Kruger national park is the largest and most popular national park in South Africa. The park surface is 19,633 km² (7,580 miles²), which is roughly the same size as The Netherlands, Israel or Wales. The park is home to 147 Mammal species, 507 bird species, 114 reptile species, 49 fish species and 34 amphibian species, including the Big Five (Elephant, Rhino, Cape Buffalo, Lion & Leopard). The park has a great road network with 2294 kilometers (1434 miles) of road, which means that you can cover large areas of the park for fantastic game viewing.
(Click on below links for detailed itineraries, information on accommodation etc)
Day tours DT01 :: Full day Kruger national park game drive (From Orpen) ..
Start & End: Johannesburg & Pretoria & Nelspruit LT 01 :: 3 Day Kruger national park .. LT 02 :: 4 Day Kruger national park .. LT 03 :: 5 Day Kruger national park .. LT 04 :: 6 Day Kruger national park .. LT 08 :: 10 Day Kruger park & Chobe & Victoria Falls ... LT 25 :: 10 Victoria Falls & Chobe & Kruger park LT 09 :: 10 Day Kruger park & Okavango Delta .. LT 26 :: 10 Okavango Delta & Kruger park .. LT 11 :: 11 Day Kruger park & Okavango Delta .. LT 27 :: 11 Okavango Delta & Kruger park .. LT 12 :: 11 Day Victoria Falls & Chobe & Kruger park ... LT 13 :: 11 Day Kruger park & Chobe & Victoria Falls ... LT 16 :: 16 Day Kruger & Okavango Delta & Chobe & Victoria Falls LT 17 :: 16 Day Okavango Delta & Chobe & Victoria Falls & Kruger
Start: Victoria Falls End: Johannesburg & Pretoria LT 28 :: 5 Day Victoria Fall to Kruger park ... LT 19 :: 6 Day Victoria Falls to Kruger park ..
Start: Johannesburg & Pretoria End: Victoria Falls LT 21 :: 8 Day Kruger park & Victoria Falls .. LT 22 :: 9 Day Kruger park & Chobe & Victoria Falls . LT 24 :: 14 Day Kruger & Okavango Delta & Victoria Falls ...
Departure Every Day
Departure Every Day Every Day Every Day Every Day Friday Monday Sunday Wednesday Saturday Wednesday Monday Thursday Saturday Wednesday
Departure Saturday Saturday
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Did you know that Kruger national park is the same size as Serengeti, Masai Mara and Ngorongoro Crater combined. Yes the East Africa national parks have large numbers of wildlife, but the variety in wildlife and vegetation types (landscapes) is extremely little compared to Kruger national park.
Kruger national park is a great park Have a look at the below links (opens in new windows), for some amazing photographs and video taken by people who visited Kruger national park.
(1) Hal Brindley is photographer from USA, who stayed a few nights with us in Hartbeespoort. He and his girlfriend rented a small Toyota Tazz and ventured off to Kruger national park. Just have a look at the photos that he took in a single day's game drives inside Kruger national park. Hal is a professional photographer, and he says that it was the best day he ever had. Click here
(2) This is a video clip that every wildlife photographer wishes he could get, but hey - this video was taken by a tourist with a normal video camera. It is all about a pride of lions attacking a herd of buffalo, but then it all goes wrong for the lions, as there are greedy crocks and more. Happy ending. Click here
(3) Kruger national park gets around 1 350 000 visitors a year. The photos on this link was taken by normal visitors just like you. These are not the exceptional photos. Most of our guests will have many similar photos while on an average Kruger national park tour. Click here
(4) SANP (South African national parks) has 3 active webcams at waterholes, of which two is in Kruger national park and one in Kalagadi national park, which used to be named the Kalahari national park. The two webcams in Kruger park is at waterholes at Orpen and Satara. Keep in mind that these waterholes are close enough to the fence of the camps so that people can view the animals coming to drink, and still there are plenty of activity. These webcams takes a photo every 30 seconds. Click here
Our guides have spend thousands of days in many national parks around southern and east Africa. All the guides agree that we get more and better wildlife sightings in Kruger national park. Most tours will see at least 4 of the big five, and a large number of tours regularly see 5 / 5 within two days.
Budget tours and safaris to Kruger national park Livingstone Trails is a budget tour operator who does cheaper tours and safaris to Kruger national park since 1994, making us one of the very first companies to do affordable tours for backpackers, adventure student travel and overlanding safaris to Kruger park. However, our clients are all international travelers from different income groups, because we offer as much (and sometimes more) than companies that are much more expensive than us. Our clients have the choice of camping or three star bedded accommodation, and all our game drives are done in open sided game viewing vehicles that are built according to the regulations of South African National Parks (photos to the right).
We offer 3 to 6 day tours to Kruger national park that depart every day. We are not going to tell you where to stay the days before tour departure. We will pick you up from any backpackers lodge, guest house or hotel in Johannesburg, Pretoria or Nelspruit. At the end of your tour we will drop you off at any of the above, or at KPMA (Kruger Park Mpumalanga Airport) or at OR Tambo (previously known as Johannesburg International Airport). It is up to you where you want to be picked up & dropped off.
On the first day we drive via Graskop into the northern Drakensberg mountains, where we stop at God's Window, Bourke Luck Potholes and the Three Rondawels view point in the spectacular Blyde River Canyon, which is the third largest canyon in the world (See photo top right).
The first night all our clients stay at Timbavati Safari Lodge, which is a three star lodge as graded by the Tourism Grading Council. Clients doing the camping tour, will stay the night in permanent erected (on wooden platforms) canvas tents with proper single bed mattresses and fitted sheets. Clients doing the bedded accommodation tour will stay in very comfortable chalets with en-suite bathroom. All clients will enjoy a three course dinner, prepared by the lodge's chef. Local kids from the nearby rural area will come to the lodge to sing and dance. These kids work for themselves and not the lodge.
Open vehicles used on game drives
Clients doing the bedded accommodation tour, will stay at Timbavati Safari lodge every night (see photos to the right). Clients doing the camping tour will stay in our camp inside Kruger national park at Maroela camp close to Orpen gate, where we also have permanent erected tents on wooden platforms with proper single bed mattresses and fitted sheets. The tents are erected along the fence so that you can see the hyenas and other animals that often walk along the fence at night (bottom right).
Game drives inside Kruger national park The picture above indicates the area that mostly do game drives. To cover every road in this area will take around 5 days of full day game drives. This will give you an idea of how big Kruger national park is, and how often you will stop for wildlife sightings.
Our philosophy is that clients booked our tours to see wildlife, and therefore we spent as much time as possible on game drives (in open game viewing vehicles), searching for as many animal species as possible. We start with game drives shortly after the park gates open, until the gates close in the late afternoon. We will stop for breakfast and lunch at picnic sites inside Kruger national park, which your guide will prepare. We also stop at various view points and at hides overlooking waterholes, where you are allowed to get out of the vehicles.
Our guides have very good knowledge about the animals, birds and trees. They will tell you all the interesting stories about the animals that you see. Also keep in mind that they know the park very well and knows where to go to find various animal species during different seasons and different times of the day. The guides are so use to looking for animals, and will spot many animals that clients did not see.
There is a night drive included for all clients doing our Kruger national park tours. The night drive departs 45 minutes before the gates close, and returns three hours later. Please note that the night drive is operated by Kruger national park with their guides and vehicles (see photo bottom right). It is out of our control if the park decides to cancel the night drive, or if all night drives are fully booked. It does not happen often, but you will be refunded the price of the night drive, if it does happen.
Clients do have the opportunity to book an optional game walk, which we normally arrange for the last morning. Many clients are under the impression that they will see plenty of wildlife during a game walk. This is not true. Game walks are not about seeing animals, it is about seeing the smaller things (like footprints, spiders etc) that you can not see from the vehicle. You will see much more animals during a three hour game drive, than during a game walk.
Your guide will stop at least once a day while on game drives at a shop where you can buy drinks etc. There are no shops at our camp in Kruger park, or at Timbavati Safari Lodge (only a bar). Therefore we stop at Orpen gate for shopping every night just before the gates close. We do have a fridge in our camp, where you can keep your drinks cold.
Game walk inside Kruger park
Night drive vehicle
Malaria in Kruger national park The park is situated in a malaria area. Livingstone Trails advise all our clients to take precaution by using insect repellent and prophylactics . The tents and bedded accommodation that we use all have mosquito netting. Mosquitoes are active after sunset at night, not active during the day while on game drives.
Our guides and vehicles All our guides are registered with THETA and have valid PDP drivers licenses, as required by law. All our vehicles have the correct permits as required by law.
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