KRUGER NATIONAL PARK SOUTH AFRICA
Kruger National park is a big piece of land that has been set aside by the South African government to keep as natural as possible and protect animals from over hunting. The park is 7523 sq miles.
Throughout the park there are several camp areas that are completely and securely fenced in. In the camp areas they have small cabins, huts, tent spaces or small rv spaces. Each camp area also has a gas station, restaurant, small store/gift shop and reception area. The camps are all connected by basic rural paved roads, there are also dirt roads off of the paved roads.
People go in the campground for the night and then in the day light hours they go out driving around looking for animals. You do a self-guided tour with maps they provide or you can pay to join a guided tour (not too expensive-$15 each). We did both. We preferred to go alone because you can go at your own speed and stop at animals you want to see and pass the ones you have seen before. The guides did give some information but not as much as we had hoped for. You are not allowed out of your car unless you are in the campground. You are not allowed to drive off the paved or gravel roads. The campground gates close at dusk - everyone needs to be in the camp area or you get chewed out (or fined) which happened to us once.
The animals just roam and wander around and are not afraid of cars so they just stand there while you watch them. There is a strict no feed the animals policy so the animals do not approach the car to beg. We were surprised that the majority of people there were in the 50-80 age range, however we did see a few young families.
It is the best thing to see the animals in their natural environment - doing what they normally do. We saw monkeys playing with each other, elephants eating trees, giraffes eating trees, hyenas eating a hippo and so much more.
This is a trip that I will never forget, and would love to do again. Beth
