Kruger National Park is one of the largest game reserves in Africa and extends approximately 360 km from north to south and 65 km from east to west. There are nine main entrance gates from which you can drive to different camp sites. Kruger National Park has a subtropical climate with humid and hot days during summer (30- 35 °C). Best time to visit the park is in the dry winter season as there is the malaria risk is lower and viewing wildlife is more rewarding as animals are drawn to waterholes to drink.21
WHERE TO STAY AT KRUGER NATIONAL PARK
As part of our South Africa trip (read this post), we went to Kruger National Park with two of my friends from university. Hence a romantic safari lodge wouldn’t have made that much sense for us all together haha. Instead we opted for a more ‘simple’ camp with San Parks. Our camp had lots of new yet simple bungalows where we could hang out together at night and have our own barbecue. The only drawback of our camp was the shared bathrooms and showers which were very clean and new though. But I must admit that walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night with your torch while hearing the sounds of the animals around us brought me much closer to nature than having my bathroom next to my bed :)
Things to Do at Kruger National Park
There are lots of activities in Kruger National Park including river rafting, canoeing, mountain biking, trekking, and most importantly game watching. You can either venture out (in your vehicle!) yourself or join one of the many guided safari tours.
SUNSET SAFARI
The sunset safari is a guided game drive of around three hours. I really enjoyed this tour as you get to see a beautiful sunset and lots of animals that become active only after dark. It also gets a bit ‘scary’ once you realise that the only thing in between you and the nocturnal cats is the open air safari bus you are sitting in. Loved it!
And a little hint before you join the sunset safari: Don’t drink too much before and use the bathroom before you leave. I, on the other hand, apparently drank too much water before we left. So once we were like 20 mins into our tour, I asked our guide whether we would pass by a toilet on our way. He gave me that ‘seriously?!’-look and pointed to the nature around us. With a big smile on his face he answered: “This is your toilet”. Oh perfect, I thought and remembered the first thing that we were told when we entered Kruger National Park: NEVER leave your vehicle…. So there we were in the middle of Kruger National Park. Stopping the vehicle. During sunset (wake up time for all kitty cats). Our safari guide left the vehicle first and had a look around the area with his rifle in his hand. When he indicated that I should come out of the bus, I was about to head straight to the bush next to the car but no, no. The guide pointed to a spot behind the vehicle saying “Too dangerous to go behind the bush. Go here”. Awesome experience.. Everyone had a big smile on the face when I hopped back into the safari bus.
SUNRISE SAFARI
On another day we had booked a safari tour for sunrise. This safari tour was not by jeep though. Instead we drove to a spot, parked the jeep and got out of the car. One guide went with a rifle in the front and all the guests walked behind him – like a duck family. Guide number two then walked with another rifle at the end of the group. During the first days at Kruger National Park I was a bit sad that we hadn’t seen any cats yet but at that point during our walking tour I was rather happy that the park is not overpopulated by lions :) We did see relatively fresh lion footprints though and also rhino footprints.. we also saw huge spiders, bisons and lots of ‘friendly’ animals including zebras, giraffes and impalas. The tour takes around thee hours and was lots of fun. Totally recommend it!
Create your own Safari
What I liked about Kruger National Park is that you can just take your vehicle and explore the national park on your own. There are surprisingly many animals by the road so you will definitely see lots of zebras, giraffes, impalas, monkeys and probably also elephants. Don’t drive fast and never leave your vehicle! And if there is an elephant in front of you slowly drive a bit back and wait. Give the elephant some space. Chances are he or she is part of a whole elephant family that was just waiting to cross the road :) I’d recommend taking some binoculars that use rangefinders too, they’ll come in handy for long distance.
Have you been on Safari? Where did you go? Let me know in the comments :)
This sounds so incredible. It seems like there is certainly enough to do in Kruger National Park. Would you say that three says is enough time, or would you have preferred more? I can’t imagine listening to the sounds at night! Must have been amazing, but a little freaky :P
I could have done with a few more days but then probably at a different, more resort-like, camp or doing some more sporty activities as we had already seen a lot of what there is to see in these three days. I might be going to Namibia this year to a private reserve for circa a week. I guess there will be much more to see and a week is perfect :)
Awesome photos. A safari is definitely on the top of my list. Although that photo of the spider eek!
wow! what a beautiful post on one of Africa’s most popular national parks! I love your large size pictures too! Looks like lot of fun!
Woah! It’s such amazing to see these beautiful animals in their natural environment! I have always wanted to visit a true African Safari! So inspiring ;)
I absolutely love your photos–they are so beautiful! A safari is 100% on my bucket list. It seems amazing to be able to see the animals in their natural habitat. Kruger seems like a good safari option; do you have any other recommendations on safari locations?
Only done one so far but another one is one my bucket list for this year :) Then I can recommend more! X
An African safari is at the top of my “Leap List” It would feel like you were in a movie of epic proportions. Great photos of the wildlife!
This is nice, crisp and easy-to-read guide! Plus your pictures are a visual treat. I especially loved the sunrise shot…
This looks like a big adventure. I feel like going now. Every shot is so beautifully captured. Watching wild life in their natural environs is one of the greatest pleasures. Kruger National Market is indeed a promise of great times.
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I have never seen Giraffes and Zebras in the wild- It has always been behind the cages in Zoos. Your pictures look so tempting. I can’t help dreaming of going on one of those safaris myself. Exploring the national park on foot sounds so thrilling and scary at the same time. Noted your advice about not drinking much water :)
I am not an animal fan but surely want to experience safari once in life. And will take care of the mentioned pointers. Your pictures are great especially the water one. Great post.
Great pictures! Would love to visit Kruger national park when in Africa. Totally into the wild :)
I have been to too many safaris growing up in Africa. Like you said, there is nothing like walking in the night to the washroom that can remind us how close we are to nature. I have never been to Kruger and would love to go back to South Africa again.
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I have heard a lot of Kruger National Park and how great it is for the amazing variety of wild animals you can see. The safari options sound really exciting. I would love to do a sunrise safari and see the animals waking up. I’ve never seen elephants, giraffes or zebras in the wild, it sounds so exotic to me!
That is an incredible national park to visit an see amazing animals. Good tip on not drinking too much water. I think I would avoid coffee as well since it makes you have to urinate even more. What a funny story though.
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We can take the vehicle and drive through the park… on the way spot several zebras, giraffes and more… how cool is that! Unimaginably fascinating!
Sounds so much like my childhood dream! Really inspired to create my own safari!
Such an inspiring and cool post, love it! Visiting Kruger National Park must be such a thrill :-) It’s my big dream to see all these fascinating animals in their natural environment.
Visiting Africa and the wildlife encounter is a dream and Kruger national park sounds like one to fulfill those dreams. Those huts amidst the wildlife must be an amazing experience indeed. Taking our own vehicle to explore the park on own sounds intriguing but we would definitely fear of getting lost lol. The sunset safari sounds awe-inspiring what can be better than to experience the wonders of nature all at a same spot. Thanks for this post and great tips, bookmarking for future reference.
Have heard a lot of good things about Kruger. Expected to see the big mammals but there are some pleasant surprises like the giant spider and the crocodile. The shot with elephant crossing the road also is amazing.
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First off, your pictures are a treat and a half. Never knew one can do so many things in Kruger. I would like to try out trekking and mountain biking. It’s also really cool that you can take your car and drive around the park! Would definitely try that :-)
We chose between Kruger and Etosha when visiting Namibia and South Africa in October. Eventually we went to Etosha in Namibia, mostly due to fitting better with our flight options. Really hope to return to Southern Africa one day. Then Kruger is definitely in my list. Really nice photos by the way. :)