spot at Crookes Corner where the boarders of Mozambique, Zimbabwe and South Africa converge.

Twenty Eight

There are many fascinating cultural sites in the  Kruger National Park  that you can visit between daily game drives. These include the following:

• Letaba Elephant museum

For educational and fun facts about elephants as well as 6 of the Magnificent 7 greatest tuskers

• Albasini Ruins

These are the remnants of the 19 th  century trading post of the Portuguese traders from Lourenco Marques (now Maputo Mozambique)

Where there is evidence of early man from the late Iron Age and advanced methods of mining and trading of iron products

• Thulamela archaeological sites

This is a stone walled site in northern Kruger dating back over 500 years, comprising of evidence of the Zimbabwean culture

• Stevenson- Hamilton Memorial library

The knowledge and resource center located at Skukuza depicting the life and times of the first warden of the Kruger

Twenty Nine

Kruger Park  offers a wide selection of accommodation, catering for everyone’s budget. It has 12 main rest camps, 5 bushveld camps, 2 bush lodges and 4 satellite camps. These are managed by  South African National Parks  (SANParks), the governing body of Kruger Park.

There are also 15 luxury safari lodges located on private concession in Kruger Park. The deluxe lodges offer guests an exclusive safari experience, where rangers and visitors have exclusive access in open safari vehicles to their private land.

There are plans under discussion to add other wilderness areas to the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park which would eventually increase its size to 100 000 square kilometres. The aim is to ensure the survival of southern Africa’s incredible wildlife which is the envy of all wildlife and nature enthusiasts around the world.

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The Kruger - evolving conservation success story

teamAG and Noelle Oosthuizen

Friday, 27 July 2018

It was a few years before the South African (Boer) War, in the late 1800s when President Paul Kruger (in office 1883 – 1900) was alerted by James Stevenson-Hamilton to the fact that a rapid extinction of various species of flora and fauna was taking place in South Africa. Unregulated hunting meant that wild animals were disappearing fast, and President Kruger had his eye on a piece of land he wanted to turn into a reserve.

MAKING A PARK

In 1898, he managed to declare the area between the Sabie and Crocodile rivers a game sanctuary and restricted hunting zone – which he called the Government Game Reserve, subsequently renamed to the Sabi Game Reserve. This was a time of great upheaval, during which President Kruger declared war on the British Empire, a war that ended in 1902.

In 1903, the area between the Sabie and Olifants rivers was added to the reserve, and by the end of 1903, the Shingwedzi Game Reserve was proclaimed – covering the area between the Letaba and Levuvhu rivers. The subsequent addition of further farms added to this vast protected area.

Hunting was forbidden, but wildlife was still scattered and skittish. Staff were appointed, and James Stevenson-Hamilton became the first park warden. He became renowned for his dedication to conservation and famously disapproved of the tarring of the roads in the reserve, believing that people would then drive faster, resulting in the unnecessary deaths of wild animals. This man could see well into the future!

It soon became clear that the only way to secure the future of wildlife in the reserve was to establish it as a national park under the South African Union Government. Unfortunately, this idea was short-lived, as in 1914 World War I broke out, resulting in many of the staff leaving for active service. The poor state of the economy meant that most departing staff were not replaced.

With the lack of staff, the reserve suffered from rampant poaching. There was a single police sergeant at Komatipoort, to the south of the reserve, whose job it was to singlehandedly defend that section of the park. Also, soldiers returning home from the war hoped to be given the land for sheep farming.

At the time, it looked like the reserve would never recover, but by 1919 things started to improve. The staff numbers had increased again, and the discussion once again arose about the declaration of a national park.

Finally, on 31 May 1926, the National Parks Act was drawn up and passed by the Houses of Parliament, and the Kruger National Park was officially established.

WELCOME TOURISTS

The first ‘real’ tourists were welcomed to the park in 1926. Before that, in 1922, there were railway tours that passed through the reserve – the trains would stop for one day in the park to allow passengers to view the wildlife.

It was only in 1928 when the first tourist facilities were constructed in the park. Satara, Pretoriouskop and Skukuza (then known as Sabi Bridge) became the first locations for overnight huts. A tented camp was erected on the banks of the Luvhuvhu River in the far north of the park, but after being hit by floods, and swamped with mosquitos, it was concluded that it was, in fact, not the ideal location to bring tourists. Everyone involved was new to this, and through trial and error, the park began finding its feet.

The late twenties seemed like a laid-back time in Kruger’s history. The only real rules that applied were to leave your firearms at home and pay your fee of one Pound at the gate. Other than that, you were a free agent. Guests weren’t even required to return to their cabins at night. Instead, they could camp out under the stars. Those early pioneering Kruger guests must have had a few adventures and stories to tell, what with such casual arrangements and the complete lack of communications. ( Imagine the stress of an African safari without mobile phone apps and live updates to Instagram and Facebook 😉 )

The picnic spots in the park were unfenced, despite repeated warnings to the Board by warden Stevenson-Hamilton about the dangers involved. It was finally agreed that picnic spots would not be shown on tourist maps, and that warning signs would be put up.

By 1930, things were getting out of hand, and a few more rules were required to maintain order. Consequently, an official list of rules and regulations was drawn up. But with no funding to conduct patrols, they were rarely enforced.

THE TROUBLESOME BOARD

The historical evidence that exists on Kruger frequently mentions the epic fights that were had with the Board at the time, an assemblage of stooge-like characters. And, while curbing infrastructure in the name of conservation is a worthy cause, the Board didn’t seem to be committed to any particular ethical stance. Instead, they seemed to possess a staunch commitment to the slow turning wheels of bureaucracy.

One notable dispute took place over baths. A proposal was made that the camps had to be equipped with hot water, but the chairperson, Senator Jack Brebner, considered this a foolish luxury. The fight continued, and in 1933 hot water was granted on the condition that each guest paid a shilling per bath.

Being generally out of touch, the Board had to be convinced that the game rangers could not be expected to make the beds and bring the guests tea, while also trying to make sure the buffalo don’t go thundering through a neighbouring farm. Finally, much to everyone’s relief, no doubt, the Board agreed to hire more staff.

PLANES, TRAINS AND CARS

Tourists in Kruger during the early days faced unique challenges, including the almost total lack of roads. Before 1928, there were only service roads, capable of low-volume traffic from Gravelotte and Acornhoek to the Portuguese border (modern-day border of Mozambique). The roads were not capable of carrying heavy tourist traffic.

In 1922, South African Railways offered tours via trains, and for a brief moment in history, air service was introduced, and then promptly cancelled. There were seven planes, of which six were legal, and they seated just two or three passengers at a time.

While there was a functioning airstrip at Mavumbye (near Satara), there was still the challenge of getting the guests from the airfield to the rest huts. In the 1940s the first official roads were built. There were several notable challenges to this construction process, including the thick vegetation that renders vast areas of the Lowveld reasonably inaccessible. Add to that challenge the shortage of finances and lack of manpower, and the situation became rather dire.

The Board dealt with these challenges by having the already overworked and underfunded game rangers help to clear the thick vegetation and make the roads.

This once again shows that a Kruger Park ranger’s remarkable forbearance and grit is never in question – then and now.

Eventually the full network of roads we know today appeared, and in the 1960s some of the roads were tarred. One has to wonder if we lost a bit of the ‘old’ Kruger when some of the dirt tracks were covered up. Stevenson-Hamilton most likely would have thought so.

THE ‘GREATER KRUGER’

The 344,000 ha Greater Kruger is one of conservation’s biggest success stories, in that land outside the national park is incorporated into an overriding management strategy. Additional parcels of land (privately and community-owned) on the western border have been incorporated into the core protected area over the years, by the signing of management accords and the removal of fences. This ongoing process involves complex negotiations and varied land-use requirements and expectations, including photographic tourism rights and trophy hunting in some areas (there is no trophy hunting in the national park itself).

There are no longer fences between these reserves and Kruger, providing the animals with an opportunity to roam, thereby reducing pressure on vegetation and bringing back historical local seasonal wildlife movements in an east-west direction, compared to the north-south shape of the Kruger National Park.

Read more about the Greater Kruger and the related estimated economic benefits

Associated Private Nature Reserves (APNR) The 197,885 ha APNR is an association of privately-owned reserves that removed fences with the Kruger National Park in 1993 after operating before that as wildlife hunting and livestock farms. The reserves (which in turn are made up of multiple smaller properties) included in the APNR are Timbavati Private Nature Reserve (53,395 ha), Klaserie Private Nature Reserve (60,080 ha), Umbabat Private Nature Reserve (17,910 ha), Balule Nature Reserve (55,000 ha) and Thornybush Game Reserve (11,500 ha). Land use varies from private leisure use to photographic tourism and trophy hunting on some properties.

Manyeleti Founded in 1963, the 23,000 ha Manyeleti Game Reserve is sandwiched between the Kruger, Sabi Sand, and Timbavati, with no fences in-between. It also has an interesting and unique history. During the Apartheid years, it was the only reserve that welcomed people of colour, and after claiming back the land, the local Mnisi people now own and manage the reserve. Land use is exclusively for photographic tourism.

Letaba Ranch The 42,000 ha Letaba Ranch Game Reserve, just north of the mining town of Phalaborwa, shares an unfenced border with the Kruger National Park. The reserve is owned by the local Mthimkhulu community and has historically been used mainly for trophy hunting. Future plans include hunting and eco-tourism, but current operations appear to be in a state of turmoil.

Makuya  Makuya Nature Reserve is a 16,000 ha game reserve near the Pafuri gate in the far north of the Kruger, and also shares an unfenced border with the Kruger National Park. The reserve is owned by the Makuya, Mutele, and Mphaphuli communities and is used for both trophy hunting and photographic tourism purposes.

BEYOND SOUTH AFRICA AND THE BIG PICTURE

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP) GLTP is a 3,8 million-hectare peace park, created on 10 November 2010, that straddles the international borders of three countries, with some of the best wildlife areas in southern Africa being managed as an integrated unit.

This transfrontier park links the Greater Kruger National Park in South Africa to Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park (1 million ha), and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park (500,000 ha). Fences between the parks have started to come down, allowing the animals to take up their old migratory routes that were previously blocked by political boundaries. Translocations of various antelope species and entire elephant breeding herds have been undertaken, to speed up the process.

Transfrontier Conservation Areas (TFCA) The TFCA is a strategy to expand the GLTP to an area of approximately 10 million hectares, by incorporating several more national parks, such as Mozambique’s Zinave National Park (400,000 ha) and Banhine National Park (725,000 ha), plus large tracts of state and community-owned tracts of land in-between these parks.

The Kruger National Park is the foundation and role model for this growing and evolving conservation success story. For more about big-picture plans, read Kruger 10-year Management Plan .

WIND BACK THE CLOCK: PRE-KRUGER TIMES

People have lived in and travelled through Kruger for thousands of years.

The Kruger is an archaeologist’s treasure trove, with more than 300 significant sites – from early Stone Age to San rock art – and cultural artefacts from thousands of years ago. The humans of history have left their mark on the Kruger National Park of today.

Before Kruger’s formalisation as a protected area, the area was home to people who mined, hunted, traded and lived their lives – as humans do. The ruins of Thulamela on the southern banks of the Luvuvhu River near Pafuri is one of the most significant archaeological finds in South Africa. This ancient stone citadel reveals a thriving historical mountain kingdom that was occupied by 3,000 people who traded in gold and ivory between 1200 and 1600 AD. The prolific trading community, descendants of the Great Zimbabwe civilisation, were skilled goldsmiths who also traded in iron extracted and smelted from 200 local mines. After the Thulamela dynasty a Tsonga-speaking agricultural and fishing community, known as the Makuleke, settled in the area and thrived until they were forcibly removed to make way for the national park.

The transition to conservation status heralded a less pleasant part of Kruger’s history, when these indigenous people were removed from the area, and relocated elsewhere. In recognition of this, and in line with South Africa’s ongoing land restitution process, in 1998 the Makuleke area in the Kruger was returned to the ownership of the Tsonga people, who now earn concession royalties in return for that area remaining within the Kruger National Park. Other areas within and bordering the Greater Kruger are currently under some form of land claim, and the future will reveal the results of this process.

Although there are no longer any indigenous people living inside the Kruger, there are still many interesting conversations to be had, across Africa, about indigenous people living semi-traditional lives within the boundaries of national parks and other protected areas.

These and other issues such as poaching continue to drive the evolution of this fantastic, iconic national park. The Kruger is one of the world’s most outstanding conservation success stories, with a fascinating past and promising future. Long may it continue to evolve and thrive!

We wish to thank South African National Parks (SANParks) and Joep Stevens, their General Manager Strategic Tourism Services, for sharing their numerous resources, including photographs and text, from their archives.

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Kruger National Park: An Essential Guide to Africa’s Most Iconic Safari Park

Covering an area of almost 2 million hectares, Kruger National Park is one of the largest national parks in the world. It is one of the most popular and famous African safari wildlife parks , and also one of the oldest. Founded in 1898, Kruger is world famous for its incredible wildlife, with hundreds of mammals, birds, and reptiles inhabiting the park.

In this ultimate guide to Kruger National Park, you’ll learn everything you need to know to plan an unforgettable experience. With insider tips on how to visit Kruger National Park and where to stay to the diverse wildlife you’ll find in this iconic national park, you’ll find everything you need to prepare for your ultimate stay.

This post contains affiliate links that may reward me monetarily or otherwise when you use them to make qualifying purchases – at no cost to you. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. For more information, please read our  disclosure policy .

Kruger National Park

Established in 1898 by President Paul Kruger, Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa is the oldest conservation park in Africa. Now home to an incredible diversity of wildlife including the Big Five animals of Africa , it remains one of the most iconic and well-known safari parks in all of Africa.

Before becoming a national park, Kruger was a popular game reserve owned by the Dutch government. After its initial creation as a national park in 1898, it was expanded between 1903 and 1934 so that it has now covered almost 2 million hectares. The first road to enter Kruger National Park was built in 1927, making it easier for visitors to explore this vast wilderness area.

Today, over 1 million tourists from around the world visit Kruger National Park each year to see its incredible wildlife. Part of the incredible wildlife diversity in the park is due to its six unique ecosystems: grasslands, acacia savanna, thornveld, mopane woodland, miombo woodlands, and riverine forest. These unique features and microclimates allow for a variety of flora and fauna to thrive here.

Besides its diverse animal life, the park is also known for its sustainable tourism practices and outreach efforts, which benefit local communities near the park.

Greater Kruger National Park

In addition to the bounds of Kruger National Park, the area is surrounded by a number of unfenced private game reserves that share the same wildlife and many of the same geographic features as Kruger National Park. Together with Kruger, these game reserves form what is known as Greater Kruger National Park.

Game reserves that form Greater Kruger include the following:

• Sabi Sands Game Reserve ,
• Makuya Nature Reserve,
• Letaba Ranch Game Reserve,
• Timbavati Private Nature Reserve,
• Manyeleti Game Reserve,
• Balule Nature Reserve,
• Klaserie Private Nature Reserve,
• Umbabat Private Nature Reserve.

Another famous South Africa safari destination , Mala Mala Game Reserve, shares a large unfenced border with Kruger National Park , though it’s technically part of Sabi Sands Game Reserve. Kapama Private Game Reserve is another reserve in the area, though it remains fenced off from Kruger.

Kruger National Park Map

The Kruger National Park is located around the Limpopo River, though not all of its boundaries are defined by geographical features. The park covers a total area of 19,455 square kilometers, making it one of the largest game reserves in Africa!

This Kruger National Park map identifies the extension of the park and the surrounding game reserves and nature reserves that form part of Greater Kruger National Park. Feel free to click around or even download this map for your travels.

Why is Kruger National Park Famous?

Kruger National Park is a world-renowned African safari destination in South Africa , famous for its incredible diversity of wildlife and unmatched safari experience. The park covers an area of nearly 2 million hectares and is home to lions, elephants, buffalo, rhinoceroses, leopards, and many other animals. Home to the Big Five of Africa as well as 147 mammal species and 114 reptile species, it is a great place for nature lovers to visit.

There are numerous archaeological sites and historical places to visit inside the Kruger National Park. This region of South Africa was inhabited by some of the the world’s earliest civilizations , and their mark can still be found in the park today. So if you’re interested in history as well as wildlife, then be sure to visit this amazing national park!

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Kruger National Park Wildlife

As one of the most revered safari destinations in Africa , it’s no surprise that the wildlife at Kruger National Park is unrivaled. Known as being a great destination to see the famous Big Five of Africa (lion, elephant, Cape buffalo, leopard, and rhinoceros), you’ll have an incredible chance to see all this and much more.

While the national park is filled with far too many animals to name, here are a handful of the animals that make the biggest impression among travelers visiting the park:

• Big Cats: Cats like the lion, cheetah, leopard, and caracal are all big cats you’ll see within the park. Though some species are harder to spot than others, with some luck you can spot them all/
• World’s Largest Animals: The savannah elephant, black and white rhinoceros, Cape buffalo, hippopotamus, zebra, and Southern African giraffe are among the world’s largest animals.
• Africa’s Dogs: African painted dogs, black-backed jackals, and spotted hyenas are also present in Kruger; while African wild dogs are rare, much more commonly sighted in Sabi Sands Game Reserve , you’ll have a much better chance of seeing hyenas.
• Hooved Mammals: Blue wildebeest, kudu, impala, sable, nyala, bushbuck, and the exquisite small steenbok are all present in Kruger among the ungulates and antelopes.
• Strange and Exotic Species: Though smaller, the aardwolf, aardvark, pangolin, and stripped polecat are all among some of the park’s most fascinating smaller creatures.

The best place for seeing wildlife in the Kruger National Park is at the Nature’s Valley campsite, where you can spot nocturnal animals like leopards and hyenas. However, if you’re hoping to see the Big Five, your best bet is at one of the larger campsites like Skukuza or Lower Sabie.

If it’s an adventure you are looking for, Kruger National Park has it all. For starters, go on a game drive at the Phalaborwa gate. Try the Wolhuter Wilderness Trail. Another great option is the Tshokwane Picnic Site.

If you’re looking for something more challenging, check out the Napi Wilderness Trail or Olifants Wilderness Trail. And finally, if you really want to push yourself, consider doing the Sweni Wilderness Trail.

Kruger National Park Big Five

Many travelers in Kruger National Park, particularly first-time safari travelers, want to make sure to see all of the Big Five of Africa while visiting the park. While sighting all five of these animals isn’t guaranteed, you’ll have an excellent shot! These are the Big Five animals in Kruger, and the most up-to-date details about the frequency of their sightings by travelers.

Read More: What Are the Big Five of Africa? + How To Spot Them

Lions in Kruger National Park

Lions are quite common in Kruger, and you’ll likely encounter multiple over the course of your South Africa safari, especially in this iconic national park. There are an estimated 1,600 lions in the park, quite a healthy number for a park of this size.

While you can see lions throughout the park, Camp Shawu with its dam is an area that is known for its abundant lion sightings.

Leopards in Kruger National Park

While leopards are much more elusive than lions in this national park, there is a decently-sized population of leopards, giving you a good chance to see them during your safari. Leopards tend to be more solitary and sneaky than lions, making them harder to spot, though Kruger is a great place for it.

Elephants in Kruger National Park

Elephants are incredibly abundant in Kruger National Park and throughout the Greater Kruger area, making them a mainstay on safaris here. While elephants are one of the Big Five species you’ll most frequently encounter in the park, you’ll still savor the special moments with these gentle yet fearsome giants.

Buffalo in Kruger National Park

Like elephants, buffalo are plentiful in Kruger National Park. Large herds call this national park home, making them incredibly easy to spot , and likely to be a daily fixture on your game drives.

Rhinos in Kruger National Park

While black rhinos are traditionally the rhino species associated with the Big Five animals, Kruger is home to significantly more white rhinos than black rhinos. A frequent target of poachers, black rhinos now only number to a few hundred in Kruger, while several thousand white rhinos still remain in the park.

Best Sabi Sands Lodges

• Elephant Plains Game Lodge  ($$ – $$$)
• Lion Sands River Lodge  ($$$)
• Inyati Game Lodge  ($$$)
• Cheetah Plains Lodge  ($$$$)

Kruger National Park Safaris

If you’re looking for an African safari adventure , look no further than Kruger National Park, regardless of your budget. Whether you’re looking for a luxurious lodge or a budget-friendly experience in the bush, you’re sure to find it in Kruger.

Choose from a variety of different safaris to suit your interests and budget, including group or private tours with flexible options for driving yourself or having a guide take you around.

Self-Driving Safaris in Kruger National Park

One of the aspects of Kruger National Park that makes it so affordable is that, as a national park, visitors can drive themselves through the park. That means no guides are needed – just plan for the cost of your rental car! This is a great way to save money if you don’t have the budget for an expensive lodge with game drives included.

Of course, self-driving safaris aren’t for everyone. Many safari travelers prefer exploring with trained guides. However, they’re a great option to consider for budget-friendly travel or if you’re looking for the independence to plan your own days.

Keep in mind that you can’t venture off the roads on self-driving safaris, as you can when experiencing a guided game drive on the private game reserves surrounding Kruger National Park. This can make it harder to see wildlife at times – come prepared with binoculars to get the best view!

Kruger National Park Guided Tours

Travelers looking for savings but who would like a guided drive rather than a self-driving experience can book one-day guided drives through Kruger National Park . These are quite economical and can really enhance the experience!

Alternatively, you can also find inclusive multi-day safari tours through Kruger National Park, with transportation included for a totally hassle-free guided experience through the park.

If you’d prefer the experience of guided game drives as part of a stay at a safari lodge, plan to stay at one of the private concessions located within Kruger National Park. Among the best are the Singita Lebombo and Singita Sweni lodges along Kruger’s border with Mozambique ; Singita’s impressive conservation efforts make these ecolodges Earth-positive among this protected terrain.

Where to Stay in Kruger National Park

No matter your budget, you’ll find an incredible array of options to choose from when deciding where to stay in Kruger National Park. From luxury lodges to basic rest camps and even campsites for tent camping, you’ll be able to choose the option that’s right for you, one of the major benefits of choosing this South Africa safari destination .

If you’re interested in camping, there are campsites throughout the park; set up your tent and enjoy nature at its finest. There are also several lodges located on private concessions inside the park, offering a more comfortable experience while still giving you the opportunity to photograph wildlife. These are some of the best places to stay in Kruger!

Jock Safari Lodge

The first private lodge built in Kruger National Park, Jock Safari Lodge offers a feeling of an earlier time. Perched along the banks of the Mitomeni and Biyamiti rivers in the Bushveld Concession Area, Jock Safari Lodge enjoys a privileged spot in a region known as one of the greatest in the Kruger National Park.

In addition to impressive and comfortable furnishings, Jock Safari Lodge is known for its incredible and unique safari experiences. To view the area’s rich wildlife, visitors may take daily game drives in open safari vehicles. Walk into the neighboring bush to observe historic Bushmen artwork.

During the rainy season, go on a frog safari to observe the many species frogs that live in the region and learn about the stories told by the stars.

Bateleur BushVeld Camp

Bateleur Camp , known as “Family Cottages,” was constructed in the late 1980s and has seven completely furnished chalets. Each accommodation is air-conditioned or has a ceiling fan, and many of the bedrooms have en-suite bathrooms. At Bateleur Camp, all lodging spaces are serviced daily and furnished with linens, towels, and soap.

A game-watching hide that looks out over a waterhole is one of the numerous attractions at Bateleur Camp . In the presence of knowledgeable drivers and trackers, night drives give you the chance to partake in the nocturnal animal inhabitants of Kruger Park’s nighttime act ivities.

Shimuwini Bushveld Camp

Shimuwini Bushveld Camp offers basic accommodations but its secluded, picturesque location along the banks of the Letaba River is unforgettable. Offering stunning river vistas and almost guaranteed wildlife encounters year-round , you’ll enjoy easy access to excellent elephant and buffalo country.

Activities at the camp are morning drives, night drives, and guided bush walks, all led by knowledgeable guides and trackers. Offering a great safari experience at an affordable price, it’s a hidden gem within Kruger National Park.

Singita Sweni Lodge

Located on Singita’s impressive private concession within Kruger National Park, Singita Sweni Lodge is an impressive luxury lodge located on the lush banks of the Sweni River. Just a few miles from the border of Mozambique, this impressive lodge features just seven private suites nestled among trees for a secluded and romantic safari experience you won’t forget.

No expense is spared at Singita Sweni in even the smallest detail of the guest experience. Expansive open-concept rooms feature gorgeous furnishings and private indoor/outdoor spaces with pool and outdoor shower included! The riverside location is perfect for animal and bird encounters even before you head out on incredible game drives.

• The Best Safari Parks (For Every Traveler)

Kruger National Park – FAQ

Where is kruger national park.

The Kruger National Park is located in the northeast corner of South Africa, bordering Mozambique to the east and Zimbabwe to the north. The park covers an area of 19,485 square kilometers (7,523 sq mi), making it one of the largest national parks in Africa.

The Kruger National Park is located in two provinces: Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The park covers an area of about 19,485 square kilometers (7,523 sq mi), making it one of the largest game reserves in South Africa .

How Big is Kruger National Park?

Kruger National Park is one of the largest and most popular safari parks in Africa . It covers an impressive 19,485 square kilometers of land, which is larger than almost 60 countries! This makes it a must-see destination for tourists from all over the world, certainly a bucket list destination you won’t want to miss.

When Did The Park Open?

1927 is when the gates opened at Kruger National Park for the first time. At that time, just three cars were permitted into the park each year! Needless to say, things have changed a lot since then.

Today, Kruger National Park is one of Africa’s most popular tourist destinations. More than one million people visit every year , and the park continues to grow in popularity. There’s something for everyone here from lions and elephants to bird-watching and hiking. So if you’re looking for an amazing African safari experience, be sure to add Kruger National Park to your list!

How Many Animals are in Kruger National Park?

Kruger National Park is home to a very large variety of animals, including the Big Five of Africa . In fact, it is estimated that the park has between 120 and 240 African wild dogs, up to 13,100 blue wildebeest, 35,300 plains zebras, 120 cheetahs, 4,420 Nile crocodiles, 500 bushbucks, and 37,130 African buffalo . There are also 460 eland present in the park, as well as 3,100 hippopotamuses.

How Many Tourists Visit the Park Each Year?

Kruger National Park is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Africa and receives an estimated one million visitors or more every year. Safari vehicles are a great way to see the park without getting too close to any animal interactions. The park is divided into five regions, each with its own unique attractions and landscapes.

Carley Rojas Avila

Carley Rojas Avila is a bilingual New York-based travel writer, editor, content marketer, and the founder of the digital travel publications Explorers Away and Home to Havana. Carley is an expert on all things Latin America, the Caribbean, and Cuba, having lived and worked in four different countries in the region. Her writing has appeared on the Associated Press wires and in Travel + Leisure, Yahoo, MSN, Euronews, The Weather Channel, and more. When she's not writing about her travels, find her front row at a Bad Bunny concert, befriending street cats, and taste-testing every pizza in Havana.

A first-timer's guide to Kruger National Park

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written by Georgia Stephens

updated 15.03.2024

Kruger, South Africa 's first national park, has been part of the national psyche for as long as anyone can remember. The name alone conjures images of crackling braais and campfire tales, of dog-eared maps and inviting dirt roads, and of elephants that are inevitably too close for comfort. For many, it's one of the greatest game reserves on Earth.

Why should I go?

When should i go, how do i see the park, wait, is it dangerous, got it. any other tips.

• What shouldn't I miss?

Where should I stay?

• I'm convinced – how do I make this happen?

The park hugs the northeastern boundary with Mozambique, covering an area the size of Wales. And within its borders? The Big Five (lion, elephant, buffalo, rhino and leopard), so abundant that even a first-time visitor can cross them off their list by lunchtime, plus plenty more besides. Here is our beginner's guide to Kruger National Park .

A leopard rests in a tree © Simon Eeman / Shutterstock

Tailor-made travel itineraries for South Africa, created by local experts

7 days  / from 4800 USD

Cape Town and Garden Route - a luxury guided tour

Cape Town and the Garden Route have it all - a fascinating culture, safaris, chocolate and wine tasting, and much more. Discover the coastal city of Cape Town and the Peninsula before heading out to the Garden Route with Knysna and Mossel Bay, where you'll experience some game drives.

15 days  / from 4000 USD

The Cape Peninsula and Safaris in Kruger and Pilanesberg

Wildlife in South Africa is still truly wild, a fact that you'll be able to discover in this fascinating two weeks trip. Enjoy whale watching in Cape Town and first safaris in Aquila before heading up north: the famous Kruger and Pilanesberg national parks with all its wildlife await.

7 days  / from 3000 USD

Explore the North of South Africa: Sun City and Madikwe game reserve

For those short on time, staying close to Johannesburg may make sense. On this trip, you'll arrive and depart in Johannesburg and then transfer to the theme park Lost City before continuing to Madikwe for a few days of game drives to spot plenty of wildlife.

Tailor-made trips for   South Africa

Kruger offers what most others don't: the chance for a DIY safari. Many African national parks are only open to those with the deepest pockets, but partly thanks to its reliable network of roads, Kruger is accessible to all. You can experience it in your own car, in your own time and in your own way, for a fraction of what you'd normally pay in many of Africa's flagship reserves – and nothing beats having a lion at eye level. This is it: an easy, authentic experience of the bush.

The dry winter season (May to August) is best, as the bush is sparse and animals gravitate towards water holes, making them easier to spot. Temperatures also rarely climb above the late twenties during the day, and can be downright chilly at night, so you'll have a gentler introduction to the otherwise blistering African climate.

But there are perks to visiting at any time of year. In summer (November to December), for instance, the bush is lush thanks to heavy rains, the bird population hits the roof and you'll find many of the animals with young. You can't get much cuter than a hyena cub.

Make sure to read our guide to the best time to visit Kruger Park .

Animals congregate around watering holes in the dry season © WOLF AVNI / Shutterstock

You could join an organised tour in an open safari vehicle, but renting your own car offers much more flexibility. Explore at your own pace, turning off to tackle a muddy loop road or check out a water hole whenever it takes your fancy. Many animals – including African wild dogs – show up anytime and anywhere, and finding them often involves more luck than skill.

When it comes to your car, there are a few things you should know. First, you'll need a credit card, as you can't rent a car in South Africa without one – a lesson you don't want to learn the hard way. Next, go for height over style, as taller cars will help you get a better view over the long grass. A four-wheel drive is a plus (though not essential), as is air conditioning. And finally, get the best insurance you can afford – you never know what'll happen when you meet an elephant.

Elephant in Kruger National Park © Georgia Stephens

Always remember that you're driving in the presence of wild animals. Stay in your car, keep your windows up unless you're after a furry passenger, and make sure you carefully follow the other park regulations .

Learn how to act around big game, particularly elephants: give them plenty of room, switch off your engine, stay quiet and never get between an elephant mother and her calf. If you spot any signs of aggression, such as an elephant kicking up dust, flapping its ears and trumpeting, back away slowly, as they can flip cars. If you follow these rules, you'll rarely get into trouble.

Related articles from the blog

Try not to be too ambitious with your itinerary – Kruger is enormous, and distances can be deceptive. Give yourself at least five days in the south, and ten days if you also plan on heading to the wilder north.

When driving, go slow – a car crawling along at 15km/h is the mark of a Kruger veteran. Scour the long grass for a flick of an ear or a swish of a tail and listen for anything unusual, like the crunching of grass underfoot or a tell-tale alarm call. It also pays to know where to look: lions often nap in the shade, while a leopard is unlikely to stray far from cover.

The kudu, a species of antelope © Georgia Stephens

What shouldn't I miss?

A bush walk. This is one of the only opportunities you'll get to head off into the long grass on foot – accompanied by a professional guide, of course. You'll gain a deeper understanding of the park's flora and fauna, and there's always the possibility of bumping into big game.

If that sounds too adventurous, then opt instead for an organised game drive either early in the morning or late at night. You'll have the chance to spot nocturnal animals, including genets, civets and owls, which you wouldn't otherwise see (as self-driving is only permitted in daylight hours). To book, enquire at any of the main camps.

The south of the park is best for first-time visitors as it has the densest population of big game, and there are some drives here you definitely shouldn't miss. First, there's the route from Skukuza camp to Satara: watch the sunrise from the bird hide at Lake Panic, then head north via the southernmost baobab tree. Just before you hit Satara, turn onto the S100 – the park's legendary white lion is most often spotted here.

Another must is the route from Lower Sabie to Tshokwane Picnic Spot. The road winds steadily higher until you reach Nkumbe lookout, where the savanna stretches out below you for miles. This really is one of Africa's great views.

There are 24 fenced rest camps, with accommodation ranging from simple thatched rondavels with communal facilities up to luxury bungalows.

Satara is based in big cat country, and its circular clusters of rondavels are particularly atmospheric when lit by the glow of the braais at night. Skukuza is the park's HQ and has the feel of a small town, while Olifants wins the prize for the best view, looking down over the Olifants River.

The Rough Guides to South Africa and related travel guides

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For more of a bush feel, try the tents at Letaba , set deep in mopane forest, or Tamboti – this secluded camp is visited nightly by honey badgers and genets, and hyenas often prowl the fence. If that's still not adventurous enough, book to stay at either Sable or Shipandani after hours.

Rondavel accommodation © Georgia Stephens

I'm convinced – how do I make this happen?

Accommodation sells out quickly in Kruger, particularly around public holidays, so it pays to book several months in advance. You will also need to pay a daily conservation fee . This adds up quickly, so it's worth investing in a Wild Card if you're staying for a week or longer, which works out cheaper.

There are three main options to get to Kruger: fly to Johannesburg and then drive just over four hours to the park; take an internal flight from Johannesburg to Kruger Mpumalanga airport and then drive an hour; or take an internal flight from Johannesburg straight into Skukuza.

Georgia flew to Kruger Mpumalanga airport with South African Airways, which introduced the new Airbus A330-300 on its daily London-Johannesburg service in 2018. Return flights start from £957.01. For more information, visit flysaa.com .

Top image: Lion mother and cub © Thomas Retterath / Shutterstock

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What I did this summer (a Kruger Park essay) – Part 2

In which duncan arrives at the park.

(after a five hour stint on the road,

and about 27 000 mosquitoes,

and one guy with an incredibly large shotgun)

______________________________________________________________________________________________________A lot of safari travelers don't realise, amidst stocking up on Tabard, and rifling through their underwear drawers in search of that elusive pair of khaki briefs (the kind mom said to wear if you ever thought you'd get eaten by lions), is that there's a reason these parks seem so untouched by modern living -

It's because they're out in the middle of nowhere.

After a brief, delightful breakfast at the Outlook Lodge, my group (myself and an older couple from the UK on their honeymoon, the Wards) met up with our ranger, Hulke . Side note: Hulke, if you ever read this, I would like to apologise now for the way I've spelled your first name. I googled and googled , but with no luck whatsoever on your elusive and subtly difficult name.The next quarter of my group's members were introduced to me after we picked them up on the way: Indian-Australian holiday makers, the Kharodia family, down in Africa on a mission to introduce their son, Adam, to the wilds of the Kruger National Park , before taking a round-about trip via ferry, airplane and assorted rental cars, around Cape Town and Port Elizabeth before heading back home. Introductions made, and excited questioning about his job out of the way, our near-complete safari group made our  way down the N12 passage, and onwards to the Kruger...______________________________________________________________________________________________________...and five hours later, the sun coming in through my window had burned my Lilli-white left arm into a red-nose-day-red crispy version of its former glory. Also, we'd arrived!

The Northern Cape around summer time is home to many mosquitoes.  I mean, an absurd number of mozzies. We'd swatted our way throughout the trip, most of us resigned to the reality of a warm, humid climate, in a country where the trade-off is gorgeous scenery, rich history, and the long awaited Skukuza rest camp ! Regardless, we were all thankful for the brief reprieve from the buzzing while we unpacked and wandered around the camp foyer, stretching our city legs on the dusty Skukuza parking lot.

Shown to our rooms,

we were given the low-down on where to report (camp post on the corner), at what time to report (thirty minutes from now roughly - you might want to grab a shower, in the meantime), and where we could get beer and braai materials. Then Hulke left us to our own devices. Skukuza camp , as I would learn over the next few days, is quiet around the beginning of the year. Tourists often abandon their bush soaked ideals of the African holiday for hotels, rental cars and John Dory's dinners out in the bustling city of wherever, and many of the actual South Africans who've spent time out there for the holidays have jobs to get back to in those exact same bustling cities. So, the remainder of the camp's christmas-time guests turned out to be a handful of sunburned Swedish holiday makers, their kids, and random spatterings of last-man-standing South Africans, out for that elusive leopard spotting.The camp was quiet, and extremely beautiful.We left at 15:30 sharp for our afternoon drive with Robin, our official guide for the at-camp portion of our trip. What was our introductory trip into the outlying bushveld of the Skukuza camp area, turned out to be full of surprises. Out in the mid-day sun, we came across a group of four lionesses basking in the bushveld on the side of the road, unperturbed by the small group of land rovers that had gathered directly opposite to talk in hushed tones and point cameras. [[my apologies for the quality of these pictures - my camera did not appreciate the bush lighting]]

The rest of the trip included encounters with local baboons , elephants (actually the first animals we saw on our way out - they're every bit as huge as they look in photos), a brief sighting of the rear-end of a giraffe as it disappeared into the bush, impala every where (Robin called them the Mc Donald's burgers of the bush, you really can't go anywhere without seeing them), some Marabou Stork and Cape Turtle Dove , and one wildebeest , minutes away from our return to camp.Once back at camp, I met up with the remainder of my group - the Riis-Vestergaards, a Danish couple, down in Johannesburg for a few days before Vagn, the husband was set to run a company marathon. They were my immediate neighbours, and I would often seek them out at night while trying to find my way back to my bungalow in the pitch black dark of the bush.After a warm meal at the group's camping area, we all traded stories about the day's events over a bottle of wine. Vagn had been out the day before we arrived and had two riveting encounters during his trip: filming a male elephant grazing in the bush, Vagn and Robin had suddenly been charged by the bull, in a show of aggression that he would chuckle nervously about over the next two days. He had also spotted a leopard making a kill, a sighting many tourists will wait forever to make.Blindly entering my bungalow after dinner, I made my way into the comfortable single bed, shut off the light, and was out before my head hit the pillow.[[Stay tuned for day 3 of my story, following soon]]

OH! The guy with the shotgun I mentioned earlier? Not even in the park, it was a park security guard taking his lunch break at the Total Garage Quick-Stop near middleburg. Seriously, though, this thing looked like an anti-aircraft rifle - what kinds of giant robots are these guys protecting the park from, anyway?

Ok, it wasn't quite this big, but pretty close.

Be sure to check out Part Three of my experience in the Kruger!

https://www.safari.com/travel-blog/853-2/

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Entropy1963 , Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Kruger National Park, a natural South African beauty and wildlife sanctuary

Kruger National Park is a vast wildlife sanctuary and home to the “Big 5”

South Africa’s Kruger National Park is one of the world’s top safari destinations. Its vast area – nearly two million hectares – has extraordinary natural features and is one of the best wildlife sanctuaries on the continent. It’s home to the “Big 5” African mammal species, and 750 more. Plus, learn what it means to “blend in.”

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Our travel destination today: An African safari

Lesson summary

Hi there, welcome to Plain English lesson number 327. I’m Jeff; JR is the producer; and the full lesson can be found at PlainEnglish.com/327.

Coming up today: The next chapter in our series on destinations in the English-speaking world. I wanted to get a new country this time, so we’ll travel together to Kruger National Park in South Africa. The expression is “blend in” and I picked the song of the week to kick off 2021.

Destination: Kruger National Park

At the very south of the vast continent of Africa lies the English-speaking country of South Africa. A British colony until its independence in 1934, South Africa is a country of contrasts, where you can go from the bustling cityscape of Johannesburg or Cape Town to wild bushland in less than an hour.

Africa is known for its wildlife and extraordinary natural features, and South Africa has its share of both, including one of the best wildlife sanctuaries on the continent: The Kruger National Park, which is both a game reserve and safari destination.

The park covers a vast area of nearly 2 million hectares. To put it into perspective, it’s approximately two-thirds the size of Belgium.

The primary purpose of a game reserve is to protect and sustain wildlife and its habitat. However, a secondary function of a game reserve is to provide a way for people to explore, discover, and be educated about the animals and their environment. It’s the best way for humans to see wildlife in its natural habitat, rather than in a zoo.

What animals can you see at Kruger National Park? How about, the “Big 5” African mammal species: the African elephant, African lion, Black rhinoceros, African leopard, and Cape buffalo. They got their name, the Big 5, because they were the most dangerous and difficult animals to hunt on foot.

Today, they are not hunted in South Africa because their numbers have dwindled drastically, some close to extinction, and they’re protected. But the name “Big 5” stuck, and visitors try to see all five during their visits to Kruger.

In fact, it’s common to see all five while driving or walking around the park, but you have to look carefully. Even a large elephant can blend in well with the vegetation. The big cats such as the leopard and the lion can be almost invisible in tall grass, even just a short distance from your vehicle.

It’s not just the big creatures that capture visitors’ attention. The park is home to diverse bird species and numerous smaller animals, such as antelopes, impala, zebra, and kudu. In total, the park is home to more than 750 animal species and 2,000 plant species.

Speaking of plants, the northern part of the park boasts the unique Baobab trees. This is a strange-looking tree with enormous tree trunks, native to Africa and Australia. It is often called the upside-down tree because of its appearance in winter: the tops of the trees, where the leaves grow, look like roots once the leaves have fallen off.

The park was first established by Paul Kruger, the president of a South African province, in 1898. At the beginning, the park’s objective was solely to protect the animals. It later merged with a nearby game reserve when South Africa created its system of national parks; that’s when it opened for tourism. The first three tourist cars paid a small fee of 1 pound each to enter the park in 1927. Within a decade, about four thousand kilometers of roads had been built, several camps were established, and many more visitors entered the park.

Today, the road network is extensive. Close to a million people visit each year. In fact, it’s easy to drive from one of the major cities of South Africa or fly to one of three nearby airports.

A great way to experience Kruger is to stay overnight in the park. Visitors can stay bungalows, cottages, houses, safari tents, or even bare campsites in their own tents—safely away from the big five, I can assure you. There are even private lodges with catered meals if you’re looking to go upscale.

One popular way to enjoy the park is to do a self-drive safari. Any visitor can drive on paved and unpaved roads within the park in their own vehicle. They can explore and search for wild animals and birds on their own, without needing a tour guide, during daylight hours. Careful, though: it’s generally not permitted to get out of your car, except at designated areas.

Travelers seeking a bit more of an adrenaline rush can opt for guided tours in a safari vehicle off-road. These are popular in the early morning and evening when animals are more likely to be out.

To get up close and personal, there are daily early morning and afternoon guided walks from most camps. Experienced field guides take up to eight guests and track rhinoceros, elephants, and lions on foot while sharing their knowledge. It sounds scary! The guides will put your mind at ease, though: they carry rifles as protection against wild animals.

I’m not sure if that last detail would make me more comfortable or less comfortable!

I have never been to South Africa, so I had some help researching this lesson, but it sounds amazing. The thing that surprises me the most is that you can drive a normal car through the park and see these huge animals. When I think of a safari, I think of a Jeep driving through the mud and the wilderness and animals all around—the possibility of being eaten by a lion or something. I don’t think of just driving a normal car through a park.

I’d love to see that. I think I’d go for the morning guided walk.

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The kruger national park: a photo essay.

My mum and dad first started taking us to the Kruger National Park when I was eight or nine. It was a highlight of my childhood and since then, we’ve tried to go as a family every year.

While it’s always thrilling to see one of the Big 5 (there was one year when we saw all of them, starting with a leopard in a tree, on the 50km-stretch of road from the Orpen Gate to our first night at Satara), we also love to potter and look at birds, insects, trees, sunsets and sunrises, and everything in between. Although the game and sightings are always different, some of the family arguments are pretty much the same, year-in, year-out: which road did we see that lion kill on a few years back, who was with us the year when the rhino charged, which is the best camp to stay at, how many muscles does an elephant actually have in its trunk, why does one family member in particular never give up trying to take the “perfect impala picture” (picture 10 refers)?

My wonderful mum, who is still the chief instigator of this annual pilgrimage, has made all her grandchildren solemnly promise to bring their children and grandchildren in times to come. Right now, though, I can’t wait for Kruger 2014!

• Safari Experiences

Krugerpark Safari Experiences

The Attraction of the Kruger National Park

Cultural Heritage Sites in Kruger National Park

A Walk in Kruger National Park

Five Days in Eden

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Kruger National Park, Research Paper Example

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Kruger National Park is famous as sanctuary for the world’s rare wildlife, especially the near-extinct white and black rhinos. With 10 000 white rhinos and 500 black rhinos (2009 statistics), Kruger is “home to the largest rhino population in the world” (Strickland, 2010, p. 406). This distinction, in addition to offering diverse wildlife and easy viewing experiences due to advanced transport infrastructure, makes Kruger one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. To maintain a wildlife-friendly ecosystem, Kruger has implemented ambitious environmental management techniques, research and policies aimed at conserving its rich biodiversity. It also started a game-capture program in the 1980s that allowed it to not only conserve threatened species, but also introduce selected animal species to previously unoccupied areas. With a diverse fauna and flora community consisting of 336 species of trees, 147 mammals, 507 birds, 114 reptiles, 34 amphibians, and 47 fish, Kruger is the flagship of South Africa’s 22 national parks, and the best tourist attraction in Africa (Strickland, p. 407). In terms of accommodation, the park boasts 21 rest camps, 11 safari lodges and 7 lodge concessions This unrivaled record of biodiversity, environmental management, research and infrastructure, affords Kruger an enviable competitive advantage in the tourism industry. The rich animal and plant life create a beautiful wildlife scenery that attracts tourists from around the world.

As part of its competitive strategy, Kruger has implemented veterinary park services to help protect and conserve its animal population. They include capture, holding and translocation operations aimed at regulating animal populations, as well as species conservation, wildlife exchange and regional cooperation. In addition, the management of the park has implemented an anti-poaching policy to protect the threatened rhino population. Another competitive strategy is the rhino hunting program, which offers hunters a rare wildlife experience. With a charge of $82,400 per hunter (2009 rates), the park generates an annual average of $4.8 billion from hunting alone, which accounts for 70% of total income (Strickland, 2010, p. 413). The park also introduced “safari packages” that offered additional tourist attractions such as photo safaris and wedding packages alongside hunting services, which helped to increase revenue generation. Additional services include full lodging with traditional catering, free wine and beer, laundry services, hunting vehicles, as well as professional and trained hunter staff. Thus, by offering world class services and attractive packages, Kruger National Park has risen to be among the world’s leading tourist destinations.

Overall, Kruger National Park’s corporate strategy is to increase the number of tourists it receives annually. Towards this end, the management has focused on a conservation-conscious policy that includes “Green Jobs, Human Capacity, Research, Policy and Monitoring of Biodiversity health” ((SA Parliamentary Monitoring Group, 2010). Additionally, besides the quest to offer attractive service packages and conserving its wildlife diversity, the park’s management has focused on encouraging black tourists by promoting domestic tourism, expanding the conservation estate, wildlife diversification and adopting modern technology in marketing and service delivery These policies are intended to revolutionize the South African tourism industry into a world class tourist destination.

SA Parliamentary Monitoring Group. (2010). South African National Parks (SANParks) briefing

on their functions, objectives, targets and challenges 2009/10-2013 and Budget 2009/10 . Retrieved March 04, 2012< http://www.pmg.org.za/report/20100310-south-african-national-parks-sanparks-briefing-their-functions-object

Strickland, A. J. (2010). Rhino Culture in Kruger National Park . USA: University of Alabama.

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A true first-timer’s guide to a safari field trip with kids in Kruger National Park

Just a short drive away from the sprawling metropolis of Johannesburg, South Africa, Kruger National Park does an amazing job of making budget-friendly safaris accessible for worldschooling families like ours. So accessible, in fact, that it took us less than a day to go from “Maybe we should go on safari” all the way to setting up our tent!

Kruger National Park, South Africa

Hours: Sunrise to sundown (Changes seasonally) Entry Fee: R440/adult (about $24) per day R220/child (about $12) per day Official Website: https://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/

Kruger is located in northeastern South Africa, sharing borders with both Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is home to a huge variety of wild animals, including all five of the Big 5, various rare and interesting birds, and large herds of smaller game animals. And it’s a super-easy location to visit if you’re interested in doing a self-drive safari.

Self-drive safaris are much cheaper than guided safaris, so discovering that Kruger allows guests to drive themselves instantly meant the difference between being able to afford a safari or not for our family. And since going on a true African safari has been on my family’s list since forever , it meant a trip to Kruger was too good to pass up.

Our overall experience in Kruger National Park

When I first woke up on the Sunday before our safari trip, I had no idea that that very day I would be preparing for a full week of getting up close to some of the most dangerous animals in Africa. Kruger National Park had been on our list of places to consider visiting, but we hadn’t made any real effort to make our trip into a reality.

That all changed when my wife pointed out that she had a relatively open calendar that week and that she wanted to spend some well-deserved time outside. After a few minutes of brain-storming, we realized that we probably wouldn’t get a better chance to visit Kruger, and less than an hour later we were at the store buying a tent!

We ended up spending a total of 5 nights (6 days) inside of Kruger, and almost all of our daylight hours were spent driving the roads between the camps! We saw all 5 of the Big 5, spotted and reported some endangered birds, and even learned a bit about the area’s history.

We had been told that taking at least one guided drive was important if you wanted the best animal sightings, and so we did sign up for 2 guided drives, but our favorite sightings all occurred while we were driving ourselves.

An African safari feels like something that should take a long time to plan and a large budget to pull off, but Kruger National Park surprised us with how easy it was to fit into our time in South Africa,

We decided to do a 5-night stay inside the park, staying at a different rest camp each night. Each day we drove from one camp to the next, doing our best to spot as many animals as we could.

What animals can you find in Kruger National Park?

Kruger is a world-class park for safaris, and many of the African animals that you would want to see on a safari are here.

The animals that most people want to see are, of course, the larger African mammals. Kruger has more than 140 different species of mammal within its park borders, including all five species that make up the Big 5! With that much diversity, it isn’t likely that you’ll see everything in a single trip, but if you keep your eyes out, you’ll be sure to see some amazing things.

What are the Big 5?

The Big 5 are the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt in Africa. They include lions, leopards, elephants, rhinos, and water buffalo. But while these animals may be dangerous to hunt, you don’t really have to worry about them all that much from the safety of your car.

Lions and leopards are so accustomed to visitors that they will almost entirely ignore your car unless it gets right up close to them, and so long as you give the herbivores space, they will also leave you alone. That said, elephants can cause some pretty serious damage to your car if they want to, so do watch their body language for signs of possible aggression and leave space to back off if needed!

Other mammals in Kruger

Apart from the Big 5, Kruger is home to tons of great animals that make it a great place to do a safari with kids. We saw tons of giraffes, usually side by side with herds of zebra. Impala and other deer-like grazers are extremely common, to the point that you almost get tired of seeing them, and many of the watering holes and rivers host large herds of hippos. If you’re really lucky there are even cheetahs!

Smaller mammals are much harder to spot but are also definitely around. Baboons and Vervet monkeys are common, and can often be seen near the camps. While their antics are cute, they have figured out that people mean food, and Vervets especially will break into campsites in search of things to steal.

Some mammals are harder to spot. We saw two different species of mongoose, a honey badger, and a hare, but missed out on both African Porcupines and Pangolins.

Birds in Kruger National Park

When we decided to go on safari, I didn’t realize how interesting the birds in the park would be. I knew that I wanted to see the big cats and lumbering giants of the savanna, but birdwatching wasn’t on my mind. But from the tiny weaver birds whose nests could be seen everywhere all the way up to the endangered Giant Ground Hornbill, Kruger has tons of fascinating birds for those willing to look for them!

It was the Giant Ground Hornbill that first caught my eye. While we were waiting in line to enter the park, my son pointed at a poster hanging on the wall next to the entry gate. It was a request for guests to report any sightings of the hornbills as a way of helping with conservation efforts. A genuine citizen science opportunity!

Just like that, the Giant Ground Hornbill, which I previously knew nothing about, immediately became the top animal on my must-see list!

We ended up seeing two separate groups of them during our 5 days at Kruger, but that was just the start as far as birds were concerned. We also spotted several species of owl, bateleur eagles, ox peckers, and secretary birds.

Other animals in Kruger Park

While most of the animals that we saw fell into one of the two categories above, there were a few notable exceptions.

On top of everything else, Kruger is home to a wide variety of reptiles as well. The largest of these is the Nile crocodile, which despite its name, can be found throughout much of Africa. We saw tons of these hanging out at the watering holes. Other notable reptiles include chameleons and the leopard tortoise, which can sometimes be seen alongside the road.

Unfortunately, there are also mosquitos in the park. Kruger is in a malaria zone, so be sure to bring some bug repellant for the evenings, just in case!

How much does it cost to visit Kruger National Park with kids?

When you think of going on a week of safari, it seems like the sort of thing that would be expensive, and if you insist on the nicest accommodations and guided game drives, it is. But visiting Kruger with kids doesn’t have to break the bank!

Bottom line, for my family of 4, 6 days and 5 nights in Kruger cost us under $1500 USD in all, including all our food, gear, and gas on top of campground reservations and entrance fees.

That doesn’t include transportation to South Africa or the cost of renting a car, since we were already in the country and we borrowed a friend’s car for the trip. But as far as world-class safaris go, I think that’s pretty economical!

Here’s a breakdown of what those costs looked like, so you can know what to expect:

Of course, if you need to add transportation and a rental car to that, the price does go up a bit, but using a flight aggregator tool like Skyscanner can help you find the best prices on tickets and help drive prices down.

If your are renting your car, something a little higher off the ground is better. The extra height allows you to see animals that might otherwise be hidden in the grass.

If you are also renting a car, keep in mind that something a little higher off the ground is better. The extra height allows you to see animals that might otherwise be hidden in the grass.

To keep flying cost-effective, I highly recommend making the most of your stay in South Africa and seeing some of the other wonderful sights in the country! My family absolutely loved our time in Cape Town, and the Drakensburg Mountains area is beautiful.

Check out my other articles on South Africa to get more inspiration for your next African adventure!

Table Mountain – Visiting An African World Wonder With Kids

The Desolate Prison Island where Nelson Mandela Spent 18 Years

15 Amazing Educational South African Adventures for Worldschooling Families

A hidden gem for families visiting South Africa – The Drakensbergs

An Amazing Penguin Adventure With Kids At South Africa’s Boulders Beach

Should i get a guided safari drive.

If there’s one piece of advice that we’ve received time and time again, it’s that we just had to go on at least one guided drive during our time on safari.

In large part, that’s because the drivers of the park’s vehicles are all in contact with each other and will often know exactly where to go to see the best animals because another driver already told them. They also have a ton of experience spotting animals and may spot something you would have missed.

Both of those reasons are true, but I’m still torn on whether to tell you to get a guide or not.

See also: The Guide to Guides: Should I Get One, or No?

Our family went on two guided drives during our week at Kruger, and we saw some amazing animals on both drives. But we also managed to find equivalent or better sightings while driving on our own. Even for the guides, it comes down to luck, since the animals rarely stay in the same place for long.

When we drove on our own, we were able to go at our own pace and we often drove much slower than the other cars around us. We could choose what to sit and watch, and what to skip because we’d already seen. With the guided drives, they would often hurry past areas where there hadn’t been a sighting in order to get to where lions or elephants had definitely been spotted. That works, but it left me wondering what we might have missed in getting there. We also spent longer looking at some animals than I needed since everybody wanted pictures, and we hurried past other animals that I might have lingered with.

Still, both guided drives were fun. And we saw lions on both of them!

Ultimately, it comes down to your family’s preferences. I’d suggest scheduling at least one for the sake of the experience.

Our family’s 5-day itinerary for Kruger National Park

This was my family’s first outing to Kruger, and we had no idea where to begin. A lot of the blogs where we did our research would name all the different camps as possibilities but gave very little real direction as to which camps would work best for us as a family. Add to that the fact that it’s pretty much impossible to predict where the animals are going to be, and planning a spur-of-the-moment 5-day trip felt pretty intimidating.

What we ended up doing was choosing an entrance to the park at the southern end and moving northward from camp to camp according to the listed site availability on SANParks’ reservations website . Each morning we would start by driving slowly to our next campsite spotting animals along the way. We also booked two guided drives through the same reservations site, which turned out to be as simple as checking a box.

For a first-time safari schedule, it ended up working great!

Here’s where we stayed:

Night 1 – Malelane Satelite Camp

The drive to Kruger took us almost 5 hours from Pretoria, so for our first night, we decided to stay just inside the park’s border at Malelane Satelite Camp. I didn’t know it at the time, but Malelane is significantly different from the other camps that we stayed in, and it ended up being my favorite night in the park!

Camp amenities –

• Campsites with a braai (grill) or air-conditioned huts
• Shared Kitchen facilities with stove, sink, and refrigerator
• Clean restroom facilities with showers
• Camper hookups at each site for power
• Feels like actually camping!

If you do find that you need some supplies, there is a store, a restaurant, and a gas station in the nearby Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp, approximately 10km away (the red marker on the map). Just be sure to be back inside the gate before dark!

For one thing, Malelane is a satellite camp, not a rest camp. That meant there wasn’t a store or a restaurant within the camp’s fence, and it felt exactly like camping should. A fence encircled the entire camp to keep the animals out, so there wasn’t any worry over nocturnal visitors, and I ended up staying up late taking pictures of the stars and listening to the hippos calling up from the river below us.

We didn’t expect much in the way of animals this close to the edge of the park, but we ended up seeing elephants, giraffes, and rhinos all within a few miles of the camp, and we heard that there were several leopard sightings in that same area the day after we left!

Night 2 – Skukuza Rest Camp

On our first full day of safari, our first stop was the Berg-en-dal Rest Camp to the north, for gas before beginning the long, slow drive up to Skukuza Rest Camp.

Skukuza Camp amenities –

• Campsites, huts, Safari tents and more!
• Shared kitchen facilities with a stove and sink
• Restaurants and cafes
• A bank, car hire, library, and museum
• Guided safari drives
• A large store for anything you may have forgotten

We had heard somewhere that the mark of a veteran Kruger visitor is driving your car at speeds of no more than 25 kph, and that worked out pretty well for us. Within the first hour or so of driving, we had already spotted both elephants and rhinos! All of our rhino sightings happened on this leg of our trip, but they came so easily that we didn’t realize they were somewhat rare sightings until later.

We also decided to take the Mlambane loop on our way north, as a way of getting off the main road. That decision led us to our first lion sighting in the park! In fact, a lot of our most interesting sightings happened when we took detours off the main roads. If you have the time and the inclination, definitely take advantage of the loops.

Around mid-morning, we stopped in at the Tindlovu Picnic area (marker 3 above) for a restroom and snack break. There’s no camping at that site, but they do have a cafe and a store, which made it a welcome stop. (Try the rooibos latte!)

Continuing northward, we arrived at Skukuza and set up camp.

Skukuza is the largest of the Rest Camps in Kruger and functions as something of a headquarters for the area. Apart from the campsites, they have a couple of different restaurant options in the camp, a large store where you can get bush meat for grilling, a swimming pool, and a library/museum!

The amenities are definitely nice, but the trade-off is that the campsites felt crowded. There weren’t as many trees for shade, and our site was well away from the camp’s edge, meaning we couldn’t do any evening wildlife watching through the fence. Not my favorite spot.

Skukuza was also where we did the first of our guided drives. We chose to do a nighttime drive with a guide since guests aren’t allowed outside the camps at night except on the guided drives. Our driver knew where a pride of lions was resting, so we started the drive by heading out to see them. After that, it was just trying to spot the glint of eyes in the bush as our spotlights swept the bush. We saw some mongooses, bush babies, buffalo, and hippos, plus our driver managed to spot not one, but two separate chameleons in branches along the road!

Night 3 – Lower Sabie Rest Camp

Our next rest camp destination was the Lower Sabie Rest Camp, located southeast of Skukuza. We left Skukuza earlier than we had left Malelane in hopes of seeing something unique, but while we enjoyed the calm of the morning, we didn’t really find much until later in the morning when we happened upon a crowd of cars near a bridge.

We rolled down the window to ask what they saw, and it turned out to be a leopard! We have friends who went on safari in Kruger for 10 years straight before seeing their first leopard, so we felt pretty lucky to find this one.

Soon after, we arrived at the Lower Sabie Rest Camp and set up our tent.

Lower Sabie Camp amenities –

• Campsites with a braai (grill), safari tents, or guest house accommodations
• Shared Kitchen facilities with stove and sink
• Restaurant, Cafe, and Store
• Beautiful river views

As it was still early in the day, we decided to drive south to Crocodile Bridge and see what we could see. It was a lucky decision because while we were there we met someone who had just spotted a lion right on the road a short drive from there. We followed his directions and got some amazing shots of a young male lion walking down the road!

After that, it was back to camp for some sunset shots of the local giraffes, and dinner looking over the Lower Sabie River. Lower Sabie’s campsites felt almost as cramped as Skukuza’s, but the view from the restaurant was amazing. And since we had waited until sunset to get back, it didn’t much matter that it was cramped because we went straight to bed!

In the morning, we made our coffee, hopped in the car, and set off for Satara.

Night 4 – Satara Rest Camp

While you can spot lions and leopards throughout the park, Satara is the rest camp best known for being in “big cat territory,” so on the drive up we were specifically looking out for new cat sightings. So obviously, this was the section of our trip where we finally spotted the Giant Ground Hornbill.

Ironically, they were not on the ground, but instead were feasting on the fruit in one of the trees. We took pictures the best pictures we could, wrote up the GPS coordinates for reporting, and continued on.

Satara Camp amenities –

• Campsites with a braai (grill), guest houses, or bungalows
• Restaurants and Groceries

Satara is the third-largest rest camp in Kruger, but the since the campsites are located along the outer perimeter, we were able to get a site where we could see the wildlife outside the fence! After setting up, we decided we were tired of snacking on biltong in the car for lunch and went to check out their steakhouse. We ended up splitting a bush meat platter filled with cuts of meat from some of the different grazers you can spot in the park.

While Satara is known as a place for spotting big cats, our family was most impressed with the abundance of elephants in the area. Several times we were able to watch entire herds of elephants crossing the road in front of us, including some absolutely adorable babies!

In the morning, we took our second guided drive of the week. The sunrise drive we were on was the first car out of camp, and almost immediately we spotted lions lounging on the road! We also spotted a couple of hyenas, elephants, buffalos, and tons of grazers, but those lions were definitely the highlight of the drive.

Satara was as far north as we went during our time in the park, though it is only about midway up. So after we finished the guided drive, we packed up and began our trip back toward the gates.

Night 5 – Skukuza Rest Camp

Our final night was spent back in Skukuza, in almost the exact same camping spot as before. But we still had a full day of exploring to do before nightfall, and we decided to seek out the elusive cheetah. We checked out the sighting boards and noticed that a cheetah had been spotted not far from Skukuza at the Albasini ruins.

Other Kruger Camps

• Berg-en-dal
• Crocodile Bridge
• Pretoriuskorp
• Punda Maria

Satellite Camps

Bush Lodges in Kruger

These are even more remote camps that you can reserve.

We never did find that cheetah, but since we were in the area, we did check out the ruins!

Apparently, there was once a trading post there that profited off of trade routes through the area that would become Kruger National Park, and the ruins are the remains of that post’s foundations. But what caught my eye was the map next to the ruins, laying out all the historical sites and markers in the park! You can see that map on Kruger’s website .

Even before it was a national park, the area had a rich history, and there are a ton of interesting historical markers and educational sites to check out if you’re inclined. Apart from the Albasini ruins, we also checked out the Selati Rail Car that has been transformed into a restaurant in Skukuza, the Stevenson-Hamilton Library and Museum, and the southernmost Baobab tree.

Other historical places that caught my eye but that we didn’t visit include San Bushman rock paintings, the Thulamela Iron Age site, and the statue of Jock of the Bushveld!

After checking out the ruins, we headed back to Skukuza for our last night in the park, and in the morning we headed back south to Malelane gate.

My family loves reading stories that are set in the locations we visit, and it turns out the story of Jock of the Bushveld is available for free on Kindle.

Making a Self-Drive Safari into an Experiential Learning Event

Part of the joy of worldschooling with your kids is getting to teach them about the world through utterly engaging experiences like an African Safari. Experiential learning works because kids get to see things firsthand, which helps cement concepts in place.

But while just taking a field trip with your kids already does a great job of teaching them on its own, putting in a little extra effort can really help to drive home important concepts that they may not get through observation alone.

Here are some suggestions!

Animal Studies

Safaris lend themselves incredibly well to doing animal studies since the animals are right there ! Studying different animals can help kids to learn about the amazing amount of biodiversity that exists on earth, and about how animal adaptations help them to thrive in their home environments.

This doesn’t have to look like a book report or a research paper, either. (Though it can!) I like to look up facts about animals while we’re watching them and share them with my kids. Like, did you know that elephants communicate with each other using vocalizations that are so low-pitched that humans can’t hear them all? That lion roars can be heard up to 5 miles away? Or that a hippo’s main food is grass?

Animal studies are great because they’re so easy and interesting!

Just a note here. I love having a cell phone mount that attaches to binoculars or a spotting scope. Some of the animals were far enough back in the bush that our kids had a hard time seeing them, and they probably wouldn’t have except that my phone worked as a viewer for the binoculars so they could see exactly where they were. After that, they could spot them with their own eyes.

These are the binoculars I used and they did a great job helping the kids spot animals. The phone mount worked great with my Pixel 4a.

Teaching about conservation

Conservation is an increasingly important concept in today’s world, especially if we want these animals to continue thriving in the wild. Safaris, and other nature-centric outings, are perfect field trips for helping kids to fall in love with nature and encouraging them to care for their world.

With smaller kids, this can definitely just be talking about how we need to pick up our trash and leave places better than when we found them, but as kids get older it’s important to talk about the larger impacts humans have on the environment and discuss ways of mitigating that.

Doing Citizen Science

Finding and reporting our sightings of the Giant Ground Hornbills was one of my personal highlights of the trip, and hearing my kids tell complete strangers about the process was another.

This wasn’t a planned part of our trip, but I’m so glad we had the opportunity to take part in researching these amazing birds!

Posters for older citizen science opportunities monitoring cheetahs and wild dogs were still hanging at some of the rest camps, so it appears that these opportunities are a semi-regular sort of thing, too.

Go for Cross-Discipline Learning

While animals and the environment are obviously the big winners when considering learning opportunities during a safari, Kruger actually has some other pretty interesting things going for it as well.

Historical markers throughout the park make great leaping-off points for learning about the region’s history. While the museum at Skukuza is small, it has some great information about the indigenous peoples who lived there before Kruger became a park. And there’s a neat display showing off the area’s geology at the Berg-en-dal rest camp as well.

Any of these and more can become great starting points for lessons for inquisitive kids!

The key is to explore as much as possible, and when something sparks your kids’ interest, dive into it with them!

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The kruger national park: a social and political history.

All rights reserved. Cover photograph by Duncan Butchart.

The copyright holder reserves, or holds for their own use, all the rights provided by copyright law, such as distribution, performance, and creation of derivative works.

Carruthers, Jane. The Kruger National Park: A Social and Political History. Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1995.

Do we owe the world-famous Kruger National Park to the triumph of “good” conservationists over the forces of “evil” commercial exploitation? Or is there a far more complex, and ultimately far more believable, history to be uncovered? From this new perspective, environmental protection can no longer be viewed as a moral issue, divorced from political reality. Game reserves and national parks form an integral part of state resource management strategies. And in South Africa these strategies have been shaped by pressures such as white self-interest, Afrikaner nationalism, ineffectual legislation, elitism, capitalism, and the exploitation of Africans. (Book description based on University of KwaZulu-Natal Press website text).

This book has been made available courtesy of University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, and Jane Carruthers, on the Environment & Society Portal for nonprofit educational purposes only.

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Active adventure

South africa’s top 10 incredible attractions.

A A sk anyone and they’ll tell you, South Africa boasts amazing tourist attractions that are worth visiting more than once. But where does one even start? Here’s a list of top 10 attractions that you should tick off your “to-do” list.

1) Table Mountain

S S itting at 1,085m above sea level, you’re guaranteed incredible sunset views of Cape Town and surrounds on the new 7 Wonders of the World – the magnificent Table Mountain . Sprawling with indigenous plants such as the Protea and wildlife including adorable Dassies (rock badgers), Table Mountain is the ideal spot to witness nature at its best. Get a bird’s eye view of the city below from the Table Mountain Cable Way .

2) Cradle of Mankind

I I magine what life was like in South Africa millions of years ago. Now you can when you visit the Cradle of Mankind in Gauteng, just northwest of Johannesburg. This World Heritage Site is a treasure trove of fossilised history, and home to the remains of our ancestors – the Hominids. Go back in time and discover an ancient world of dinosaur fossils, hominid skeletons and evidence of their existence at the Maropeng Visitor Centre and the Sterkfontein Caves.

3) Robben Island

O O f course, a visit to the Cape Town (The Mother City) is not complete without a boat trip to Robben Island . One can almost feel the spirit of legendary Tata Madiba - Nelson Mandela on the island, where he spent 27 years in incarceration. Take a tour of his former prison cell and learn more about his years spent on the island with other struggle fighters.

4) The Cape Winelands

W W ho doesn’t like to swirl and sip delicious and award-winning wines? Even if you’re not a wine connoisseur, everyone can appreciate a good glass of wine. There’s no doubt South Africa, particularly the Western Cape is gateway to incredible wines that’s made in centuries old vineyards across the province. From Stellenbosch to Franschoek , drive along the wine route and enjoy wine tasting along with food pairing to tickle your palate.

5) The Drakensberg Mountains

R R eaching a whopping 3482 metres above sea level, the Drakensberg Mountains covers a distance of over 1000 kilometres. Thabana Ntlenyana is its highest peak and can be found around the area bordering Lesotho.

6) The Kruger National Park

E E xpect to see the 'King of the Jungle' in its natural domain, ruling over the savannah... and the roads. The Kruger National Park is a gateway into the wild, where visitors get to see the Big Five including lions and other fierce cats in their prime. 

F F rom the former home of legendary Nelson and Winnie Mandela to other prominent struggle fighters who fought for equality during apartheid, visit Soweto to get a real sense of South Africa’s past and an in-depth look into the lives of those who once lived there. Go on a Sowetan tour, including a visit to nearby taverns to enjoy local beer, braai (barbeque) and experience the vibe of the township.

8) Blyde River Canyon

T T ravelling to Mpumalanga requires a stopover at the Blyde River Canyon . There’s so much to see at this incredible part of the province, including God’s Window – an attraction that will greet you with sweeping views of the valley below.

9) Sun City Resort

I I n 1979 the Sun City Resort was built and houses the Valley of Waves. It’s situated along the border of the Pilanesberg National Park and is known for its casino entertainment, water theme park and renowned for its safari adventures.

10) Golden Gate Highlands National Park

S S ituated in the enchanting Golden Gate National Park in the heart of the Free State and at the foot of the Drakensberg Mountains , it's the perfect place to find South Africa and yourself.

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