Kruger National Park

The Most Famous Safari Destination On Earth And One Of The Largest Game Reserves In Africa, Nearly Twenty Thousand Square Kilometres Holding The Big Five In Numbers That Make Self Driving Genuinely Productive, With A Tarred Road Network, Rest Camps You Can Book For A Fraction Of A Private Lodge, And A Lowveld Ecology That Changes Completely Between The Granite South And The Mopane North · Skukuza, Mpumalanga

Kruger is the safari most people picture, and it is also the one you can do yourself. Nearly twenty thousand square kilometres along the Mozambique border, three hundred and fifty kilometres from end to end, with a tarred and gravel road network, fuel, shops and rest camps you can book directly for a fraction of what a private lodge costs - which means a hire car, a map and patience will show you the big five without a guide. The south around Skukuza and Lower Sabie has the densest game and the most traffic; the mopane country north of Olifants is emptier and the elephant herds are bigger; Punda Maria at the top is for birds and solitude. Two facts belong in the first paragraph rather than the small print: the lowveld is a MALARIA AREA, which is a question for your doctor before you travel, and the animals are genuinely dangerous, which is why you stay in the vehicle except in the fenced camps.

Along the Mozambique border in the lowveld, running 350 km north from Malelane to the Limpopo, with Skukuza camp at its centre, Skukuza, Mpumalanga, South Africa

Gates open at first light and close at dusk, and the exact times move through the year, so they are not stated here - get them at the gate or from your camp and treat them as absolute, because being out after closing carries a fine and is dangerous. Camps have their own gate times inside the park. Entry is by the daily conservation fee or a Wild Card, and WHETHER A SPECIFIC CAMP, GATE OR ROAD IS OPEN CHANGES - roads close for rain and for conservation work, and anti-poaching operations have closed areas. Guided sunrise and night drives are booked at camp receptions and are the only legal way to be out in the dark. Off-road driving is prohibited everywhere. Book camps months ahead for South African school holidays. Nelspruit and Hoedspruit airports serve the park, and the drive from Johannesburg is about five hours.

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