Star Alliance
http://www.staralliance.com/en/meta/airlines/

regards - tom

Thanks again to all of you for such great info.

Ctlocal - are you referring to Baboon Matters that changed your mind about baboons?

Rob - thanks for the info on Victoria Falls, Zambia and the Sandton hotels.

Tom - just to let you know my husband is into photography and he loved your safari photo albums!

I hope someone can help me with this question - we also want to visit Kruger for a day when we're at Sabi Sands. Is it better to stay in Kruger for a night and move to Sabi Sands or can we make a day trip to Kruger from Sabi Sands?

Lisey

The advantage of flying out of Europe is that you arrive in the AM and you can catch connecting flights easily if you have somewhere to go beyond Joberg. However usually this means length layovers in Europe if you are flying from the US.

When flying via Delta (thats the only one I know from the US)you arrive in the late afternoon and you likely will have to spend a night at Joberg. The airport hotels are not so bad but Sandton is definitely nicer. The problem is you now have to pay additional transportation costs to and from Sandton. I spend the night at an airport hotel then get out of Dodge as fast as I can to the reserves I visit. There are a lot of hotels at the airport area that are less than $400.

Mike

I like that Jo'burg airport hotel that Tom is staying at for $70!

Happy your DH likes my photos, but at least half are just "record" shots, not what I'd want on the wall.

Sabi Sand and Kruger for one day - I'd stay at Kruger for a night, for $80, versus a camp for $1,000. Driving from a Kruger camp to a Sabi Sand camp will take perhaps 2 hours and what the means is that you will miss the morning game drive at the Sabi Sand camp. Likewise, if you are staying at a Sabi Sand camp and take the day to drive over to Kruger you have missed two game drives (and lunch ) for your $1,000 camp night. Plus you have the wasted driving time getting to/from Sabi camp and Kruger. I'd suggest you talk this over with the Sabi Sand camp you would stay at, there might be a better way that I don't see. Maybe someone else here has done this and can advise.

regards - tom

I would not recommend missing a Sabi Sands game drive for a trip into Kruger. As Tom has said, I would not waste any expensive drive to visit Kruger (but that's me! )

Mike

Tom - good advice as always! What nice and reasonably priced camps do you recommend in Kruger for one night?

Lisey

Lisey - Kruger has many "restcamps" and lodges, here's their main listing -
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/camps/default.php
We have stayed at 3 Main Restcamps, Mopani, Satara, and Letaba (there are 13). Skukuza is the main camp and facility for the Park. I've heard that the camps in the south have better big cat viewing. Nice individual huts and you park your car next to it. The hut/bungalow is around $80 per night (2 people). Every camp has a general store for supplies and food. Eat at the camp restaurant (we do) or cook your own on the outside grill behind your hut. We have not stayed at any of the Lodges. The more I see of Kruger the more I like it. I'd be tempted to someday simply spend a month there just relaxing viewing the incredible wildlife. Anybody here up for that, seriously?

The Kruger Park web site is very nice, easy to navigate, tons of info, camp availability calendars, maps, distance charts, etc. There is also a discussion forum with of course answers to any questions you might have. http://www.sanparks.org/forums/viewf...eb6c21b7b25c0f

regards - tom

Mike - I agree that we should not miss a game drive in Sabi Sands just to see Kruger, but we do want to visit Kruger even if it's just for a day since this may be our one and only time in that area. I'll have to work on the logistics...

Tom - thanks for the Kruger info and websites!

People on this forum are so helpful!

Lisey

Go2Maui,

If you're interested in a close rest camp from Kruger, try Pretoriuskop, Skukuza, or Orpen camps. I'm not sure which is closest from Sabi Sands. My personal favorite is Tamboti camp, which is just outside Orpen. The safari tents are neat, there are resident animals like honey badgers within the camp, and it's small for a Kruger camp. You have to be prepared to grill your own meals, however.

Tom--I too would love to spend a month (or more) to just tour Kruger. Have you been following the person on SANParks's blog who is touring Kruger for a year?

Tom,

Not sure our group is prepared to grill our own meals! But I'll check it out anyway.

I haven't read SANPark's blog but will look at it. I can see you spending a month in Kruger someday!

Lisey

Gritty - no, haven't been visiting SANPark or Kruger site much. But I should, need some ideas for new viewing spots in Sep there. The person spending a year in Kruger sounds fascinating. Skukuzu camp would be closest to Sabi Sand. Orpen or Phalaborwa Gates are good for accessing the Timbavati Reserve. Have not been to Tamboti

Meals in Kruger, like I said we eat at camp restaurants. Some (most?) camps have two, a simple walk up order grill and a table service one. Prices are very reasonable.

regards - tom

Hi. Just to clarify - the Private Reserves attached to (and with open gates to) Kruger (e.g. Sabi Sands etc.) will not necessarily have any better game than Kruger National Park itself. It's just that the audience is restricted, the guides may be better (especially compared to self-drives - trust me I've driven past the entire Big 5 many times!) and the lodges are smarter/more expensive. But the game is 'free' to wander where it wants. Rob

SP - huh? That didn't clarify it for me. Yes, Sabi Sand borders Kruger with -no- fence between like you say. So then, how do you explain that in my two visits to Kruger totaling 10 days I have never seen leopard? While for example at Sabi Sand MalaMala (3 visits, 15 nights total) I have seen leopard on 80% of my game drives and often 2 or 3 different leopards.

regards - tom

I suspect that what satpacker was trying to say was simply that the game concentrations in the Kruger and the Sabi Sands are somewhat comparable. The fundamental difference in viewing the game was the guide and accessibility.

In the sabi sands most camps operate with ranger and tracker teams, whereas in the kruger it is you as your own driver & guide & tracker. As an inexperienced ranger you are unlikely to pick up on the tracks and other subtle signs indicating the proximity of game. In the Sabi Sands this is left up to your team of guides & trackers exponentially increasing your chances of seeing game, or the leopard that you speak of.

I would also add that the vastness of the Kruger, with it's large tracts of wilderness between the roads, is less conducive to game habituation than the sands where the roads are not that far apart with much smaller tracts of land between. The network of roads, plus the ability to drive off road in the Sabi Sands allows the game to be habituated far more readily than in the Kruger.

In closing, driving at night is fundamental to leopard viewing as this is when they are most active, generally speaking. Once a leopard is located its movements are monitored by all the guides who are connected by radio. At the close of the day the leopards last location is noted in order for the morning drives to head out into the area to find it. The roads surrounding the last location are driven until tracks/spoor are found initiating the tracking game until the leopard is found. You probably find that there are 6 - 8 vehicles heading out of Mala's main camp and 2 out of their other camp putting ten onto different roads to search for leopard. Odds are good that they'll find the animal and then rotate their vehicles through the sighting ensuring your stats cary99.

Trust that helps you understand why you see more leopard in Sands than in the Kruger.

Does anyone here watch the Wildearth.tv virtual game drives?

It seems they always know about where the big animals are or are going to be. It sounds like one ranger/guide spots an animals and radios the rest of the group. When you're self-driving, you don't have all of those eyes doing the work for you.

Tom--did you say recently which camps in Kruger you've stayed at? I thought I'd seen your list but noticed that you hadn't been south of Olifants or so. Am I right? If so, I'd suggest going further south. Lower Sabie has been the most consistent place to see just about everything over my 2 visits (cumulative of about 13 days). That's where I saw my one leopard sighting. I've also had numerous near-miss leopard sightings, but none of them were north of Tshokwane picnic area.

The Skukuza area is great if you can bear the crowds. I always think of avoiding that area, but after my wild dog sighting there last year I decided the crowds were worth it (at least for a day or two)!

Gritty - Kruger- we have stayed at Mopani, Letaba,and Satara, all centrally located. In Sep we are staying at Letaba and Olifants. Agree I've heard further south is better for big cats. Maybe we will drive down there some or next time stay south.

mkhonzo - I was told years back by MalaMala ranger that leopards are skittish of humans - where they are being hunted. But when habituated to vehicles as in Sabi Sand, Timbavati, they are act narural and very active during the day. More active than lions. And that is what I've observed, lions sleeping during the day, "flat cats". While I've much more often seen leopard on the move during the day, feeding, etc.

And agree that the secret to seeing more game is to go off road and have more eyes with radios on the look-out. And BTW, while we are talking rangers using radios, MalaMala got it right. The rangers wear one-ear headsets with microphones. You so you do not hear the radio blaring with chatter like some other camps.

I've asked guides how long it will be before they implant transmitters in the big 5 so they all the time know exactly where to find them. Their response is always - "will never happen, takes the adventure out of a game drive". But I don't see it that much different than using radios to inform. However, I'd also be against it.

regards - tom

I do watch Wildearth.TV almost every drive and I love it. Tom and I have discussed the radios before. He thinks Mala Mala has it right (Thornybush also) and I think they do not. I love the radio chatter and I love to hear whats going on. That is just a matter of personal preference.

Personally I do not particularly want to drive aimlessly hoping for "luck" to see something. I have little time to be there and I want to make the most of it. So if someone has spotted something a mile away and I can get there, I see no problems with it. Again, each to their own. I do however have a problem with using radio transmitters to find them, I guess that is where I draw the line.

Mike

Gritty - when are the Wildearth.tv virtual game drives on (and sorry to confuse you with Tom regarding the info you gave on grilling your own meals!)?

Do you think we'll regret it later if we only visit Sabi Sands and not Kruger?

Lisey

Well, Mike, I confess, I also enjoy a little of the radio chatter. Especially when you know a few of their "code" words (Swahili or Zulu?) like "imbube", "chui", "indovu".

regards - tom