Tag: kruger-national-park

South Africa Safari -2025 Day 3 & 4

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Tuesday 16th September we got up and breakfasted fairly early with Gill and off we went to get a SA SIM card for our roamer ….we went to Wendywood shopping Centre and called at Vodacom. We’ve used them a lot of times before…but the very unhelpful lady said no we couldn’t buy data sim from her it would have to go in my phone…more fool her…she missed out on a good sale…We walked out and across the walkway to MTN wow what a difference. They couldn’t be more helpfull…we bought 600 gb for just over £60 she set it all up for me assured me it would work all over Kruger and gained much praise and thanks from us…

We then progressed to “pick and pay” for essentials.. 2x braii briquettes, 2 x fire lighters, matches, water, Diet Coke, loo rolls ( I never like the ones provided🤣) kitchen roll, cheese crackers, marmite, eat some more biscuits, crisps, tinned veg, smash, rice and noodles…. That was it, all the nonperishable consumables we needed for 3 weeks in the bush. We are going to pick up the perishables meat, cheese, butter, fresh veg and fruit, yogurts, bread at Malalane on day 5.

The rest of the day we spent back at our friends, playing with the grandchildren.

For supper we went out to Ocean Basket and had the Mega platter between us…it had 3 peices of line fish, calamari rings and tentacles, mussels and 30 Prince Prawns…we had it all grilled. Gill had lashings of chilli on hers and I was very anti-social and smothered mine in garlic…John had his straight..all for the cost of £ 30 with our drinks it was just under £40. I forgot to get a picture until we had nearly finished it 🤣

Wednesday morning we were up bright and early and the car was packed by 8,30. We left Jo’burg at 8.50. Just 30 minutes after leaving the city, we were out in open countryside with significantly less traffic. Our route took us along the N12 which seamlessly becomes the N4 all the way through to Malalane. We travelled past EMalahleni previously called Witbank (10.15 am 145km). Shortly afterwards we paid in cash the toll of R81 at Middelburg Plaza. The next landmark reached is Millys at 11.15- 254 km from Jo’burg- a good place for petrol, toilets or just a leg stretch…they sell super freshly made trout pate. The next toll is a little further on from Millys and cost R122. At this point the N4 splits and you can go either the left or right route they both rejoin some 80 kilometres later…we usually take the lower, right route. This takes you through Water Boven and past the paper mill at Ngodwana ( 11.50am, 314 kms from our start). Nelspruit, now known as Mbombela is the next main town after the N4 becomes one again. We arrived there at 12.25, -355km into our journey….so far so good…it was a great quick trip with a much improved N4. However they haven’t finished the improvements yet and the following 48 km to the next toll at Nkomazi Plaza took us nearly an hour and a half due to road works and the rock blasting required for widening this section of the N4 (R 92 – 13.59) From here to Kruger gate is just over 20 Km….we arrived at 14.05. We quickly purchased our Wild Card and found out we could get on the sunset drive from the gate. We booked into Pestana Lodge, which is about 200 m from the gate. Just had time for a quick wash and brush up before returning to the gate for the National Parks Sunset Drive.

Patrick our ranger, driver and guide picked us up with 7 others. Off we went….wow what a drive….we couldn’t believe on our first drive we saw….wild dog

Quickly followed by a big male leopard who had just finished his impala supper.

As if that wasn’t enough excitement we came across two male lions at the edge of the road, settling down for the night.

We had to laugh when the wild dogs ran along the tarmac, the leader didn’t see the lion until it stood up and the Wild dogs beat a hasty retreat…it was the second sighting we had of them in the one evening

We had several other sightings including a genet and a spitting cobra

What a superb start to our Safari…we returned to our hotel ecstatic, which was just as well because our supper was only mediocre…but we didn’t care….we retired to bed happy and tired….more tomorrow please.

Packing for South African Safari 2025

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I am not very succinct with my ramblings about what we take but I’ve started with the odds and sods which make life easier…then I’ve sub headed the clothing, electrics, essentials and other bits….. hope you find it helpful.

We are intending to cook quite a bit ourselves, so this does need planning. South Africans tend to be big on barbecues or braii as they call it. So the first thing we pack is a self contained barbecue set….very cheap on amazon about £20. It contains everything you need…tongs, long fork, metal slicer, wire brush etc…I’ve taken the skewers out and replaced them with wooden ones and I’ve taken the chefs knife and the salt and pepper out because I don’t think the airport scanning machine will like them much. We’ve also packed oven gloves, dish cloth and tea towel two melamine plates, bowls & dishes, two knives, forks and spoons and two cups. Most the accommodation in Kruger provides this if you book the right type, they also provide a fridge, sink, hot pate, and plough dish barbecue with a grilling grid which you can raise and lower ( hence the need for oven gloves) …. But we booked late and took what we could get not all our accommodation offers this although all has the barbecue.

You could buy most of this fairly cheaply when you’re there. We are fortunate in that we have friends in Johannesburg and we leave a cool box and pillows at their house. We will leave the melamine plates etc there when we return.

You may well ask why pillows? Because the ones in Kruger all seem to me lumpy chip foam which balls together to make hard lumps or just one piece of foam…they are very uncomfortable so we have bought 2 luxury pillows from Mr Price…very cheap you could give them to one of the camps cleaners when you leave…we take pillow cases with us.

What else do we take…..even though September and October are the start of spring it’s still chilly at night and we like to take The Parks Board sunset and night drives on their open safari vehicles. We take jeans, layer t-shirt and long sleeved top and a light weight fleece jacket and a scarf, they often give you a rug. Then we can start in t-shirt and gradually put layers on.

Food wise we take a plactic caddy of coffee and sweeteners. We take a flask which we fill with ginger cordial……that’s what I drink all the time and you can’t buy it there, We decant the cordial into empty coke bottles when we get there…then we can use the flask for its true purpose and have hot coffee when we have early morning self drive game viewing……..nothing better than having a coffee while watching a waterhole or a lion having its breakfast 😁😁

Electrics…ummm always a hard one as there is often only one plug socket in the room which has the aircon plugged into it…so…we have a South African double socket. This way we can keep the aircon on and still have a socket. We have 2 South African to Uk plugs ( just incase we find another socket …we are always optimistic 🤣🤣 )And we take an extension lead with 4 uk sockets and a multi usb charging socket….yup it seems a lot but we have to charge 2 cameras, 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, 1 laptop for downloading all pictures from both cameras everyday….then there’s the occasional toothbrush charger, hairdryer etc… There are usually sockets outside where the kettle can be plugged in…but BE WARNED you can’t leave anything unattended…not even while you nip to the loo because most the camps have monkeys and they will steal anything…the last thing you want to see is a vervet monkey up the tree with your camera battery or trying to use your iPhone 🤣🐒🐒 We’ve seen it happen. I’ve even lost a yogurt from the table while I turned my back to get another one out of the fridge……please don’t encourage these little tinkers because when they get too cheeky the Rangers have to cull them, so you’re signing their death warrant.

Clothing…this is what we take..

3 pairs of long trousers each – to mosquito- proof our legs in the evenings

3 pairs of shorts each

6 T-Shirts each

12 pairs of pants each

6 pairs of socks each- we only wear them in the evening so we wear them twice.

5 bras – me only🤣

1 pair of sandals each

I pair of closed walking shoes each – sketchers

I long sleeved top- polo or thicker blouse

1 fleece each

1 scarf and fingerless gloves- I don’t like to be cold🤣

Other must take with us –

First aid/ medical bag containing plasters, antiseptic cream, cold remedy, antibiotics, moisturiser, eye drops, Imodium, senakot, paracetamol, bite ease/ anthisam cream, antihistamines.

Shampoo and conditioner

Toiletry bag

Travel hairdryer

SA maps, Kruger guide book, animal and bird ID books- all can be bought there but as we have them we take them with us.

Washing detergent – fairy pods. Some of the camps have washers and driers…if you’re lucky they’ll be working and take R5 coins….but if you’re not lucky the cleaning lady or man at the laundry may do your washing for you. We generally drop it off in the morning, go for a drive and pick it up later. We’ve always done this and we pay some money up front and promise the rest when we pick up…we give a big tip and a couple of washing pods which surprisingly always seems to bring a bigger smile than the money.

Binoculars…2 pairs if you have them…but I dropped one of ours and I haven’t replace them as we tend to use our camera lenses .

Torches…a must as electricity is unreliable

Money – we take Rands with us because although a lot of places do take cards, the toll roads do not take international cards. Sometimes the camps in Kruger have electricity outages and although they have generators these don’t usually allow the internet to be connected…so you can get petrol but unless you’ve got cash you won’t be able to pay for it until the mains electricity returns which can take 6 hours….a waste of good game viewing time. You’ll also need cash for tips etc. There is a cash point in Skukuza Camp which works if they are on mains electricity.

Well!, I think that’s about it..we fit all this into 2 medium sizes cases both weigh about 20kg. We also take two hand luggage’s which are small wheeled rucksacks and contain our cameras and mine also contain 4 pairs of knickers because I am neurotic about our cases getting lost/ delayed and not having a pair of clean knickers 🤣🤣 The day ruck sacks come in handy for putting clothing layers in when we go on the Parks Safari vehicles.

Hope that helps with your packing…actually apart from the barbecue equipment the space it takes up we would usually use for smart evening clothes but we don’t need them on Safari…..our packing tends to be much the same wherever we go in the world.

The next time I blog we will be in South Africa 👍

South African Safari 2025 – Kruger National Park – Planning Document, Itinerary and costings.

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We are raring to go and lots of people have been asking for our plans. I have to admit that i am pretty proud of myself for bringing this in on budget…. John told me maximum budget was £5,000 not our usual £8000/10,000 …it was a challenge I couldn’t resist……

Those of you who know me know I don’t do “slumming it”… I like my comforts…. I wont share a bathroom so everything has to be ensuite. I have to have air-conditioning in hot climates and I wont camp where creepy crawlies could get into bed with me !!!!! But none of that is a problem when you visit Kruger National Park in South Africa. We have been many, many times…c;oclcking up over three and a half years of accumulated time spent in Kruger…so you could say we know what we are doing.

With the help of my “go to team” at:

DialAFlight Maisie Morton and Sean – +44 1618418179 http://www.dialaflight.com

I got superb prices for our flights. If you decide to use them please tell them that 2jsworldofadventure recommended them, they will then give you the best possible price. The trick is to be flexible with your dates. If you want a really cheap price ask them to look at indirect flights – these often involve a change in Addis Ababa or Rwanda. The only reason we don’t do this is because the flight change and lay-over are at inhospitable times…we are aging and need our beauty sleep. So we fly direct… this time we found British airways on a certain day were incredibly well priced….So a big shout-out for DialAFlight – Thanks Maisie and Sean.

Through experiences earlier this year, when we hired a car to drive around Portugal and Southern Spain, we have found Holiday Autos to be tremendous value. Our car hire in both Iberia and South Africa is less than half the price of hiring direct and you still collect the vehicle from a top brand name. We also took out both times the AXA fully comprehensive car insurance as an additional but with-in the price I’ve put on the planning document.

I’ve included in our trip all our favourite Kruger Camps plus a few luxury nights at the start and the end of our Safari.

Hope you’ll find the planning document useful and feel confident in doing a Do-It-Yourself Safari in the future. If you have any questions just email me on 2jsworldofadventure@gmail.com and i will do my best to help answer your queries.

Leopards – Kruger National Park – South Africa BEEN THERE GOT THE T-SHIRT

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Let’s start with a contradiction!

Leopards are relatively common in South Africa, and in Kruger National Park in particular. Yet they are rarely seen, so why is that? Well, the leopard is a secretive animal and, unlike the lion, does not live in groups, but is usually solitary. The male and female come together to mate, and then go their separate ways. On top of that, the leopard has one of the best camourflages in the entire animal kingdom.

The leopard is the second biggest African cat, behind the lion, and, generally, kills to feed just for itself rather than a whole pride. It is a silent stalker with most species of antelope its favourite prey.

Following a successful kill, it is common for the leopard to drag its prey up a tree trunk in order to feed amongst its branches. The leopard is a powerful creature often hauling more than its body weight in this way.

It is equally at home to stalk under the cover of darkness and is prone to stalk a sleeping troop of baboons in the hope of isolating one and carrying it off as its prey.

Leopards are creatures of habit and can often be seen in dry river beds silently approaching their prey whilst they are drinking in the limited pockets of water.

They can also take you by surprise by climbing a tree to get a better view of where to find their next meal.

Although found through much of Southern Africa, most of our sightings have been within Kruger National Park in the northeast of South Africa. We have been privileged to have spent enough time in the park for our patience to be rewarded with many magnificent leopard sightings. Although occasionally we’ve had a fleeting view of the white underside of their tail as they retreat into the undergrowth and become invisible.

Each such sighting Is accompanied by an ‘adrenaline rush’ which has to be experienced as it’s almost impossible to put into words. For me, this beautiful but elusive creature is the crown jewel, the ‘must see’ on safari in Africa.

Hotels and activities to add to a Kruger National Park holiday…….

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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.