How to Plan a Self-Drive Safari in Kruger National Park

Last Updated on Aug 28, 2024

Kruger National Park is one of the best options for self-drive safari in Africa. It’s the most affordable and accessible, and offers various accommodation options: from the most basic camping, through mid-range lodges, to extremely luxurious hotels.

Kruger National Park can be easily visited with children, so don’t hesitate to add it to your African safari with kids.

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Is Kruger better than Serengeti?

Having been to both I would say that it’s a completely different experience. Kruger allows self-driving, while Serengeti does not. I felt like you could see more animals at Kruger and drive less in between sightings, but then at Serengeti when you find wildlife it’s usually. big group. If you want to see cheetahs there are everywhere in Serengeti.

Booking Kruger National Park with Travel Agency vs Self-Drive Safari

Unless you can’t drive or don’t have anyone who can split the drive with you, simply rent a car and explore on your own. That way you can design your route, stay and watch some animals as long as you want, and generally have more freedom.

Renting a car in South Africa is very easy and affordable, so don’t worry about it. South Africa is actually where I learned to drive a stick, so trust me – it’s not scary to drive there.

This is how locals visit Kruger as well. You can of course, book additional activities that you cannot do on your own (like a walking safari) through the park later, but unlike in some other parks where you cannot self-drive, Kruger is the place to do it.

I watched the arranged tour vehicles and I spoke to quite a lot of people who went on a group tour. Even though they were happy, I think I had a much better experience than they did as we took our time.

I managed to see many more animals, and I got much closer to the cheetahs. The arranged tour vehicle left after 5 minutes and didn’t wait for the cats to come out of the bushes. Also, on a group safari, you’ll spend an extensive amount of time on a campsite with no animals around and you can’t just decide to randomly go and see hippos at sunset.

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Golden Rules for a Self-drive Safari in Kruger:

1. Plan your trip way in advance.

Being spontaneous doesn’t really work at Kruger. Think about the dates you want to visit the park and book a car with a rental agency at least a few days before. My friend and I were stupid enough to think that we could just show up and they would have a car ready for us like in Europe.

Car rental agencies do get busy and we got extremely lucky that someone returned their car at the exact moment we walked into the office.

One piece of advice for US citizens: you can’t rent a car in South Africa with an American driver’s license, so get an international one before you head on holiday.

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2. Prepare your credit cards.

You can’t rent a car in South Africa without a credit card. Not only that, the car rental company will block a huge amount on your credit card the minute you rent a car.

The amount varies depending on the desired length of the rent and despite the office telling us that the charge for the car and fuel would be returned in 3 days, it didn’t happen for 2 weeks. Not surprisingly, we had a lot of trouble trying to rent a car 3 times.

My advice: if you don’t have a huge limit on your credit card, rent a car and keep it. It’s better to pay for an extra day or two than not being able to rent another car again.

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3. Book your accommodation beforehand

Kruger National Park is huge. It’s actually as big as the Netherlands, so you need to plan accordingly. I recommend staying inside the park, as then the driving distances are shorter.

On the park’s website you can see the different camps and which animals can you spot around these camps.

For our 3-day safari we stayed at 2 different camps – Crocodile Bridge and Lower Sabie. The latter one is considered the best main camp in the whole park and I tend to agree in terms of standard, but the experience was better elsewhere. Both camps offer villas, rooms and campsites.

We saw more wildlife at Crocodile Bridge . We were able to see tons of monkeys and hyenas, right next to the fence as the camp is small and animals come very close. Lower Sabie, on the other hand, is huge with a lot of luxurious facilities, which are nice, but they don’t give you the chance to have a nocturnal encounter with hyenas.

Again, avoid my mistake of not booking accommodation at least a month in advance (!). Because we didn’t book in time, our only option was to camp outdoors. If you’re camping, keep your food closed as the monkeys will steal it all.

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4. Consider the time and driving distances

The camps close at 7 pm for the night and you have to make it back before it gets dark. Estimate the distance you need to go between camps and take into consideration that a lot of roads are tiny side roads. You won’t be able to drive faster than 20 miles an hour on them.

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5. Enjoy the Big 5!

I hope you’re going to be able to spot the Big 5! I only missed the lions (but I didn’t mind after my volunteering with lions experience) and we even saw a wild dog and there are only a few of them in the entire park!

Which gate is best in Kruger National Park?

There are 10 entrance gates to Kruger National Park. Depends on where are you driving from, there are different possibilities.

Paul Kruger Gate is considered the best, as it’s the closest to Skukuza. This is also where the famous Lion Sands luxury resort is located. I entered Crocodile Bridge (as we wanted to see hippos, and we did!) and exited through Paul Kruger.

Numbi Gate tends to be the worst due to road conditions, theft, and camp reachability, so unless you’re entering the park in the morning it’s best to avoid it.

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Other Practical Tips for Visiting Kruger National Park:

Book a morning walk tour

While at Lower Sabie we booked a walking tour in the morning. It was an exciting activity, as we couldn’t get out of our vehicle normally while driving around the park. We spotted some interesting footprints, a few giraffes, and even a rhino running in our direction.

Thankfully, the wind changed and the rhino stopped running towards us! Rhinos don’t see very well, but they smell everything around. So when the wind changed the rhino couldn’t smell us anymore.

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Be patient and wait. We waited twice: once for cheetahs who ended up chilling next to our car and then for the rhino. We experienced a scene similar to Jurassic Park where everyone stopped and wondered where the T-Rex went, and suddenly showed up in front of the car. The rhino literally walked next to us!

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What to Pack for a Safari in South Africa?

As you can see in my photos Africa is not a fashion show. Even if you often see Instagram photos of perfectly dressed women, believe me – you’ll be dusty and sweaty and it won’t last long.

Don’t forget to bring a pillow. You’ll be sitting in the car for a very long time and you might want to put your head down and rest for a bit.

Read more tips on what to wear on an African safari.

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Arrange your travel insurance

Don’t forget to arrange health insurance before heading for a safari. The easiest and the most reliable travel insurance is Safety Wing. Get it before your trip to avoid unnecessary troubles that might ruin your holidays!