Kruger Concessions' Safari Lodges

The Kruger Park Private Concessions consist of a number of exclusive areas called concessions situated within the Kruger National Park that have been leased out to private individuals or companies wanting to set up elite safari camps and lodges.

These private concessions are not open to the public; hence offer guests a private and personal safari experience. The lodges offer the ultimate in luxury, incredible game viewing as well as expert guiding.

Kruger Safari Price Guide

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Kruger Concession Safari Lodges

The Kruger Park Private Concessions offer a variety of camps and lodges to choose from. In order to assist guests with their choice, we have divided the camps and lodges into three different categories being, Comfortable, Luxury and Premier. Our favourite lodges are Camp Shawu, Pafuri Tented Camp & Hamiltons Tented Camp.

Comfortable
Plains Luxury Tented Camp | Pafuri Tented Camp

How to get there

Air

There are daily flights from OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg International) to various airports in the Kruger National Park, i.e Kruger Mpumalanga Airport (KMIA), Hoedspruit Airport (also called Eastgate) as well as Phalaborwa airport. Once guests arrive at the various airports they have a choice between, a car hire option (self-drive), a road transfer arranged by SUNSAFARIS or a short air transfer (flight hop) to the various lodges.

Land

All the Kruger Park Private Concession lodges are accessible via self drive with a sedan rental car from anywhere in South Africa. Obviously the drive time depends on where you are driving from! To self drive from Johannesburg will take approximately 6 hours.

Kruger Concession Game Viewing

Introduction

The Kruger National Park is owned and run by the South African government. Using the model so successfully initiated by the Botswana government, the park awarded concessions to private operators. The concessions are leased for a 20-year period on the condition that camps should in no way disturb the environment. The benefit for the tourist is that the general public is not allowed access to the concessions unless they are spending the night at one of the concessions lodges. This leads to a very rewarding, private safari experience in pristine wilderness for those that visit the Kruger Concession safari lodges. There are no fences between the concessions and the Kruger National Park.

Rangers within most of these concessions can drive off-road to track or view animals for a close-up perspective, and night drives are also offered. The standard of accommodation is also of a very high standard and the general service matches that which would be experienced at the private reserves on the western border of the Kruger National Park.

Game Viewing

Sighting the "Big Five has become something of a quest for many people when on safari, and Kruger National Park has more than its fare share of these, with an estimated 1,800 lion, 9,125 elephant, 25,000 buffalo, unknown number of leopards and 2,300 black and white rhino. It should certainly not be a pre-requisite of a safari to see these or even a priority, as there are plenty of other fascinating animals and birds in the African bush. With approximately 500 bird species, some of them unique to this area, there is enough on the ground and in the air to keep anybody's binoculars busy. Some of the biggest and most impressive birds to be seen here are the ground hornbill, martial eagle, lappet-faced vulture, kori bustard and saddle-billed stork.

Seasons

Rainy Season: The subtropical climate has hot rainy summers starting in October and ending around March. The summer rains transform the arid park into a lush flowering paradise, but the increased foliage does make animals harder to see.

Dry Season: The winter months from April to September are extremely pleasant with warm dry days and cold nights. Traditionally, the best game viewing is in winter as the vegetation becomes sparse and water is restricted to rivers and artificial waterholes.

Map of the Kruger Concession Lodges

Click on the map on the right for Virtual Earth Maps of the safari lodges within the Kruger Park Concessions.

Zoom in and out, drag and move the map, and click on lodge GPS markers for links to the lodges. The maps also show airstrips, park gates and other points of interest.

Click here to view the map