Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park

Hi,

I'm thinking of booking an impromptu trip to SA in about 4 weeks time.

1) If I just fly into Jo'berg, rent a car and then drive in the direction of
the park, will I have difficulty finding somewhere to stay or do I need
to make arrangements beforehand?

2) Is it possible to arrange safari trips through the park 'on the day'?
(I presume that I'm not allowed to drive to see the elephants in my
hire car!)

TIA

tim

Hello Tim,

You've picked an excellent time of year to do Kruger. The weather will
be cooler, so you'll see more animals. Hopefully the grass will be
drier, and shorter too.

You will have very little difficulty in finding accomodation outside
the park without booking as schools are only on holiday after the 22nd
June. There are many hotels, lodges and B+B's around the park.
However, staying inside the park is always much nicer. You can book
online if there'es accom available.

You can take your own car through the park. That's what I would do.
I'd recommend that you hire a higher car (something like an SUV if
possible), prefereably with a sunroof.

The only safari that you will have to book inside the park is a night
drive. I'd really recommend staying inside the park and doing a night
drive at least once.

I find that its always better to drive yourself around the park. You
can stop where YOU want to, and if you're fascinated by something you
can sit and watch it for as long as you like without other tourists
getting bored. You can do the whole park in a saloon car, but an SUV
gives you better views because of the height.

Cheers,
Marc

On Thu, 24 May 2007 20:04:26 +0100, "tim....."
wrote:

Hi,

I'm thinking of booking an impromptu trip to SA in about 4 weeks time.

1) If I just fly into Jo'berg, rent a car and then drive in the direction of
the park, will I have difficulty finding somewhere to stay or do I need
to make arrangements beforehand?

2) Is it possible to arrange safari trips through the park 'on the day'?
(I presume that I'm not allowed to drive to see the elephants in my
hire car!)

TIA

tim

tim..... schreef:
I'm thinking of booking an impromptu trip to SA in about 4 weeks time.
1) If I just fly into Jo'berg, rent a car and then drive in the direction of
the park, will I have difficulty finding somewhere to stay or do I need
to make arrangements beforehand?

If you intend to stay inside kruger, you will have big difficulties to
find a place. Especially for first week of july, everything is fully
booked. I believe there is a school holiday then.

I tried making reservations for that same period back in
january/february and found that most camps were then already fully booked.

Your only option would be to try and book accomodation just outside the
park and try to get in each day as a day visitor. But if the park is
fully booked, they might not let in day visitors.

Another option would be the private reserves bordering Kruger. They
might have vacant rooms, but at a price level different from Kruger!

2) Is it possible to arrange safari trips through the park 'on the day'?
(I presume that I'm not allowed to drive to see the elephants in my
hire car!)

Yes, nearly all people that visit kruger will do so with their own (or
rented) vehicles. No 4x4 needed. That makes access easy and cheap. But
it does take away a bit of the true feeling of wilderness.

regards,
Hans

Marc Lurie schreef:
I'd recommend that you hire a higher car (something like an SUV if
possible), prefereably with a sunroof.

Putting your head through a sunroof to watch animals is officially not
allowed in Kruger. I know, most people don't care about these rules, but
officially you should not have any parts of your body sticking out of
the car.

Regards,
Hans

"tim....." schreef in bericht
...
Hi,

I'm thinking of booking an impromptu trip to SA in about 4 weeks time.

1) If I just fly into Jo'berg, rent a car and then drive in the direction
of
the park, will I have difficulty finding somewhere to stay or do I need
to make arrangements beforehand?

If possible book in advance (big advantage comparing to outside) into the
park and also if possible at more than one location (camp) in the park.


2) Is it possible to arrange safari trips through the park 'on the day'?
(I presume that I'm not allowed to drive to see the elephants in my
hire car!)

Make your own game drives with your hired (normal) car and not only during
morning times.
Take the whole day for it and take also the "dirty" roads.
Between the camps "Olifants" and "Lower Sabie" you will met a lot of
wildlife
--
==================================
Lou Andreoli
Human, wildlife & nature photographer
http://www.homepages.hetnet.nl/~louine

==================================


TIA

tim

Hans, you're quite right about it not being allowed. However, bird
spotting is far better with a sunroof, and in winter it will let the
sun into the car. Just remember to CLOSE the sunroof when there are
baboons around!!! ;-)

On Fri, 25 May 2007 11:01:36 +0200, Wildpicture
wrote:


Putting your head through a sunroof to watch animals is officially not
allowed in Kruger. I know, most people don't care about these rules, but
officially you should not have any parts of your body sticking out of
the car.

Regards,
Hans

Marc Lurie schreef:
Just remember to CLOSE the sunroof when there are
baboons around!!! ;-)

Indeed! Many years ago we had a fullgrown male baboon in our car at Cape
of Good Hope. I stopped at a parking spot and didn't see any baboons at
all. So I forgot to immediately close the back door when I took my
camera out. Suddenly I heard mt wife screaming as she was busy trying to
scare the baboon off. He came right at her. luckiliy he didn't bite,
just smashed his fist on het leg. It was black and blue for quite a while.

And for the next two weeks, we were scratching because of baboon flees.
:-(((((

Regards,
Hans

"Marc Lurie" wrote in message
...
Hello Tim,

You've picked an excellent time of year to do Kruger. The weather will
be cooler, so you'll see more animals. Hopefully the grass will be
drier, and shorter too.

You will have very little difficulty in finding accomodation outside
the park without booking as schools are only on holiday after the 22nd
June. There are many hotels, lodges and B+B's around the park.
However, staying inside the park is always much nicer. You can book
online if there'es accom available.

You can take your own car through the park. That's what I would do.
I'd recommend that you hire a higher car (something like an SUV if
possible), prefereably with a sunroof.

The only safari that you will have to book inside the park is a night
drive. I'd really recommend staying inside the park and doing a night
drive at least once.

I find that its always better to drive yourself around the park. You
can stop where YOU want to, and if you're fascinated by something you
can sit and watch it for as long as you like without other tourists
getting bored. You can do the whole park in a saloon car, but an SUV
gives you better views because of the height.

Cheers,
Marc

Well thanks everybody, but I think one of us counted the
weeks wrong.

The earliest I can leave is June 19, and I actually wanted to
make Jo'burg the second week, - there's a convenient day
time flight back which I won't be able to connect into from
anywhere else.

So how does that work out with the school holiday?
I can travel a bit later if that helps? (But flights get fuller
in that period because I'm into the school holiday here
by then).

I've no interest in staying in the park if that equates to
'camping'.

And can it really be that they don't let 'day' visitors in if
all the accomodation is full? Surely the day capacity of
the park is much more than the number of sleeping places?

tim

tim..... schreef:
I've no interest in staying in the park if that equates to
'camping'.

Here is a link to Kruger's official website:
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/

You can find all the information you need there, including pictures of
all kinds of accomodation. You can camp, but you can also rent a small
(or big) bungalow in the park. All the bigger restcamps have shops,
restaurants, fuelstation etc so there is no need to go rough, unless you
choose so.

On the website you can also check the availability of each type of
accomodation online.

And can it really be that they don't let 'day' visitors in if
all the accomodation is full? Surely the day capacity of
the park is much more than the number of sleeping places?

There is a maximum to the number of overnight visitors and day visitors
in Kruger park. Once that number is reached (all entry gates and camps
era linked by a computersystem) no more day visitors are allowed in. We
expereinced that once several years ago. Luckily we had rservations, but
we had to stand in queue for a LONG time and watch all day visitors in
front of us get rejected.

This is done so that the pressure on wildlife isn't too great and it
also ensures that visitors can still have pleasant experience.

You can also find all this info and loads more on their website.

Regards,
Hans

"Wildpicture" wrote in message
...
tim..... schreef:
I've no interest in staying in the park if that equates to
'camping'.

Here is a link to Kruger's official website:
http://www.sanparks.org/parks/kruger/

You can find all the information you need there, including pictures of all
kinds of accomodation. You can camp, but you can also rent a small (or
big) bungalow in the park. All the bigger restcamps have shops,
restaurants, fuelstation etc so there is no need to go rough, unless you
choose so.

On the website you can also check the availability of each type of
accomodation online.

OK thanks. R500 for a bungalow is easily affordable.
It seems that the week that is best for me: 1-7 July
still has some availability.

Waiting until about July 14 is better but then my flights
will be 200 pounds more!

Seems I will need to book the accomodation first and
then make the flights fit. Unfortunately, I can't find the
cancellation details.

I presume that car hire in Jo'burg isn't going to be a
problem!

And can it really be that they don't let 'day' visitors in if
all the accomodation is full? Surely the day capacity of
the park is much more than the number of sleeping places?

There is a maximum to the number of overnight visitors and day visitors in
Kruger park. Once that number is reached (all entry gates and camps era
linked by a computersystem) no more day visitors are allowed in. We
expereinced that once several years ago. Luckily we had rservations, but
we had to stand in queue for a LONG time and watch all day visitors in
front of us get rejected.

Does arriving really early get you in? I note that it opens
at 6:00, or does everybody do that?

This is done so that the pressure on wildlife isn't too great and it also
ensures that visitors can still have pleasant experience.

This I can understand, but....

The park would appear to be about 400km from end to end.
That's a size of a medium sized country, 2 or 3000 people
is not going to fill it.

You can also find all this info and loads more on their website.

Right, off to the Library, to get a book, so that I can work
out what to do with a week in Cape Town.

tim