KPA7J: Kruger Park Safari - in depth

Day 1

Arrive Johannesburg Airport and meet your Kruger Park safari host, who will introduce you to the beauty of the Eastern Transvaal on your scenic 3-hour drive to Sabie and Hazyview. Check in to your luxury guesthouse for dinner and overnight.

[Or 45-minute transfer from Mpumalanga Airport]

Days 2

This morning your host will share with you the splendour of the Drakensberg Panorama Route as you drive through Blyde River Canyon, the third largest canyon in the world.

View Mac Mac Falls, Bourke’s Luck Potholes and the panoramic views from God’s Window. If time permits, we also make a brief stop at the historic mining village of Pilgrim’s Rest.

Continue to Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre, where you have the unique opportunity of viewing wild lion, leopard, cheetah, eagles and vultures at close quarters. Animals found injured, poisoned or orphaned are given a second chance and released back into the wilds.

Check in to your luxury guesthouse for dinner and overnight.

Day 3

Today we enter the world famous Kruger National Park. Game viewing opportunities should present themselves almost immediately in this vast 2-million hectare game sanctuary the size to Wales. Hopefully we will see several species of antelope, zebra, wildebeest and maybe even giraffe before we reach camp.

The Kruger Park offers a choice of seven camps, each situated in a different section of the park with its own unique flora and fauna: Skukuza, Letaba, Olifants, Lower Sabie, Pretoriuskop, Satara and Berg-en-Dal. Accommodation is in simple but comfortable thatched game park bungalows, with each camp having a restaurant and a small shop.

Check in, settle-in and relax in your outdoor bushveld surroundings before enjoying dinner (exact camp subject to availability at time of booking).

Days 4 & 5

As you will have the services of a private driver/guide throughout your safari, you will have the flexibility of discussing preferred routings and travelling times with him each day. However we recommend setting off early each morning as the camp gates open (05h30 to 06h00 depending on the season), to take advantage of the best game viewing conditions of the day.

Explore the vast Kruger Plains, which offer magnificent game viewing opportunities and the highest concentration of lion in the whole of Africa. Hopefully we will see at least one of the Big Five today - Lion, Elephant, Buffalo, Leopard and Rhino, before returning to camp for breakfast.

The rest of the morning can be spent relaxing at camp, reading or bird watching, before setting out again at the time of your choice (usually the late afternoon) for another game drive.

One game drive per day will be in an open-top game viewing vehicle operated by the Kruger Park (either early morning, late afternoon or evening), with all other game drives taken with your host in an air-conditioned minibus, as this is more comfortable in the heat of the day.

With nearly 150 different species of mammals and over 100 species of reptiles in the Kruger Park, we hope to see giraffe, kudu, sable antelope, waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, wild dogs and many other interesting animals.

In the evening, enjoy the balmy weather and pristine stars of the Southern Sky and Milky Way, as you have never seen them before – including the spectacular Southern Cross.

[Note: Children < 12 are not allowed on open top game drives. However they may enjoy unlimited game drives in your host’s vehicle]

Days 6 & 7

Today we transfer to your second camp, to give you the opportunity of exploring a different eco-system within the Kruger Park. We can either make a late start, with breakfast before we leave, or buy food and head out as the camp gates open to cook breakfast at a picnic spot such as Tshokwane.

We hope to see more big game species such as hippos, crocodiles, rhino, buffalo, cheetah and elephant – and if we have not yet found any lion, today we hope for success!

An outstanding bird watching holiday is also guaranteed, as we view water birds such as fish eagles and kingfishers, and larger birds such as eagles, vultures and storks.

Enjoy spectacular view sites over rivers, dams and dry riverbeds and hopefully a beautiful African sunset, as we head back to camp.

Then relax and enjoy the atmosphere that only the African bushveld can provide!

Day 8

This morning we return to Johannesburg Airport, stopping at a Cultural Village and self-help project to give you the opportunity of supporting the local community by purchasing one of their handmade products.

[Or fly from Mpumalanga Airport]