My wife and I just bought a 10 day archery hunt in South Africa at the Arizona Elk Society banquet last night. We are looking at a 3-4 day trip into Kruger before the hunt. There are loads of places on line. I wanted to see if anyone on here has had a particularly good experience with one of the places in Kruger Park. We are looking at a trip this Sept.

its been quite awhile since we did the tour in kruger, but the camps there are all quite good. you need to book them well in advance because they fill quickly. you can do your own cooking as the camps have chalets with kitchen facilities and there are grocery stores in camp. in all probability you will want the ones in the center to northern portions. to do the whole park will take more than 3-4 days

We did three days in Kruger in 2008 and stayed in Olifants, Tamboti, and Lower Sabie. Olifants and Lower Sabie have a restaurant and stores. Tamboti is a "tent camp" so we picked up supplies before going there. We enjoyed all three, but particularly enjoyed listening to the Lions roar at night at Tamboti and watching the Hippos and Crocs in the river at Lower Sabie.

458

Please see Denise Carey

I had the pleasure of meeting Denise in 2003 whe I first visited Kruger. She is, IMHO, the best tour guide in Kruger Park! Very sharp, interested, personable. You could not go wrong working with her! She can, I believe help out with accommodation suggestions as well!

PM with any questions!

Les

Satara camp, Berg en Dal camp and Lower Sabie are the 3 best for a foreigner with a short time to stay. You will need to book a long time in advance. You have a good chance at seeing all the big 5 from those camps. A tour guide is a great idea if you have a limited amount of time, it will be worth the money spent.

Satara has lots of Lions and huge (+1000) herds of buffalo in the dry season

458lottfan,
check with Aubrey Kent, I can't remember his handle on here but Shakari has his infor. they both live in RSA so they would be a wealth of info for you

Not technically Kruger but I stayed at this place in the adjoining Sabi Sands area last September:
Arathusa

It is more expensive than touring Kruger on your own (or with a guide) but definitely money well spent. You will see more animals than you can possibly keep track of.

FWIW, I live about 20 minutes drive from the SW corner of the KNP.

The first thing you need to bear in mind is that KNP has various styles/standards of camp plus it also has camps run by private companies and parks board themselves.

The big camps run the parks board have shops and restaurants etc in them but they're very big and often noisy etc. Food is also pretty lousy.

The smaller camps run by the game dept are quieter and more comfortable but you have to buy your food in the shops in the bigger camps. That isn't a hassle because it gives you somewhere to go in the heat of the day. Then you take the food back to camp and cook either in the chalet or on the BBQ provided.

Then you have the private lodges that tend to be on the expensive but very luxurious side.

Picking the right camp to make the most of your trip isn't always easy and sometimes it helps to have advice from an expert.

I'm not sure if Aubrey does photo tours in the KNP but you could always send him a PM. (He posts as 458Aubs) but if not, you might like to email my friend and neighbour John Ilsley at john@detra.co.za.

John knows the area well and is a real pro. He'll be able to book you into the best camp for your needs at no extra cost and will also be able to arrange a hire car if you need one etc.

Assuming you are going into the bottom end of the KNP you'll virtually pass by my house and assuming I'm around, you're welcome to drop in and borrow coolboxes etc if you like.

Wow Shakari that is a very generous offer. Thank you!

If the opportunity presents its self I will make a point to say hello.

Since I posted this my wife Tania found some great priced trips through SAA Vacations web site. Tania is looking at booking spending 3 days in Cape Town at the Twelve Apostles Hotel and Spa. Then we transfer to the Jackalberry Lodge in Kruger for three days. We are looking at doing this at the end of the hunt. Do you have any familiarity with these places?

I know both by reputation and have to say your wife is a lady of very good taste.

If you're a dog person, you need to go see the 'Just Nuisance' memorial or at least do a Google search on Just Nuisance to enjoy the story.

Jackalberry is one of the private luxury camps and in years gone by, I've done one or two helicopter game counts over that and surrounding areas..... I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

My guess is you'll probably fly into one of the airports close to the park, (probably KMIA Nelspruit International which is just up the road from my home) and they'll pick you up from there.

If you're staying at Jackalberry, they'll provide everything you could possibly need but if you're plans change and you do need anything, just let me know.

Thank you for your input and comments Steve. Tania and I have your numbers. If the opportunity comes up we will say hello.

We are very excited about the hunt and vacation combo. It will be out second trip to Africa and our first to South Africa. Does SA have many of the big Baobab trees? If so what part of the country do they grow in? Tania would love to see one.

The southernmost baobob is about a third of the way up the KNP and is sadly badly damaged by many years worth of pig ignorant arseholes who have carved their initials etc into it. I'm fairy sure you'll see some in the Jackalberry area though. If you don't, ask your guide to show you some and I'm sure he'll be happy to drive you up the park far enough to find some.

Baobabs are interesting trees and at the risk of sounding like a silly old waffling bastard ......... they say that a baobob that's about 12 metres in circumference is about 4000 years old and another useless piece of information is that if you stand beside one and look around you, you'll almost always see others is relatively straight lines that often follow the contours of the ground. The theory is that the seeds have a much higher germination rate if they pass through a large animal such as an elephant and the ones you see are likely to have been dropped after passing through a wandering big ears that went by thousands of years ago taking the easiest route....... if you overfly an area containing baobabs, it often becomes much more apparent.

Another useless piece of info about them is that elephants love to eat their inner bark/pith and if you take a look at the pics below, you'll where the trees have been damaged by elephants prising the tree open to eat the inner bark/pith and has subsequently recovered but the bark looks a bit like half melted wax as far as an elephant can reach and above that line, the bark smooths out and the underlying tree is undamaged/fully recovered.

Tree circumference can vary anything up to about a metre depending on how much water it's storing and between dry/wet season.

The tree can also be used in a variety of ways such as string/rope, has a lot of medicinal uses and the inside of the seed pods (not the seed itself) is also a good source of cream of tartar/tartaric acid and is very refreshing on a long walk. - You can also make a lemonade like drink out of it.

Man, but I know some useless shit!

Not usless. Cool stuff! Thank you for sharring!