Kruger National Park Restaurants

Probably the most interesting restaurant that we ate at inside of Kruger National Park was the Selati Restaurant at Skukuza rest camp. The restaurant is in the old train station that used to service the park and there's even an old locomotive and passenger car there.

All of the restaurants in Kruger that we ate at offered pretty much the same fare: buffet dinners consisting of some kind of stew, chicken, some kind of roast or chop, salad, fruit, rice, potatoes, cheese and a desert tray.

However, at Selati, we were able to order meals off the menu. I ordered the venison, while Cliff ordered the fillet. Well, my jaw got a lot of exercise with the venison, but Cliff's fillet was pretty darned tender. We ordered the most expensive bottle of wine on the list, which came to about $15 or $17 USD. It was drinkable, but not the best South Africa has to offer. I think the whole dinner cost us about $40 or 50 USD.

The service, as at all of the park restaurants was impeccable. The second you clear a plate, or finish a glass, somebody is there to take it out of your way and offer you more. I give Selati a B- overall.

Favorite Dish: Stick with the fillet!

They come in all shapes and sizes, for young and old. The braai.

This picture shows a braai that was made from the rim of a car tyre... quite rustic and elementary but does the job! On the other hand you can go to a supermarket and pay a couple hundred Rand for a posh braai with lots of extra features, wheels etc.

My choice? The one before you. Keep it simple to fully appreciate it's pleasures.

There were restaurants and cafeteria at the Oliphant, Satara, Lower Sabie and Skukuza rest camps. (I am sure there are at all the main rest camps.) The restaurants were buffet style at about $17/person. The menu look appetizing, but we didn’t eat at any of them. The cafeteria offers sandwiches and soups for a more reasonable price and it was pretty good.

Some private game reserves go beyone all boundries to make the visit a spectacular one. Here in Londolozi we were treated to a breakfast in a dried out river bed after we returned from our game drive. Hot English Breakfast with champagne right in the heart of the bush!!

I have been asked on several occasions how much food is needed to pack in advanced before heading out into Kruger. I suggest that you stock up on the essentials and canned goods before you get to Kruger. But, there is a market in every restcamp in Kruger including the remote restcamp in the north, Punda Maria.

Of course it will cost you more. And surprisingly enough, the price structure for the goods varies between restcamps.

Favorite Dish: You can get:
meat
vegetables
canned goods
soda
juica
wine
beer
sweets
firewood
firestarters
oil
aluminum foil
and more

As you are in the middle of nowhere - RIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS - there are no restaurants. All lodges' offer breakfast, lunch and dinner which are included in the price as well as all safari trips (2 per day). You form a BIG family and share the same table with other participants, rangers and your lodge hosts. It's fun as you get to meet new people, you can ask them questions if you have just arrived or if you have stayed longer and become a - PRO (LOL)- you can spice meal times by telling your personal TRUE-STORIES!

I'm sitting in the lower left coner awaiting for the open-air buffet dinner to start

I still find that the best way to dine in the Kruger is to cook yourself. Every main camp has a well stocked shop where you can buy food, drinks and other stuff. You can also hire cooking equipment and cutlery from reception.
So build a fire, cook some meat and enjoy the stars.

We found that we did not need anything fancy for food during our 3-days in Kruger. We usually went with fruit and water (from our large flask that we had bought in Sabie) as we drove on our early morning game viewing tours. For lunch, we timed our trips to arrive at one of the game camps where we would usually have a quick sandwich from their restaurants, usually toasted ham & cheese or mayonnaise & chicken, washed down with a cold Lion lager or two!

Favorite Dish: For our evening meals, we would get slightly more serious usually opting for a tasty beef curry or the like! This photo shows the river viewing area of Oliphants camp where we enjoyed our lunchtime chicken & mayo sandwiches with a beer, while watching elephants cavorting in the almost dry Oliphants river below. While we were there, a sudden summer rainshower opened up and poured down for 15 minutes, then it was all over!