Kruger safaris
Authentic off-the-beaten-track safaris
Kruger Safaris
Tailormade For You
Easy access
From Johannesburg, Kruger is a short hop by light aircraft, flying an hour to the east and often landing directly into a dirt airstrip in the bush. I really could not be easier.
Easy wildlife
The wildlife in most parts of Kruger is well habituated and relaxed to the presence of vehicles. As they say locally, this is a ‘big five before breakfast’ kind of place.
Top hospitality
South Africa is renowned for its incredible hospitality, with professionally run lodges, with lovely capable staff and safari guides.
Luxury lodges
Some of the lodges in Kruger are genuinely top-end, with levels of polish and elegance that you might think would be unacheivable in Africa, but with prices to match.
Lower cost options
Kruger contains a handful of lodges with the unusual combination of being well-located, authentic, serious about their safari guiding and surprisingly well-priced
Remote north
If you think that Kruger may be a little tame or samey for you, then we oftenrecommend adding nights in the dramatically different Pafuri area, far to the north.
7 to 10 nights
Shorter trips of 7-10 nights can either focus on a good length safari, or can undertake a rather hurried safari and Cape combination, usually split between two or three lodges.
11 to 14 nights
Adding a few extra nights means that a safari and Cape combination can be undertaken more comfortably, usually including two safari locations, plus time in Cape Town, maybe extending to the Whale Coast and the Cape Winelands.
15 to 28 nights
In longer trips, it becomes more common to include more than two regions. The additional location can be in South Africa or in other countries, notably Victoria Falls and the safari areas of Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe, or the deserts of Namibia.
The cost of safari in South Africa
Safari in South Africa ranges from surprisingly good value to extremely pricey. You can expect to spend around £250 to £3000 per person per night.
We are more than happy to work across this range of prices. The only important thing is that we help you find the very best safari to suit your budget.
The two dominant price factors are the length of time that you spend on safari and the specific lodges that you choose to include in your trip. Deploying more time in town, rural and beach locations can bring the total cost down dramatically.
If you have a higher budget, we will help you determine which camps do actually deliver elevated levels of service and experience. We will also highlight other subtle ways in which your trip can be raised to another level, including the use of whole camp bookings, private guides and vehicles, helicopter explorations of remote areas etc.
If you have a medium budget, the best way to keep a lid on costs is to carefully choose lower-cost lodges. You can also reduce the number of core safari nights and deploy time in more cost-effective beach, town and rural locations. We will help you understand where to trim and where to splash in order to achieve the best overall experience.
If you have a lower budget, then we can always look at other fundamentally less pricey safari countries.
Cape Town
Set within a mountainous national park, Cape Town is a fabulous place, even for people who hate cities. As well as the history, there are great hiking trails, beautiful beaches and even penguin colonies.
Popular combos with a South Africa safari
Cape Winelands
Located a couple hours by road from the city, Cape Winelands is a fabulous area of mountains and fertile valleys, with superb wineries, pretty villages and truly world-class eateries at diner prices.
Whale Coast
The coastline to the east of Cape Town is particularly renowned for its whales. It is centred on the town of Hermanus, but the coastal nature reserve of De Hoop is our favourite.
The best lodges in Kruger
South Africa has around 500 safari lodges, of which over 200 are located in the Kruger area.
We are able to include any of these properties in your trip. We ones most like to recommend fall into two categories …
Firstly, there are the truly high-end lodges, which are in the very best locations and offer the highest levels of guiding, hospitality and consistency, suitable for demanding guests.
Secondly, there are the relatively good value camps, which are also in excellent locations and also take their guiding very seriously, but which typically offer lower levels of luxury and have the potential to be slightly less consistent in their delivery, suitable for more easy-going guests.
South Africa has a very large tourism industry. The properties that we generally prefer to avoid are the larger and more commercial ‘sausage factory’ properties that service the mainstream demand.
You can always expect absolute honesty from us when describing the various lodges and camps. Our primary motivation is simply to figure out which ones will suit you the best.
Luxury trips
Our luxury trips to South Africa combine lodges which are in prime locations, where high levels of comfort and service are guaranteed. This does not necessarily mean infinity pools and spa facilities, but it does always mean that you will be hosted and guided by the very best people in the country. That is how to truly guarantee the quality of a safari.
Trips to South Africa
Adventure trips
In our adventure trips to South Africa, we use a much wider range of lodges, still in fabulous locations and offering authentic safari experiences, but often at considerably lower cost. More strenuous activities, like walking safari, are likely to feature more prominently. These cool, sometimes edgy lodges tend to be best suited to guests who are a little more outdoorsy and forgiving.
Your trip will be fully tailor-made. We will work with you until we are all happy that we have arrived at the ideal trip solution. Sometimes that’s a quick and easy process, other times it can take several iterations. It’s a mutual learning process.
Set in the northeast of South Africa, Kruger is a vast conservation area, easily the most popular safari destination on the continent, renowned for easy wildlife viewing and great predator photography. Guest accommodation is in around 150 lodges, most of which are extremely comfortable and reliable, as well as covering an unusually wide range of price levels.
Kruger can be thought of as two very different places. On the one hand, there is the national park, which hosts enormous volumes of budget and self-drive safari traffic. On the other than, there is a huge network of private reserves, which do not suffer from the same traffic issues, contain high quality lodges and are able to offer quality safari experiences. We focus almost exclusively on the latter.
We will help you to create your perfect South Africa safari, using the full range of high quality ingredients.
When to safari in South Africa
Choosing when to visit South Africa is notoriously difficult because different parts of the country experience almost converse seasons. There is almost always an element of compromise when building trips.
The Cape region has what could be considered a typical southern hemisphere climate, Mediterranean in style, but with a warm dry summer focused on Dec-Apr and cool wet winter Jun-Sep, so the converse to most of Europe and North America.
The main safari areas in South Africa (Kruger, Madikwe, Waterberg Mountains and Tswalu), in common with almost all safari areas in other countries across Africa, all have a completely different climate, which is driven mainly by the monsoon systems of the Indian Ocean. The cool dry season, which is usually considered to be the best time for safari, is May-Sep, whilst the more challenging hot wet green season is centred on Nov-Mar.
When thinking about seasonality it is important to consider the four aspects of weather, wildlife movements, visitor traffic and prices.
Jun-Oct : Safari season
In Kruger and the other the main safari areas, this period is characterised by a cool dry winter, which is generally considered to be the best time for wildlife viewing, although day length is relatively short and nights can get very cold.
In the Cape, this period represents Winter, which is relatively mild, but with adverse weather tending to come in bursts, as storms roll in off the surrounding oceans. Long overcast periods are rare and there's usually plenty of mild sunshine in the mix. The further inland you go, the lower the chances of cloud and rain, but the night time temperatures can really plummet.
Oct-Nov : Warm transition season
In Kruger and the other the main safari areas, this period marks the start of the hot wet summer. Wildlife viewing is usually very strong, but temperatures and humidities can become uncomfortably high in advance of the first rains. Air-conditioning is important at this time.
In the Cape, this period represents Spring, the conventional transition from a cool wet winter to a hot dry summer, with conditions generally being pleasant and comfortable, but still with a chance of occasional prolonged showers. The further inland you go, the lower the chances of cloud and rain, but the night time temperatures can still drop quite low.
Dec-Mar : Cape season
In Kruger and the other the main safari areas, this period is the hot wet Summer, which is generally considered to be the most challenging time for wildlife viewing, although sightings should remain reliable in the premium areas. Day length is nice and long, but temperatures and humidities can become uncomfortably hot and rain can be a major issue.
In the Cape, this period represents Summer, characterised by comfortably warm temperatures, both day and night, with very low rainfall. The only significant potential negative is that the south-easterly wind, known as the Cape Doctor, can be quite relentless at times.
Apr-May : Cool transition season
In Kruger and the other the main safari areas, this is a period of transition between the hot wet Summer and the cool dry Winter, with comfortable conditions and wildlife viewing improving as the foliage dies back.
In the Cape, this period represents Autumn/Fall, the conventional transition from a hot dry Summer to a cool wet Winter, with conditions generally remaining pleasant and comfortable, but with increasing chances of occasional prolonged showers and overcast skies.
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Arranging your trip should be almost as much fun as actually going on safari
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Your trip should cost you no more than if you booked all the components directly
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Your trip will be perfectly tuned to meet your requirements
ATR is widely recognised as the world’s leading tailor-made safari company. We will help you to find a more authentic, more exciting, better value safari.
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Kruger insider tips
Not very wild
Kruger is vast, but the lodges are mainly clustered in the west, where the safari areas are fenced and bordered by substantial settlements. Some lodges are far too close to that fence line.
Lodge density
The area occupied by one lodge in Botswana contains around 100 lodges in Kruger. This fact only tends to affect people to whom the concept of ’infinite wilderness’ is important.
Small scenes
Kruger is largely bushy and forested. The wildlife scenes tend to be smaller and more intimate than the vast epic events of the open savannas further north on the continent.
Safari in Kruger is extremely popular and many of the lodges reliably deliver great experiences. But nowhere is perfect, so here are a few less positive aspects to look out for.
How long to spend in South Africa
Complicated seasons
Unfortunately, the prime dry season in Kruger (May-Oct) contradicts the summer season in the Cape (Nov-Apr). Most trips therefore involve some element of compromise when it comes to weather.
Lack of availability
No matter the time of year, the lodges of Kruger are relentlessly over-demanded and you really do need to book early to get into the best properties, especially if you need more than one room.
Busy areas
The core public roads and enormous restcamps of the national park need to be avoided at all costs, if you are looking for an intimate and authentic safari experience.
Victoria Falls
The Victoria Falls serve as a natural hub for the safari areas of Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, but can also be included in a trip to South Africa, with good flight connections from Kruger, Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Okavango Delta
Botswana is widely considered to be the premium safari location in Africa, centred on the magnificent Okavango Delta. This can easily be combined into a South Africa trip, but beware of the very high prices.
Bazaruto
If you would like to combine tropical beaches into a South Africa trip, then Mozambique is a really strong option, with flight connections between Bazaruto, Kruger and Johannesburg.