Camping in the Kruger National Park

13 Oct Camping in the Kruger National Park

This post has been a long time coming. We’ve had quite the year, with our move to Prague and all the travels in between, but the 10-day journey we took to Kruger National Park in South Africa earlier this year has been engrained in our memories, and it’s time we finally share the experience with you in case you too are planning a camping trip in the Kruger.

I want to preface this post by saying that this was also a truly special trip for me (Chanel), because Kruger is one of the last great African parks that I had not yet visited. Regular readers will remember our trips to the Serengeti in Tanzania, Maasai Mara in Kenya, Luangwa in Zambia, and of course Etosha in Namibia for our elopement adventure in early 2020. Kruger in South Africa was one of the last ones on the bucket list, so I’m really excited to share this post with you.

The Best Time To Visit The Kruger National Park

Let’s start off by saying that there’s no “good time” to visit Kruger, because, frankly, anytime is good.

Most visitors will go in the Winter months (and in South Africa that means May to August) as the grasslands are flatter and drier, making animal spotting easier. We, however, visited in the piping heat of Summer (in February 2022) and  it was so magical. 

The pros of going in Summer? Longer days, less crowds, and if you’re birders like us, this is the time to spot those lifers as migratory birds fly down for the heat of Summer. The park is also exceptionally green at this time of year, which in itself is very special. The cons? Well, it’ll be a little more challenging to spot the bigger animals (mostly the cats) but it’s not impossible, and you’ll need to be prepared for days’ temperature of sometimes 38-40 C (100-104 F). The nights are also equally hot (with more mosquitoes), which can get a little sticky, especially if you’re camping like we did, but it’ll add to the adventure for sure.

Camping in the Kruger National Park

The Kruger National Park – South Africa’s largest park – has a total of 13 rest camps, scattered throughout the 19,485 square kilometres (7523 square miles). They each offer a range of accommodation options – from luxury safari tents and bungalows, to basic campsites for your tent or caravan. 

We knew we wanted to take #TheBadger🚐 for a camping adventure in the bush, so camping was the obvious choice for us. Below we’ve listed some of the things to be aware of when choosing to camp in the Kruger National Park:

• This will be the most affordable way for you to stay in the park, so if you’re on a tight budget, camping might be the best way to go.
• Campsites are available with and without plug points, but all campers have access to the clean communal ablution blocks, kitchens, and (at some camps) laundromats, as well as the other facilities open to all visitors to the rest camps, including the shops, restaurants, petrol stations and swimming pools – although, please note, not every rest camp will have all of these. You can see a map and detailed breakdown of what each camp offers here.
• As mentioned before, you don’t only have to limit your sleeping to tents, as caravans and trailers are welcome.
• When booking your site, most people try to get one close to the rest camp fence, for greater opportunities for game viewing – expect hyenas and porcupines (to name a couple) to come extremely close to the fence at night. Of course, if those are taken, we would recommend opting for one with a good shade area if traveling in Summer.
• Come prepared with your camping gear and food, as the rest camp shops are quite limited (and can get expensive if you’re shopping there everyday). We would say that non-perishables should be easy to bring, and you can just buy some of the fresh foods from the shops as you need.
• Lastly, don’t forget your torch, as the campsites get very dark at night, and you want to make sure you’re avoiding the night crawlers when taking a trip to the bathroom.

The Best Camps To Visit In Kruger National Park

This will obviously be quite subjective based on the type of trip you’re after, how much time you have to visit, where you’re originally coming from, and your budget, but we will give our opinion based on the 10-day trip we took.

We’d probably say that there are great “day visit” camps and great “spend the night” camps. Our favourite day-visit camps were Olifants (because of the viewing deck) and Crocodile Bridge (for the hype of activity that happens just outside the camp), and for staying over, we have to recommend Satara and Lower Sabie. Skukuza, as Kruger’s largest rest camp, is also a very popular choice, but we wanted to avoid the crowds so chose to only treat Skukuza as a day visit. If we had more time, we would have definitely loved to go up north to Punda Maria and Shingwedzi (as we have only heard good things), but we knew we’d need something for next time, so didn’t go that north on this trip.

Why You Should Stay At Satara Camp

This rest camp is situated in “Big Cat Country” so you can only imagine the wonderful sightings available to you. This was our favourite camp and the sunsets at the fence are one of the main reasons. You can watch our Satara vlog below to see what the experience was like.

Why You Should Stay At Lower Sabie Camp

This wonderful rest camp sits right on the Sabie River, so views of elephants at sunset while you enjoy your daily sundowner on the restaurant deck are a given. It’s also situated very close to Sunset Dam, one of Stevo’s favourite spots in the whole of the Kruger National Park. You can watch our Lower Sabie vlog below to see what the experience was like.

We hope to return to Kruger one day soon, and would love to hear from you if you’re planning a trip, or have been recently. Please leave your comments below!

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