There are lots of blogs and trip reports about Kruger National Park, lots of social media groups from Facebook to Trip Advisor with many differing opinions about visiting, the experience, the way to do it etc etc. We all have differing expectations, interests and budgets so I had to interpret other peoples views and try to convert them in to what I hoped would be the perfect trip for me and my ever generous wife,Claire, who agreed to spend all of 27 nights out of a possible 28 actually in K.N.P. despite the fact it didn't appear to be her perfect holiday and she was agreeing for my sake!
Kruger National Park would, I hoped, offer some excellent game viewing, has reasonably priced accommodation and you are able to self drive yourself. It's also pretty big, the size of my home country in fact, so no matter how many people are visiting, surely it can't all be blocked roads at sightings, rude and inconsiderate people? I had read a fair few negative comments on various social media pages so when I decided to go ahead and book I tried to choose the road less travelled, if in fact there is one!
Booking accommodation in KNP is fairly straight forward, even if you are in another country, if you use the online booking pages.
https://www.sanparks.org/bookings
Bookings open 11 months in advance and the most popular choices get snapped up fairly quickly so you need to bare that in mind. You also have to pay upfront the whole amount but you do get a 5% discount, and you do have the ability to change or defer bookings, even cancel but there might be a cost involved. Alternatively you can forego the discount and email requesting your choice. That way you get a 24 hour advantage as the on line bookings open the day after telephone and office ones do but you do have to rely on someone else to get the bookings you want.By the time I was booking, some of the accommodation I wanted was unavailable but with a bit of juggling I think I was 95% successful in getting the standard of accommodation I wanted in the places I wanted.
September 22nd fly from Manchester UK
September 23rd arrive J'berg drive to Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp
24th-27th Crocodile Bridge Rest camp
27th-29th Lower Sabie Rest Camp
29th-2nd October Talamati Bushveld Camp
2nd- 4th Olifants Rest Camp
4th-8th Shimuwini Bushveld Camp
8th-12th Mopani Rest camp
12th-15th Shingwedzi Rest Camp
15th-17th Sirheni Bushveld Camp
17th-20th Punda Maria Rest Camp
20th drive to Johannesberg
21st Fly to Manchester and drive home!
My plan was to enter the park in the south and slowly work my way north.There would only be 6 nights in the very far south and it was a deliberate decision. This is the most densely populated area for both game and tourists! I'd like the opportunity to see the "Big Five" but not at the cost of being involved in a circus on a regular basis, besides the Big Five are just a few of the species on offer, I have just as much interest in things lots of people are not in the least bothered about.
I took a limited amount of cash in sterling and some plastic cards. I had been recommended getting a preloaded credit card called "Revolut" so I organised one for both of us. I must admit I'm impressed, very impressed. You download currency from your bank account and then convert it to the foreign currency of choice at the time and current exchange rate of your choice. The exchange rates they give are spot on with the international currency rates traded between banks across the world and they fluctuate by the second so it's up to you when to hit the exchange button! When we visited Namibia in 2017 the rate for rand had fallen to just 16R to the £ so I was happy to be exchanging at 18R as I loaded my card. I spread the loading over a few days and the rate improved to 18.30, alas it continued rising and hit over 19 today as I write but with the UK's economy looking very uncertain I just wanted to guarantee that our spending wouldn't fluctuate too wildly .Having loaded what I believed to be sufficient funds and knowing how many Rands I had on our cards as well as some back up in case I had got my sums wrong was good for peace of mind.
Let the trip report begin and hopefully I can answer some of the questions I didn't ask before we left, and give further information about some of the things we discovered on our travels!
T.B.C.
Kruger National Park would, I hoped, offer some excellent game viewing, has reasonably priced accommodation and you are able to self drive yourself. It's also pretty big, the size of my home country in fact, so no matter how many people are visiting, surely it can't all be blocked roads at sightings, rude and inconsiderate people? I had read a fair few negative comments on various social media pages so when I decided to go ahead and book I tried to choose the road less travelled, if in fact there is one!
Booking accommodation in KNP is fairly straight forward, even if you are in another country, if you use the online booking pages.
https://www.sanparks.org/bookings
Bookings open 11 months in advance and the most popular choices get snapped up fairly quickly so you need to bare that in mind. You also have to pay upfront the whole amount but you do get a 5% discount, and you do have the ability to change or defer bookings, even cancel but there might be a cost involved. Alternatively you can forego the discount and email requesting your choice. That way you get a 24 hour advantage as the on line bookings open the day after telephone and office ones do but you do have to rely on someone else to get the bookings you want.By the time I was booking, some of the accommodation I wanted was unavailable but with a bit of juggling I think I was 95% successful in getting the standard of accommodation I wanted in the places I wanted.
September 22nd fly from Manchester UK
September 23rd arrive J'berg drive to Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp
24th-27th Crocodile Bridge Rest camp
27th-29th Lower Sabie Rest Camp
29th-2nd October Talamati Bushveld Camp
2nd- 4th Olifants Rest Camp
4th-8th Shimuwini Bushveld Camp
8th-12th Mopani Rest camp
12th-15th Shingwedzi Rest Camp
15th-17th Sirheni Bushveld Camp
17th-20th Punda Maria Rest Camp
20th drive to Johannesberg
21st Fly to Manchester and drive home!
So that was my plan of camps. The Bushveld ones have very few accommodation units, maybe around 15 so less people and vehicles around too as they have a stretch of private road to access them so you have that to yourselves. However, they don't have the benefits of shops, restaurants etc so you have no alternative other than to self cater which you need to plan in advance. My sort of place particularly as they all have an observation hide too which I hoped wouldn't be too crowded!
My original intention was to stay outside the park on our first night but second thoughts had me booking in to Berg-en-dal camp so I could at least experience that area for one night. The drive from Johannesburg is 4-5 hours so you need to make sure you have sufficient time to reach your chosen camp before the gates shut at 6.00pm.
So that was the journey plan. I estimated I'd drive 5000kms (3125 miles) and the cost of car hire, petrol(estimated at 30mpg) and park entrance and accommodation would come to about £3500. Food and drink would be extra The flights with Qatar from Manchester,UK cost under £1100 for the two of us in economy.
Other than that my planning included reading as much as I could, buying a good mammal and bird guide, a photographers guide and a road map guide around Kruger.I already had an in car charger that takes a multitude of different plug types. I bought a small ultra violet torch for spotting Scorpions, and a more powerful torch for spotting other wildlife whilst walking in camp when it's dark. We had our malaria tablets ready and took a couple of basic tools like a sharp knife, can opener, ice cube bags, a couple of cool bags and a thermos flask.
Then there's the camera gear...it's a decision on what not to take rather than the other way around. It's my passion!
My list was crazy and took up most of our hand luggage as well as a fair chunk of the hold allowance, probably about 25kilos in total:-
Camera bodies- Canon's 1DX2 and 5D4 and a "point and shoot" Olympus Tough and Apple 5Ds phone.
Lenses- Canon's 500mm, 100-400mm, 70-200mm, 24-105mm
1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters.
Others- Canon Infra red remote control unit, flash gun, spare batteries, spare camera cards, battery chargers and leads .
Binoculars
Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head.
My Macbook , 2 external hard drives and a few other bits and pieces
Claire took her iPad mini and her iPhone,
Oh, and the one thing most don't take...a sun lounger . In fairness Claire told me not to bother but as they are in short supply where we were going and we had the luggage allowance, why not I thought? Wildlife watching isn't her thing really, certainly not for a month. She was sacrificing her holiday choices for me to get mine so it was the least I could do.
My list was crazy and took up most of our hand luggage as well as a fair chunk of the hold allowance, probably about 25kilos in total:-
Camera bodies- Canon's 1DX2 and 5D4 and a "point and shoot" Olympus Tough and Apple 5Ds phone.
Lenses- Canon's 500mm, 100-400mm, 70-200mm, 24-105mm
1.4 and 2.0 teleconverters.
Others- Canon Infra red remote control unit, flash gun, spare batteries, spare camera cards, battery chargers and leads .
Binoculars
Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head.
My Macbook , 2 external hard drives and a few other bits and pieces
Claire took her iPad mini and her iPhone,
Oh, and the one thing most don't take...a sun lounger . In fairness Claire told me not to bother but as they are in short supply where we were going and we had the luggage allowance, why not I thought? Wildlife watching isn't her thing really, certainly not for a month. She was sacrificing her holiday choices for me to get mine so it was the least I could do.
I took a limited amount of cash in sterling and some plastic cards. I had been recommended getting a preloaded credit card called "Revolut" so I organised one for both of us. I must admit I'm impressed, very impressed. You download currency from your bank account and then convert it to the foreign currency of choice at the time and current exchange rate of your choice. The exchange rates they give are spot on with the international currency rates traded between banks across the world and they fluctuate by the second so it's up to you when to hit the exchange button! When we visited Namibia in 2017 the rate for rand had fallen to just 16R to the £ so I was happy to be exchanging at 18R as I loaded my card. I spread the loading over a few days and the rate improved to 18.30, alas it continued rising and hit over 19 today as I write but with the UK's economy looking very uncertain I just wanted to guarantee that our spending wouldn't fluctuate too wildly .Having loaded what I believed to be sufficient funds and knowing how many Rands I had on our cards as well as some back up in case I had got my sums wrong was good for peace of mind.
Let the trip report begin and hopefully I can answer some of the questions I didn't ask before we left, and give further information about some of the things we discovered on our travels!
T.B.C.
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