How to visit Kruger National Park

Would you like to visit one of the most iconic African parks, seeing thousands of animals, with lots of comfort and stunning views, and without spending tons of money? Come with me and I'll explain the how to!

Going on a safari in Africa was a decades-old dream.

I had been wanting to go to sub-Saharan Africa for some time and, obviously, one of the mandatory activities would be to go on a safari. But when I started looking, all I found were overpriced hotels, as expensive as you can charge for sunset drinks by the infinity pool watching the giraffes, zebras and elephants calmly strolling through the savannah, and on top of that with rides that seemed to be kind of 'fakes' (chipped animals, fed cats and the sort), something that didn't appeal to me, not even my pocket allowed.

So, I rolled up my sleeves and got to work. I scoured the internet, read several travel guides, spoke to strangers on Instagram, sent a message to my friend's cousin's aunt, made and redid plans several times and after much racking my brain, voilá, not only did we manage to go on the safari of our dreams, but it was one of the highlights (perhaps the highest) of our 20 day trip to South Africa.

So here is your path on how to visit Kruger National Park, with all the links you need to make this dream come true.

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A little about Kruger National Park in South Africa

On our trip to 20 days in South Africa, we spent three days in Kruger, but we could have stayed much longer. Seeing animals in nature, free, is a unique experience. Even though you have seen thousands of photos, the first moment you see an African animal in the wild is unforgettable. The expectation of the search, and the emotion when seeing them, is indescribable.

There, nature dictates the rules. Animals do not have any human interference. They are not fed, are not "chipped", nor are they cared for in case of illness or accident. Wild life as it is.

While animals live freely, we humans are restricted to the interior of our cars or properly fenced campsites. Exactly the opposite of what we are used to in zoos - an interesting food for though.

Kruger, probably the most famous national park in South Africa, was established in 1898 as the Sabie Game Reserve and was gradually expanded until it assumed its current shape, comprising an area of ​​19.633 km2 (slightly smaller than the state of Sergipe ), extending to the borders with Mozambique and Zimbabwe. It is one of the “game parks” that receives the most visitors in the world, and has (documented)507 species of birds, 336 trees, 147 mammals, 114 reptiles, 49 fish and 34 amphibians.

Take advantage and check out this post where I summarize all the information that you need to know before visiting South Africa.

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When to go to Kruger National Park, South Africa

There are two distinct seasons in the region, rainy and dry seasons.

The hot and rainy season runs from October to mid-March, when daily rains transform the park, normally arid, into an immense green area, filling rivers and lakes, in a beautiful landscape. However, the increase in vegetation foliage makes it difficult to see animals.

The period from April to September is the dry season, with milder temperatures and cold nights. The vegetation dries out and water becomes scarce, becoming only available in perennial rivers and some lakes, which makes it easier to spot animals. It tends to be the best time to see animals.

We went to Kruger Park in January, at the height of the rainy season. The park was beautiful, everything was green, with lots of water, several flooded areas, rivers overflowing, the sun was merciless and the weather really hot. Even though it wasn't the best time of year to see animals, we saw many, many of them.

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How to get to Kruger Park

There are several entrances to the park.

OR Tambo Airport (JNB), in Johannesburg, is the main international airport in South Africa, to which there are flights from different parts of the world.

It is possible to go directly from Johannesburg airport directly to the park, here is a table with distances and estimated time to reach each entrance. To give you an idea, from Johannesburg airport to Numbi Gate it is 370km, about 4h20 by car; to Malelane Gate, 390km or 4h20, to Phabeni Gate 400km, about 4h30. These are entrances in the southern part of the park, if you go to the northernmost part, the distances are a little longer.

The closest airport to the southern part of the park is in Nelspruit – Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (CPT), it is 38km (40 minutes by car) from Numbi Gate, 68km (50 min) from Malelane Gate or 112km (1h20) from Crocodile Bridge Gate.

In our case, we were driving from Graskop <a href=" https://www.danae-explore.com/en/all-you-need-to-know-south-africa-trip/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" data-no-instant=""><u>(part of our on our 20-day South Africa trip)</u></a> passing through Hazyview and entering the park through Phabeni Gate.

Pay attention to the opening and (especially) closing times of the gates, which vary throughout the year. Here is the table with the gates hours.

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Where to stay at Kruger National Park

Accommodation inside Kruger Park

There are several rest camps within the park. Most of them have a inn/hotel structure and are excellent. Take a good look at the official website www.sanparks.org to check location, structure, available accommodation and everything else, as it can vary a lot from one location to another (Skukuza even has a golf course!). In addition, within the same camp there are several types of accommodation, which vary greatly in terms of size and comfort. There is everything from simple rooms with a shared bathroom to cabins with river views, in the best “glamping” style.

We stayed at Skukuza Main Rest Camp and Lower Sabie Main Rest Camp.

Skukuza is the largest of all the camps, it has restaurants, a swimming pool (which we didn't use), a convenience store, laundry, gas station and several other facilities. Lower Sabie is also quite large, counts with similar structure and, in my opinion, is the prettiest of the two. In both of them we could easily see plenty of animals.

It is essential to book campsites as far in advance as possible., as places fill up quickly. Everything is done through the official website of South African National Parks, www.sanparks.org.

To have an idea we booked in August, to stay in January, and in none of these camps was there accommodation for 4 people available – that is, there are rooms/chalets for 4 or more people, but they were all already booked.

At the Lower Sabie camp, we took a “safari tent” for 2 people, with a bathroom, kitchen, a small living room and a great balcony. This “tent” was so cool that the two girls and I slept there, the 3 of us in the double bed :-). We also took a triple room with a shared bathroom, which is in an older area of ​​the place and not as pleasant as this cabin in the photo.

At Skukuza we took 2 double chalets (called “bungalows”), one next to the other, each with a bathroom and a small kitchen on the outside balcony.

A tip is to stay at several campsites within the park, so you can get to know distinct areas and have (I imagine) more opportunities to spot different animals. At least, that's what we did and it was great: some animals we only saw in the Skukuza region, others we only saw in the Lower Sabie region – it may have been a coincidence or not, but only on the Skukuza game drive did we see lionesses, and only in the game drive to Lower Sabie rhinos and hippos.

Also, unless you want to rest or enjoy the pool (in the campgrounds that have a pool - the ones we stayed in had, but we didn't even get to see where they were, such was our lack of interest in the waters), between the end of the sunrise tour and the start of the sunset tour, the only thing left for you to do is drive through the park

Here is the table with the distance and estimated travel times between each campsite.

Accommodation close to Kruger Park

If you'd rather stay in private reserves, there are several close to the Park, many of them without walls between the private areas and the Kruger Park, which allows the animals to move freely between the areas. When staying outside the Park, you must observe the Park's entry and exit times, not to mention that, from what I researched at the time, the cost-benefit of accommodation within the park was much better.

The town of Hazyview is one of the main accommodation points near the west entrance to the Park. When I researched this trip, my favorite options were Kruger Gate Hotel and Midluli Safari Lodge, but, as I said, we opted for accommodation inside the park due to its excellent value for money.

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Where to eat at Kruger National Park

The campsites inside the Kruger Park – at least the ones we stayed at (Skukuza and Lower Sabie) had a great structure, with restaurants, a bar and a convenience store. Eating was not a problem, on the opposite, it was an extraordinary experience.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner, all well prepared and tasty 😋 and, on the banks of the Sabie River, spotting zebras, buffaloes, giraffes, crocodiles and elephants, as well as an infinite number of birds, I don't see how it could be better located.

But, if you don't want to use the restaurants, the cabins we stayed in had a kitchen – simple but complete.

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How to visit Kruger National Park

Animals in the wild! After all, that's why we went there.

The thrill of seeing, for the first time, an African animal in the wild, in its habitat, free from human interference, is indescribable. It will stay forever in my memory.

There are two main ways to get to know the park and see the animals: with your private car or with the tours offered by the park (so-called “game drives”). I recommend doing it both ways.

The park is crossed by several paved roads; you can enter (after paying the entrance fee) with your private car and move freely on paved roads.

But be careful, There are some very important rules to follow,here the main ones (the complete rules are here):

– you must stay inside the car at all times, except in areas where it is clearly indicated otherwise. You can't put your arm out of the window, not even your hand, not even a single finger, much less your head, or open the sunroof;

– you cannot go off-road – only stay on the roads designated for vehicles. When in doubt, don't go in.

– respect the speed limit

– the camp entrances have opening and closing times. Make sure you get back to your campsite before the gates close! It is not possible to tour the park after the gates close.

– it is not permitted to take domestic or wild animals to the Park, nor to remove animals.

You can do game drives with the park's official guides, in adapted jeeps, which usually take place at dawn or at sunset, times when the animals are most active. Here is the link to the description of these tours (in English).

The guides can go on secondary roads and know the animals' habits like no one else (and communicate with each other), so the chance of spotting animals is much greater on these guided tours. Try to take as many guided tours (game drives) as you can!

Kids must be at least 6 years old to join a game drive; but there is no age limit for touring your private car, we saw several babies and small children at the campsites.

Tours can be booked in advance viaSanParks website, after you book the accommodation. On this link you book the accommodation, and in a tab on the side you have the possibility of booking tours (“activities”). As a rule, it is not possible to book tours without having accommodation within the park already booked – but you can book these few tours without having accommodation.

It is possible to book the activities at the reception of the camps, but I recommend that you book them online in advance, as all the one we did were fully booked.

In addition to game drives,there are several other activities that can be done in the park. There are hikes along long trails (with overnight stays in campsites), multi-day expeditions in 4x4 vehicles, mountain biking, golf and more, click here to find out about the activities and – if you are like me – to dream of one day, who knows, have time to do all of them.

But it's worth remembering: the Kruger National Park is huge and there's no point trying to cover large distances in a short time.

Take the opportunity to travel slowly and calmly enjoy the beauty of nature. Stop and appreciate the views and watch the animals go by, immerse yourself in true spirit of slow travel.

I assure you that the minutes lost on Kruger's narrow roads will be memories of a lifetime.

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Finally, as we left Kruger Park

Speaking of wasted minutes, on the last day, we left Lower Sabie Rest Camp towards Nelspruit airport (Kruger Mpumalanga), about 150km away, with an estimated travel time of 2h20.

Well, a few minutes after leaving the camp, still within the park limits, there was a huge elephant standing on the road, calmly feeding. It stayed there, perfectly fine and enjoying his life, for a very long time. Half an hour later he decided to go to another place, meanwhile we stayed, inside our car, just watching. Good thing we had left well in advance, if not, we would certainly have lost our flight...

Got comments or questions? Feel free to leave a comment here or connect with me on social media—I love chatting about travel 😉.

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