Kruger National Park, South Africa - General Information
Gate Times, Accommodation, Restaurants, Entry Fees

General Information on the Kruger National Park, South Africa

Established in 1899 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, this national park of over 2 million hectares, is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies. Combined with the  Limpopo Transfrontier Park in Mozambique, the area covers nearly 3 million hectares.

Kruger National Park Tours and Safaris

Truly the flagship of the South African National Parks, Kruger is home to an impressive number of species:

• 477 birds
• 336 trees
• 147 mammals
• 114 reptiles
• 49 fish
• 34 amphibians

The Kruger National Park lies on the eastern border of the Republic of South Africa. Part of the park falls within the borders of Mpumalanga Province, and the rest in Limpopo Province. The eastern border of the park forms the border with Mozambique, and in the north the park borders on Zimbabwe. The newly-created trans-frontier park - The Limpopo Transfrontier Park - has added a considerable area onto the park, but at this point in time is still relatively undeveloped.

There are 8 entrance gates - the closest to Johannesburg is approx 450km from the city.

Climate:
The climate is subtropical with hot summers and warm, dry winters. Summer rains fall between October and March. Early mornings in the winter can be VERY cold - so take warm clothes.

Accommodation:
Accommodation is offered in a variety of restcamps. These camps vary in size from very small "Bushveld Camps" (only 7 to 15 accommodation units in total), to large restcamps housing several hundred people. All the major camps have electricity, a first-aid centre, shop and restaurant or cafeteria, petrol station and public telephones.

The small bushcamps only have accommodation facilities. These do also have electricity.

Kruger National Park Entry Fees:

Entry fees are payable on a "per day" basis - except if you sleep over in the park - then every night counts as a "day". International visitors (i.e Non South African Nationals) pay R180.00 per adult per day/night. So if you sleep outside the park, and come in for two days, you will pay R360.00, but if you overnight in the park, although you are there for two days, you will only pay R180.00. (These are the rates from 1st November 2010 to 31st October 2011)

Roads:

There are good tourist roads in the park - the speed limit on gravel is 40km/h - on tar 50km/h. In total there is approximately 2000km of road accessible to the tourist. We advise you to buy a Kruger National Park Map - these are available at all the entry gates and shops. All the intersections are signposted with distances to next camp, picnic sites or gates.

If you are planning your own self-drive trip to the Kruger National Park - a good way to plan your day in the park is to allow for an average travelling speed of 30km/h.