Sometimes it’s nice to get off a night flight and rest…we have done this a few times. We’ve also booked into an airport hotel overnight before flying on to Namibia or Botswana the next day. The last twice we’ve stayed at The Holiday Inn Johannesburg Airport – it’s about £50 a night for a double for two. …….if you walk out of the airport past the car hire block you come to the complimentary bus area, the bus to the Holiday Inn goes every 30 minutes from here. It’s only about 10/15 minutes to the hotel. There is a bar, snack bar and restaurant…..you can pay a small amount extra to book into your room early….last year we did this, had a rest and then met a friend in the bar for toasted sandwich lunch..
If we don’t stay at the airport we pick up the car hire and head off towards Kruger. There are several, place’s to stop en route to Kruger. I don’t recommend driving in the dark in South Africa. We have often headed towards Witbank – now known as Emalahleni – if we decide to stop there we stay at what was The Protea hotel but is now A New Hotel. It is a good hotel with nice rooms safe parking and a very pleasant restaurant. A double room costs about £62.00 for 2.
If you manage to land In Johannesburg early enough you might fancy going further….some people do drive straight to Kruger….but I am the only driver and I don’t sleep well on planes ..so we prefer to break our journey. Further on approximately 20km east of Water Boven tunnel is a very nice game reserve – SARAGOSSA GAME RESERVE. It is situated on the banks of the Elands river in the scenic Elands Valley. You turn off the N4, cross the railway line and phone them from the gate…they then escort you to farm buildings where you leave your vehicle and transfers to the lodge via a safari jeep. This luxurious nature and wildlife retreat covers a variety of ecosystems, from riverine forest to savannah and bushveld. The reserve has an air of calmness and serenity, and is the ideal location to begin or conclude your journey to or from Kruger. The reserve has a variety of elegant safari accommodation, offering guests the highest levels of comfort and cuisine. Giraffe, hippo, zebra, blue wildebeest and eland are just a few of the many species that roam freely throughout the 1400ha wildlife reserve.
it’s a truly lovely place…we stayed 2 nights, having a wonderful early morning and evening game drive. We finished the game drive at the lake/dam. A wonderful wedding venue is on the banks. We had a bar-b-que with everything set out on the banks… The hippos were playing and a young hippo was being protected by its mum. It started to rain and we adjourned to the inside venue which was also gorgeous.
Prices are on application the last price I had for it was about £200 per night for 2 inclusive of dinner, bed & breakfast and game drive…. It’s REALLY worth the money, wonderful experience…really relaxing.
On arriving in Malalane we have often stay outside the Kruger National Park and go in daily. We’ve stayed at Prestana Kruger Lodge… a lovely setting on The Crocodile River. It is just 700 metres from the gate into Kruger. The hotel and lodges are set in 22 hectares of unspoilt scrub land…. It has a lovely deck and restaurant and the deluxe rooms over look the river. It costs about £100 for a double room bed and breakfast for two.
If this seems a little expensive we have also stayed at The River House Lodge in Malalane. It also overlooks the river, has a lovely swimming pool and a really quirky bar…it’s like a living museum….
The rates are for two people dinner, bed and breakfast approx £87 per night….the evening menu is a set meal as is the breakfast…but it’s very nice indeed…….the owner and the managers are good fun and good company….the rooms are spacious and comfortable…this is a really good price and it only takes 10 minutes to drive into the park.
There are also a few more hotels we’ve stayed at just outside the Malalane gate but these two are our favourites…..if you want a greater choice just email us on 2jsworldofadventure@gmail.com or go on the contact page.
Moving up the park, when we get to Satara we often like to go out of the park for a few days. The accommodation in Kruger is quite basic and often not in top condition….let’s just call it rustic..
So occasionally we feel we need “time-out”. Going out of the Orpen Gate puts you in prime wildlife area…there are numerous private game reserves, lodges, farms etc….they range from top of the range to more reasonable. Not far from Orpen on the road from the gate, is Timbavati Safari Lodge. It is located in Mbabat, and offers accommodations in thatched chalets with colorful traditional African design like the huts of the Ndebele Tribe. It is only a 24-minutes’ drive from the Orpen gate of Kruger. The lodge has a swimming pool and a bar. Each chalet is fitted with a ceiling fan and mosquito netting over each bed and the windows, a private bathroom with a shower. There is an on-site restaurant. While we were there we had two evenings with a BBQ in the evening. At the time of visiting they were doing evening Safari into Timbavati Game reserve..a 5* reserve at a price we could only dream of affording…..I had asked to book one of these evening safaris when I booked the accommodation….but I was told it wasn’t necessary…ummmm!!! When we arrived we asked to go on the Safari on one of our two nights, but alas they were fully booked..I was far from amused and felt rather cheated as we could have stayed in a dozen or so other places…but we always try to make the most of our adventures…so we made other plans. The lodge accommodation is slightly less basic than in Kruger, in that most things work…but you do need to be aware that it doesn’t have air conditioning – Kruger accommodation does although it doesn’t always work. We did have very nice breakfasts and the BBQ’s were lovely. It costs about £100 a night dinner bed and breakfast for 2 people.
From anywhere in this area there are two important places which are well worth a visit. Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre is situated at the base of the majestic North Eastern Lowveld Drakensberg mountain range in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, Moholoholo Means “The Very Great One”, they do a great deal of good work assisting wildlife which has been trapped, caught in wires, attacked for straying into human inhabited areas.
It is a superb place where rare species can be seen close up…one has to remember that if the centre hadn’t intervened these animals would not have lived. Some can be released back into the wild some have to stay as permanent residents.
At the crossroads from the Kruger Road if you turn right ( instead of straight on for Moholoholo) you head towards Hoedspruit. You soon come across the Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre……this is a firm favourite of ours and we visit most years. I first went when it first opened and have been a very firm supporter of its work ever since. It opened in 1990 as the Hoedspruit Cheetah Project, HESC has played an important role in the conservation of specific endangered species, particularly cheetahs and rhinos. The centre specialises on the survival of these endangered species through breeding and ensuring the diversity of the bloodlines of cheetahs. They also rehabilitate rhinos that have become victims of poaching, whilst creating awareness among the general public, locally and internationally, about the importance of wildlife conservation. The work they do is paramount in saving these endangered species. They also have other endangered species, a leopard who was caught in a snare and a pack of wild dogs. The later are all individual dogs which had been either poisoned (to keep them away from domestic livestock) or snared/trapped, they have been rescued and formed a pack.
One of the very special resident species at the centre is the beautiful King Cheetah…they aren’t released back into the wild. Their rarity makes them incredibly valuable and they just wouldn’t survive the poachers in the wild. The King Cheetah doesn’t have spots but elongated shapes.
If you feel a bit like having some luxury accommodation, there are numerous private reserves around the Hoedspruit area…we’ve tried several a favourite of ours was Tintshaba Lodge but during our last visit it became evident that it was now a hunting lodge and we are into Eco tourism…you can however have a microlight trip from here. We’ve also tried Hongonyi which has now been incorporated into one of the mega expensive lodges. Another is Mohlabetsi which is situated in the vast Balule Private Game Reserve, which is part of the Greater Kruger National Park. Its name means place of sweet water…it’s a lovely place mid price range for stays at Private Game reserves. One of our favourites which is just about affordable for us is Masodini which means “Place in the Bush” in South Sotho. The lodge is in Olifants West/Balule. It’s a beautiful Lodge surrounded by large trees, shrubs and African date palms, providing shade and excellent bird viewing. There are Five separate tastefully furnished Chalets which provide privacy, peace and quiet. Each Chalet has tea and coffee facilities, fans, mosquito nets and air conditioning. The owner gives fantastic game drives, they seem to know each individual creature on their property. It’s a great place. The price for dinner, bed and breakfast and game drives is around £350 per night for two people.
We hope this has given you a few extra ideas as to what to see and do around the periphery of Kruger National Park…if you are looking for some cultural activities as well as being at one with nature we can also point you in the right direction. Feel free to contact us as we know this area like the back of our hand.
2 J's World of Adventure 