The gentlest start
Kruger National Park
About Kruger National Park
Kruger is the ideal first park for a self-drive safari. About 850 km of its roughly 2,300 km road network is tarred, and all of it can be driven in an ordinary hire car. Picnic sites with toilets, shops and fuel are spread across the whole park, and there are supermarkets and medical care in the larger camps and in the towns at the gates. You do not have to be self-sufficient here and can concentrate entirely on watching animals.
Kruger is so vast that it feels like several parks in one. In the south around Skukuza and Lower Sabie the density of game is highest, with the next sighting waiting behind almost every bend, but you share it with more visitors. The further north you go, the quieter and wilder it gets: there are fewer animals, but you feel as if you had Africa to yourself. At the very top, around Punda Maria and Pafuri, it becomes truly remote. It draws mostly locals and connoisseurs who come for the landscape and the birds, not the Big Five. If you want the whole range, drive it once from south to north.
What the driving is like
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The park in this list that is best suited to an ordinary hire car. Tar and well-maintained gravel throughout the main network.
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50 km/h on tar, 40 km/h on gravel. These are absolute maximums, for your own protection and for the animals'. They can appear on the road out of nowhere at any moment, and then you need to be able to stop at once. And if you drive slowly, you see more.
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Count on an average of 20 to 30 km/h if you really want to look and take photographs. That lets you work out when to head back to camp before you are too late, the gates close and, at worst, you have to pay a fine.
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Getting out is strictly forbidden, except at designated places such as picnic sites, viewpoints and in the camps. You stay seated in the car. Leaning far out of the window, sitting on the window frame or looking out through the sunroof is not allowed. You are a guest of the animals and are expected to behave respectfully. If the silhouette of your car changes, it looks unfamiliar and threatening to animals, and they may attack. In the worst case, the animal has to be put down afterwards.
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Check the gate times. As a rule the gates close around sunset, and since sunset varies, so do the opening times through the year. Being late costs a fine.
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In the evening many animals become active again and move to waterholes and rivers. On the way they often cross the roads and can hold up traffic for a long time. A typical example is the elephant herds that walk down to the Sabie River between Skukuza and Lower Sabie, crossing the H1-2 and the H4-1. A herd can block a road for half an hour to an hour, especially when the leaves along the roadside are good. So leave plenty of time on the way back to be in camp before the gates close.
When to go
May to September, dry winter
The best months for wildlife. The grass is short, the bush has lost its leaves, and the animals gather at the remaining water. Cool mornings, mild days, properly cold before sunrise in an open vehicle.
October to April, green summer
Hot, with frequent thunderstorms in the afternoon. The bush closes in and sightings get harder, but the impala drop their lambs, the migrant birds are here and the whole park is green. This is also the season with the higher malaria risk.
What this changes for your planning
01
Where you sleep decides what you see
It is a good idea to stay in one of the camps inside the park. If you sleep in the park, you can set off earlier in the morning than visitors from outside, and you also skip the entry checks at the gates. That is a real advantage, because the first two hours after daybreak are the most important for wildlife. While you are already out driving, guests from outside are still waiting at the gate or arrive only once the best time is over.
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The south is not the whole park
Kruger is more than the south, and it is worth travelling further north. In the centre, around Satara, the chances of good sightings are high, and there are far fewer cars than in the south. Further north, camps such as Olifants offer breathtaking views over the landscape. The further north you go, the more baobabs shape the scenery, and the region is a paradise for birdwatchers.
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It is a malaria area
Kruger National Park lies in a malaria area. The risk is low in the dry winter and higher in the wet summer season. Whether a preventive (prophylactic) or a reactive approach, treating only if malaria is suspected, is the right one is something everyone has to decide for themselves. Make that decision early, together with a doctor or a travel medicine specialist; it belongs in the trip planning, not in the last preparations before departure.
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As an aside, travellers like to tell the story that a gin and tonic in the evening protects against malaria, because tonic contains quinine. That is a myth: the amount of quinine in tonic is far too small to have any effect. As a companion to your sundowner, though, it is of course still welcome.
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A sighting is not a schedule
On every self-drive safari the animals set the course of the day, not the itinerary. A sighting can be neither predicted nor timed to the minute, and it often changes the whole schedule. So build in generous buffers, and you can enjoy sightings without watching the clock. A route that only works if nothing gets in the way is always too tight for a safari.
From my own trips
A 4×4 with high ground clearance is essential in most places. The one exception is Kruger National Park, you can explore that very well in a normal car, a VW Polo or similar.
In November 2023 I completed my FGASA Field Guide Training NQF2 with EcoTraining in Pridelands, becoming a qualified Field Guide for the Greater Kruger National Park.
How long to plan
5 to 7 nights
Fewer than four and you spend the trip driving between camps instead of watching anything. A week lets you sit still when something is happening, which is when the good sightings actually occur.
Where people sleep, and what that gets them
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Skukuza
The largest camp, on the Sabie River in the south. Everything is there: shop, fuel, doctor. Skukuza is busy, and the roads around it are among the richest in game in the whole park. That comes at a price, though: both the roads and the camp itself can get very crowded, especially in high season and at weekends.
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Lower Sabie
The camp sits right on the water and is best known for its terrace overlooking the Sabie River. From there you watch hippos in the river and elephants coming down to the bank to drink. The drive from here to Skukuza is also one of the best-known and richest in game in Kruger. That does not go unnoticed: you are rarely alone on the road or at sightings, and the camp and the terrace can get very busy in high season.
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Satara
The camp itself is not the prettiest in the park, but its location is excellent. All around stretches open grassland that attracts many grazers and makes for wide, beautiful sightings. Where so many prey animals live, the predators are never far away: the area is known above all for its lions, which are seen here particularly often. If you are looking for big cats, Satara is the place.
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Punda Maria
The northernmost of the large camps lies in a completely different landscape from the south. The north of the park is something special for birdwatchers, with species you will hardly see further south. From here a detour to Kruger's northernmost tip, Pafuri on the Luvuvhu River, is well worth it. Punda Maria is not somewhere you pass on the way: it is a long trip, so come with plenty of time. If you are looking for peace and want to watch animals without the crowds, this is the place.
For the camera
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Make the most of the golden hour. The warm, soft light just after sunrise and before sunset gives animals and landscape colour, depth and shape. And many animals are especially active in those hours.
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Get a steady support. You are not allowed to get out in the park, and there is no room for a tripod inside the car, so a beanbag on the window frame is the better solution. As an alternative or addition there is the StediLens, a gimbal-like base that sits on a beanbag, a tripod or any flat surface, carries the weight of large lenses and allows smooth panning, for example when you follow animals on the move.
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Combine wide-angle and telephoto. Both are worth it in Kruger. You need a telephoto lens of at least 400 mm for wildlife, because sightings mostly happen at a distance. A wide-angle lens is ideal for the landscape, for example the herd in the open country or the sunrise over the river. It is exactly these pictures, showing animals in their habitat, that people often forget.
What goes wrong
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A different camp every night. Packing up costs you the precious early morning hours.
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You cannot plan what happens on a safari, and that is exactly why you should not plan the day by kilometres. A leopard sighting can be so eventful that you easily stand there watching for three hours. Maybe the leopard has a kill in the tree, a hyena sneaks past out of curiosity, or vultures smell the carcass and settle in the next tree. Suddenly the time has flown, and the morning belongs to this one spot. Waiting pays off, because the special moments often happen precisely when you stay.
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So choose the motto “We spend the morning here” rather than “Today we drive 50 kilometres”. Also have a plan B in case a sighting takes longer: a shorter route back to camp, a stretch you can drop, or a stop that can be moved. That way you can stay put without constantly checking the time.
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The small things deserve attention too. If you only look out for lions and elephants, you drive past many special moments. The dung beetle, for example, tirelessly rolls its ball of dung across the road, on and on, to impress the female it has its eye on. Small sightings like these are often the ones you remember longest. So stop now and then and take a closer look.
Questions people ask
Can I really drive Kruger in a normal hire car?
Yes, you will get along fine in Kruger with an ordinary hire car, and that is exactly what sets it apart from many other parks. The main roads are tarred, the side roads are gravel, but they are usually in good condition and easy to drive in a normal car. More clearance makes driving more comfortable, and the higher seating position makes it easier to spot animals in tall grass. A 4×4 also opens up a handful of 4×4 trails, which you book through SANParks, but it does not fundamentally change the trip.
Is it safe to self-drive?
Yes, as long as you stick to the rules, and they are short: stay in the car except at designated places, keep to the speed limits and be in camp before closing time.
Behind them is a simple idea: you are a guest of the animals. The animal always has right of way. If an animal is on the road or comes towards the car, you make room, let it pass and keep enough distance instead of pushing forward or driving closer. That goes for elephants in particular. They often seem unhurried, but they can run very fast and easily overtake a car. Bulls in musth, a hormone-driven phase, are especially unpredictable and can react aggressively. Watch for warning signs such as spread ears, head shaking or mock charges, and when in doubt, reverse and give the animal space. If you stay patient, you are rewarded with more relaxed sightings, and the animal usually moves on by itself.
Do I have to book camps in advance?
Yes, the earlier the better. South African school holidays run from 15 December to 15 January, and Kruger is extremely busy then. But even outside that period, the south of the park is now well booked almost all year round because of the many international visitors. The dry winter is in particular demand, because the animals gather at the water and visibility in the thinned-out bush is at its best. In the green summer outside the holidays you have a little more room, but do not count on getting a place in the south at short notice. The earlier you book, the bigger the choice of camps and accommodation.
Will I see the Big Five?
All five live in Kruger, but do not arrive expecting to see them, or you will only end up disappointed. You can push your luck a little, for example by getting up early to see the cats, but nothing is guaranteed, and a bit of luck is always part of it. In my experience the rhino is the hardest to find. Poaching has made them shy: they seem to avoid engine noise and keep as far from the roads as they can. The leopard remains the classic among the hard-to-see animals, but for me the rhino is the real test.
Is malaria a problem?
Kruger is a malaria area: the risk is low in the dry winter and much higher in the wet summer. If it is your first trip, talk to your doctor before you book, not when you are writing the packing list. Then decide whether to take prophylaxis or just pack emergency tablets. That brings us to the gin and tonic story: the British in the colonies supposedly drank it against fever, because tonic water contains quinine, which was once used against malaria. A nice piece of travel history, but no protection. The amount of quinine in today's tonic is far too small, so in the evening the rule is: gin and tonic for the sundowner, mosquito protection and medication from the doctor.
Borders: Natural Earth
