a wonderful variety of wildlife experiences which equal the best found anywhere in Africa
Kruger Park is the king of South African game parks and one of the best game-viewing areas in all of Africa. The figures speak for themselves: 507 bird species, 114 reptiles, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 147 mammal and over 23,000 plant species have been recorded here. The region itself is enormous, extending from the Crocodile River in the south to the Limpopo in the north, from the wooded foothills of the eastern escarpment to the humid plains of the Lowveld. It certainly fulfils most visitors’ fantasies of seeing magnificent herds of game roaming across acacia-studded stretches of savannah and, of course, is home to the Big Five. The park is 60 km wide and over 350 km long, conserving 21,497 sq km, an area the size of Wales or Israel. Despite its size, it is very well developed, with a good network covering 2600 km of roads and numerous camps, making a Kruger safari relatively hassle free.
Don’t expect to have the park to yourself, however. Kruger receives over one million visitors a year and the park camps cater for up to 5000 visitors a day. Nevertheless, despite the huge number of people passing through, Kruger has managed to maintain its wild atmosphere. Only 5% of the park is affected by the activities of the visitors and only a few areas in the south come close to the overcrowding seen in East Africa’s game parks.
While much of the park is designed for self-driving and self-catering, it is possible to stay in an ever-expanding choice of top-end private reserves, which are popular with first-time visitors as all game drives are led by rangers, so you can leave the animal-spotting to the experts. The fences that once split Kruger from the private reserves have now come down, so game can roam freely between the park and private concessions. Moreover, the fences between the countries bordering South Africa have also come down in the last few years: the demolition of fences between Kruger and Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou have created the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park (http://www.greatlimpopopark.com) – a conservation area straddling a staggering 35,000 sq km.
L4over R7650L2R3831-4680L3R4861-7650L1R2250-3830Restaurant prices$$$over R260R131-260under R130See pages - for further information....
