The Kruger National Park, which measures a whopping two million hectares, is approximately the size of the whole of Wales. 14 different ecozones, each supporting different wildlife in Kruger National Park. The Kruger National Park in north-east of South Africa and and runs along the border of Mozambique in the east, Zimbabwe in the north, and the southern border is the Crocodile River.
In the far north, it gets hotter and the vegetation changes to mopane woodland and, right in the northern part of the country, huge baobab trees dominate the landscape. The rivers here tend to be broad and slow-moving and may consist of no more than a few unconnected pools at the end of the dry season but that’s when the game congregates around the few known water sources – so it all evens out. You may have heard the cynical remark that Kruger is ‘too developed’ with loads of town-like camps and other infrastructure.
Well, yes. The park does have a number of good accommodation options – more than 20 SANParks camps and a few private luxury lodges as well. That may sound like a lot – but remember that Kruger is the size of Wales – and in all that space there is one town – the main camp, Skukuza, is virtually a small town – about a dozen tiny hamlets with less than a hundred families and a few out of they way camps that would probably relate to a small farmstead. That leaves an awful lot of real wilderness.
Truly the flagship of the South African national parks, Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. Man’s interaction with the Lowveld environment over many centuries – from bushman rock paintings to majestic archaeological sites like Masorini and Thulamela – is very evident in the Kruger National Park. These treasures represent the cultures, persons and events that played a role in the history of the Kruger National Park and are conserved along with the park’s natural assets.
Transport:
Malelane Regional Airport near the Malelane Gate is only used for private and charter flights. Eastgate Airport at Hoedspruit, a dual use airport, with a couple of flights a day to Johannesburg with South African Airlines only. Avis has a car rental desk there, but the range isn’t as wide as at Nelspruit.