Kruger safaris from Johannesburg

8 min read Updated November 2026 Compare all tours

Kruger began as the Sabie Game Reserve, which President Paul Kruger proclaimed on 26 March 1898 between the Sabie and Crocodile rivers. It became South Africa’s first national park on 31 May 1926. Brand South Africa puts its size at almost 19,000 km² and lists the Big Five along with more than 500 bird species. SAHO gives its length as 350 km from north to south. From Johannesburg the tours head east on the N4 towards Mbombela (Nelspruit) and enter the southern or central part of the park.

One long day or several days

A day trip to Kruger is possible but hard work. One tour leaves Johannesburg or Pretoria around 5 am, stops for breakfast near Middelburg or Witbank and for coffee in Nelspruit, and returns after about 15 hours; the conservation fee, breakfast and lunch are extra. Another lists about ten hours of driving in total for a three-hour game drive, with breakfast, lunch and park fees included. SANParks closes the entrance and camp gates at night, and the German Federal Foreign Office advises against driving overland after dark, so the return leg is the part to think about.

Three days are the usual minimum. The most-booked three-day tour travels through Elands Valley to Nelspruit, enters the park for lunch and an afternoon drive, and spends the first night at Tembo Guest Lodge in Hazyview. Day two is a sunrise and morning drive with lunch at Skukuza, which SANParks describes as the park’s largest rest camp and its headquarters. Guests on this tour describe a drive of around five hours each way, little to do around the lodge in the evening, and a shared last morning that can end early when another passenger has a flight to catch.

Tours of four to six days give you more time in the bush for the same two long transfers. The Viva Safaris tours, for example, add a four-hour bush walk with armed rangers by the Olifants River and, from five days, a second full day in Kruger. One four-day tour based near Hoedspruit, about six hours from Johannesburg, includes a boat cruise in the Blyde River Canyon and the Moholoholo wildlife centre.

Inside the park or in a reserve next to it

Read where you sleep, because it changes the day. Some tours stay inside Kruger: one puts groups of up to nine per vehicle in air-conditioned bungalows with private bathrooms, and a two-day tour spends its night in the park after sunset and sunrise drives. Many others stay in private reserves on the edge of the park and drive into Kruger for a full day. The Viva Safaris tours are based at Tremisana Game Lodge in the Balule section and enter Kruger through Orpen Gate. The MoAfrika glamping tours begin with a sunset drive in a private reserve.

The budget tent tour sleeps at the Campfire Academy on platform tents. The operator points out that the camp is unfenced and that lions and elephants move through it freely; anyone uneasy about that can stay at Tremisana Lodge instead.

Open vehicles, night drives and park rules

Most tours here use open safari vehicles inside Kruger. SANParks rules apply to all of them: you stay in the vehicle except in designated areas, no part of your body may stick out of a window or roof, and the speed limit is 50 km/h on tar and 40 km/h on gravel. Drones are not allowed. No one may drive in the park before the gates open or after they close, so the only way to see the park at night is a guided drive. SANParks runs its own night drives, which leave at 19:30 or 20:00 depending on the time of year.

The tours based in private reserves add their own sunset and night drives with spotlights. On the four-day Viva Safaris tour, a four-hour sunset drive on Balule ends with a bush barbecue, followed the next morning by a bush walk with armed rangers.

Conservation fees and what is included

SANParks charges a daily conservation fee per person. From 1 November 2026 to 31 October 2027, international adults pay R692 and children aged 2 to 11 pay R345 per day; SADC citizens and South Africans pay less. The figure rose from R602, and SANParks notes that fees can change without notice.

Most multi-day tours on this page include entrance and conservation fees, and the Panorama Route tours list all fees and taxes. The one-day tour that leaves around 5 am excludes the conservation fee. For tours that do not mention it, ask before you book. The comparison table shows the inclusions under the format of each tour.

Malaria

Kruger is the one park on this site where malaria matters. SANParks calls the park a malaria zone and recommends chemoprophylaxis during a visit, though it describes the risk as usually low and seasonal. The German Federal Foreign Office and the German Society for Tropical Medicine give a high seasonal risk from September to May in the north-east of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, including Kruger, and a lower risk from June to August. Johannesburg and Pretoria are outside the areas they list, and Pilanesberg is malaria-free.

The Panorama Route

Several Kruger tours spend a day on the escarpment west of the park. South African Tourism calls God’s Window a highlight of the Panorama Route: the cliffs drop 700 m, and on a clear day you look out over Kruger. It lies on the R532 from Graskop towards the Blyde River Canyon, a gorge of 33 km that runs from Bourke’s Luck Potholes to the Three Rondavels. Pilgrim’s Rest is a living museum of the gold-panning years of the late 1800s, and Graskop is known for its pancakes.

The Mpumalanga parks agency sells a one-day ticket for all official viewpoints; ask your operator whether the tour price covers it. In heavy rain the agency closes viewpoints at short notice: in January 2026 God’s Window and the Pinnacle were shut for a while, after Bourke’s Luck Potholes. One three-day tour stops at Bourke’s Luck, the Three Rondavels, Berlin Falls and God’s Window before a full day in an open vehicle in Kruger.

Season, clothing and flights

SANParks says the best game viewing is in winter, from about April to September, when the bush is sparse and days are warm and dry but nights are cold. From October to about March it is hot and often rainy, and the thicker foliage makes animals harder to see. Early drives in an open vehicle are cold in winter, so bring a warm layer, and long sleeves for the evenings, which also help against mosquitoes. One operator reminds guests to bring their passport.

If you fly into Johannesburg on the day the tour starts, check the pickup time. The Viva Safaris airport transfers leave O.R. Tambo no later than 9:30 am and return by 5 pm on the last day, and the Hoedspruit tour asks for arrival in Johannesburg before 5:30 am. For a shorter trip without a long drive, see Pilanesberg safaris, and for longer routes through the region, our itineraries.