Home

UK

Europe

South Africa

Botswana & Namibia

Zimbabwe & Mozambique

Zambia & Malawi

Cruises

Campsites

Travelling

 

 

 

 


Kruger National Park, South Africa. November 2018 - 2. Kruger - Route & Campsites.

The Kruger National Park is nearly 400km from North to South but only about 60km wide. It now has an open border with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.

It was extremely dry and there were only 3 rivers that had running water - the Oliphants River in the central section and the Sabie and Crocodile River in the South. The other rivers were either completely dry or had pools here and there. Many of the dams were also dry, however all the animals that we saw looked to be in good condition.

On our fourth day we did have a good downpour overnight and the next morning - the only rain we had in the 3 weeks that we were there. It was amazing that a week or so after the rain grass was starting to grow and some trees and bushes were flowering.

The northern half of the park is less popular with visitors partly because it's further to get to but also because there are fewer predators so if you've only got a few days people tend to congregate from Satara south. As a result predator sightings in the south can get very busy and on a few occasions around Skukuza and Lower Sabie we saw upwards of a dozen vehicles (mostly private Open Safari Vehicles rather than cars) jostling for a sight, not something that we enjoy.

All these vehicles were trying to spot a leopard which had, in all probability, disappeared ages ago. They use their radios (which are only supposed to be used in an emergency) to contact each other.

We spent 3 weeks traveling through the park stopping at 7 campsites. We didn't book any accommodation in advance as November isn't a popular month which meant that we could book extra nights at camps we liked and move from camp to camp as we wanted. The only camp that we were unable to book was Lower Sabie - always the most popular Rest Camp.

Punda Maria is a favourite of ours as the campsite overlooks a waterhole which was very popular in the dry weather. After the first night we moved to a site next to the fence where we had a great view, in fact on a couple of days didn't bother to drive out just enjoyed watching the animals - and especially the elephant families - at the waterhole. There were plenty of youngsters who had a great time playing in the water.

 

Balule was another great camp - it's a Bush Camp so much smaller than the main Rest Camps with no electric, shops or pool. We had solar panels to power our fridges so were fine. There are only 15 sites around the perimeter of the camp and we got a nice shady site with a view of the Oliphants River through the bushes below us.

The Oliphants River (very low but still flowing ) in the foreground with Balule Bush Camp amongst the trees - you can just see the awing of our van amongst the bushes.

We saw hyena patrolling the fence around the camp every day. One morning they spent hours asleep just opposite us, gradually moving into the shade as it got hotter.

In the South we always enjoy Berg-en-Dal campsite. Once again we got a shady pitch next to the fence and saw animals every day from our site.

This elephant decided it wanted a high branch of a tree. After a couple of attempts it managed to pull a branch down.

We saw a group of dwarf mongooses around our site on several occasions. There were a couple of youngsters which kept close to the adults.

The Letaba River from the bridge just north of the Rest Camp.

1. From Richmond to Pafuri - via Blouberg Nature Reserve and Mapungubwe National Park.

2. Kruger - route and camps.

3 .Kruger - predators.

4. Kruger - other animals.

5. Kruger - birds.

 

top of page

Elephants crossing the Luvuvhu River next to the Pafuri Picnic Spot.