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Elsa it's absolutely outrageous that you were required to overnight at LS — the inconvenience alone and being without any of your gear, did they also charge you?
What should have happened was that you paid the be escorted to CB.
When I was stranded at Skukuza in May, when my hired car died and I had to wait for the replacement to arrive, there was never any suggestion that I would just have to stay there overnight, but I did have to pay for the after-hours escort once the replacement car arrived.
That seemed to me reasonable, and the Skukuza reception staff were very understanding and helpful.
It really seems to me very strange indeed that LS required you to stay overnight

I will add my own positive experience here, where IMNAAHO I believe that it belongs
In early May I spent @ 2.5 hours watching 3 lazy lions near the Skukuza end of the S114.
Of course when you are watching lazy lions, your hope is that they will eventually become active.
As gate-closing time approached, I kept track of the time, knew that I was at best 15 minutes away from Skukuza, but lingered nonetheless, as I was not the only car there.

Eventually, when there was only one other car there, I tore myself away (nothing much had happened with the lions ) and hurried back to camp.
I was about 10 minutes late, admitted this to the gate guard and also told him that there would be another car after me that had stayed at the sighting when I left.
I was not issued a warning, although I had expected (and deserved) one, the guard simply smiled and waved me through.
Later it occurred to me that as this was still early May, perhaps quite a few people were late because they didn't realise that in May the gates close at 17:30 (while in April it is 18:00).

Anyway, I suppose that it all depends on the particular gate guard(s) — and on how you present yourself. IIRC, I arrived smiling and contrite, and said something like "I know I'm late, but it was hard to tear myself away from the lions — and there was still another car there when I left."

Yes Arks, it was extremely inconvenient to have to stay overnight in LS, there were 5 of us altogether, totally without any toiletries, fresh clothes, etc and yes they did charge us, the full rate in fact, for a 3 sleeper bungalow and 2 extra mattresses but due to the fact that when we got to the designated bungalow we found it to be occupied, they had no option other than to allot us a family cottage which was a lot better but still very annoying when we had perfectedly good and paid for accommodation at our time share just outside the park.
Maybe, the rules have changed since then, re your escort to the next camp, or the fact that you were staying inside the park.
But, we did have a bone fida ranger with us in the car to back our story up and we would not have been more than an hour late at Croc Bridge.
All said, if I had known then what I know now I would definitely have put up more of an arguement and persisted in being allowed to exit.

We're first time visitors and need some help.
We're leaving Nelspruit at 3pm to arrive Crocodile Bridge Gate by 5pm (is that realistic??).
Our goal is reaching Lower Sabi, but we're not sure if we'll be able to drive ON OUR OWN (not escorted) after gates close at 6pm (March).
It seems we need a couple of hours from Crocodile B gate to Lower Sabi.
This way, we'd get there by 7pm.
Will we be able to drive INSIDE the park from 6pm to 7pm??
What time is sunset taking place that time of the year?

The entry and camp gates close at 6pm in March. From Nelspruit to Crocodile Bridge gate is about 115km so you should do it in about just over 1 hr. From Croc bridge to Lower Sabie is 35km about 45 minutes with no stops for animals. I think you should make it YOU CAN NOT DRIVE IN THE PARK AFTER CLOSING.

Nelspruit to Crocodile Bridge about 125 km
Crocodile Bridge to Lower Sabie around 34km maximum speed on tar in the park is 50km/h. Gates close at 6pm in March and you are not allow to drive in the park after gate closing times.
Check this page for various info on travel times etc.
For certain camps you can organise a late entry permit but they are not available between CB & LS.

Late Entry
Latecomers at entrance gates will be refused entry, whilst offenders at rest camps will be warned and fined if they are repeat offenders.

Late entry escorts (at a fee) are available at the following gates for the camp in brackets only. This is only available until 21:00. Escorts depart every half hour until this time:

Paul Kruger (Skukuza)
Numbi (Pretoriuskop)
Malelane (Berg-en-Dal and Malelane)
Crocodile Bridge gate (Crocodile Bridge Camp)
Punda Maria gate (Punda Maria Camp)
Orpen gate (Orpen Camp)
No late admission at Phabeni, Phalaborwa and Pafuri
Gate Security will phone camp duty phone when there are guests and transport is arranged. If guests advise in advance, then trips can be better planned. Fee is currently R150,00 per vehicle.. ( from SANParks website)

As long as you don't have any hold ups you should make it but will probably be unable to stop to view the game on the drive to Lower Sabie, can you leave Nelspruit early than 3pm.

1. Reception stays open until 1 hour after the camp gates close so you can book in any time until then.

2. Some gates offer a late entry for a modest fee, as long as you tell them in advance. I don't know if Punda Maria is one of these gates though.

3. Travel to Makhado/Louis Trichardt is about 5 hours, however the road to Punda is not a main highway and pedestrians and cattle and road conditions combine to slow down traffic so allow more time for these roads.

4. Enjoy your trip

It all depends on what time you are leaving JHB.
Punda offers late entry permits at R150 per vehicle up to 9pm but this must be arranged in advance.
Wouldn't advise you to travel the Makhado - Punda road after dark, lots of stray animals, pedestrians etc.

Oh yes - I also meant to say your reservations are kept for 24 hours if you don't show up for the first night. After that they are on general release.

If you are not sure whether you are going to make it in time or not, Do you have to book a late entry or can you ask for it as you arrive at the gate?

Rick, it only works for camps close to the gates and has to be booked in advance.

Just some feedback on the late entry.

We phoned skukuza the morning to let them know about our late arrrival. About 30min from the gate we phoned again. We arrived at the gate at about 19:00. Didn't even wait 5 min before a car was there to escort us to the camp.

At skukuza we booked in at reception and went straight to a cozy campfire in the bush!

The cost is R150 I think, the list of the camps and gates are somewhere on the site.

Late Entry
Latecomers at entrance gates will be refused entry, whilst offenders at rest camps will be warned and fined if they are repeat offenders.

Late entry escorts (at a fee) are available at the following gates for the camp in brackets only. This is only available until 21:00. Escorts depart every half hour until this time:

- Paul Kruger (Skukuza)
- Numbi (Pretoriuskop)
- Malelane (Berg-en-Dal and Malelane)
- Crocodile Bridge gate (Crocodile Bridge Camp)
- Punda Maria gate (Punda Maria Camp)
- Orpen gate (Orpen Camp)
No late admission at Phabeni, Phalaborwa and Pafuri
Gate Security will phone camp duty phone when there are guests and transport is arranged. If guests advise in advance, then trips can be better planned. Fee is currently R150,00 per vehicle.

You can find it here.

We also made use of the late entry possibility. I phoned the Paul Kruger gate and Skukuza to ask them about it a few days before entry. Both of them told me that I just had to phone them when I was close to the gate, no need to book in advance.
We phoned them around 18.15 and had to wait a while before our escort was there. We had to pay a fee of R 200, apparently R 150 was last years rate.

It is a nice possibility to consider.

Hope the following helps, BH!