Location: The park stretches from the Crocodile River in the south up to the Limpopo River, which is the international border in the north.
Size: 20 000km sq
Most famous for: Southern Africa’s most world-renowned National Park with excellent diversity of wildlife and birdlife.
The National Park was opened in 1898 at the instigation of then-president Paul Kruger. After hunters had considerably decimated the originally rich game stock, all the land between the Sabie and the Crocodile Rivers was put under the protection of Nature Conservation to ensure the survival of the remaining animals. Only as recently as 1961 was the extended Kruger Park fenced in.
The best time for observing the animals is the dry winter season, due to the summer rainfall of this area. At this time the grass is low and bushes and trees don’t have leaves so that one can have an unobstructed view of the wildlife. Because it virtually doesn’t rain in winter the animals are more concentrated around the few waterholes which allow for good game viewing.
We stay just outside the park at Kruger Park Backpackers which has great facilities and is only a mere 8km from Numbi gate. We spend a full day game driving in the park searching for the big five and the extensive animal and bird species that inhabit this area. Clients have the option to participate in a night drive with the parks board. This is the only national park which we visit which allows this night method of time viewing