As with all reports and reviews you have to be careful in what you read as the views are totally subjective. What one person likes, another could hate and vice versa.
The one thing I would recommend is to read as much as possible, ask questions before coming to a final decision about what suits you.
My trips are tailored to my budget which might be different to yours.
We had booked a journey and accommodation based on what we'd read. Until we got there we didn't know what we'd really get but overall I'd done a reasonable job. The only camp we'd been disappointed in was Shingwedzi and that wasn't that bad really.Others think it's marvellous.
The weather is something you have to hope for, with climate change all over the world the norm can no longer be relied on. The time of year we chose we'd hoped it would be dry and sunny and for the most part it was. Too dry and too sunny!!!
I'd love to see the park after the rain, when rivers are flowing and everything is green but that said, game viewing would be more difficult so finding the right balance is down to luck as I'm sure in the space of a week or so the change could be dramatic between extremes.
Without a doubt, in my opinion the Bushveld Camps are the ones of choice for me. Small, intimate the ones we stayed in had better, more spacious accommodation than the main camps we experienced. Not everyone wants to self cater though so that needs consideration and planning. If budget is a consideration then there are cheaper options at the main camps. Using the camp sites are an option but unless you are a native South African, or at least have access to camping equipment much of the cost saving in a camp site might be lost in hire of equipment. Then in addition you have to weigh up what it's like using the camp site. I must admit I came away thinking it's not for me. The sites are unregulated, a neighbouring unit can be feet away from yours. One or two units might form a barrier to make the corner of the site their own private area. Then you have the facts that if you have a roof top tent every morning you have to put everything away before heading out on a drive and by the time you return you can find someone has moved on to your pitch no matter what you left behind ti indicate it was taken. No, not for me. I don't need the hassle.
From a catering point the camp shops have enough choice to keep you in provisions for a few days but for longer stays you need to have access to shops near the gate which to my knowledge are limited in number.
As a foreigner to South Africa we were lucky to benefit from a favourable exchange rate. I had pre loaded my Revolut credit card before we left not knowing how much money I'd need and we returned home with a considerable amount of credit too. I guess we didn't have as many restaurant meals as I envisaged but that was our preferred choice, not a financial decision.
With hindsight perhaps I should have driven less, taken more time out during the hottest parts of the day but as a first time visitor I was keen to explore as much as possible and some of our best sightings came at the hottest part of the day too so you never can tell. You have to be prepared to work hard for your sightings. Sitting at home with my guide books and maps I had planned a journey that I estimated would be 5000kms from landing in Johannesberg , through the park from south to north and back to the airport for our journey home. Miraculously I clocked up 4993kms! How's that for guess work. What I totally over estimated was the cost of fuel. What I hadn't considered was the speed at which you drive makes fuel economy better than expected, that plus working on the basis of the car I rented achieving 30mpg where in actual fact it must have been a lot higher. Unfortunately for me the saving in fuel was partly lost in repair damage to the car but that was my fault of course.
Overall the holiday couldn't be considered inexpensive, there again we were away for a month, and by safari standards it was actually very cheap!
You could easily spend what we did in a month on a couple of days in a private lodge in one of the concessions. Each to their own, but I thought the level of comfort we had more than adequate. If I want luxury you can't beat being home no matter where you live and I really don't need three meals a day and stops to serve snacks mid morning and afternoon. I don't want to sit in a vehicle with several other people particularly either.. The odds are that their objectives will not match mine. Do I want my sightings put on a plate? Interesting point. A guide will know the places to go and your chances of seeing things will indeed increase, particularly as they are usually in communication and sharing with other guides. I remember my first sighting of a wild Rhino when we visited Namibia. Our day out was pretty expensive by my standards, perhaps £250 for the two of us. The trackers who were on foot found the Rhino and called in the vehicle we were in. I was in awe of seeing my first wild Rhino out in the bush but the pleasure was nothing compared to ones I have found for myself since. It's a decision only you can decide as to what your preferred choice is, self drive or guided ?
You can of course settle for a mix of both in Kruger. All the camps offer guided trips but in the end we didn't bother. There was nothing we needed a guide to find as , with patience we'd found everything we'd wanted to see.
The one thing I would say though is that life in the camp parks is low key. No need to have any smart clothes for dinner, particularly if you are self catering. The main camps provide laundry facilities too so that gives an option to travel lighter. I wore the same pair of shoes for the whole month, two other pairs were surplus to requirements. There again so was much of the clothing I'd taken, particularly wet weather clothing!!
Between Claire and myself we'd had 74 kilos of hand and hold baggage for our flights with Qatar, I'd insisted Claire took a sun lounger in case that's what she fancied doing when she got fed up of driving around the place. What I hadn't considered was it was actually too hot to lie in the sun! I took my Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head and used it just once to capture the photographs of the Lesser Bushbaby. Between those two items we could probably saved the best part of 20 kilos! Mind you I was really pleased with the Bush Baby shots!!
To anyone taking a similar trip to ours and besides the obvious the things I would consider essential to take or purchase outside the park would be an electric socket bank, a pan scourer, a floor cloth for cleaning the inside of the car when the dust gets so thick something needs to be done, eye drops for dust relief, scissors, can/bottle opener, a rechargeable torch preferably with a decent range of illumination to spot creatures at distance, a good supply of cool bags. UK supermarkets like Aldi sell large fold down ones which together with frozen bottles of water will suffice to transport your perishable food for sufficient time to get you from camp to camp. Last but not least, some luggage straps, you'll need four to protect both fridge and freezer compartments where you need to!
From a purely photographic point of view I took far more gear than I needed to. I could easily have shed 10 kilos in weight in addition to leaving the tripod at home. I didn't use my microphone or flash unit. My 24-105 lens was used once, the 70-200 only a couple of times. Having two camera bodies that take different sized batteries is a pain as you need two charging units but I do love both of the bodies so I'm prepared for that. Taking a notebook and external hard drive was very worth while, you can make sure you are doing the right things as you progress through the trip and if need be, try again if the opportunity presents itself. My infra red remote control is big and bulky, I used it once, again for the Bushbaby shots but with hindsight I could have used a hand held one without putting the subject off. I took a 2x teleconverter and that wasn't used either.
One thing I wish I'd taken but didn't was trail camera. There was so much wildlife within the camp it would have been interesting to see what passed by our chalet, especially at night!
I had purchased a hardback book before we went, Kruger Self-Drive by van den berg. Nice book to look at but it weighs about a kilo and the recommendations on routes and their ratings didn't always match my appraisal. The map books on sale in every camp are considerably lighter and inexpensive and give as much detail as you need. I took my Saisol Bird guidebook and one for mammals too. I could have managed without them but I was pleased I had them. Both my electronic Photographers guide book and the Robert's Bird app were largely unused.
I am lucky in as much as I am used to driving on the left hand side of the road and my own car has a manual gearbox. I have though driven on the right and had automatic cars when I have been on trips abroad. I would consider South Africa, and particularly the park in general, easy to adapt to no matter what you are used to.
And that's about all I can think of really. If anything remains unsaid and you think I might know feel free to ask.
Was a month too long?
In my opinion no!
Claire on the other hand doesn't want to entertain that length of stay again, photography isn't her passion after all. She has agreed to a return visit for up to two weeks though!We both loved the overall experience of seeing nature at first hand and relaxing evenings of sundowners and cooking on the braii
I have already booked another week in the one Bushveld camp I couldn't get in to, Biyamiti. If we stay anywhere else in the park is as yet undecided but it depends on what alternatives we can find that appeal to us both.
Is the south better than the north of the park?
I have to say we had more "quality" sightings on a daily basis in the south and didn't drive very far between sightings as a whole. The south wasn't as busy as I'd expected but again that could be the time of year we had chosen to visit.
The north on the other hand had given us more big cat sightings than the south, given us sightings of huge Buffalo and Elephant herds but the birding everywhere hadn't come up to scratch compared to my expectations. On the whole there was less traffic on the roads too and the sightings jam of the south certainly didn't happen once.
I guess I really should have chosen to go at another time of year but as it worked well for us this time, that's when I'm going back.
The same time in 2020.
Bring it on!!
cheers
Dave
The one thing I would recommend is to read as much as possible, ask questions before coming to a final decision about what suits you.
My trips are tailored to my budget which might be different to yours.
We had booked a journey and accommodation based on what we'd read. Until we got there we didn't know what we'd really get but overall I'd done a reasonable job. The only camp we'd been disappointed in was Shingwedzi and that wasn't that bad really.Others think it's marvellous.
The weather is something you have to hope for, with climate change all over the world the norm can no longer be relied on. The time of year we chose we'd hoped it would be dry and sunny and for the most part it was. Too dry and too sunny!!!
I'd love to see the park after the rain, when rivers are flowing and everything is green but that said, game viewing would be more difficult so finding the right balance is down to luck as I'm sure in the space of a week or so the change could be dramatic between extremes.
Without a doubt, in my opinion the Bushveld Camps are the ones of choice for me. Small, intimate the ones we stayed in had better, more spacious accommodation than the main camps we experienced. Not everyone wants to self cater though so that needs consideration and planning. If budget is a consideration then there are cheaper options at the main camps. Using the camp sites are an option but unless you are a native South African, or at least have access to camping equipment much of the cost saving in a camp site might be lost in hire of equipment. Then in addition you have to weigh up what it's like using the camp site. I must admit I came away thinking it's not for me. The sites are unregulated, a neighbouring unit can be feet away from yours. One or two units might form a barrier to make the corner of the site their own private area. Then you have the facts that if you have a roof top tent every morning you have to put everything away before heading out on a drive and by the time you return you can find someone has moved on to your pitch no matter what you left behind ti indicate it was taken. No, not for me. I don't need the hassle.
From a catering point the camp shops have enough choice to keep you in provisions for a few days but for longer stays you need to have access to shops near the gate which to my knowledge are limited in number.
As a foreigner to South Africa we were lucky to benefit from a favourable exchange rate. I had pre loaded my Revolut credit card before we left not knowing how much money I'd need and we returned home with a considerable amount of credit too. I guess we didn't have as many restaurant meals as I envisaged but that was our preferred choice, not a financial decision.
With hindsight perhaps I should have driven less, taken more time out during the hottest parts of the day but as a first time visitor I was keen to explore as much as possible and some of our best sightings came at the hottest part of the day too so you never can tell. You have to be prepared to work hard for your sightings. Sitting at home with my guide books and maps I had planned a journey that I estimated would be 5000kms from landing in Johannesberg , through the park from south to north and back to the airport for our journey home. Miraculously I clocked up 4993kms! How's that for guess work. What I totally over estimated was the cost of fuel. What I hadn't considered was the speed at which you drive makes fuel economy better than expected, that plus working on the basis of the car I rented achieving 30mpg where in actual fact it must have been a lot higher. Unfortunately for me the saving in fuel was partly lost in repair damage to the car but that was my fault of course.
Overall the holiday couldn't be considered inexpensive, there again we were away for a month, and by safari standards it was actually very cheap!
You could easily spend what we did in a month on a couple of days in a private lodge in one of the concessions. Each to their own, but I thought the level of comfort we had more than adequate. If I want luxury you can't beat being home no matter where you live and I really don't need three meals a day and stops to serve snacks mid morning and afternoon. I don't want to sit in a vehicle with several other people particularly either.. The odds are that their objectives will not match mine. Do I want my sightings put on a plate? Interesting point. A guide will know the places to go and your chances of seeing things will indeed increase, particularly as they are usually in communication and sharing with other guides. I remember my first sighting of a wild Rhino when we visited Namibia. Our day out was pretty expensive by my standards, perhaps £250 for the two of us. The trackers who were on foot found the Rhino and called in the vehicle we were in. I was in awe of seeing my first wild Rhino out in the bush but the pleasure was nothing compared to ones I have found for myself since. It's a decision only you can decide as to what your preferred choice is, self drive or guided ?
You can of course settle for a mix of both in Kruger. All the camps offer guided trips but in the end we didn't bother. There was nothing we needed a guide to find as , with patience we'd found everything we'd wanted to see.
The one thing I would say though is that life in the camp parks is low key. No need to have any smart clothes for dinner, particularly if you are self catering. The main camps provide laundry facilities too so that gives an option to travel lighter. I wore the same pair of shoes for the whole month, two other pairs were surplus to requirements. There again so was much of the clothing I'd taken, particularly wet weather clothing!!
Between Claire and myself we'd had 74 kilos of hand and hold baggage for our flights with Qatar, I'd insisted Claire took a sun lounger in case that's what she fancied doing when she got fed up of driving around the place. What I hadn't considered was it was actually too hot to lie in the sun! I took my Gitzo tripod and Wimberley head and used it just once to capture the photographs of the Lesser Bushbaby. Between those two items we could probably saved the best part of 20 kilos! Mind you I was really pleased with the Bush Baby shots!!
To anyone taking a similar trip to ours and besides the obvious the things I would consider essential to take or purchase outside the park would be an electric socket bank, a pan scourer, a floor cloth for cleaning the inside of the car when the dust gets so thick something needs to be done, eye drops for dust relief, scissors, can/bottle opener, a rechargeable torch preferably with a decent range of illumination to spot creatures at distance, a good supply of cool bags. UK supermarkets like Aldi sell large fold down ones which together with frozen bottles of water will suffice to transport your perishable food for sufficient time to get you from camp to camp. Last but not least, some luggage straps, you'll need four to protect both fridge and freezer compartments where you need to!
From a purely photographic point of view I took far more gear than I needed to. I could easily have shed 10 kilos in weight in addition to leaving the tripod at home. I didn't use my microphone or flash unit. My 24-105 lens was used once, the 70-200 only a couple of times. Having two camera bodies that take different sized batteries is a pain as you need two charging units but I do love both of the bodies so I'm prepared for that. Taking a notebook and external hard drive was very worth while, you can make sure you are doing the right things as you progress through the trip and if need be, try again if the opportunity presents itself. My infra red remote control is big and bulky, I used it once, again for the Bushbaby shots but with hindsight I could have used a hand held one without putting the subject off. I took a 2x teleconverter and that wasn't used either.
One thing I wish I'd taken but didn't was trail camera. There was so much wildlife within the camp it would have been interesting to see what passed by our chalet, especially at night!
I had purchased a hardback book before we went, Kruger Self-Drive by van den berg. Nice book to look at but it weighs about a kilo and the recommendations on routes and their ratings didn't always match my appraisal. The map books on sale in every camp are considerably lighter and inexpensive and give as much detail as you need. I took my Saisol Bird guidebook and one for mammals too. I could have managed without them but I was pleased I had them. Both my electronic Photographers guide book and the Robert's Bird app were largely unused.
I am lucky in as much as I am used to driving on the left hand side of the road and my own car has a manual gearbox. I have though driven on the right and had automatic cars when I have been on trips abroad. I would consider South Africa, and particularly the park in general, easy to adapt to no matter what you are used to.
And that's about all I can think of really. If anything remains unsaid and you think I might know feel free to ask.
Was a month too long?
In my opinion no!
Claire on the other hand doesn't want to entertain that length of stay again, photography isn't her passion after all. She has agreed to a return visit for up to two weeks though!We both loved the overall experience of seeing nature at first hand and relaxing evenings of sundowners and cooking on the braii
I have already booked another week in the one Bushveld camp I couldn't get in to, Biyamiti. If we stay anywhere else in the park is as yet undecided but it depends on what alternatives we can find that appeal to us both.
Is the south better than the north of the park?
I have to say we had more "quality" sightings on a daily basis in the south and didn't drive very far between sightings as a whole. The south wasn't as busy as I'd expected but again that could be the time of year we had chosen to visit.
The north on the other hand had given us more big cat sightings than the south, given us sightings of huge Buffalo and Elephant herds but the birding everywhere hadn't come up to scratch compared to my expectations. On the whole there was less traffic on the roads too and the sightings jam of the south certainly didn't happen once.
I guess I really should have chosen to go at another time of year but as it worked well for us this time, that's when I'm going back.
The same time in 2020.
Bring it on!!
cheers
Dave
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