self drive, Kruger National Park

Kruger Park has been designed as a self-drive game park, therefore, to get the most out of your game park experience, I would advise driving/hiring a car when visiting.

As we live in South Africa, we haven't yet had a need to hire a car while on our visits to the park. However, that is not the case for everyone, and I have found a very informative link on the official website for Kruger National Park, describing the kind of cars available to hire and how to go about it.

If you plan on driving along sandy roads or trails that might be bumpy... make sure you are driving in a car that has good steering and is preferably a 4x4. They are built for this type of adventurous trip

(although they are proilifically used in ordinary suburbs too for some reason!)

The average speed limit is about 30kms an hour... going up to 40km an hour when you are just outside a camp.

Although this may seem really slow to you, these speed limits are there for a reason. Many animals just dart out in front of your car from thick bush on the side of the road as you are travelling, and keeping to the speed limit will ensure they arent harmed, as you will be able to brake in time!

If you see someone being irresponsible in this manner, please take down their number plate number and report them to the next ranger you see driving past, or at the next camp you visit.

The best way to see Kruger (and the rest of south africa) is, by far, to rent your own car and drive yourself. South Africa is a modern country with excellent car hire services. I rented a car from Tempest car hire for 1 month, a Toyota sedan for about 9500 rand or so. In Jeffrey's bay on the coast, the reverse went out ... I called and they brought me a new car from Port Elizabeth in a couple hours. Great service.

In Kruger, driving yourself allows you to explore at your own pace, which is what it is all about. Much better than being stuck with a bunch of gawking tourists. The downside is that it may not be easy to see smaller game ... including leapards, cheetah and lions ... but don't get hung up on marking off "the big 5". Enjoy the beauty of the park and drive slowly.

The main roads in Kruger are paved, but the majority are not. The secondary roads are dirt and gravel, generally well-maintained. Unless there is some serious flooding, you do not need a 4x4.

If you are American (not sure about other nationalities), I suggest you get an international drivers licence before coming. I believe that's required by law in SA but I'm not 100 percent sure. I only had my American licence, and I was not stopped once. You could probly pull it off without an int'l licence, but best to be safe and get it if you can. Also: don't ever go more than 10 km above the speedlimit in SA .. there are plenty of speed traps around the country (for good reason, lots of people die on roads there).

I drove to Kruger from Joburg. It took about 4.5 hours.

I really recommend hiring a car and seeing Kruger independently. I have seen many questions posted on the forums about what tour take and to book it where etc. Just do it yourself. If you have a drivers license from home you can drive in SA. There are plenty of places to hire a car in Jo-berg and Nelspruit. You don't need a 4x4, because the main roads are tarred and the sides roads are in good condition (although a 4x4 is nice because it sits high).

Good maps are available at the gate entrances and the roads are well marked. Petrol stations are located in every restcamp and there are mechanics available if you have any difficulties.

I like having the independence to anywhere I want when I want. Tour operators tend to quickly drive you around spending little time in one spot so they can find the "Big Five", which is annoying if you are also interested in all of the other animals.

We entered Kruger through the Paul Kruger gate near Skukuza Camp. From there we drove north for our first night at Satara Camp. The next day we meandered north by way of Olifants and Letaba Camps before reaching the new Mopani Camp where we spent two nights. Following that, we exited Kruger near its centre at Phalaborwa and then, because of time constraints, drove south on highways outside the Park. We then re-entered the Park at the Numbi gate near Pretoriuskop Camp, from which we drove across the very dry southern part of the park before exiting at Crocodile Bridge. By then, it was getting late in the day and we were lucky to find great accommodations in Nelspruit (see my South Africa page for details on that one!).

Obviously I feel the best way to see the Kruger is to go with a professional guide. You can do a self drive but will miss a lot of important stuff and even miss a lot of animals as you are not trained to spot animals effectively in the bush. However, roads are all in very good condition and a normal vehicle is sufficient to get you everywhere you need to be. Excellent maps are available throughout the park and it is very easy to navigate yourself around.
DO NOT GET OUT OF YOUR VEHICLE!!! unless at a designated picnic or viewing spot. i have often come across people out of their vehicles trying to get a better view of animals not realising a leopard or lion is only 40 metres away! Its serious guys, this place is not a zoo and animals will attack if they feel threatened or cornered. There are picnic spots throughout the Kruger where you can get out, stretch legs, go to the toilet or cook yourself breakfast or lunch.
Take some of the more adventurous dirt roads, you will encounter fewer people and have more of the Kruger to yourself.

Our no frills rental car served us well during our 2-week 4000 km (2500 mile) excursion around a small part of South Africa! You will find that the roads in Kruger are a combination of very good paved roads as well as not so bad unpaved ones (this could change during the rainy season!). All of the Camps have petrol (gas) stations where you can fill up without problems. Note that the speed limit in the Park is 50 kph (30 mph) because you never know when game will decide to exercise its right of road-crossing! In our case, we had no Transportation problems at all (for more details on our car, see my 'South Africa' page). This photo shows a friendly Dik-Dik that was wandering around Letara Camp while we recharged our video camera batteries - they had conked out just as we saw a lion about to try to mate with a lioness!

HI GUYS I JUST BOUGHT A PICK UP CHECK IT OUT ON MY HOME PAGE I JUST GOT BACK FROM THE PARK AND BOY IT MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE BEING SO HIGH UPIN THE TRUCK THE ROADS WERE FINE THE DIRT ROADS WRE EVEN A BIT BOUNCY FOR THE TRUCK BUT I COULD SEE SO MUCH FATHER AND OVER THE GRAS AT THE SIDE OF THE ROAD THE GRASS IS JUST TO HIGH TO SEE CLEARLY FROM THE HEIGHT OF A CAR SO THE TRUCK WAS MUCH BETTER ...........

THIS WEB SITE CAN RENT YOU ANY VEHICLE THAT YOU NEED FROM MOTOR HOME TO CAR TO 4X4 ANY THING ON WHEELS SO THEY SAY I HAVENT USED THEM YET MYSLF BUT THATS WHAT THEY SAY THEY CAN DO ............................