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#1
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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 |
#2
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
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 |
#3
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
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 |
#4
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
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 |
#5
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
"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 |
#6
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
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 |
#7
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
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 |
#8
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
"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 |
#9
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
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 |
#10
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Accomodation in S Africa/Kruger Park
"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 |
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