Info for safaris in game reserves around Kruger
Jan 31st, 2010, 06:25 AM
#61
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Planning a trip to Southern Africa July, August, Sept 2010. Does anyone have any comments on the Kruger rest camps booked through sanparks.org? I am thinking of trying a blend of lodges recommended by pixelpower as well as a couple of Kruger rest stops for a self drive.
boudecca
boudecca
Jan 31st, 2010, 12:41 PM
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I booked our stay at the restcamps on line from the US. It was very easy and the accommodations were as described. We rented a small SUV at the Johannesburg airport and drove to Kruger by way of God's Window and Kiekman's Kamp. We stayed at Satara and Lower Sabie in April.
The restcamps were very nice especially considering how cheap they were. The rooms were clean and in good condition. The camps, over all, were nice and the food options were OK and not over priced given that your options are so limited, plus you can cook for yourself if you plan for it.
We really enjoyed Kruger and would go back in a heart beat. It was a wonderful experience, one of the best we had on our four country visit to Africa!...If you want to see pictures and read the daily report of our tme in Kruger go to our trip report:
www.aroundtheworldin132days.blogspot.com
click on April and scroll down to March 30.
The restcamps were very nice especially considering how cheap they were. The rooms were clean and in good condition. The camps, over all, were nice and the food options were OK and not over priced given that your options are so limited, plus you can cook for yourself if you plan for it.
We really enjoyed Kruger and would go back in a heart beat. It was a wonderful experience, one of the best we had on our four country visit to Africa!...If you want to see pictures and read the daily report of our tme in Kruger go to our trip report:
www.aroundtheworldin132days.blogspot.com
click on April and scroll down to March 30.
Jan 31st, 2010, 12:58 PM
#63
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boudecca,
I've stayed at most of the Kruger rest camps in the southern end of the park--Pretoriuskop, Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Berg-en-Dal, Crocodile Bridge, Tamboti (the satellite camp of Orpen) and Satara. As cwn said above, I have found them to be very clean and for the most part in good repair.
Of the camps I've stayed in, I like Tamboti the best. The camp is small for a Kruger camp, and quiet. I also like Lower Sabie very much because it is in the middle of one of the best places to see lots of animals. Satara is also in a great location for animals. I've also had some one-of-a-kind sightings just outside of Skukuza camp (e.g., wild dogs), but the camp itself is very big and it gets too crowded. Still, I've always stayed there at least one night--it's been worth it to me.
I like the "safari tent" options the best. They are basic but still comfortable. I really enjoy being able to hear the night sounds; you can't really do that as well in the Kruger bungalows. Not every rest camp has the safari tent option; of those that do, I've liked the Lower Sabie and Tamboti tents the best.
Some of the other camp highlights that come to mind:
--Pretoriuskop has lots of resident impala that basically live inside the camp;
--Berg-en-Dal camp is at the base of the southern mountains and is more ruggedly scenic;
--Lower Sabie is 2 minutes away from Sunset Dam, where there are large numbers of hippos;
--Skukuza is 5 minutes away from a birdwatching hide situated on Lake Panic. This is one of the most beautiful places in the entire park!
--Tamboti supposedly has a resident honey badger that roams the camp at dusk, but I have not seen it.
Hope this helps.
I've stayed at most of the Kruger rest camps in the southern end of the park--Pretoriuskop, Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Berg-en-Dal, Crocodile Bridge, Tamboti (the satellite camp of Orpen) and Satara. As cwn said above, I have found them to be very clean and for the most part in good repair.
Of the camps I've stayed in, I like Tamboti the best. The camp is small for a Kruger camp, and quiet. I also like Lower Sabie very much because it is in the middle of one of the best places to see lots of animals. Satara is also in a great location for animals. I've also had some one-of-a-kind sightings just outside of Skukuza camp (e.g., wild dogs), but the camp itself is very big and it gets too crowded. Still, I've always stayed there at least one night--it's been worth it to me.
I like the "safari tent" options the best. They are basic but still comfortable. I really enjoy being able to hear the night sounds; you can't really do that as well in the Kruger bungalows. Not every rest camp has the safari tent option; of those that do, I've liked the Lower Sabie and Tamboti tents the best.
Some of the other camp highlights that come to mind:
--Pretoriuskop has lots of resident impala that basically live inside the camp;
--Berg-en-Dal camp is at the base of the southern mountains and is more ruggedly scenic;
--Lower Sabie is 2 minutes away from Sunset Dam, where there are large numbers of hippos;
--Skukuza is 5 minutes away from a birdwatching hide situated on Lake Panic. This is one of the most beautiful places in the entire park!
--Tamboti supposedly has a resident honey badger that roams the camp at dusk, but I have not seen it.
Hope this helps.
Jan 31st, 2010, 01:30 PM
#64
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Oh, one more thing, just to add my voice to the great experience one can have in Kruger National Park.
We had a regular 2-wheel drive small SUV rental. Someone had mentioned that we might be able to see more in the SUV, so we when that way, but it was not really high off the ground like the one I drive at home. We drove on every road we found both paved and gravel, went over low water crossings and stopped at the areas set aside to get out of the car and walk around. We did not feel hemed in by the windows and got pictures as good as those on the jeep safaris. We never had a problem with the roads. Yes, the gravel roads were rough in a few places, but you are doing 10-20 miles/hour looking for and at animals. It was wonderful. We saw many, many animals both on the paved and gravel roads. Most of the time we had the animal sightings to ourselves, especially if we were on a gravel road. Several times on the jeep safaris we had to leave a sighting because there were other jeeps trying to see or there were just too many at the sighting.
We had never been on a safari before this trip. We did three different safaris on our trip to South Africa and Tanzania, first we went in a camp vehicle in Kirkmans Kamp in Sabi Sands then on a self drive in Kruger National Park and finally a private driver in Tanzania to Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater.
All the safaris were great, but after the fact, we much prefer and enjoyed the self drive in Kruger and the privetae safari in Tanzania much more than being two of five in a jeep at Kirkmans Kamp, even though the Kirkmans Kamp was a good experience and we had a great leapord and cub sighting.
In fact, we enjoyed the self drive the most and hope to return for a longer visit to Kruger sometime. We enjoyed the hunt and then being able to stay as long as we wanted with the animal/s on our Kruger safari. There were no more crowds around the sightings in Kruger than any where else and we were as close to the animals as we were on the other two safaris.
Look at our pictures from all three safaris and see what I mean...go to our trip report:
www.aroundtheworldin132days,blogspot.com
click on April go down to April 29 scroll up to April 13 for the three different visits.
We had a regular 2-wheel drive small SUV rental. Someone had mentioned that we might be able to see more in the SUV, so we when that way, but it was not really high off the ground like the one I drive at home. We drove on every road we found both paved and gravel, went over low water crossings and stopped at the areas set aside to get out of the car and walk around. We did not feel hemed in by the windows and got pictures as good as those on the jeep safaris. We never had a problem with the roads. Yes, the gravel roads were rough in a few places, but you are doing 10-20 miles/hour looking for and at animals. It was wonderful. We saw many, many animals both on the paved and gravel roads. Most of the time we had the animal sightings to ourselves, especially if we were on a gravel road. Several times on the jeep safaris we had to leave a sighting because there were other jeeps trying to see or there were just too many at the sighting.
We had never been on a safari before this trip. We did three different safaris on our trip to South Africa and Tanzania, first we went in a camp vehicle in Kirkmans Kamp in Sabi Sands then on a self drive in Kruger National Park and finally a private driver in Tanzania to Manyara, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater.
All the safaris were great, but after the fact, we much prefer and enjoyed the self drive in Kruger and the privetae safari in Tanzania much more than being two of five in a jeep at Kirkmans Kamp, even though the Kirkmans Kamp was a good experience and we had a great leapord and cub sighting.
In fact, we enjoyed the self drive the most and hope to return for a longer visit to Kruger sometime. We enjoyed the hunt and then being able to stay as long as we wanted with the animal/s on our Kruger safari. There were no more crowds around the sightings in Kruger than any where else and we were as close to the animals as we were on the other two safaris.
Look at our pictures from all three safaris and see what I mean...go to our trip report:
www.aroundtheworldin132days,blogspot.com
click on April go down to April 29 scroll up to April 13 for the three different visits.
Jan 31st, 2010, 01:34 PM
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Jan 31st, 2010, 02:50 PM
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cwn - says "There were no more crowds around the sightings in Kruger than any where else and we were as close to the animals as we were on the other two safaris."
Most unusual, you were very lucky in Kruger. For example, we have been in Kruger three times in three years (last time Sep 2009) for total of 14 days. We never saw a leopard until once on out last visit. We have seen lions about 8 times but not until last visit close up and active. And then there were around 12-15 cars jamming the road. We have -never- seen rhino there. But we still love Kruger and will go back. However, if it is big five sightings per game drive hour and good photography positioning you're after, a private camp beats Kruger 25 to 1. IMHO.
regards - tom
Most unusual, you were very lucky in Kruger. For example, we have been in Kruger three times in three years (last time Sep 2009) for total of 14 days. We never saw a leopard until once on out last visit. We have seen lions about 8 times but not until last visit close up and active. And then there were around 12-15 cars jamming the road. We have -never- seen rhino there. But we still love Kruger and will go back. However, if it is big five sightings per game drive hour and good photography positioning you're after, a private camp beats Kruger 25 to 1. IMHO.
regards - tom
Jan 31st, 2010, 03:16 PM
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Wow Tom, you've never seen rhino there?! I'm surprised! There have been days where I've seen close to twenty rhinos around Lower Sabie. We went on a guided "early morning drive" run by SANParks and saw so many rhinos that we didn't even stop to look at them anymore. We also saw 3 cheetahs on that drive.
Leopards are hard to see there. I've only seen one (again on a SANParks-guided "sunset drive" at Lower Sabie). I think that's one good reason to visit a private reserve, they seem to always know where to find leopards.
Leopards are hard to see there. I've only seen one (again on a SANParks-guided "sunset drive" at Lower Sabie). I think that's one good reason to visit a private reserve, they seem to always know where to find leopards.
Jan 31st, 2010, 04:17 PM
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Ah, see, I've never been to Lower Sabie. Just the central area, Mopani, Letaba, Olifants, Satara. I've heard also there are more lions in Lower Sabie. Never seen cheetah either. The big thing private camps have going, in addition to prime location, is going off road and radio with other guides.
regards - tom
regards - tom
Jan 31st, 2010, 06:25 PM
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Cary, maybe we were lucky, but we did really enjoy being on our own in Kruger. We saw many animals during the three days.
We saw a group three rhino, one of the group within 15 feet of our car on the second day. Later that day, nearer to Lower Sabie we saw some more in the distance.
The first two days were better, more sightings, but we had a great encounter with Cape Buffalo on the third day along with a couple of neat photo ops.
We didn't see any leopard in Kruger and only saw them at a distance in the Serengeti. We didn't see any cheetah or wild dogs anywhere.
The only "crowd" we incountered in Kruger was at a two hour old lion kill that we passed. We heard about the lion kill when we stopped at one of the lunch areas. When we got there, it was a giraffe down in the middle of the gravel road with four lions that we could see. The whole thing was totally blocking the road, so everyone was making a large loop through the grass to get around the kill. That was the only crowd we had it. It was four cars and us.
In the Serengeti, we had other safari groups crowd us at several sighting and at Kirkmans we had to leave our leapord and cub sighting because another group came and disturbed the mother.
At Kirkman they did make an effort to show us the big five since that is what the other couple was asking for. I did enjoy the camp drives and it was nice to go "off road" for sure. We also were able to off road, like that in the Ngorongoro area.
It is a good thing that there are all types of safari experiences. Everyone has their own idea of what would make a perfect safari for them. We enjoyed our different experiences and would go on a private safari or a self drive in Kruger again in a heart beat. I would think a little longer about a camp/group drive setup, but not too much longer.
We saw a group three rhino, one of the group within 15 feet of our car on the second day. Later that day, nearer to Lower Sabie we saw some more in the distance.
The first two days were better, more sightings, but we had a great encounter with Cape Buffalo on the third day along with a couple of neat photo ops.
We didn't see any leopard in Kruger and only saw them at a distance in the Serengeti. We didn't see any cheetah or wild dogs anywhere.
The only "crowd" we incountered in Kruger was at a two hour old lion kill that we passed. We heard about the lion kill when we stopped at one of the lunch areas. When we got there, it was a giraffe down in the middle of the gravel road with four lions that we could see. The whole thing was totally blocking the road, so everyone was making a large loop through the grass to get around the kill. That was the only crowd we had it. It was four cars and us.
In the Serengeti, we had other safari groups crowd us at several sighting and at Kirkmans we had to leave our leapord and cub sighting because another group came and disturbed the mother.
At Kirkman they did make an effort to show us the big five since that is what the other couple was asking for. I did enjoy the camp drives and it was nice to go "off road" for sure. We also were able to off road, like that in the Ngorongoro area.
It is a good thing that there are all types of safari experiences. Everyone has their own idea of what would make a perfect safari for them. We enjoyed our different experiences and would go on a private safari or a self drive in Kruger again in a heart beat. I would think a little longer about a camp/group drive setup, but not too much longer.
Feb 3rd, 2010, 12:47 PM
#70
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Here's a wonderful resource for a self drive in Kruger.
Guide Your Own Safari, a 248 page, e-book authored by Bruce Whittaker.
Not only do the Whittakers provide insider knowledge based on many personal experiences at Kruger, they will also answer questions on routings, the plusses and minuses of different camps inside Kruger AND will also do your bookings for you at no additional cost to you.
Wilma has spent hours answering my questions and for that I am truly grateful as she has saved me days of research. She is truly a gem.
More information can be found at this web site
http://african-safari-journals.com
Good luck with planning your adventures through Kruger.
Guide Your Own Safari, a 248 page, e-book authored by Bruce Whittaker.
Not only do the Whittakers provide insider knowledge based on many personal experiences at Kruger, they will also answer questions on routings, the plusses and minuses of different camps inside Kruger AND will also do your bookings for you at no additional cost to you.
Wilma has spent hours answering my questions and for that I am truly grateful as she has saved me days of research. She is truly a gem.
More information can be found at this web site
http://african-safari-journals.com
Good luck with planning your adventures through Kruger.
Mar 3rd, 2011, 10:48 PM
#72
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People like Craig should be able to answer this, as they have an inside view into the business. I assume MM is not marketed by SA-V as MM has a direct business link with some other operator, but I'm not sure.
B.regs,
J.
B.regs,
J.
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