Kruger
 

We are going to SA at end of June and thru 3rd week of July. Have not reserved anything yet. Is it best to do self drive in Kruger or have private guided tour so as to not miss sightings. Also have no idea where to stay in park. 4 of us (2 sons 22 and 20 yr old). 22 yr old is studying abroad in Port Elizabeth. Our plan is Vic Falls, Kruger NP, PE, garden route, and Cape Town.

I love Kruger and I love self-driving, we always see so much. However, you have left your reservations quite late as it is the school holidays and most places are booked up so you will probably have to take whatever you can find. It sounds like it is your first time so maybe take a couple guided safaris (either from Kruger or include a couple days in a Sabi Sand camp) and do some self-driving as well. In general, the best areas for sightings are in the south of the park, but it is going to be crowded at that time. Check the sanparks site for openings : www.sanparks.org

I would definitely go for self driving option. Check the SANParks Website where you want to book and what is available - sanparks.org/parks/…availability.php
Once you have checked availability on the web-site then book with SANParks Central Reservations.

You are going to have a fabulous trip but if you are a safari newbie, I highly recommend guided game drives, or even better, stay in a private safari lodge and experience expert guiding which is not just all about the big animals (although you'll get plenty of sightings of them). In a self-drive sedan you are going to miss so much because the car is low down and do you really know what you are looking at anyway? It's all in the detail; a giraffe is not just a giraffe, it's an amazing creature with the same number of vertebrae as a human, it's gregarious and rarely stays with the same group for more than a few days at a time, it's tongue is about 20 inches long and curls around thorns to get the sweet acacia leaves but moves on as the trees release tannins to warn other trees nearby that giraffe are coming. So much fascinating detail that only a good guide can tell you! Failing that, take an animal and bird ID and behaviour guide.

Enjoy your trip.

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Thank you everyone for your replies. I have someone working with me and will do some private (Timbavati), Chobe and Vic Falls days. I am using go2southafrica.com and Stephen is very knowledgeable and helpful with setting up this part of my trip. Yes, places are quite booked up although I did find some space available.

Before you give up totally on a self drive in Kruger or maybe Addo look at my blog. It has pictures so you can see what we saw on our self drive...amazing. We were just there this April and did a self drive in both National Parks. This was our second self drive in Kruger and we loved it both times. You can check out our blog with pictures also from our first trip...we did both a self drive in Kruger and a private Sabi Sands camp. Both were very good, but we liked Kruger best. Personally I much prefer our self drives to the camp variety. We always manage to see more on our own.

Check out the SANS website...you can book directly on line and it is real time. I waited very late to book our dates this year and had to play around with the camps as the one I wanted was fully booked.

What ever you do will be great, but I encourage you to do some planning on your own, it is very easy! If you rent a car, a good choice for the safari is a SUV type as you are up off the road more and can see very well.

www.rtw50thanniversary.blogspot.com

Scroll down to the index and click on April and then the safari starts with the post for April 6 - Kruger.

To get to the Blog with our first two safaris click on About us, you will see a list of our blogs, click on the 2009 Around the World Blog, then click on April and finally the dates listing Kirkmans Camp and Kruger.

CWN,

Just read your Kruger travels, and then started on the rest of your blog travel write-ups. This will take a while, but it's fascinating. Good writing. We have also rented cars in all our Europe travels and even discussed doing a self-drive the last time we were in Kruger, especially when we met some African's on school holiday's visiting Kruger as though it were the San Antonio or Fort Worth zoos. Your blog further adds to the idea of trying it ourselves. Thanks for the great link.