Kruger National Park Guide - South Africa

The Kruger National Park; a magical piece of Africa that is so vast and beautiful that it can consume your very being, day after day for months on end without ever running out of new surprises. Driving through any of the many entrance gates, one is immediately engulfed by a powerful aura and the realisation; "I am with nature in its purest form". I have my favourite roads and areas, yet, it is with years of visits that I can honestly say, "not one road or area of the park has failed to deliver a unique experience". This "Eco Travel Guide to the Kruger National Park" is thus written with deliberate equality - all roads are equal, for in a flash, you never know what you will witness anywhere!

The park is 380km long and at an average of 60km wide covers nearly 2 million hectares, 1 948 500 ha to be exact. The ? kilometres of quality tarred and gravel roads that criss-cross the park, bring one into contact with almost every form of the wildlife found within its boundaries. The Kruger National Park is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and is a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies and is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals.

The precursor to the Kruger National Park, the Sabi Game reserve was established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld by the visionary leader of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Repuliek, Paul Kruger, after whom the park was eventually to be named. The Shingwedzi Game reserve was proclaimed in 1903, and 23 years later, joined to the Sabi Game reserve to form the Kruger National Park. It was to be many years of troubles of various proportions before the park reached its current status. Politicians, farmers and hunters wrangled over the need for its existence and almost succeeded in scuttling the parks future many times!

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.

Kruger has a large spread of camps of varying in size, facility and cost. There are 12 main rest camps. Orpen and Crocodile Bridge are gate camps and are the only ones that do not have restaurant facilities. All the main restcamps have shops