South Africa's Kruger National Park: The Big Five and Beyond

Kruger National Park covers 20,000 square kilometres of the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces of South Africa — an area roughly the size of Wales — and contains more species of large mammals than any other African game reserve. The Big Five (lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo, and rhino) are all present in healthy numbers, and the park's road network of 2,600 kilometres makes it one of the few African reserves where a self-drive safari is genuinely practical and rewarding.

The southern section of Kruger, between the Crocodile River and the Sabie River, has the highest density of wildlife in the park and is the best area for first-time visitors. The H1-2 road between Skukuza and Lower Sabie is the finest game drive in Kruger — a 50-kilometre stretch of tarmac that passes through a variety of habitats and consistently produces sightings of lion, leopard, elephant, and the enormous herds of buffalo and impala that are the foundation of the park's food chain.

The private game reserves that border Kruger to the west — Sabi Sand, Timbavati, Klaserie — offer a different kind of safari experience: guided drives in open vehicles with experienced trackers, off-road driving that takes you to within metres of the animals, and the night drives that are not permitted in the national park. The leopard sightings in Sabi Sand are the finest in Africa — the animals are so habituated to vehicles that they will walk past within touching distance.

The Blyde River Canyon, in the Drakensberg escarpment west of Kruger, is one of the largest canyons in the world and one of the most beautiful in Africa — a 26-kilometre gorge of red sandstone cliffs, waterfalls, and the Three Rondavels (three cylindrical rock formations that resemble the traditional round houses of the Pedi people). The Panorama Route, a driving circuit of the escarpment, passes through some of the finest scenery in South Africa.

The Drakensberg mountains, in KwaZulu-Natal, are the finest hiking destination in South Africa — a 200-kilometre escarpment of basalt cliffs and alpine meadows that forms the border between South Africa and Lesotho. The Royal Natal National Park, at the northern end of the range, contains the Amphitheatre — a 5-kilometre wall of basalt that rises 1,200 metres from the valley floor and is one of the most dramatic rock faces in the world.

Cape Town, at the southwestern tip of Africa, is one of the world's great cities — a place of extraordinary natural beauty, with Table Mountain rising above the city and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meeting at the Cape of Good Hope. The Cape Winelands, an hour's drive from the city, contain some of the finest wine estates in the world, and the combination of the mountain scenery, the Cape Dutch architecture, and the Pinotage and Chenin Blanc that the region produces makes for one of the finest wine tourism experiences outside France.

The best time to visit Kruger is during the dry season, from May to September, when the vegetation is sparse and the animals concentrate around the waterholes. The wet season (October to April) brings lush green growth and the birth of young animals, but the dense vegetation makes wildlife harder to spot. The winter months (June to August) are the coldest — temperatures can drop to near freezing at night — but the days are warm and sunny and the game viewing is at its best.

The self-drive safari in Kruger is one of the great independent travel experiences in Africa — the freedom to set your own pace, to stop for as long as you like at a sighting, and to explore the park's 2,600 kilometres of roads without a guide or a schedule. The key to a successful self-drive is to be on the road at opening time (5:30am in summer, 6am in winter), to drive slowly, and to stop at every waterhole. The H1-2 between Skukuza and Lower Sabie is the most productive road in the park, but the less-driven roads of the northern section offer the best chance of solitude.

The Panorama Route, in the Drakensberg escarpment west of Kruger, is one of the finest scenic drives in South Africa — a circuit of viewpoints, waterfalls, and the Blyde River Canyon that can be done as a day trip from the park. God's Window, a viewpoint on the escarpment edge that looks out over the lowveld to the horizon, and the Bourke's Luck Potholes — cylindrical rock formations carved by the confluence of the Blyde and Treur Rivers — are the highlights of the route.

Practical tips for Kruger: the rest camps (Skukuza, Lower Sabie, Satara, Olifants) must be booked well in advance through the SANParks website, particularly for the peak season of July and August. The camps have restaurants, shops, and petrol stations, and the bungalows and safari tents are comfortable enough to make a week in the park entirely self-sufficient. Bringing binoculars is essential — the difference between a distant brown shape and a positive identification of a leopard in a tree is entirely a matter of optics.

The night drives in Kruger, available from the rest camps between April and November, offer the chance to see the nocturnal animals that are invisible during the day — leopards hunting, lions on the move, civets, genets, and the extraordinary variety of owls and nightjars that inhabit the park. The drives are conducted in open vehicles with a spotlight, and the experience of being in the African bush at night — the sounds, the smells, the sudden appearance of eyes in the darkness — is one of the most memorable in safari travel.