Kruger National Park
Kruger National Park
Overview
Kruger National Park is the brightest jewel in Africa's treasure chest.
As a visitor, you will find that the Kruger offers one of the best wildlife experiences in Africa. The widest range of options. The most expensive Lodges in the world are here (for a reason).
But you can turn up, drive yourself around, pitch a tent, light a fire and cook.
Since 1898 the Kruger has protected South Africa's wildlife, initially from colonial hunting. Now, this two million hectare protected area is unrivalled in bio-diversity.
An academic hothouse, it has the world's longest ongoing research studies conducted in the field, and leads new environmental thinking across the planet.
WHY IS A KRUGER TRIP SPECIAL?
The Kruger was an early National Park, and grew quickly to the size of Wales. It is very large, well-established, and offers huge variety. More than 500 kilometres from north to south across the diagonal, and teeming with wildlife, it offers more species than anywhere else in Africa. The Big Five abound (Lion, Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo and Hippo). Vital populations such as the endangered Wild Dog (African Painted Wolf) exist in significant numbers.
The Park's century of heritage has seen the area developed to welcome you, precariously balancing ecology with strong belief in the right of access to National Parks.
There is an extensive road network: more than 13,000km in which to lose yourself, from the southern mountains and mighty rivers to the gorges of the north. You can drive yourself on the main roads, whilst the private lodges take you around their own more exclusive traversing concessions on the back of open game drive vehicles.
Well-positioned, but sometimes basic, Government camps are open to all and dotted throughout the Park. Some date back to the 1930s.
restcamps >But the tearing down of early-twentieth century perimeter fences (keeping the animals "in") opened a whole new chapter in the Park's evolution.
There are substantial Private Game Reserves to the west, serving small groups of visitors. Historically they operated in luxurious, fenced-off isolation. However, much of this land has been reincorporated into the Kruger ecosystem to form the "Greater Kruger" through fence removal. | see a map of Kruger Private Reserves
Whilst they remain privately-owned, inclusion of these "Greater Kruger" Reserves adds to the Park's resources (space, water, food, habitat type), supporting the goal of promoting biodiversity. The range of accommodation and activities available whilst viewing the Kruger's freely roaming "Big Five" increased dramatically as a consequence.
Generally expensive, the Private Reserves focus on giving low numbers of tourists intense, intimate animal encounters and high levels of creature comfort in amazing accommodation | see Accommodation for more, including the real differences between "private" and "public"
Any Kruger Safari will dip into an astonishing species list of (to date) 336 types of tree, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals.
There are some real cultural gems. Bushman rock paintings adorn the walls of large numbers of ancient caves- you will need to book a Wilderness Trail. The remains of the once-formidable Kingdom of Thulamela are so far off the beaten track that they were only rediscovered by a Ranger in the 1970s. No-one knows why this trading dynasty came to its knees in the seventeenth century. In the far north, visit by arrangement with Punda Maria Restcamp
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