Kruger Park Tour Operators Tour

Kruger Park Tour Operators Tour

We were lucky enough to be invited by SANParks to join them on a tour operators tour of the Kruger Park. What ensued was a back to back itinerary, squeezing in as many camps and activities as is humanly possible into a 4 day period! I thought I would give a brief dialogue of what we got up to in the Kruger Park for the benefit of anyone wanting to visit and feeling curious about what there is to offer.

For a list of tours available see Kruger Park Tours and Guided Safaris.

After landing in JHB, we were transported in a 12 seater quantum to the Orpen Gate on the bounday of the Kruger National Park - this took around 6 hours. We had to rush to make it to the gate before closing time. Two hours from the gate saw us safely to Satara, we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of some hyenas on our way through but could not stop due to park regulations when it is dark. Upon our arrival at Satara, we had a fantastic buffet dinner in the Satara restaurant and turned in for an early night to start the next day bright and fresh.

Where the restaurant ended our day the previous evening, it now began our day as we were treated to an enormous buffet breakfast. Retracing our movements, we drove back to Orpen Gate to meet with the rest of the tour operators joining us from Johannesburg. After a quick briefing we did a site inspection of the accommodation available at the Orpen Restcamp. Accommodation at Orpen comes in the form of 2-sleeper bungalows and 6-sleeper guest cottages. The guest cottages are in the process of being renovated and are due to be complete near the end of the year.

The next leg of our adventures took us further South in the park where we visited two of the seven private concessions, Imbali and Hoyo Hoyo. The private concessions offer 5 star accommodation beyond your wildest dreams. Imbali is located on the Nwatswitswonto river which flows seasonally (it was dry at the time of our visit). The amazing thing is that on the other side of a river is a waterhole. We were lucky enough to catch two elephants and a giraffe drinking from the waterhole only 30 metres away from us! All this while nibbling on a light lunch...

When we were done inspecting the private concessions we again boarded our open safari jeep and prepared for the long journey which eventually became an astronomy night drive before arriving at the Olifants Restcamp. The Astronomy Drive was fantastic - we stopped at the N'wamanzi Lookout where snacks and drinks were served before having our imaginations taken to the heavens by a well informed astronomy tour guide. This lasted about two hours and a short while afterwards we arrived at the Olifants Restcamp where we once again privvy to a buffet dinner. Dinner was shortlived as the next morning required us to be up at the crack of dawn for our morning cycle (we were given the option of mountain biking, a morning walk or a morning drive) to the Olifants River!

We woke up at Olifants at 4:45am to be ready by 5:15am and set off on our mountain bikes, which lasted about 10km, after which we sat down to have breakfast with the Hippo's on the Olifants River! They really do laugh! On our way back to the camp we were surprised by a tasty bush breakfast, outside on the river bank. Armed tour guides monitor the perimeters at all times. There had been elephants at the breakfast site shortly before our arrival. Upon our return to Olifants we were given a short site inspection of the accommodation available at Olifants. This included the riverview bungalows which are currently being renovated. Time was scant but we managed to sneak a quick visit to the restaurant and outside to see the panaromic view available at the lookout point outside.

A relatively quick drive a saw us to Letaba where we were given a short site tour. We had an extremely interesting visit to the Elephant hall, seeing an elephant’s heart which is about the size of a rugby ball and of course the tusks of some of the biggest elephants on record. To those trained in the ways of the park these enormous beasts are known as "tuskers"! Letaba was wonderful and shady - great for those hot summer days. Also standing out in my memory are the bushbuck which stay inside the Letaba Camp. They are very tame and quite comfortable with people - once buck sneak in they no longer stand a chance surviving in the wild and ultimately become permanent residents in the camp!

Next, we were driven to the Giriyondo Border post, allowing access into Mozambique. Quite notable, due to their rarety, was the sight of secretary birds mating on the way. Once there, we were told the fascinating story behind a Baobab tree that had been moved and planted there by Johan Oelofse, the Kruger Park's head ranger. After some friendly negotiation with the guards we were even allowed into Mozambique for a short while! More driving and, before we knew it, we were having a bush lunch at the Makhadzi pic nic site - delicious despite being 2 hours behind schedule. We then carried on our way to Mopani, our restcamp for the evening - with only one more stop on the way. There is no cell phone reception on the way, so we couldn’t let them know we were running late.

Soon we were at Tsendze rustic camp - Mopani's satellite camp - where we were met by Mopani’s manager, Garth Holt. Tsendze is unspoilt, with no electricity and no generators allowed, the brainchild of Johan Oelofse. It really does deserves the name of a rustic camp. Many people visit to get away from the stress and overload of too much information in today's modern age.

We pressed on to Mopani and ended the evening with a bush barbeque under the stars, our third bush meal in a day! After a long and eventful day, we retreated to our own bungalows for the night.