Kruger grocery stores

Can anyone who has visited Kruger recently tell me the quality and
choice in the stores in the main rest camps (ie produce, meat, baked
goods, liquor)?

"doug" wrote in message
om...
Can anyone who has visited Kruger recently tell me the quality and
choice in the stores in the main rest camps (ie produce, meat, baked
goods, liquor)?
Hi Doug
The quality is usually good but the prices are somewhat excessive,
your normal tourist prices. If you are going in for more than a couple
of days, or you are a group I would advise you to get your goods in
Nelspruit. They have a new Spar Super Store there and the fresh
produce is very good quality and prices reasonably normal. They
also have a large liquor store there with normal prices. I like to
load up on supplies there and just use the stores in the park for
items that were forgotton, and freshly baked products.
I take it you have booked a Rondavel with a fridge and kitchenette.
The stores in the park deal maily with over priced tourist nik nacs.
I prefer to use the picnic spots in the park instead of the restuarants,
and they have gas, and braai facitlities to hire for a nominal fee. I once
saw a leapard and cub not 100 meters from the pinic spot on the Lower
Sabie to Skukusa road.
One of the pinic spots in the park recently burnt down and is currently
being refurbished, I can't remember which one.
Enjoy
Richard

Hi Doug,

We visited Kruger a little over a year ago. The Spar (a grocery chain)
stores out of the park would mostly have better prices and selection, so if
you are driving to the park it would be a good idea to stock up on the way.

We flew directly to Skukuza and picked up our rental car there so we did not
get a chance to stop before entering the park and considered our time too
limited to spend a day driving out for shopping, so we bought most of our
groceries in the park.

The shops in the larger rest camps have stock similar to a 7-11 store in
Canada with a lot of additional tourist souvenirs. The store at Skukuza is
has a selection similar to a large stand alone 7-11 and the ones in smaller
camps are similar to the 7-11's you often find in service stations. The
main difference is that they always have a selection of wine and frozen
meat. South African wine is good (except for a bottle of Orange River wine
that we bought in Kgalaghadi that had been stored in the heat too long) and
is very reasonably priced by Canadian standards, even if you are buying it
in a park. Most South Africans seem to use the brie (BBQ) most evenings, so
the stores always have a selection of frozen meat and boerwors (farmer
sausage) suitable for the brie. Meat quality was also very good.

The main camps also have restaurants and stores, but the smaller bush veld
camps do not. If you are staying in any of the bush veld camps you have to
cook for yourself and buy your groceries before arriving. Since my wife was
on vacation too, we ate many of our meals at the restaurants when at the
main camps. Quality was mostly good and prices reasonable by Canadian
standards, but may be high by South African standards because it was mostly
foreign tourists in the restaurants.

Have a good trip. We enjoyed our visit to Kruger.

Scott Elliot
http://www3.telus.net/selliot/

"richard b" wrote in message
...

"doug" wrote in message
om...
Can anyone who has visited Kruger recently tell me the quality and
choice in the stores in the main rest camps (ie produce, meat, baked
goods, liquor)?
Hi Doug
The quality is usually good but the prices are somewhat excessive,
your normal tourist prices. If you are going in for more than a couple
of days, or you are a group I would advise you to get your goods in
Nelspruit. They have a new Spar Super Store there and the fresh
produce is very good quality and prices reasonably normal. They
also have a large liquor store there with normal prices. I like to
load up on supplies there and just use the stores in the park for
items that were forgotton, and freshly baked products.
I take it you have booked a Rondavel with a fridge and kitchenette.
The stores in the park deal maily with over priced tourist nik nacs.
I prefer to use the picnic spots in the park instead of the restuarants,
and they have gas, and braai facitlities to hire for a nominal fee. I once
saw a leapard and cub not 100 meters from the pinic spot on the Lower
Sabie to Skukusa road.
One of the pinic spots in the park recently burnt down and is currently
being refurbished, I can't remember which one.
Enjoy
Richard

One of the pinic spots in the park recently burnt down and is currently
being refurbished, I can't remember which one.

I think that was Afsaal picnic spot, it burnt down last November.

Arnoud

--
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