Kruger National Park Travel Forum

Hello,

My husband and myself have a reservation at Kruger Park Lodge in Jan. 08. I am wondering which smaller airport is better to land at- I originally thought Nelspruit but someone on the forum mentioned Kruger Mpumalanga airport? We are leaving from Canada and going through either Capetown or Johannesburg to get to Kruger.

Also, I am wondering how easy it is to book guided tours when staying at a time share. We are interested in doing foot and vehicle tours but it looks like you generally have to be staying at the particular accommodations in order to purchase these (the SA parks website even says that their guided tours are for guests staying at their lodging within the park). Does anyone have any advice or information on this matter? We are interested in Kruger Park, but we would also be interested in any of the private reserves (if they do tours for visitors not staying at their accomodations)?

Further to this, we are also interested in staying at a private game reserve for 1 or 2 additional nights, if we can find one that is affordable. We would prefer not to stay in tents. Does anyone have a recommendation?

Hi

Parks board personel do the foot tours so just ask them. see your e-mails for adresses.

Louis

Hi, I'm also Canadian, living in the Middle East. My husband and I are going to Kruger Park Lodge next week,our 1st time in Africa. We didn't want to drive ourselves, so have arranged transportation. We fly into Nelspruit from Johannesburg and transport from the lodge is picking us up. We have also arranged all our safaris and excursions through the company that operates out of Kruger Park Lodge. Although we are probably paying more that way, when you don't know your way around and where to go, this way is much easier. The company is called Place of Rock. Here is their info.
Debbie De Klerk.
Operations Manager.
Place of Rock Tours & Safaris
website: www.placeofrock.co.za
Debbie has been extremely helpful to me. She has arranged a night safari for us at a private reserve in Kruger, along with regular Kruger park game drives, a trip to an animal rehabilitation centre and the panoramic mountain tour. This company also arranged our pickup and drop off at Nelspruit. Just remember not to send credit card info through e-mail. I called the company directly when it came time to pay. I'll let you know how everything was when we get back. This is my dream holiday. I can't wait to go.

Thank-you. Looking forward to hearing how everything went as this is my dream holiday as well.

We just got back from Kruger Park Lodge. It was wonderful. You fly into Kruger Mpumalanga airport and the lodge is about an hour away. Get in touch with either Debbie at Place of Rock or Elizabeth. Elizabeth works right out of the lodge and she is super nice. Her e-mail is kplres@legacyhotels.co.za We had 4 different drivers from Place of Rock while we were there and all of them were wonderful. I get the impression that just about anything can be arranged for you, whether it's staying one nite at a private reserve or doing a foot walk through the park. We didn't rent a car so had to use Place of Rock for transportation. They can do a game drive through Kruger in the daytime but only the Kruger Park guides can do nite drives. We did 2 morning game drives at Kruger, the first one with just my husband and me and the driver, Alfred. We saw all the big 5 and more. The second drive there were 8 of us plus the driver, Dion, and again we had a great morning. I think the private drivers put themselves out more for the guests, more so than the Kruger guides. We didn't see a rhino the second morning and the guide stayed out longer trying to locate one. We also did 2 nite drives at Kruger. I wouldn't do that again, we saw very little, nothing we hadn't seen during the morning drives. We went to Bongani private park for another nite drive, we did get to see a male lion fairly close up, but apart from that, I really can't recommend nite drives. I think your idea of staying in a private game park for a day or so is a good idea, because they can take the vehicles off road and get closer. We really did have excellent viewing in Kruger though. The second morning drive our driver found a recent lion kill of a giraffe and the 5 lions were still around, lazing under the trees. Then just after that a large herd of elephants crossed right in front of us. We took the Panorama tour of the area also. That was a very pleasant day trip, and the drivers are really knowledgeable about everything they are showing you. Another one we enjoyed was going to the Moholoholo rehabilitation centre and learning about the eagles, vultures, and other animals they have there. The people running it are so passionate about the wildlife and the environment, it was excellent. We also went to the Cheetah Breeding Centre which wasn't as good and really was too much for one day. If you like that kind of thing, go to Moholoholo, have a nice lunch then go back to the lodge. Again, Place of Rock can arrange it all for you. We found we had so much booked, with morning drives, and nite drives and everything we had little time to just relax around the lodge. They have a lovely pool and monkeys are playing around on the grass close by,we just didn't have time to enjoy it. also the hippo hide there was terrific. We got some wonderful videos of the hippos. I really recommend the Kruger Park Lodge, our accomodation was very comfortable and our driver took us into the supermarket in Hazyview to get some groceries after our first game drive. Just don't forget to tip, they don't make that much and will go out of their way to help you. Our last nite drive in Kruger, our driver picked up pizzas for us when we asked him to and they were there when we got back from the drive. If you have any questions, let me know. You will have a wonderful time, we sure did.