SANParks.org Forums

Hi Guys

What is the difference between a day permit and a day visitor permit.
and were can i get one?
I am going to the park in June, do you think i need to get one of the permits? :?

The two are the same and are for day visitors staying outside the park.
They ensure you will get into the park during busy periods since they apply quotas at the gates which control the number of visitors.
If you are staying inside the park you do not have to worry about a day permit.
Phone reservations to book one if you will be coming in from outside the park.
Remember it is valid until 9 am of the day and you will need one for every day you intend to enter from the outside.

Karl the only problem is that at the moment the queue does not discriminate between, reservation holders, day permit holders or folk who are just taking a chance and if the queues are starting at 4 a.m. then you can imagine how long a queue might be by say 6 a.m.
Once we can establish that we will be allowed to pass by the rest of the queue with reservations in hand or alternatively day permit we will feel a lot better.
It is especially tiresome if one has come straight to the gate after a 7 hour drive only to find that you are stuck for 3 hours more!
If you are going to the Park in June/July and it falls into school holidays then you will find the gates hectically busy and it would be advisable to get a day visitor's permit provided of course Sanparks implements some kind of control to facilitate those with reservations and/or permits!

On our first trip into Kruger this past week (22 Dec), we arrived at Croc Bridge at about 05h20 - there were already approx 18 vehicles ahead of us.
Amongst these vehicles was a safari vehicle - while we were waiting for gate to open another safari vehicle arrived - this time breezed past us and into the queue ahead of is mate who was in the queue - obviously the first jeep jockey left enough place ahead of him for the other one to push in.
There was one guard on duty - he allowed 10 vehicles in at 05h30 - no one checking for visitors day permits at the gate at that hour of the morning.
Our turn finally came to go through at 05h45, on getting near the gate at the camp, a lot of the vehicles from the first batch to go through at the entrance gate were still parked in the parking bays, resulting in the rest of us being allowed through the camp gate as a parking bay became available - I got out where we were stopped and went to my little spot in the queue outside reception where I waited for my turn for approx 10 minutes - not bad.
Once at the counter, I was attended to swiftly and politely.
I have no idea if the gates were closed once the quota had been reached or if another guard went to to the entrance gate and checked for dvp.
On the next trip in (24 Dec) at Croc Bridge, arriving at 05h10 we were now lucky enough to go through the entrance gate with the 2nd batch of 10 vehicles and the queue behind us was really long - could not even see the last car.
Once again our jeep jockey gave us a repeat performance of jumping the queue and also only 1 guard there at that hour.
Once again a walk to the queue and a longer wait in the queue, but this time there was a 3rd counter open especially for those with wildcards, but didn't make any difference to me as I was at the front of the queue waiting to move to the first available counter, which was the wildcard one in the end.
No idea what happened at the entrance again after we were through.
Then on the 27 Dec after our vehicle was finally on the road again and at approx 10h30 we phoned Croc Bridge to find out if we could still get in at Croc Bridge - gate was closed and they had their quota.
On Friday 28 Dec we were in the queue at 05h30, this time without a visitors day permit as we had not planned to go in before coming home - now we went though with the 3rd batch
of vehicles @ 06h00 and the queue behind us was very long.
Noticed that there was 3 guards at the gate, again not checking for visitors day permits.
Once again the wait in the queue for 20 min thanks to some visitors wasting everyone's time - and finally left Croc Bridge at 06h30.
So the last day was an hour wait from the time we arrived at Croc Bridge entrance gate to leaving the camp itself.
On leaving the park through Malalane gate at 11h30 the gates were closed and approx 7 vehicles waiting to enter the park.
To get into the park early and avoid waiting in queues for 2 to 3 hours esp at Croc Bridge one has to be there by 05h00 latest to get through in the first 3 or 4 batches of vehicles.
We looked at this situation in a positive light although annoying due to ignorant visitors, in that we saw sightings that we might not have seen had we not been kept waiting.

Foxy, you've got me worried.... Does the queue only apply to dayvisitors? How is this wildcard entarnce working, do you get preference if you have got a wildcard, or not? If you know, can you please tell me what to expect at malelane gate...will be my first experience of waiting more tahn 20 min!

monnevanloon I can't answer for Malalane, but at Croc Bridge early in the morning it doesn't seem to matter if you are a day visitor or overnighting in the park - you wait in the queue - as I said I have no idea what happened after we went through. We didn't get preference with the wildcard either - just that I was front of the queue in reception when they called for wildcard members to go to that particular counter.

We arrived at the outside gates at Malelane at about 0930.
The gates were closed and two cars had arrived just in front of us.
There were two guards on duty, one controlling the gate and the other checking to see if you had a reservation/permit.
By the time he got to us there were two more vehicles behind us.
The guard said we would be the last one in, but having a reservation it became the next one.
The reception at the inside gate was quite efficient, especially if you have a booking as they don't check your Wild Card.
For day visitors they were checking ID's for the Wild cards too, so this took a bit longer.
I guess it took us maximum 15 minutes from arriving at the outside gate.
On the way out we also left via Malelane.
The guard at the boom checked and signed out exit permit (did not remove it) and we were on our way.

BB, I don't think it benefits anyone, whether you have a wild card or a reservation, as we saw it.
There is 1 queue at the gates and as you said its a case of first come first served.
The only way day permits can have been of benefit is if they had 2 seperate queues, one for day permits and booked reservations and one for casual day visitors without permits.

I think it is a case of you have to take your chances.
Malelane has a larger quota than Croc Bridge, but more people head there because of its convenience for Nelspruit and surrounds.

My advice is wake up early and do the Kruger thing.

Kind regards
KNP Spokesman

Hi DD
We have also styed outside the park in the Komatipoort area over a busy period. You do need to get to the gate quite early otherwise you wait in a mega queue for someone to go out so you can go in It is quieter in the afternoons, but thats not always the best game viewing time

Can someone tell me what the actual quota numbers are for the various gates? I read it somewhere recently and can't remember where!?!?

Which gates do you have the best chance of "getting in" at 6am during July school holidays:

Croc bridge
Numbi
Phabeni
Orpen ??

Hi Wilma

The quota per gate is 500 people (including babies and children), which gives you an average of 100-150 cars per gate.

When we tried to get into CB gate on the long weekend in beginning of May we got up at 4 am got to the gate at 5am
and we were number 167 car in the que....we did not get in..
The person at the gate told us to rather be there at 4 am just to get in...

I dont think that it will be that hectic in school holidays as it was on a easter weekend.

It all depends on where you are staying. CB is very popular as it is close to alot of holiday places joining the Kruger and it is close to the highway. If you want to enter here, be sure to be there between 4:30 am and 5am

Numbi and phabeni is also located close to hazyview etc which has alot of resorts and holiday homes, so i can think that they will also be busy over school holidays, but you dont want to go sit outside Numbi gate at 4am in the morning (not the safest)

My bet would be Orpen, but if you are staying close to CB gate then it will take you already 1-2 hours to get to the gate and the road is also not the safest roads 4 am in the morning...

Hope it helps a bit.

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the suggestions and comments, much appreciated.
At the risk of repeating myself, KNP management is presently doing a study on guest/visitor management, particularly with road usage data.
Recent visitors might have noticed small black lines stretched across the road at various places with mysterious green boxes.
These boxes collect data like how many cars use the road, at what time of the day and what the frequency of this is.
This will tell us what sort of stress the roads have and whether the roads are overcrowded or not.
This data will then be analysed by a committee that has been established to look into the whole gate quota issue.
At this point, I would like to stress that you need to look at the gate quota issue in perspective with other issues like crowding at game spots, crowding at facilities (day visitor areas, picnic sites etc) and take educated decisions on the way forward.
This was one of the measures that came up after the extensive consultation we did during the whole KNP management plan process (widely discussed on the forum approximately two years ago).
Anyway, back to the gate quotas.
We know that there is a certain amount of strain on the park, especially on public holidays that fall within school holidays, and we know that we need to make some sort of revision on the whole quota policy, which will also help alleviate the traffic jams and resultant "road rage" at spots, making the KNP visit experience more pleasurable for everyone.
At present, the gate quotas (which are still in force, every day of the year) are based on the amount of facilities and road surface in that particular area.
Small gates have a quota of 350 (this includes Croc Bridge, Numbi, Orpen, Pafuri etc), big gates have a quota of 500 (this includes Malelane, Phalaborwa, Punda Maria etc) and the main gate of the park Paul Kruger Gate has a quota of 750.

Hope this explains.
Kind regards
KNP Spokesman

Media release can be found here.

Sounds like a good idea as long as it is managed well. I do question the 60/40 allocation as it seem that the park is full most of the time. I'm not sure how they will manage the situation on the day at the gates with the quota systems. My suggestion is the following:

- Make advance day visitors booking compulsory for all. It might be excluding some in the beginning but will create order in the medium to long term. You can set up booking kiosks at tourist info centres where the public can make bookings on line. It should also be important that a visitor indicate at which gate it will enter the park at the time the booking is made. The system can then regulate the quota automatically.
- Incorporate a verification system to cater for Wildcard bookings.