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Yes Bethmary, there are 6 tolls between Bloemfontein and Malalane!!!

Sorry my mistake, about R650 return

1 Budget R3000 for fuel.
2 Avoid tolls - Route - N8 to Ladybrand - R26 to Bethlehem - R714 to Warden - R103 old Durban rd. and R543 to Vrede - R546 to Standerton - R39 to Ermelo - N17 to Lochiel - R541 to Badplaas - R38 and R40 to Nelspruit - R538 to Numbi gate. 10 Hours travel .
3 Spend first night in Pretorius kop school hut or a normal Hut if you neeed a fridge. Then take any of the accom. options you mention that are available (high season and high popularity). I personly like Lower Sabie huts the best. But reserve it now or it will be taken.
4 Self cater as much as possible especialy evening braai. Cheaper and beter and gives you more freedom while game watching if you have food and drinks with you wherever you are. But have a pap, sheba and wors take-away at Tshokwane for example by all means.
You need a minimum of equipment and can bring some things with and buy as needed too.
In 1978, just graduated, 2 of us toured all over Zimbabwe in a Toyota 4x4. Every lunch was cheese and picallili sarmies and braai at night. Went wherever we felt like and bought meat and beer on a daily basis. I hope your trip will be as memorable as mine was.

Just hope you can hop skip and jump the potholes on the above route.!!!!!!!

if you get a tent you will save so much money !!! everything sounds and feels more natural in a tent than it does in a rondavel, you want to experience nature then do it this way !

best feeling ever waking up infront of the fence and there infront of your tent a little buck from letaba is eating grass

Goodluck and enjoy bud !

The truest words ever spoken.

Hi Mark,

We now live and London and when en route we stop and buy 80% of our food before entering the park, normally Nelspruit. A great way to make the food cheaper is to get a few boxes of rusks to have with your morning coffee. You can use the warm water cylinders to make your coffee. Buy some stuff to cook over the rentable skottles (R20 per go) for a warm early brunch at say 10am each day.Scrambles eggs, bacon, viennas etc. What ever you can afford. further save money I would suggest borrowing sugar, salt & pepper etc. Pack any meats in a cooler box with some freezer blocks and then also place it under a blanket. This should ensure as little gets, if anything spoils.

From a money saver on drinks I would also take along an empty water bottle. Fill it overnight with water and it should provide some cool water for the next morning. If you guys fancy a beer or two, then prebuy them as it's cheaper outside the park. Nick a few from your dad whilst he's snoring of the sofa.

I would calculate my petrol usage ito distance you'll travel within the park. I'd say about 150km per day if you travel a bit. I would say no matter how much fuel you've got in the tank, top up before you go in to the park.

For accommodation I'm not a fan of the Huts, but they do offer more variety of roads at the camps. Berg N Dal is modern, but I do find the road options more limited than around Skukuza (you have to go to Lake Panic, not maybe), Lower Sabie etc. Satara whilst a bit of a travel is most certainly worth the trip due to sheer open space at that time of year and the cats you're bound to see. They don't call it Lion country for nothing. The S100 is waiting for you.

Also note that cash is king and that you can draw cash with FNB ATM's at Skukuza, so if you bank with a different company then draw the cash before so you don't incur extra charges.

Hope you can use some of this info & good luck with your trip planning.

Great advice from Riaan - welcome to rainy, cold London Riaan - hope you have found a source of droerwors etc having settled in?! I use the shop in Victoria station complex.

Braai is definitely the way to go in Kruger and making sandwiches with left over food from the braai saves money on the next-day-lunch front!

Welcome back Mark! No particular advice, tho self-catering will be less costly than takeaways And I'm sure you'll have a great trip!

A hard plastic cool box with rope tied around it is monkey proof!
You could keep most of your food in the car.
The Pick and Pay green or brown cloth cool bags with tin foil lining cost R 15 or so and rival Colman's for efficiency!
Breakfast:- bananas, apples, hard boiled eggs
Easy and cheap lunch:- cheese and tomato sandwiches.
Dinner:- wors rolls with sweet chillie sauce
Enjoy!

@ Graham - London does have its creature comforts, but I'd give up the best of those for a bad day in KNP.

@Mark,

How is the trip planning going?

Great advice guys! We going in June.. Now I feel like a cheese and picallili sandwich:)

I'd say that the Pretoriuskop huts using external ablutions are by far the most cost-effective and only marginally more expensive than camping. Ditto for Lower-Sabie. If you want to see wild dogs, best bets are Berg-en-Dal and Skukuza (both then camping options). Why not mix it up and book a night or two in a hut and then rough it for a few nights with minimal camping equipment. Save money and make your own braais at night. Hope you have a great trip.

I'm dreaming of cheese-griller sausages for breakfast, with scrambled eggs and tomato & onion mix.

Long time no hear MWD.

Petrol will probably be your biggest expence.
You don't say what type of vehicle you will be driving, so here are some tips.

A 4x4 will cost about R1.50 per km and a saloon varies from about 80 cents to R1.10 depending on which.

It is 900 km each way from Bloemies to Kruger and you will be there 7 nights (6 days) @ say 200 km per day.

That gives you about 3000 km in total. Now get your calculator out!