Kruger National Park Travel Forum

Hi :)

What (and how long) is the shortest possible drive from Kruger to Johannesburg? You see, our flight home leaves JNB at 1:40pm. We'd rather spend the last night in Kruger than Johannesburg. Will it make sense to spend that last night in Ber-gen Dal or Pretoriuskop (from our map, these 2 restcamps appear to be nearest to the gates). We're also open to other options.

Thanks!

I don't think it is a good idea. It will take about 4 to 4.5 hours to get from Kruger to Johannesburg. Asuming you need to be at the airport 2 hours before your flight, you would have to leave Kruger very early.

Try to find a hotel closer to Johannesburg.

You need to think this one out carefully. I can understand wanting to spend your last night in KNP but the timelines are too restrictive. Depending on the time the camp gate opens and which camp you stay in you will be cutting it very close. Especially if you run into a herd of large game that is in no hurry to move across the road. You need to check in at least 2 hours before departure. That would mean at the latest 11:30am. Count on at least 5 hours from the actual park gate(not the camp gate)to the Jo'burg limits,(add more time for getting to the airport). You'll need to stop and gas up before you return your hire car(or pay lots more for petrol). Dropping the hire car and getting to the check-in counter will take time as well. All this is assuming there are no problems on the road,i.e. road works, traffic jams, etc. Maybe stay in the park as late as possible on your last day there, drive part of the way to Jo'burg, stay overnight at a nice B&B and finish the drive to Jo'burg early the next morning. Enjoy your trip:-)

My gut feel says the drive is okay, depending on a sunrise departure from KNP. I seem to remember under 4 hours drive to Skukuza. From Malelane and Numbi is a lot less........

Have a look at this page:
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/get_there/travel_times.php

And the gate hours on:
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/get_there/gates.php

Remember that JHB airport is on the KNP side of JHB. This site gives better distances:
http://www.shellgeostar.co.za/planyourroute.asp

Anyway, you should be able to leave your camp at 6.00am at the latest, leave the reserve gate by 6.30 to 7.00am and then drive 400km on excellent roads to reach the airport by 11.30am.

(At JHB airport, first check-in then return car (easy with 2 people).

You could also fly from KNP to JHB.

Thanks! The different options are great! hhmmmm... Diane, your option's "tempting". You're right - we do have to give this careful thought. Gerald, the pages are extremely useful.... Back to the drawing board....

The Shell Geostar site from Gerald is a good one for directions and estimates on distances and travel times. The only info it doesn't seem to have is roadworks notices. We ran into some major roadworks last year along the Garden Route (added about an hour driving time to our trip)as well as road works and a traffic stop by police on our way back from KNP. Hence the suggestion to drive part of the way to Jo'burg and finish up the next morning. We had good luck using the following site to find B&B's. Might give it a try to see if there is something for you to stay at should you decide to leave KNP in the late afternoon.
http://www.wheretostay.co.za/

Cool site; thanks Diane! One Q on accommodation: Some are rated, whilst others are not. From our experience, the pix look lovely on the website but is a disappointment when we're actually there. Should we stick to the ones which are rated?

We're more inclined towards leaving Kruger in the afternoon now ;)

I'm not sure I remember them being rated last year when I was booking B&Bs. I just looked at my choices and contacted them with questions regarding the accommadations offered. I had very good luck with what we booked. I'm sure if you stick with the ratings being used you'll be fine. Another site to try is http://www.sa-venues.com/ They also use a rating system. I booked 2 B&Bs using this site and was very happy. You're making me want to jump on a plane again!

I know exactly what you mean. I can't wait to go! I'm spending sleepless nights (literally!) looking up the websites. It's 1:40am now and I think I'd better go to bed - else there'll be a zombie in the office tomorrow :)

Thanks again, Diane.

Feedback time! :-)

We had a wonderful time in Kruger and will return! 3 days was too short! Now that we know "how it works" - we'll be better prepared. Rule #1 ... book early!
When we wanted to book, accommodations in the main camps were full and we had to wait for cancellations.. resulting in us spending a night in Central Kruger and the other in the South. It was a good (slow) drive from one camp to the other. No complaint s about the drive - just that we didn't have the luxury to enjoy "camp life"

We DID NOT spend our last night in Kruger. Didn't want to take the risk. Left in the evening, had dinner at Nelspruit and spent the night at a charming lodge in Witbank.(Thanks Diane - we booked via Wheretostay). There's one word to describe the stretch of road from Kruger to JIA........ Excellent! It's such a L-O-N-G, straight, well surfaced stretch that it's a crime not to speed :) I think there were some stretches when we did more than 120. (I'd read from another post that a VTer was fined for speeding.. guess I'll know when I get my credit card statement, eh?)

Must leave and update my other posts, ay Gerald? ;)

Thanks for the feedback Rossjag! Don't tell Annette (Cleocat) that I was there on Thursday and drove a bit of that highway again. She would have wanted to invite me for coffee. (Was in Pietermaritzbug and Durban this morning too)

My lips are sealed ;)