Featured
Listings: Phalaborwa
Accommodation
Royal Game Guest House
- (Phalaborwa Accommodation) - The guesthouse is 1 km
from the Phalaborwa gate to the Kruger National Park
and are also 1 km from the renowned Hans Merensky Golf
Club. We were awarded a 4 star grading from the "Tourism
Grading Council of South Africa" in November 2003.
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more Info
Elephant Walk Accommodation
& Tours - (Phalaborwa Accommodation) -
Visit us at Elephant Walk and be pleasantly surprised
at this small homely "home from home" backpackers
and Bed & Breakfast. Situated in the Limpopo Province
of Southern Africa, less than 2km from the Phalaborwa
Gate to the Kruger National Park.
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Info |
| Featured
Listings: Graskop Accommodation
Panorama Rest Camp
- (Graskop Accommodation) - God’s Window, Pilgrims
Rest, Blyde River Canyon and many waterfalls are within
50km from Panorama Rest Camp. It is ideally situated
on the Mpumalanga Escarpment with a stunning view over
the Graskop Gorge and Lowveld. We offer affordable self-catering
chalets for 2 to 6 persons.
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Info
Log Cabin & Settlers Village
- (Graskop Accommodation) - Situated in the sleepy village
of Graskop on the Panorama Route and close to the Kruger
National Park, you will find our owner-managed resort.
Our location makes it ideal for either destination or
for the stopover traveller.
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Info
|
Featured
Listings: Hazyview Accommodation
Lions Rock Golf Lodge
- (HazyView Accommodation) - Lions Rock Golf Lodge awaits
you! Delightful, luxury lodges, each with spa baths,
several splash pools, private verandahs, magnificent
views. Golf during the day and luxury relaxation after,
or just lay back during the day and take it easy by
the side of your own pool whilst enjoying the magnificent
views.
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Info |
Featured
Listings: Malelane Accommodation
Buhala Game Lodge -
(Malelane Accommodation) - Buhala is an enchanting Game
Lodge right on the banks of the Crocodile River, the
border of the Kruger National Park. What a wonderful
waterhole to have at the bottom of the garden! Elephant,
buffalo, hippos and many antelope are just a few of
the frequent visitors there.
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Info
Mhlati Guest Cottages
- (Malelane Accommodation) - At Mhlati Guest Cottage
you can leave the stress of city life behind and come
and relax in the serene and peaceful surroundings of
the private, secluded village of Mhlatikop a few kilometers
from the town of Malelane, Mpumalanga in the Wild Frontier
– Home of the Big Five and sugar cane country!
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more Info |
Featured
Listings: Marloth
Park ccommodation
Zaganaga Selfcatering Guesthouse
- (Marloth Park Accommodation) - Zaganaga Selfcatering
Guesthouse,is situated in the holiday town Marloth Park
which is located just 10km from Komatipoort Border to
Mocambique.It shares the Crocodile river boundry with
The Kruger National Park. Marloth Park Clubhouse boasts
a swimming pool as well as tenniscourts.
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Info |
Featured
Listings: Komatipoort
Accommodation
Orchards Farm Cottages
- (Komatipoort Accommodation) - Beautiful thatched cottages
on the banks of the Komati River — abundant bird
life, hippos and crocs! Tiger-fishing and many other
activities in and around Komatipoort. The cottages are
all thatched with up-market furnishings and are fully
equipped for guests wishing to self cater, but we also
offer Breakfast.
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Info |
Kruger National Park is the largest
game reserve in South Africa. It is roughly the same size
and shape as Israel or Wales. It covers about 20,000 square
kilometres and extends 350 km from north to south and 60 km
from east to west.
To the west and south of the Kruger
National Park are the two South African provinces of Mpumalanga
and Limpopo. In the north
is Zimbabwe, and to the east is Mozambique.
It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, a
peace park that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou
National Park in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park
in Mozambique.
The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area
designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific
Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere
Reserve (the "Biosphere").
Early history of the Kruger National Park:
Evidence of early humans is found in the area, dating as early
as 1,500,000 BC. The San people also existed in the area as
far back as 100,000 BC. In 200 AD the first Nguni speaking
people, looking for more grazing land for their cattle, migrated
south into the area and displaced the San. By 800 AD the Arabs
started raiding the area for slaves, using the ports in Mozambique.
A civilisation also sprang up in the northern regions of the
park. They built the Thulamela Stone Citadel which was occupied
between 1250–1700 AD. They also extracted iron ore from
up to 200 mines, converting it into iron for trade.
The first known European to explore the area was the Dutch
Francois de Cuiper, who led a Dutch East India Company expedition
from the Cape Colony in 1725. However, the expedition was
attacked by local tribes-people near Gomondwane, and driven
away.
Around 1838, Voortrekker expeditions led by Louis
Trichardt and Hans van Rensburg explored the Lowveld.
In 1845 João Albasini, an 18 year-old Italian, became
the first European to settle in the area. He was stranded
in Moçambique and set off westward, where he built
a homestead and opened a trading store near modern day Pretoriuskop.
About the same time, wagon routes were established across
the Lowveld linking the Transvaal Republic to Delagoa Bay
(Maputo).
Gold was first discovered in September 1873 at Pilgrim's
Rest, and then in 1881 at Barberton. Fortune seekers rushed
to the lowveld, the prospect of finding gold banished all
fear of lions, crocodiles, and malaria. This started the dramatic
decline of wild animals in the region, due to hunting and
trading of animal horns and skins.
Game Reserve:
In 1896 the Rinderpest virus wiped out most of the region's
game and cattle. Aiming to preserve game animals for future
hunters, the Transvaal Volksraad voted in favour of a small
government game reserve. Funds for the Sabie Game Reserve
were allocated in 1898, but war broke out. After the Second
Boer War, Major (later Lieutenant-Colonel) James Stevenson-Hamilton
was appointed the first warden in 1902, and a few months later
the area from the Sabi river to the Olifants river was added.
The far north area gained protection in 1903 as the Singwitsi
Game Reserve. This area included Crook's Corner, a small triangular
tongue of land between the Luvuvhu and Limpopo rivers, where
the borders of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe meet.
In the 1900s this area was a safe-haven for gun runners, poachers,
fugitives and anyone else dodging the law. It was an easy
hop across the river whenever police from one particular country
approached. There is a large plaque here commemorating the
legendary ivory hunter Cecil Barnard (Bvekenya), who hid on
an island in the middle of the Limpopo to avoid being tracked
down by pursuing rangers and police in the 1920s. Ironically,
Barnard later became a ranger himself. A police station was
later built here.
As a result of nearly a century of unbridled hunting, there
were virtually no animals in the reserves, and with the reputation
of the malarial Lowveld as a white man's grave, Stevenson-Hamilton
removed all human inhabitants from the reserves. In addition,
he and his assistants began shooting all predators in order
to "bring up" the antelope herds.
In 1912, a railway line was routed through the reserve. Stevenson-Hamilton
successfully used this to get tourists to stop over for lunch.
By 1916 a government commission was appointed to assess the
future of the reserves. In 1926, as an act of reconciliation,
the British administration officially renamed the reserves
after Paul Kruger, and declared it to be South Africa's first
National Park. In 1927, the park was opened to the public
who where charged a £1 fee. Only a handful of cars visited
the new park that year, but in 1935 some 26,000 people passed
through the gates. Today the number is around one million
per year. Stevenson-Hamilton was surprised when lions became
a key attractions, and he stopped the indiscriminate shooting
of the predators.
In the 1960s, in an effort to boost game numbers, the Water
for Wildlife project was started and erected about 300 windmills
in the park. The waterholes attracted game into the area.
At first this seemed a good thing; only decades later did
the results show that with the impalas and zebras the waterholes
attracted also brought more predators into the area. Before
the waterholes, these dryer areas supported roan antelope,
which are much easier for lions to catch — the roans
weren't able to compete. The park has started to close the
waterholes, and let nature take its course.
Modernisation:
In 1991, the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the South
African National Parks Board began the transition of the park
into the new South
Africa. One of his many accomplishments was removing the
fencing that separated the park's western border from numerous
small, private game reserves, thus allowing the animals to
roam freely between the private game reserves and Kruger National
Park.
With the forming of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park,
large, unsustainable herds of animals in the Kruger National
Park can now be translocated to near-virgin bush. The war
ravaged 300 square kilometre Limpopo National Park in Moçambique
(formerly known as Coutada 16) started receiving animals in
2001.
On October 21, 2002, the Kruger Mpumalanga International
Airport was opened near Nelspruit,
some 63km from the closest park gate. The airport is intended
to increase accessibility to the park from major South African
centres, namely Durban, Cape
Town and Johannesburg. Despite
the name, the airport does not handle notable volumes of international
traffic at this stage. Indeed, the airport is not especially
commercial; with only South African Airlink and two other
small operators running commercial flights.
The Kruger National Park is divided into 6 eco-systems: Baobab
sandveld, Mopane scrub, Lebombo knobthorn-marula bushveld,
mixed acacia thicket, Combretum-silver clusterleaf woodland
on granite and riverine forest. Altogether it has 1,982 species
of plants.
Birds:
Out of the 517 species of birds found at Kruger, 253 are residents,
117 non-breeding migrants, and 147 nomads.
Mammals:
All the Big Five game animals are found at Kruger National
Park, which protects over 147 species of mammals. As of 2004,
the park has counted approximately:
25,150 African Buffalo
200 African Hunting Dogs
350 Black Rhinoceros
32,000 Burchell's Zebras
500 Bushbucks
200 Cheetahs
300 Common Eland
9,000 Giraffes
5,000 Greater Kudus
3,000 Hippopotamus
over 170,000 Impalas.
1,000 Leopards
2,000 Lions
150 Mountain Reedbucks
300 Nyalas
300 Reedbucks
60 Roan Antelopes
550 Sable Antelopes
11,670 Savannah Elephants
2,000 Spotted Hyenas
200 Tsessebes
3,800 Warthogs
5,000 Waterbucks
5,000 White Rhinoceros
17,000 Blue Wildebeest
The park stopped culling elephants in 1989 and tried translocating
them, but by 2004 the population had increased to 11,670 elephants.
The park's habitats can only sustain about 8,000 elephants.
The park successfully started using annual contraception in
1995.
The Kruger National Park holds over 48 tons of ivory in storage.
According to Convention on the International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES), it is allowed to
sell 30 tons.
Reptiles, fish, and amphibians:
There are 120 species of reptile, including approximately
5,000 Nile Crocodiles, 52 species of fish, and 35 species
of amphibians.
Accommodation in Kruger National Park:
The Kruger National Park has 21 rest camps, as well as 7 private
lodge concessions, and 11 designated private safari lodges.
The concessions are parcels of land operated by private companies
in partnership with communities, who outsource the operation
of private lodges.
Rest camps:
Balule: Situated on the southern bank of the Olifants River
Bateleur
Berg-en-Dal: This modern camp opened in February 24, 1984
is situated on the bank of the Matjulu Spruit in the south
of the park. It is the only camp set in a rugged mountain
environment and is built on the site of a prehistoric settlement.
Letaba entrance:
Biyamiti Bushveld camp
Crocodile Bridge: Built in the 1930s on the bank of the Crocodile
River in the south-eastern corner of the park.
Letaba: Situated on the banks of the Letaba River.
Lower Sabie: Situated on the bank of a dam in the Sabie River.
Malelane: One of the smallest rest camps.
Maroela: A small camp overlooking the Timbavati River.
Mopani: Built in 1989 on the eastern bank of the Pioneer Dam.
Olifants: Set on a cliff overlooking the Olifants River.
Orpen
Pretoriuskop: Built on the wagon route from Lydenburg goldfields
to the coast and named after Willem Pretorius son of Andries
Pretorius. It is situated in the western-most, highest, coolest
and wettest part of the park.
Punda Maria: Built in 1919 as a ranger outpost this northern-most
camp's name is thought to have originated from a misspelling
of the Swahili word punda millia, meaning zebra and the area's
first section ranger JJ Coetzer's wife Maria. It was converted
into a rest camp in 1933.
Satara: In the 19th century, before the park was declared,
this area of the lowveld was carved up settlement by burghers
of the Transvaal Republic. One of the surveyors was an Indian
who marked the present-day Satara area on his map with the
Hindi word satra, meaning 17.
Sirheni: A small camp situated in a riverine forest on the
edge of Sirheni dam which is fed by the Mphongolo River.
Shimuwini Bushveld Camp
Shingwedzi: Alluvial gold was discovered here.
Skukuza: This is the main camp in the Kruger National Park,
it is situated on the southern bank of the Sabie River and
can sleep 1,000 visitors in rondavels, bungalows, river-fronting
units and group cottages. It even has a 9 hole golf course.
When founded in 1902 it was originally named Sabie Bridge,
but was changed in 1936 to Stevenson-Hamilton's Shangaan name,
Skukuza which can be translated as "he who sweeps clean"
or "he who turns everything upside down".
Talamati
Tamboti Tented Camp: A small tented camp set in a forest on
a loop of the Timbavati river.
Wilderness Trails:
The seven walking trails offer 3 nights of bush solitude in
areas of wilderness virtually untouched by humans. There are
no set trails in the wilderness areas; you walk along paths
made by animals or seek out new routes through the bush.
Bushman: Near Berg-en-Dal
Metsi-Metsi: Near Orpen Dam and N'wamuriwa Mountain.
Napi: Between Skukuza and Pretoriuskop.
Nyalaland: North of Punda Maria, near Luvuvhu River.
Olifants: Near Olifants camp, on the Olifants River.
Sweni: Near N'wanetsi.
Wolhuter: Between Berg-en-Dal and Pretoriuskop.
Many visitors to the Kruger Park find it more economical
to enter the park as a day visitor and stay at one of the
many small towns dotted along it's borders, such as Plaston,
Hazyview, Kiepersol,
Hoedspruit or
even Phalaborwa.
