Located about a five-hour drive from Johannesburg, Kruger National Park is an incredible expanse—about one and a half times the size of Sydney! There are 12 rest camps scattered throughout the park. We stayed at Skukuza, the largest camp. Click here to learn more about Skukuza rest camp from its official website.
Accomodation
Each camp is designed to be a self-contained little city. Skukuza has shops, spa, swimming pools and cafes. Our girls really enjoyed splashing around in the pool in the hot afternoons. The rooms are various sized, but each room has a bathroom and cooking facilities. We were able to cook butter chicken and rice for dinner!
Game Drives
We did our safari drives around southern to central parts of Kruger only, because that is where you can get most of the big cat sightings. We entered through the Malalane Gate in the south. It took us about 2 hours to get to Skukuza camp.
As soon as we drove into the park, we were greeted by a herd of impalas. The kids were excited to spot animals right from the beginning. Its hard to believe – but, just during that first afternoon – we saw lions, elephants, giraffes, hyenas, zebras, baboons and a family of rhinos as well – as we drove north towards Skukuza. It was absolutely incredible!
We spent four days (three nights) exploring the park, embarking on self-drive safari trips each day. The rest of the game drives we did during the following days were the drives around Skukuza camp – crocodile bridge, Lower Sabie, Satara and others around the area. We bought the Kruger Park Map and Guide, which helped us plan out our route for each day. We also bought a similar book for kids which contained activities to keep the kids busy in the car. We bought these from one of the multiple stores inside Kruger.
If staying for 4 days, it is best to get the Wild Card. The Wild Card is an annual park pass for all South African National Parks and covers some parks in Eswantini as well. This covered our park and conservation fees for Kruger and those around Cape Town. International visitors pay 7,770 Rand (~A$660 when we bought it) for the pass.
The best times for wildlife sightings are early morning and late afternoon, so we made sure to rise early. Having just arrived from Sydney the day before, we were all still feeling the effects of jet lag and found ourselves wide awake at 3 AM! The gates open at 4:30 AM each morning, and we decided to make the most of it by heading out early. We did the game drives between 4.30 to 10.00 AM and 4 PM to 6.30 PM.
Self-drive Safari with kids
Our mornings started with Fajr prayers, followed by breakfast before setting out just as the sun began to rise. To keep the kids entertained during the drive, we packed some activities for them, along with nasheeds for a peaceful atmosphere. We also gave them their own camera, which provided plenty of fun and kept them engaged for a while. Nevertheless, was there some whinging and crying and begging to be back at the camp and into the pool? Yes. 😒
Self-drive safari allowed us to have some family time in the car and travel at our own pace. Most importantly – it felt like an adventure looking for the animals. We have done it once before when Maryam was 1.5 years old, we loved it then, and we loved it even more this time! Now that the kids have grown a little bit, it gave us the real Wild Thornberries vibe. Maryam read her guide book and told us all these interesting facts about the animals she spotted. It was impressive to see that she was able to identify certain birds and animals before we were able to. At times, we felt like we watched our little girls grow a little more as a result of this experience.
We were able to see most of the animals we wanted to see – lions, cheetahs, hyenas, giraffes, rhinos, elephants, and much, much more. It helped to have the latest sightings app on our phone and also to follow the recommended routes in the guide book. The cutest animals, as voted by all the members of Muslims in Wanderlust – are baby elephants!
Halal Food
As we mentioned above, we cooked our own food during our stay in Kruger, after buying groceries from Johannasburg. There are a fair few Mugg & Bean and other cafes scattered throughout the park.
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