kruger or not to kruger?

i am planning for my first trip to africa and i am interested in a 3 week overland tour for next summer. i just started my online research to learn more about the area (south africa, botswana, zambia, mozambique, etc) and see what my options are.

one of my questions is... a tour without kruger... worth it? considering that for an overland tour, kruger only gets 2 or 3 days total including travel, i understand that i certainly won't see all of the park. but are there things i must/will see in kruger that i won't see/experience anywhere else? it's advertised as the place to see the big 5... obviously elephants and rhinos i can see in other national parks, but what about lion and leopard? is going to south africa and not seeing kruger like going to paris and not seeing the eiffel tower (i.e., maybe not the most amazing thing ever, but certainly not to be missed)?

any thoughts, suggestions, links etc are welcome!

You can't compare Paris-Eiffel Tower and South Africa-Kruger.

The Eiffel Tower is there and it's the thing day in day out. At Kruger, no two days are the same, not even in the same area...

I wouldn't miss Kruger.

pop... point taken :)

from my own experience, i was in peru a couple of years ago. stayed in the rainforest. not THE rainforest area of peru, but another area. still had an amazing time, partly due to our outstanding guide.

so the proper question should be... if i go to national parks in the overland area (etosha, chobe, etc) and not THE national park in south africa (i.e., kruger), what would be missed?? how different (or how special) is kruger for someone traveling to africa for her first time?

(i know these types of questions are a bit inane, so i do appreciate all of your putting up with me!)

Kruger is great but I think that if you are visiting other game parks like Etosha and Chobe then you can skip it, I think. I mean, if you start adding up all the positives then a visit to Kruger might become compelling but it is difficult for me to think of one specific thing that is a real deal clincher. It depends on your interests of course. I hear the bird watching in the north of Kruger during summer is spectacular, so if you were a birder that might very well be a deal clincher.

Anyway, I see you mention the Big 5. That might be something you want to start forgetting about at this point because it is a bullsh%t marketing ploy. Leopard are notoriously difficult to spot making the big 5 a difficult thing to "tick off". Unless you are prepared to spend big bucks and go to some of the private game reserves next to Kruger where the chances of seeing leopards are very good.

Etosha doesn't have buffalo so you won't see the big 5 there either. And if you saw that video clip on youtube about the buffalo herd rounding back on a group of lions to rescue their calf then you might want to make a point of seeing big buffalo herds which Kruger does have. See, again it comes down to your interests.

Don't know about Chobe, haven't been there yet.

Something very special in Etosha that you might want to look out for are the ghosts - the white elephants. Due to the white soil in certain areas the elephants come out looking an ashy white after their mudbaths. They look awesome. There's one waterhole on the main east-west road in particular that's good for seeing them (forgotten the name of the waterhole). Ask your guide about it.

Have just come back from 13 weeks through Eastern and Southern Africa, and saw plenty of game parks including Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru, Chobe, Etosha, and Chobe. Finished up in Jo'burg, did a 7 day trip through Kruger (3 days), Swaziland & St Lucia to Durban - with Nomad tours (highly recommended for those who are interested!!), and only then did I see my leopard I'd been dying to see - on a sunset/night drive. An abundance of giraffe, elephant, zebra, a few rhinos, lions and buffalo - so many impala you won't want to see another one!!!! Kruger is a huge park, with so many different types of vegetation, that you could spend weeks going through, taking your time - and seeing an awesome amount of game - also think of the smaller things that are more uncommon... mongooses, aardvarks - not many people get to see them, but you just might in Kruger.

In short, even if you're going to other parks, I recommend Kruger. I added it to my itinerary because 'you can't go to South AFrica and not go to Kruger', but would definitely go back next time I'm there. Keep in mind that it also depends on what time of year you visit each park - the dry season is not as picturesque scenery wise (lots of brown grass and 'dead' trees, but you're more likely to see game. Likewise, in the wet season, it's a bit prettier, but there's more vegetation for the animals to hide in.

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<hr>with Nomad tours (highly recommended for those who are interested!!)<hr></blockquote>
During my trip to Kruger, I met a woman who had done the NamBots+ZimZam tour (if I remember correctly) with Nomad. She said it was great. It's nice to see other people with positive feelings as well, as the Prince and I are now considering a tour with them...

But as Bosch says, it all depends on what you want to see. I'm more into birds of prey than big cats, and I saw lots of eagles and owls and vultures in Kruger and was happy for that...

>>I'm more into birds of prey than big cats

Whoah! Then you need to start looking into going to Kgalagadi. Can also be done self-drive. More rugged than Kruger. Less visitors. LOTS of raptors out in the open. Lots of active snakes, especially cape cobras, as the seasons start moving into spring and summer and the temparatures heat up. Bat-eared foxes, African wild cats and owls on the night drives. And your chances of seeing cheetahs are good with lion chances very good. No elephants or rhino in Kgalagadi though.

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<hr>LOTS of raptors out in the open.<hr></blockquote>
YAY! :-D

Over the years I have visited most of the game parks in southern Africa, but Kruger is the one that we (my wife and I) keep returning to. Living in Johannesburg it is obviously more convenient than most of the others, but that is not the only reason for going back there. On average we visit Kruger two or three times every year and spend a few days there at each visit. To me the other parks - except for the Okavango / Linyanti areas of Botswana and Mana Pools in Zimbabwe - pale in comparison to Kruger. I would highly recommend a 4 night self-drive safari in Kruger, with Letaba, Satara (2 nights) and Lower Sabie being the camps I would choose. Do a sunset drive and a morning bush walk at Satara. Not only is Kruger a Big 5 reserve, but it also boasts some 450 bird species, many of which are found in the area that I have suggested you cover. You may see a leopard in Kruger, but indeed they are seldom spotted as they are largely nocturnal animals.
Have a good look at the web-site of the SA National Parks Board and check out the sections pertaining to Kruger.
By the way, the "Big 5" is a term that originates from big game hunting. It referes to the 5 most dangerous animals to hunt - they are Lion, Leopard, Elephant, African Buffalo and Black Rhino. Nowadays the term has been broadened to include White Rhino as the numbers of the Black Rhino have reduced to such an extent. The one place where you would probably see Black Rhino is Etosha, especially at the Okaukuejo water hole at night.

thanks everyone for your replies! the reason this question came up is, of course, due to trying to manage the time off i have and the money i can save and the fact that everything looks so amazing! and with any big trip (measured by the 19 hour total travel time from nyc) i can sometimes fall into the trap of "when will i ever get back here?" and therefore try to do too much in too little time.

but i really want to savor this trip. so i've decided to definitely do a 3 or 4 night self-drive in kruger, and to work my other sites around that (instead of the other way around). i've seen tour operators have a self-drive option where they hire out the car. is that what people typically do? or is there a better way to get the car in joburg?

rudik: thanks so much for the recs for the camp sites; i have briefly looked at the SAN site, but will now check it out more thoroughly.

rastus: i was looking into nomad, especially because their okavango prices are certainly nice (compared to the other group i am looking at, acacia) but i was concerned about their higher max (22 people vs. 16). did your trip have a problem with this?

Are you going with others or solo? Self-drives are hard going if it's only you doing all the driving and spotting.

For car rental, consider doing a flight (Joburg-Nelspruit) and car package with Nationwide Airlines. It'll spare you the drive from Joburg to Kruger and you'll get a good rate on the car.

I live 3 hours away from KRUGER and have spent 3 weeks at a time in Kruger without geting bored. it is one of the most magical places in South Africa