Best Safari in Kruger National Park: Discover the Ultimate Wildlife Tour

Are you FINALLY planning your bucket list safari in Kruger National Park?

This article is going to get you there! Kruger National Park tops the list as the most popular and well-known safari destination in South Africa.

The month I spent exploring Kruger Park is one of my absolute favourite African safari memories. I saw the Big 5 (Lions, elephants, leopards, Cape buffalo, and rhino) many times over, and had tons of incredible wildlife experiences.

Read on to find out about the BEST safari available in Kruger National Park. It’s a very convenient 3-night, 4-day private tour.

From there you can add on additional tours or rent a car and strike out on your own. Kruger makes it so easy! Once we tell you about this incredible tour, we’ll mention a few options for the rest of your time in Kruger

Let’s go!

The Best Safari in Kruger National Park

Kruger is world-famous for its vast landscapes and incredible biodiversity. It will give you the chance to spot the Big Five in the wild!

The park is also well-known for its accessibility, range of accommodation options, and well-maintained infrastructure. These make it the ideal choice for both first-time and experienced safari-goers.

Kruger has been one my best safari experiences, and this tour is part of the reason why.

3 Night & 4 Day Private Kruger Park Safari Itinerary

The First Day

Your safari guide will pick you up from one of several convenient spots in the park area. These include the Kapama River Lodge and the Skukuza airport.

From you’ll be chauffeured to a rest camp inside the park. Once you’ve had a chance to settle in, your group will have lunch at a restaurant in the rest camp, and then take your first game drive!

By the time we were on the game drive, it was late in the afternoon. I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful than seeing the set starting to mellow on those African landscapes in the park!

And the day was cooling, so the wildlife was more active than it might have been earlier in the day.

And because this is a private tour, you can decide between your group and your guide if you want to stay longer watching those lions. Or maybe you would rather move on and look for elephants?

Our safari guide was amazing! He knew everything about the park and the animals. And he was so friendly and easygoing, tweaking plans, stopping for breaks, and telling stories.

The first night ended with dinner back at our rest camp. The food was delicious, and there was lots of it. Then we slept tucked safe in our beds, listening to the animals’ sounds outside. It was sublime.

Days 2 and 3

Our days were focused around our game drives, of course. We’d wake up early to set out on a full day of game driving.

We’d all have tea or coffee and rusks for a pre-dive snack. Rusks are a traditional, crunchy, twice-baked bread snack that you dip in coffee or tea. A little like biscotti.

Then we’d head out to find wildlife!

Mid-morning was a picnic breakfast, followed by more game driving. Lunch at a rest camp, and game drive again until it was time to return to our own rest camp.

It might sound like a lot of driving, but it was never enough! I just loved being out in the bush watching these animals living their lives. And the safari vehicle is so comfortable!

Dinner was a braai – the South African word for barbeque – on the second and third nights, and it was fantastic each time. I’ll never sit around a campfire again without wishing I was in Kruger Park.

Day 4

Our last day was similar to the last two. Morning snack followed by a game drive and breakfast.

Our last game drive was topped off with lunch at a rest camp restaurant. I was staying in the park, so I asked to be dropped off at the Skukuza Airport, where I was picking up my rental car.

A sad farewell, but not the end of my adventure

Kruger Rest Camps

The rest camps in Kruger Park are a little bit like teeny tiny villages within the park. Each camp is fenced, and the gates are locked between sunset and sunrise each night to protect the animals and the visitors.

The camps are where you’ll find different accommodation options and assorted amenities. Some camps have a restaurant, a store for essential food items, a souvenir shop, lookout platforms, laundry, gas station, and/or more.

Or there may not be much more than a place to sleep. It all depends on the rest camp. Camps in the south end of the park tend to have more amenities. Northern camps lean more toward a back-to-nature experience. As do I.

We stayed at 3 different camps on my tour – Shingwedzi, Mopani, and Olifants. I loved getting to see what the different camps had to offer.

Our accommodations were always comfortable, and often we could see elephants or other smaller animals outside the fence.

We felt so well looked after. Everything was well thought out and organized, the meals and snacks were delicious. It was everything we had hoped it would be!

Wildlife

Kruger is home to a combined total of over 50,000 animals in a space that’s about 320 km long and 40 – 80 km wide. There seemed to be animals everywhere.

And we saw sooo many of them. We spotted white rhinos with calves, enormous kudu with their regal spiral horns, and herds of elephants with their babies.

We even came across a couple of lions working to ensure the survival of the species. And just one leopard sighting – but it was an incredible one, with a mom and her cub together.

Plus there were hyenas, zebras, giraffes, wildebeest, warthogs, jackals, buffalo, badgers – more than I had ever imagined we’d see. Often a few types were seen together at the watering holes scattered around the park.

What to Do After Your Kruger Safari

After the 4 spectacular days of my safari tour, I rented a car and spent another 3 weeks exploring the park. Those 4 days of my safari were invaluable!

They taught me the best ways to get around the park. Also where to go to see where the current sighting could be found (some rest camps have a map where people can mark their sightings for the benefit of others at the park).

I also learned about the Latest Sightings app. It’s a free app that you can download, where safari-goers can share their wildlife sightings in real time. It’s awesome!

If you plan to do a similar self-drive safari, I highly recommend that you book your accommodations in the park ahead of time. They can be booked up to a year in advance.

Always book directly through the SanPark website. Other sites won’t have current availability.

And if you’ll be spending several weeks in Kruger or other South African parks, look into buying a Wild Card on the same site (best to buy it online). Be aware, though, that if you’re not from South Africa, you only qualify for an International All-Parks Cluster.

If you prefer the organized safari, there are several options, for multi-day trips, full-day safaris, or half-day game drives. Of course, I can’t speak for all of them, but reading the reviews can help you make a good choice!

As you can see, there’s a lot to see in Kruger Park. This 4-day safari was the perfect introduction to Kruger – what there is to see, what the accommodations are like, and how to find my way around.

It would be perfect, too, if you’re short on time and want to see the best of the park in the time you have!

If you have questions about this tour, about Kruger, or about travelling in Africa – contact me and ask away!

Get help, too, finding the perfect bag for your safari, the best shoes, and some unexpected essentials you might not think of.

And our Resource Page will help with everything else you need when planning your African adventure.

Happy travels!

Read More:

➵ 30 Photos to Inspire You to Visit South Africa
➵ 39 Amazing Facts About Kruger National Park You Never Knew
➵ 14 Reasons: Why Visit South Africa in 2025
➵ Soar with the Clouds: Top Hot Air Balloon Rides in South Africa

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