Ruben

Can you drive from JB to Kruger Park? Is it safe? What are the conditions of the roads? How long a drive?

napamatt

Roads are great, a lot of it highway. Takes 6-7 hours.

Celia

Yep. We do it all the time. As Matt says, great roads, plenty of places to stop and eat, to buy petrol, etc.

Ruben

Celia, is it safe and are there overnight accomodations in case you want to stop driving?

Celia

Yes, as safe as anywhere, I think. If you wanted to stop half way, that would be Belfast, I think. It's not a big town, and I've never stayed there, so I can't recommend a hotel. You might also stop in Middelburg. Someone local might have a better answer than I do.

lisa

Here is a great source of info on driving from JNB to Kruger:

http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewforum.php?f=50

cary999

Yep, that's my plan. Arrive Joburg JNB SEP 3rd. Get car SEP 4th, drive towards Kruger, spend night alone the way. Arrive Kruger SEP 5, spend nights 5,6,7 there. On SEP 8th drive to MalaMala and leave car there. The SANParks (South Africa National Parks) web site is excellent. Everything you want to know about Kruger is there. And that's sort of a problem, the site is somewhat overwhelming to navigate.
regards - tom

cary999

Celia, Matt
Driving to Kruger, do you have a favorite place to spend the night outside of Kruger?
regards - tom

Province

Middelburg and Belfast are ugly industrial towns in my opinion. Dullstroom on the other hand is very pretty. That is if you intend to turn North from Belfast heading to Hoedspruit and entering at Orpen gate.

Take a look at http://tinyurl.com/mc3fh

Rd

Why not fly to Kruger International Airport and then drive the rest of the way, short trip!

napamatt

Tom

I've only done the drive once. We stayed overnight at a pub in Dullstroom. We also stayed at a lovely converted farmhouse near Hazyview. It was in 99 and I cant remember the name.

muzaway

We stayed in Tanamera Lodge on our way to Olifants on New Years Day this year...and it was great.

Not cheap but fantastic location overlooking a river valley.

It's also most of the way to some parts of Kruger.

http://www.tanamera.co.za/

Celia

On our last trip, Ruben, we stayed overnight at the Holiday Inn in Nelspruit before entering Kruger the next morning. It was what you'd expect from a Holiday Inn, fine, but nothing out of the ordinary. We chose it because Holiday Inn is one of the chains where we earn frequent flyer miles.

It was next to a shopping mall, so it was convenient for dinner, and for buying the supplies we needed for self-catering in Kruger.