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Thanks for the help

We have done the other way, after many trips with campers from Bobocampers (Johannesburg) we bought ourselvers a 4x4 and now we travel to several camps and use the bungalows and cottages.
But we have travelled with campers with a lot of fun.
And when you drive slowly you can almost take every (dirt)road in the park.
A positive thing is that you have everything with you.
So you don't need to go to a place like Tshokwane or so to use the toilet or make some coffee or fried eggs. Find yourselves a nice place (Vutomi) or another nice waterhole and stay there for a while.
No problem because you have hot coffee in your kitchen or a nice cold beer
In the most campers (the bigger ones, you can walk a little so you don't need to stay in you chair like in a sedan!
But keep in mind that driving on untarred roads, you cannot drive as 'fast' as you can with a bakkie or a sedan.
But it's not a great difference.
Most of the time we drove about 200 km a day.
Starting as early as possible till 12:00 or 13:00 and again from 15:00 till 18:00.
Most of the times we tried to get a camping place near the fence.
Use a torch and always something is walking around the camp.
Don't forget to take a long (extra cable for the electricity.)
Not all the camps are the same, Lower Sabie has all separate places with power point but Satara is something different.

Important to remember when using a camper - if you stay in one camp for a couple of days, you might lose your camping spot while out driving... a good idea is to leave a couple of things on your spot to let other people know that it is already taken... ie some chairs, tables or a gazebo etc. (nothing the monkeys can raid though)

And now the most important question for us:
We are a family of 5 (2 adults and 3 teens) so we rented a big motor home

We asked to the park in which road we are allowed to travel and the answer was: Motor homes are permitted, however some gravel roads will not be accessible with the vehicle.

Do you know exactly in what are the non accessible roads for this kind of vehicles?
We need to have this information for planning our route inside the park.

I don't think you will have a problem on any of the roads on your route. You will however not be able to drive on the low maintenance roads in the Phala area.

Motorhomes can travel all the main roads and if you feel you want something in the bush try a sunset drive or bush walk in a safari vehicle with a trained guide.
One night at each place is quite hectic but as its a motorhome you wont have to worry about things like packing up tents and awnings and such like you just need to drive off.

Montse, one other thing, please remember that you are in a big vehicle, bear that in mind when at a sighting. Don't block the other peoples view for too long.

I would like to get your thoughts and ideas on the following topic.
I love my wildlife and photography and my lovely fiance loves to read and relax when in the park.
So I was thinking why not hire a motor home the next time we decide to go to Kruger.
I can drive when and were I like and my future SO can relax, read, and (cook ).
What would be nice is that we can stop at a new camp every night and everything is already set up.

Now are motor homes allowed on dirt roads e.g. the S100, the loop around Berg en Dal etc. ?
as some of the good sightings are on dirt roads.
If you have used a motor home let me know your experience and who you rented one from.

Thanks

Hi Massimo

As far as I know there are no limitations for motorhomes on dirt roads. Just caravans.

We have often thought about doing that.
One thing to think about is the windows on those things.
I looked at all of the motor homes that I could find on the internet, and it seems like most of them have windows in the "home" part of the vehicle that do not open and/or are quite small.
I am worried about this in terms of photography.
You may be stuck with having to shoot only out of the front windows.

Just something to think about if photography is one of your goals.

I too would love to hear more from people who have done this.

Motor homes are not that badly priced either.
For a 5 sleeper I found one for R900 and it looks pretty awesome!
Can think of nothing better than traveling through the park in one.
You can drive all day and not get any complaints of hunger, toilet break, need sleep etc. !
Would love to hear from people who have actually tired this.

@ ilovemeerkats - with regards to the photography section.
I am the driver when we go to the park as my future SO likes to read or sleep in the back so it will be nothing new if i can only shoot through the front windows.
What is also nice is that its a lot higher then my Run X

We arrived in Kruger during the Cricket weekend and entered at Malelane Gate to Skukuza for the first night.
Then spent one night in LS, Satara, Letaba and two at Maroela.

Traveling on secondary roads was no problem.
I think it would be wise to stay off roads that do not allow caravans.

For us the biggest problem was the heat at that time, I will do this again but would choose a cooler time.
If you are not lucky enough to find good shady spot to stop during the heat of the day the Motor Home becomes an oven.
Even though it does have an aircon, it does not help a lot.
The late afternoons and evenings were great though. (The aircon was great during the night.)

Arriving at a camp and setting yourself up is a pleasure, you find your spot, make sure you are parked level, plug in the electricity cord, take out the table and chairs and pour something cold and watch the other campers sweating whilst setting up tents.

Some things to remember is to stop at the shop if you have to buy something before finding your camping site.
If you do go for a late afternoon drive, leave you table and chairs out so that no one takes your spot, same if you stay more than one night in a camp.

Remember to open the gas bottle before you start you day's journey if you want to use the stove during the day at a spot where you can not alight from the vehicle.

We never used the toilet inside the camper, purely because we did not want to empty and clean it but it was a comfort to know we could if we had to. (SO is a bit squeamish ).
But it is nice to have the basin available.

We had a 5 sleeper although it was only two of us and it gives you lots of space to move around and for packing.
Make sure you pack bottles etc. carefully as they can fall over and break or leak easily.

I (as the non-driver) enjoyed the freedom of moving to the back, relax on the bed or make coffee during the drive.
Your SO will enjoy reading and being comfortable.

Check everything properly on receiving the vehicle as one of the back windows of our van did not open and it was a bit of a problem.

If you like camping, don't mind driving most of the day and don't want the hassle of packing and unpacking every day this is the way to go.
Cost wise it is about the same as a guest cottage or bungalow.

Hope this helps.

Thanks a million for the info.
I would maybe look at going in the winter next year or the year after (as next year I'm getting married) so don't think the company will be happy if I take all this leave.
If you don't mind can you PM me the company you used.
Did you pick up the van close to KNP or did you take it from home ?
If you got it near KNP were did you leave your car ?

I'd like to know what its like driving to KNP (from Gauteng) in a motorhome, especially along roads near Lydenburg, Schoemanskloof etc.

Hey Josh ~ i would also like to know this but maybe take this into consideration.
If you take the motor home from Gauteng you going to be paying a lot more $$

If you look at the price of motor homes they normally give you 200km free per day and then its like +R1.50 per km thereafter, so traveling from Gauteng is +-450km so you will be paying a lot more on KM.

Also when you drive through the toll gates NOT SURE but I guess you are not going to pay for car price but you will pay like double that. (small truck if you go for the 5 sleeper)

Another thing to keep in mind is the petrol.
Motor home's go at about 15L per 100km so petrol is doing to double just on traveling routes.

My best bet is to get it close to KNP as possible and then leave your car at one of the camps and collect it on return.

That's the way i see it. but i could be wrong!