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Hi Honeymooners and welcome to the forum. First of all congratulations and what a way to start your married life together. If your marriage is as special as Kruger, you will be blessed forever.

Those camps are well spread and I would suggest you leave early in the morning so you can take it easy and get to see all you can. While at Skukuza a must would be Lake Panic, a perfect place to quietly sit and watch the world work. I would also try to go down to do the S28 which is always a good road and we have had fantastic sightings. However, that is a another big day driving so it all depends how much driving you are wanting to do and how much "parking off".

Welcome
as Jock said, what a wonderful way to start your married life.

When at Skukuza, do try to have a late sip of wine at Mathekenyane, as close to sunset as possible. It is a magic place.

Letaba is a camp filled with charm and lots of lovely, heart melting Bushbuck. Enjoy the river walk and just enjoy each others company.

Hi Hm's
Some suggestions
1) Candle lit dinner at the Selati Train Restaurant
2) I'd recommend ONE evening drive. The drive as close to the start of the trip as the rangers give you good pointers. The evening drive is good because you are out after gates close and the sightings are different to what you see during the day.
2) ONE walk (morning). This is a more intimate experience as there are just 8 pax and its totally different - see LS walk thread.
3) Kissing everytime you spot the Big 5 or maybe everytime you spot the BIG 500
4) Having a BIG JUST MARRIED sign on your 4 WD and the whole car decorated in Yellow Ribbon (not just the drivers window). This will ensure all cars ar BIG 5 sightings will move out of the way to give you the best spot.

I was on honeymoon in Berg & Dal so they have changed my room from 3 beds to 2 beds and put in a extra table.
Only have these 2 pics so it won't help you much.

Suggest Tamboti as it is much more private that the bigger camps and quieter, otherwise you could go to one of the bush camps.

Check out the safari tents at Punda Maria. The camp itself has a charm of its own and, on a recent visit, SO thought the tents were very romantic .. if you know what I mean There are some great drives around the camp and up to Pafuri.

Hi Mars, well in 2001 I passed my honeymoon in KNP and must say it was something very special.
We returned again this year, with our 7 year old son, and I'd say the magical places for honeymooners are:
- Punda Maria Safari Tents (I agree with you bushwalker)
- Talamati (isolated, only 15 beautiful units and very very quite and romantic)

I know this two camps are far apart but you can't miss one or two nights at Mopani with it's fantastic view.

HI

We honeymooned in Kruger - it was the start of my Kruger experiences and it was fantastic.
Great idea.
Look up the two bird hides that you can stay in, Sable and Shipandani.
They are lovely.
If you book you will be the only two there.
Find the info under Accom - Kruger Park and then scroll down to overnight hides.

Shimuwini bushveld camp. Most beautiful, romantic setting in Kruger. Nice and quiet.

Hi Mars!
I had my honeymoon in Kruger and you cant go wrong!
Think if we should ever divorce I will bet the thing we will always agree on, is that Kruger is the place!

Inside Kruger, any camp with a river view is magic at dusk and dawn, if you will be awake by then..
Punda with its rustic chalets and tents is very special,
Shingwedzi with Kanniedood dam night drive and Tshanga lookout is a winner.
Also much more quiet up north.
Lots of "alone" time on the road and lookout's.
Pafuri and the fever tree forest is absolute magic all the way to the confluence at Crook's corner.
Lower Sabie and a sunset at Sunset dam, oohhh, and not to mention a sundowner next to the river at the restaurant, followed by a movie at Letaba, where you can sit so close to each other..
But that's what so special about Kruger, so many places with so many different views and things to do, believe me you can't go wrong, no matter where you go! Just enjoy it!!

Hi All,

This is my first query/post on this forum. I am planning a 5 day honeymoon trip to SA in feb. I come from india, and having covered a lot of parks, ranging from tiger reserves to Gir (lion Sanctuaty) here, m looking forward to my first overseas game sighting trip. had the following queries:
1. Where to stay in Kruger: being a honeymoon, would want a comfortable acco!
2. Would be flying in to Jo'burg. whats the best way to reach kruger from there?
3. Should i Couple 2 days at Sun city with kruger to add a different flavor to the trip?

Looking forward to some informed advices!

Thanks!

Hi ishwinder and welcome to the forum.
February is a lovely time to visit the park, you will have a wonderful time!
Where to stay?
This depends on what your wildlife interests are.
As a general rule the further south the more animals you see, the further north less wildlife but more birds.
Satara is a good base as it is fairly central and you can travel up or down.
Depending how long your stay is dictates whether you stay in more than one place but I would recommend staying at least two nights in each camp on a first visit as moving every day can be time wasting, booking in etc as well as hard work.
Re accommodation the park has all sorts of accommodation from luxury river bungalows in Skukuza(a very large camp) to quiet bush camps, again a matter of personal taste.
In the south I would recommend Biyamiti bush camp as it is small and quiet and perfect for a honeymoon and Crocodile Bridge shop is close enough for supplies.
Further north Talamati Bush camp is also lovely and fairly off the beaten track.
At Olifants the river view bungalows are terrific and the newly renovated Lower Sabie river bungalows are also very comfortable. Spoilt for choice!

From Joburg, presumably you're renting a car?
For game viewing most people recommend a combi or similar as you sit higher.
The N12 and then the N4 takes you all the way to the Kruger.
They are toll roads so you'll need Rands to pay.
We use them as it's much faster and considered safer than the smaller roads, it depends on the experience you want and the time factor.

Hi Ishwinder, welcome to the forum and congratulations on your wedding.

Firstly if you are planning for Feb 2010 then you need to book fairly soon.
Availability in the various camps can be seen here.

If you are on honeymoon then you want as little stress as possible so I would suggest flying into one of the 3 airports that serve the KNP. KMIA for the south, Hoedspruit for the central area and Phalaborwa for the north/central north areas.

For peace and quiet then I would go for the bush camps like Biyamiti, Talamati, Sirheni, Shimuwini or Bataleur .
The down side of these is that there is no restaurants in these camps and it depends if you want to cook for yourselves on your honeymoon.

If you want to go for the main camps then I would recommend Lower Sabie and Olifants and try to get perimeter accommodation (any accommodation with a code ending with U).
To me these are the camps that combine spectacular views from the camp with good game viewing roads nearby.

Try also to get accommodation with WC and shower.
This all depends on what is available so have a look what is left as soon as possible.
If Lower Sabie has Luxury Safari tents (LSTU) then book those as they are something different.

Those are my thoughts but I'm sure others will have different views.

Have a great trip.

Hey!

Thanks for the quick and fantastic responses.

2+2 nights at different 2 camp sites sounds good but i would prefer a luxury bunglow kind of an acco if available at around 150$/night!

also, how is the drive from Jo'burg to kruger. looking to rent a car and drive down.

And how is the whether like in Feb?

Hi Ishwinder and a very warm welcome
You have been given very good advice there.
February is one of the hottest months, so units with aircon would be essential.
I would check on that before making a booking.

In terms of driving down, that would not be a problem at all.
Once out of J'burg, the roads are fairly straight forward. 2 nights in 2 camps sounds great.
Feb is not such a busy month, so I am sure that you can find something good.

If you would consider "fans" in luxury tents, rather than air con in bungalows, I would recommend Tambotie and the river side bungalows at Lower Sabie.
They must be my all time favourites.