About Kruger National Park, South Africa

Stretching over 350 miles from north to south, and teeming with wildlife, Kruger National Park is justly rated as one of the world’s finest game reserves. Kruger is home to more species of wildlife than any other game sanctuary on the continent, and is one of Africa’s few remaining havens for big cats. Well over a thousand lions, and large populations of leopard and cheetah, roam freely here, along with substantial numbers of elephant, zebra, rhino, giraffe, hippopotamus, impala, and kudu--more than enough to satisfy even the most shutter-happy photographer. Kruger is also--like South Africa as a whole--an outstanding destination for birdwatchers, offering a scarcely believable diversity and abundance of species.

Founded in 1898 by Paul Kruger, the park has over the last century been well tended and carefully developed. Unlike many reserves and sanctuaries, it is blessed with an outstanding road network, and in recent years its perimeter fencing has been substantially reduced, allowing greater migration ranges and increased wildlife populations. Stretching along the park’s western border are a number of private reserves, supplementing the land available to Kruger’s game and allowing greatly enhanced opportunities for safari visits. On the private reserves, visitors are permitted to travel on foot, in open vehicles, and to view wildlife at night, none of which activities are permitted within the park itself.