How to Find a Budget Safari in Kruger National Park
No trip to South Africa is complete without a safari in Kruger National Park. When assessing my time in South Africa, I determined I wanted to do a 3 day/2 night budget safari in Kruger National Park to try and see “The Big Five”. For those of you who are new to the safari life, the “Big Five” include the elephant, buffalo, leopard, lion, and rhino.
Due to my limited time window, I decided to pre-book the tour online rather than look upon arrival. With that, the search for the best safari operator and way to do it began. Along the way, I learned a thing or two, and they will help you plan your South African safari as well!
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How to Find a Budget Safari in Kruger National Park
I began my search online and found a number of ways you can safari in Kruger National Park on a budget:
- Rent a car and self-drive there and through the park.
- Take a tour with transport from Johannesburg included.
- Fly into Nelspruit and find an operator that will pick you up from there, or rent a car there.
1. Rent a Car and Self Drive through Kruger National Park
As I was going alone, I decided I didn’t want to brave renting a car and driving the 4-5 hours across South Africa by myself. Then enter into a National Park, once again, by myself, in search of animals that could easily kill me. So, I passed on the renting a car option.
Looking back, this would have been fine. The roads between Johannesburg and Kruger National Park are very similar to highways in the United States. Once in the park, many of the roads are paved.
However, there are some perks to not going it alone. For example, there are a number of unpaved roads you can take, the roads through the park are like a maze, and most importantly, you miss the expertise of a tour operator. This comes with expertise like knowing some of the best places to look for animals, how to identify animals, and freakishly good eyesight for spotting animals.
I was overall happy I did not go this route, but it is a very viable option – particularly if you’re traveling with friends or family. And, renting a car is definitely the most budget friendly way to go on safari in Kruger NP. You can even stay at the same camp inside Kruger National Park as our tour did: Pretoriuskop Camp.
Check rental cars in South Africa on Discovercars.com.
2. Take a Tour from Johannesburg
As I was looking for a budget safari in Kruger National Park, this was ultimately the choice I went with. There are multiple operators that run safaris from Johannesburg to Kruger National Park with varying prices, comfort levels, lengths, etc.
I’ll tell you more about how I found my operator and made a decision in a little bit. First, let’s look at the last option.
3. Fly to Nelspruit and Continue on to the Park
If you hate driving or are shorter on time than money, this may be the right option for you.
Flights seem to hover right above $200 round-trip from Johannesburg to Nelspruit and are only about 45 minutes long. By no means is it “breaking the bank”, but it does increase the overall cost and in some ways the planning of the safari as you need to book a flight separately.
Once you arrive in Nelspruit, you can continue on to renting a car or joining a tour operator. Many operators even provide the option to travel by land with them or fly and meet them in Nelspruit.
Now back to the budget friendly Kruger National Park safari option…
How to Pick a Tour Operator for Safari
In order to find the right operator for your safari tour, you need to take a number of things into consideration.
1. Determine the Length of Your Ideal Safari
Most safaris in Kruger National Park range from 3 to 5 days. I’ve heard of cramming it into 2 days or stretching it out longer, particularly if you are really into animals. There are even dozens of day trips to Kruger National Park if you are on a really tight schedule!
2. Budget Out What You Want to Spend
How much do you want to spend? Safariing is expensive. Even “budget safaris” will easily set you back $100+/day.
One of the most important things to understand before making up your mind on your safari budget is what is included: Transportation, accommodation, meals, game drives? Is it an open safari vehicle? Is it at a camp ground or hotel? Are there towels and sheets provided?
3. Decide What Comfort Level You Want or Need
If you cannot stand the idea of sleeping in an un-air-conditioned tent, I highly recommend you do not select a tour that has you sleeping in an un-air-conditioned tent. (You’re welcome for that pro tip – ha!)
You’ll find tours range from hotel based to luxury glamping to the most rugged of camping situations. Obviously costs will go up as your comfort levels do.
4. Does Target Age Group Matter to You?
Some tours are open to everyone, while others have suggested age groups or limits. If this is important to you, take note. It may be particularly important if you’re looking for a family friendly safari to take your kids on!
5. Check Safari Reviews
As with any online search, every marketing website is going to tell you they are the best. They have been doing it for X years, have the most knowledgeable guides, provide the tastiest food, etc. etc. etc.
That’s great, but other than reading and talking to them to figure out what their offering entails, don’t take their website’s glowing testimonials and reviews as fact. Go find some reviews of the company yourself!
This includes things like watching for red flags where you might be asked to pay for the trip ahead of time through a money transfer or something that you will absolutely never see again. Use common sense. Do not get scammed.
A few ways to look for budget safari reviews include Googling the company, trying Trip Advisor, reading travel blogs (like this one!), etc. If the safari operator is not reliable, you are likely to uncover it pretty quickly.
My Kruger NP Safari Operator
Now, I did some extensive research, about a week before my 2 week trip to Africa to find my safari. That’s right, one week, because well, life was busy!
What I found was there are all kinds of options and opinions online. After diving into what I was looking for, I came up with this criteria:
- 3 day / 2 night safari to Kruger National Park
- From Johannesburg, with transport
- Budget friendly
- Multiple game drives included in an open safari vehicle
I started narrowing down my choices. Eventually I got down to a couple of top choices, and reached out to the operators.
At this point, once you have reached out to the operators, you are in their grips. They will do just about anything to make that sale. So take everything they say with a grain of salt.
Ultimately, I ended up going with African Budget Safaris on their 3 Day Kruger Park Camping Safari as they had great open communication, were budget friendly, and had AMAZING reviews.
All About the 3 Day Kruger National Park Camping Safari
Deciding on African Budget Safaris was a bit intimidating as it was all done online, and it was my only chance to fit it in to my time in Johannesburg. Everything had to go smoothly.
Please note: African Budget Safaris is not an actual tour operator but rather like a travel agent that works with trusted tour operators. My actual tour operator for the Kruger National Park budget safari was Outlook Safari.
Day 1: Johannesburg to Kruger National Park + Game Drive 1
The 3 day/2 night safari began bright and early with either a hotel pickup between 6 – 7:30 am or an airport pickup at 7:30 am. From there, we headed to the Outlook Safari office, met the rest of the group, and started our trek to the park.
The Drive from Johannesburg to Kruger National Park
From Johannesburg, we drove two hours, stopped for a 20 minute break at a little rest stop with food and drinks, and then continued another 2 hours to the Nelspruit Airport.
At the Nelspruit Airport, we picked up more people and exchanged vans with those returning from their Kruger National Park safari, before continuing on to the park. In about one more hour, we arrived. Keep an eye out for animals in this last hour as some of it is spent within the park headed to your camp!
Upon arrival, we got settled into our tents in Pretoriuskop Camp, had lunch, hung out at the pool a bit, and then prepared for our first Safari Game Drive.
Pretoriuskop Camp: What to Expect
I booked my African safari as a solo traveler and was provided my own tent with a single bed, fan, light, outlets, etc. All sheets and towels were included, and there was even a little covered porch area and a safe.
There are also air-conditioned huts available which include a private bathroom and a refrigerator.
Other things within the camp include:
- A little shop to purchase souvenirs, snacks, beer, liquor, etc. It is still quite inexpensive by US standards, even with a captive audience.
- A restaurant, which offers meals at a reasonable price, cold drinks, air conditioning, and in theory wi-fi. One of my tour companions tried the wi-fi and struggled to sign-on. My recommendation is to enjoy being disconnected. Although admittedly, my phone did have some signal throughout much of the park.
- A pool for those hot days! It’s a great place to hangout between safari drives. There are lots of monkeys! Take care of your belongings.
- A laundry-mat near the entrance for those who really need to do laundry in the bush!
- Shared bathrooms for the campers. The camping area I was in was right across from a bank of bathrooms. These have power at night, running water, real toilets, showers, and also oddly enough, bathtubs available. There are a number of bathrooms spread throughout the camp so they are never far or busy.
Safari Game Drive 1: 4:30 pm
Off to explore the park! We saw a number of animals, but the most exciting to me were giraffes, elephants, buffalo, zebras, warthogs, hyenas, and more. My first experience in the wild with most of these animals! It was incredible, as was watching the sunset.
Meals on a Budget Safari
Each operator does meals differently, but we had a meal tent and a chef that cooked for our group and the other group that was on Day 2 of their 3 or 4 day safari. The meals were filling and tasty… to the point I didn’t even touch most of my snacks, and I LOVE to eat!
Day 2: Safari Game Drives 2 and 3
Day 2 of our budget African safari started bright and early – the better to see animals in their element!
Safari Game Drive 2: 5:30 am
This game drive was truly incredible: Giraffes, elephants, buffalo, rhino, lions, zebras, cheetahs, and more. It could not have been better! One thing to note is that the morning game drives are quite chilly. They actually provided us with blanket ponchos to stay warm against the morning chill while driving.
The game drive was followed by breakfast, relaxation, and a snack before taking off on Safari Game Drive 3.
Safari Game Drive 3: 2:30 pm
Our best game drive of the safari adventure in Kruger National Park. We saw all of the Big Five, including giraffes, elephants, buffalo, rhino, lions, zebras, cheetahs, leopard, etc.
Day 3: Last Safari Game Drive + Returning to Johannesburg
On the last day of our safari in Kruger National Park, we again began quite early.
Safari Game Drive 4: 5:30 am
Another productive game drive through Kruger, full of giraffes, elephants, buffalo, lions, zebra, etc.
Overall, I found the afternoon (sunset) drives to be a bit better than the morning (sunrise) drives, but all of them were incredible and as you are dealing with wild animals, it is quite variable as to what you will see.
As this was our last game drive, it was also the time at which we said goodbye to our game drive driver/guides and tipped them.
Return trip Kruger National Park to Johannesburg
Once again, we stopped at Nelspruit and changed vans. Then half way through the trip, we stopped at the same rest station as on the way there. Upon return to Johannesburg, rather than leave us all at the airport, they dropped us all off individually to our hostels, hotels, etc.
My Overall Impression of Outlook Safari
From the up front communication to the experience itself, Budget African Safaris and Outlook Safari exceeded my expectations. I would not hesitate to recommend them, and no, I was not paid in any way to say that. I literally just loved the trip and have recommended it to my friends.
Packing Tips for Your Safari
You are going on an African Safari. Here are some things you should remember to take that might not be intuitive, but you will want:
- Sunscreen, sun glasses, and hat: African sun. Need I say more?
- Swimsuit: You will likely want to take a dip in the pool between game drives as it gets quite warm… particularly if you don’t have air conditioning.
- Shoes for shower/walking at night: There are scorpions. Do not walk barefoot at night!
- Flashlight/Headlamp: You are out in the wild. It will get dark at night. Take a flashlight or a headlamp. I personally prefer the hands free capability of a headlamp.
- Camera equipment: I finally investing in a real camera for this trip… totally worth it.
- Travel Insurance: Don’t get eaten by a lion… It’s not a huge threat, but you are co-existing! I always use World Nomads, as they also tend to cover theft and South Africa is not known for its safety record. Get a quote below.
Plan More of Your Time in South Africa
Now that you’ve planned your budget safari to Kruger National Park, you can start looking into other things to do in South Africa and beyond! Here are some related posts help you get started:
- Getting the Most Out of 2+ Weeks in Southern Africa: My Itinerary
- Exploring Cape Town: A Cape Town Travel Guide
- 5 Can’t Miss Day Trips from Cape Town
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