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Crocodile bridge , great little camp site , and the viewing is so much different than Skukuza .

Satara has great viewing , but you will experience the "sahara" camp site - few trees and very dusty .

My in-laws has one and they are full of praise for the Cobb.
Apparently it is also very "fuel" efficient.
They cook a chicken and vegetables with only 6 charcoal briquettes and there is still life left over in those briquettes at the end.
As far as I know you can also get a couple of nifty accessories for it.

We especially love the Cobb because it allows us to BBQ on campings where open fires aren't allowed. We tried this recipe, it is lekker! You need to buy the wok (or the frying pan, but the wok is better)

Potato, bacon and egg breakfast

2-3 potatoes
10 rashers of bacon
150g mushrooms
30ml olive oil
4 eggs
twig of fresh rosemary

Cut the potatoes in cubes and parboil for a few minutes. Cut the bacon and slice the mushrooms. Prepare the Cobb and when it's ready fit the wok or frying pan on. Heat the oil and fry the potatoes for about 15 min. Add the bacon and fry until crisp. Add the mushrooms, sprinkle over the rosemary and some salt & pepper. Cook for a few minutes. Then make 4 spaces in the pan. Crack the eggs into the spaces, cover the pan with the lid for 4-5 minutes until the eggs are set.


The Cobbglobal website has lots of info.

Kudos for showing the SO where it (KNP, SANParks in general) all began.

But live a little, and get to other camps for a more bushveldy type experience.
Skuk is very mod and busy with tourists.

You can get electrified camp sites at most of the camps and depending on how well kitted out you are, will be just as comfortable as the chalet-dwellers.
I'd happily recommend LS, BnD and Croc Bridge as good camping sites in the southern park, in addition to Skukuza.

The basics are...
- Shelter - decent tent that you can put up or break down in minutes.
Canvas for the win, but decent nylon is lighter and takes less space.
A separate gazebo or umbrella in case you get no trees, and it's hot.

- Clothing - you're more exposed, take warm and cool clothes.

- Warmth - you want your bum off the cold earth at night.
So decent mattress.
The blow up jobs are pretty impressive IMO.
Similarly, decent sleeping bags, duvets and blankets.

- Food - goes without saying, plan your meals, buy your groceries accordingly.
A good coolerbox (Coleman if budget permits) to keep your frozen and cold chain goods cold as long as possible.
If you know you're in for three days and your food will all be defrosted by the second afternoon, that evening you braai your last meat and the last day you operate out of tins, boxes and packets.
If you really get into camping, and buy a trailer, a small bar fridge is superb.

- Equipment - you need light (torches, plus gas, stick light that operates off 12V, or a 220V light for in the tent),
you need gas cooking equipment (Cadac plus budget cooker, skottel if funds permit),
you need work and eating surfaces (table),
you need seating (the twin bag of fold up chairs available from Makro for about R180, for the win), a tub to collect up your dirty dishes to take to the wash up (if you get into the camping, you buy the whole stand / tub / drying rack arrangement to do it at your site),
you need storage boxes for your kit and food,
you need kitchen utensils, a braai grid and brush if you're squeamish about braaing on the previous occupant's leftover grease, crockery and cutlery (picnic basket makes a good starter pack), a metal kettle for the gas stove, or take the electric from home, and to top it all off,
a utility type tool (Leatherman or similar) that can do various things if you forgot XXX widget at home

- Park-related stuff - map, binocs, camera, bird book, notepad

- Entertainment - portable radio to catch the test match, cards, books

- Electrics - extension to reach central electricity supplies, blue plug, multiplug
- Beer - forget this at your peril!

The camp shops stock most of the camping gear you might need, if you've left something at home, but the prices will make Mastercard weep.


Added: here be my humble refrigerator...


Fits in the Venter, and I take a duck board along, so that the door is raised a bit and doesn't foul the tent's built-in groundsheet.
Set to 3 it will keep anything in the ice box and immediately below, frozen.
Set to 5, it's basically a freezer.
it's really done mileage.
But it really is a winner.

Hi JB,

Just want to add the following..

If I may advice you, when going there in june/july/august, SERIOUSLY take the cold nights in consideration when camping, take WINTER sleepingbags with, and the most important to take with you are extra cloths or groundsheets to put underneath your mattress, eventhough you have those on stands, as we learned it the hard way......

Furthermore, Skukuza is a nice camp and a perfect gaming area, but the camp and camping can get very crowded in July, and I personally had some bad experiences with the (dirty)abolution blocks of Skukuza, so I would advice you consider other camps aswell, such as Croc bridge, Lower Sabie and Berg-en-Dal or Pretoriuskop. (For Pkop take the camping furthers from the gate)

Furthermore you will need a REALLY BIG HAMMER and extra strong pegs, as the soil is like concrete in July..

Hope you will consider my opinion and enjoy it, I'll follow your tracks in KNP a week later!

Or unless someone is braaiing on it already.

Hello Forumites,

I'll be camping for the first time at Kruger (LS Sept).
In Jan this year we had baboons in the cottage at Talamati, they opened the screen door entered the kitchen and ransacked the cupboards while we were napping.

What sort of precautions should we be taking to protect our food from monkeys while camping? I don't fancy packing everything up and taking it in the car while we are out. Will they rip open a closed and locked tent if they can smell food in it?

We keep all our food in a big camping box and put it into the Hilux when we go out, just to be safe.

You can only tent @ Tsendze.

To add, it is superb for tenting/caravanning!
I was there last week and highly recommend it.
Remember there is no power at the sites so bring along the gas lamps and torches - it is very dark on the walk to the ablution block.
There are solar powered lights in the ablution and communal kitchen only.
Gas stoves and a freezer are supplied at the kitchen.

Hi Aloe and welcome to the forums!

Have a look at the Tsendze topic, there are photos and more information there.

We are caravanners and have taken our van to Kruger many times.
We do avoid towing on the dirt roads though.
They could be corrugated, and then there is the dust problem.

All the camps that cater for caravanning are accessible by tar roads.
So when you arrive in Kruger or change camps, you can drive only on tar.
Balule camp is the exception, but the gravel road to Balule is not bad at all.

There's a misconception about gravel in KNP, that you need a whopping great 4x4, and that they're verboten for sedans. In a word, twaddle. Roads not passable by regular vehicles and/or caravans are marked, for the rest, you can go, but check your permit for specific instructions. I have been dragging trailers around gravel in KNP for years without worries.

The roads themselves are not the problem. They are corrugated in places, and bumpy as gravel roads go, but if you go slowly, you will be fine. The two principal byproducts of the roads are more worrisome though...

1. Dust. It gets in everywhere.
2. Ellies, rhinos and buff. You can't reverse at speed, so if you come round a corner in the road to find one, you have to sit, and hope s/he doesn't take a shine to you.

For these reasons, plan the trip to minimise gravel road useage.

Enjoy! Camping / caravanning in KNP is generally superb, with mild weather, good facilities, and the outdoors lifestyle. Take an aircon in summer though!

Hi Adriaan

You can get to Tsendze using tar roads, just check your map that you can buy at the gate. There is a very short gravel section from the tar road to the Tsendze gate but its a few hundred meters and in very good condition. The main camps all have tar road access.

BTW I can highly recommend Tsendze, we were there about 3 weeks ago. It is fantastic, make sure you have an open airshower!

Seriously, the vanishing lawns... has been a gradual event, especially in the southern region camps.
Ten years back, Croc Bridge sites were lush green lawn, and yes I recall in early mid 90s, Letaba, Pretoriuskop and Skukuza also had plenty of prime grassed sites.

But it goes to the decision to allow tents with heavy ground sheets - Caravan and Traditional - to sit on a a site for days on end.
This resulted in the obvious dying of of big patches of Grass, which just went on an on.
There was a period I recall, much to my consternation, that the attendants or honorary rangers prowling the camps would not let a ground sheet be put down on the lovely grass sites!!!
Overused sites had "pickets around them to try and let the grass recover.
This "ban" was abolished mid 90s, and the decision to reduce/ conserve water usage and let nature take over has been in place for years now.
Not all the camps had grassed camp sites... Balule, Satara, Maroela come to mind.

Also, I am sure it must be impossible to properly tend lawns when Campers are in residence all year round at certain popular camps these days.
The Chalets and Huts are static structures and in space between generally there is a chance grass lawns will be able to survive and be nurtured.
However, look at some of the Bushveld camps, and grass lawns is a rarity... and rightly so.. as natural as it can get!

Anyway, that's my observation....