If you’re planning on visiting the Kruger National Park you need to know just a few things about this world-well-known park before you arrive.
The park is likely one of the oldest and largest parks in Africa and it presents many opportunities for game viewing, learning, recreation, and nature photography.
Here is an outline of the Kruger National Park:
1. Uniqueness — The park is the flagship of the South African nationwide parks and is house to a formidable number of species: 336 timber, forty nine fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. The park is 350 kilometers from north to south, about 60 kilometers wide and has five perennial rivers traversing it.
2. Location and history — The park is positioned within the North East of South Africa in provinces, namely Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces. The park borders Mozambique to the east and Zimbabwe to the north. The Kruger Park was first proclaimed in 1898 because the Sabie Game Reserve and in 2002 the fences between Kruger and Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou, have been taken down to create the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Park (GLTP).
3. Dimension — almost 20 000 square kilometers just in South Africa. The Kruger parks gets about 1.5 million visitors per yr making it South Africa’s second hottest vacationer attraction behind only the city of Cape Town.
4. Known for — a mix of comfortable and affordable lodging, good quality roads, distinctive relaxation camps, superb diversity of wildlife, about 120 waterholes along the tourist roads and excellent photographic opportunities for animals both in and out the camps.
5. Roads — There are about 850 kilometers of tarred roads within the Park, 1444 kilometers gravel roads and more than 4200 kilometers of fire breaks within the park. You do not need a 4×4 unless you’re going into Mozambique or going on one of the 4×4 trails in the park. The southern Kruger park is situated 440 km from Johannesburg and the northern part about 530 kilometers from Johannesburg. You can fly to Nelspruit, Phalaborwa or Skukuza and then hire a automobile or drive from Johannesburg. The roads leading to the 9 park entrance gates from cities in South Africa are all tarmac and in good condition.
6. Climate — The Kruger has important seasons; the wet season and the dry season. The subtropical local weather has sizzling wet summers starting in October and ending around March. The summer time rains remodel the park into a lush flowering paradise, but the elevated plant life can make game viewing and photography more difficult. The winter months from April to September are pleasant with warm dry days and funky to cold nights. Traditionally, the best game viewing is in late winter because the vegetation becomes sparse and water is restricted to rivers and water holes but now we have had good game viewing in all seasons.
7. Accommodation — The Kruger has the complete spectrum from luxurious lodges to camping. In the event you enjoy a self-drive funds safari then this is the park for you! There are 25 rest camps with huts, tents, guest houses, cottages, and bungalows; most with totally outfitted kitchens, air conditioners, en-suite bathrooms and all the units are serviced every day
8. Activities and Facilities — you could have a selection from 5 wilderness trails, 4×4 adventure trails, backpacking trails, mountain bike trails, evening drives, self-drive safaris, bush walks and bush barbeques. There are nearly 3000 kilometers of game viewing roads, 11 hen hides (including that are ‘sleep-over’ hides), 14 picnic sites, shops and eating places at all the primary camps and swimming pools at most fundamental camps. Skukuza, the biggest camp, has an ATM machine, a bank, a library, a doctor, a church, eating places, a plant nursery, two swimming swimming pools, conference centre, golf course — you name it Skukuza has it!
9. Safety Tips — Please stay in your vehicles when within the park and please stick to the pace limit. Individuals have been attacked by animals when getting out of their cars while others have died when rushing caused their vehicle to end up in the Letaba river!