A family holiday in the wild awaits at Kruger National Park. Want to head out into the wide open spaces and get up close to some real wildlife? Kruger’s the place for you. Here you’ve got around 20,000 square km of roads, trails, ruins, museums and animal-spotting opportunities under a big, blue South African sky.
Probably the largest ‘open range zoo’ in the world, Kruger is one of the best places in Africa to make ‘in-the-wild’ sightings of the fabulous Big Five; Elephant, Lion, Leopard, Rhinoceros and Buffalo. But there’s a lot more to Kruger than those fellas, with 147 mammals, 507 birds and 114 reptile species represented, Kruger National Park is a nature-lover’s dream come true. Did we mention the 336 tree varieties too?
Getting around this enormous slice of country is a breeze and Kruger is the perfect self-drive adventure spot. Travellers are free to take their own vehicles along the many km of roads, and ‘overnight’ in the secure rest camps and caravan parks dotted throughout the region, or set up digs in a variety of permanent accommodation types from safari tents through to family cottages and ultra-luxe lodges with staple facilities like en-suite bathrooms, air-conditioning and outside showers.
Naturally, there are strict rules in place to ensure the safety of both visitor and denizen alike, but nobody seems bothered about a few sensible conditions when driving past a pride of hungry lions with all windows up. You can take escorted backpack hikes and wilderness trails, guided nature walks and mountain bike treks all accompanied by armed escorts, go star-gazing under the big sky or play a round of golf accompanied by a gallery like no other you’ve seen.
Kruger’s a big park full of big game. If you’re up to the adventure, give your Travel Counsellor a call.
Kruger National Park fun facts
Kruger is part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park which spreads across the borders of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique
The park has an 8000 km road system and road rules are strongly enforced
There are 40 types of frog to look out for
A different kind of holiday in Uganda
Sunday 4th July 2010
Travel Counsellor: Jacy Richards
This July, I was blessed with the opportunity to visit Uganda and do some volunteer mission work at the orphanage, Jordan House, in Kampala. There were five of us spending a total of two weeks in Uganda of which 6 days was spent upgrading the toilet/shower blocks at the orphanage. It was such a pleasure to help them out and I was so humbled each time the ladies approached us to thank us for our work and give us each a big hug.
I think the most memorable thing for me was the warmth of the locals and how amazed they were that we would take the time to come visit and work – to better their lives. This is the first time that I had done a trip in this aspect and I have to say that I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again; there’s nothing like sitting down at the end of a day and looking over what you have accomplished – even more so when you see the smiles of appreciation from the children.
Our second week consisted of a trip up to Murchison Falls National Park, which is approximately 350kms... view full story
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