Local Knowledge

Taxis

Who needs a taxi when you have a safari driver standing by?

Tipping culture

While it’s not compulsory to tip your driver, guide or tracker, about R100 a day for a guide and R50 a day for a tracker is appreciated.

Siesta and fiesta

The best times for viewing animals are early morning and late afternoon, so plan for pre-dawn starts and early nights.

Packing tips

The incredible lion-versus-water-buffalo-versus-crocodile-versus-more-water-buffalo YouTube hit ‘Battle at Kruger’ was filmed by a tourist: pack your video camera and film your own wildlife epic.

Recommended reads

Nelson Mandela's autobiography, Long Road to Freedom, is a compulsory addition to your carry-on. July’s People – by Nobel prizewinner Nadine Gordimer, which predicted a bloody end to apartheid – was banned when it was published in 1981; Bessie Head’s The Cardinals, which examines the taboo of interracial relationships, was the only book she wrote in her home country before fleeing to Botswana. Safari adventure tales by Peter Hathaway Capstick (Death in the Long Grass) and Ernest Hemingway (Green Hills of Africa) are evocative and entertaining, despite the dated focus on shooting animals with guns rather than cameras.

Cuisine

Carnivores, rejoice! Meaty meals rule in Kruger: particular favourites are sosaties (curried lamb chops), boerewors (traditional sausages), biltong (cured meat) and cuts of springbok, kudu and bush-pig, cooked over wood coals. Don’t miss a bushfire braai (barbecue), preferably washed down with a bottle of one of South Africa’s excellent wines.

Do go/don't go

Game viewing is at its best during the dry winter months (from May to September), when days are mild and clear night skies make evenings chilly. But, the balmy summer months (October to April) bring their own attractions: lush vegetation, full waterholes, newborn wildlife and the arrival of migrating birds. For a peaceful stay, avoid mid-December to January, when South Africans evacuate their cities and Europeans and North Americans flock here for some winter sun.