Kruger National Park
Be your own driver as you search for "The Big Five,” “The Ugly Five” and wildlife safari experiences you will remember the rest of your life.
Be Your Own Guide to the Animal Kingdom in All Its Glory...
Safaris in Tanzania, Kenya and Botswana all offer truly amazing game-viewing experiences. But if you would like to be your own safari guide, have (or rent) your own car with your friends and family, then Kruger is the place to go. You’ll definitely save some money doing it yourself and also the experience of spotting animals with your friends and family in your own vehicle makes for a unique experience!
Self-Drive vs. Guided Safari?
What makes Kruger so unique and special is that it allows for anyone to create their own safari adventure, albeit within the confines of the vast network of roads. The park is truly massive and will require multiple days to properly get a true feel of the varied terrain within the park.
You will only be able to do a night-drive or early-morning drive via one of the officially-booked guided tours, so it’s a great idea to supplement your own self-drive with these for a different experience.
It is common belief that game-viewing is at its peak in the early morning or after the sun comes down. Given the heat of the midday sun and nocturnal nature of some animals, this is certainly true. But I’ve been on night drives and early morning drives where I saw absolutely nothing, absolutely everything. Same can be said for midday drives too…
What Camera Should You Use?
Regardless of whether you are an amateur, enthusiast or pro, the one common denominator you need for shooting wildlife is a camera with serious zoom. Whether this is a small compact camera with 30x zoom, a mirrorless APS-C with 100-400 lens or a full frame Canikon with 300mm F2 bazooka, that will depend on how much you care about photography!
For reference, all of the photos on this page were all shot handheld on a Fujifilm X-H1 with 100-400mm Zoom Lens with 1.4x Teleconverter attached.
Lodge vs. Camping?
The facilities for camping at Kruger are extremely well managed and maintained. If you are at all into camping in a tent or RV, you’ll feel right at home here.
The biggest challenge will be booking early enough to ensure you get a reservation, as they are required to book a camp site.
The campgrounds in the Southern part of the park are in the areas with the highest concentration of animals and the crowds at these campgrounds also reflect that.
Skukuza is the largest and most popular campground with Berg-en-dal and Crocodile Bridge following close.
If you would like a more comfortable arrangement, there are numerous hut-style cabins that can be rented in Skukuza and a few other campgrounds. Cost of course will be higher than campgrounds.
Tips on Spotting Animals
Look at the prey animals’ disposition, are they alert, relaxed or running?
Be patient, drive slowly or stay in one spot and use your binoculars to scout the terrain; in a few minutes or not, sometimes animals will emerge from the bush.
In Kruger Park, particularly on the main roads, the easiest way to "spot" one of the hard-to-finds will be when you see a mini traffic jam of cars stopped and people rolling down their windows to ask “what do you see?”
In the end, it is a a lot about luck- a group of lions or leopard may have just crossed the road and disappeared into the bush seconds before you rolled by.
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