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Hi, Rayb, I would rather stay at the Airport hotel, otherwise you are going to rush too much. It is not far to Witbank, 1.25hrs but at night it is not a pleasant road at all.

I would rather take a good nights rest & leave early in the morning. You will be refreshed to stay alert & stay awake.

Enjoy the trip.

Rayb.

There are so many factors that can influence this decision.
The most important one to consider is the jet-lag or fatigue factor.

If you are able to sleep on the plane, then I suggest that you travel to Witbank and sleep over there.
That way, you can sleep for an hour more before resuming your journey and you are an hour closer to your destination.

The other factor for this suggestion is the road between JNB and Witbank, is probably the most boring part of the trip.

Driver fatigue is a huge factor for you to consider and the overall safety of yourself and family are primary concerns.

It may be safer for you to just sleep over in JHB and take a careful drive down after getting some kip.
See how you feel and take it from there once you have arrived.

HI RayB

I travel this route often the route from JHB to the park in the early stretches can be a bit boring with a lot of heavy trucks and often mist in late evening and early morning, rather stay JHB recommend town lodge or road lodge as to the F1 and do an early start but bring good sun glasses as you will be driving into the sun all the way.
From the airport take the JHB R24 Freeway/ Road to the next flyoff Barbara Road take this flyoff turn left for 50m then right into Herman St for +/-250m the F1 and town lodge etc are all together there.
When leaving there go back to Barbara Rd back onto the R24 to JHB then take the next flyoff (Edenvale) Germiston Rd turn left follow this straight to the N12 turn left onto the N12 and follow the Witbank signs.

We stayed here after arriving JNB in the evening. It is about 3 km very straight drive from the Airport...take R24 toeards JNB to Barbara Road turnoff...make right on Barbara road and left to the Hotel (after the McDonalds' on your left).

Kal

Hi Rugbycrew,

(1) The journey to Orpen is, (no map here, so I stand to be corrected) approximately 650 km....so to be save you should allow yourself 7 - 8 hours, as stops at petrol stations and the road from Whiteriver to Klaserie winds through traditional homelands, which will slack your average down quite a bit...

So I would avise to leave EARLY...

(2) The second question sort of depends....If you want to hire the navigator just for finding Orpen gate and in the park, I would say no.
If you are comfortable with a map, just do yourself a favour, buy a decent map of SA.
The road to Orpen is quite easy.
If you are on the N4...its 270 kms straight
At Nelspruit, just keep the road signs in sight, but check especially the road numbers...take the road to Whiteriver. From Whiteriver, its straight to Hazyview, and from Hazyview its straight to Klaserie.
At Klaserie, just check for the Orpen gate signs, turn right, and your last 40kms on a dead-quiet road! Really, no need for a Navigator, its very easy if you know how to use a map.

A tip, just stick to the speed limit, especially from Nelspruit and on, as there are a lot of traffic cops trying to share with you income

Hi Thanks very much - we used your directions from JNB airport which was fine - but came unstuck on the return - the lane switches are very confusing leaving the N4 to the R 21 and then finding the correct lane to the airport.
Your advice would be very helpful- even though I had a good road map and downloaded the map from ASAS (airport) website - it was still very confusing.
Good directions for the return would be very helpful..
In future I intend to fly - less stressful!!

Hi All
I've read Ellies suggestion of shortest route to Orpen is through Lydenburg Strijdom Tunnel , could some one tell me how is the R555 i.e from middelburg -stofberg burgersfort-orighstad-strijdom tunnel. Would this route be shorter and whats the condition of the road.
Tnx

Hi Yahya
I have never used that route as I love going thru Dullstroom, But I have heard there's a mine somewhere along there so the road is in good nick, but I don't know how many trucks you might encounter

This is in response to a query on the thread directions from JBH international
From, Komatipoort, Malelane, Nelspruit follow the N4 west past Machadadorp, Belfast, Middelburg as far as the town of eMalahleni (Witbank).
Just thru the town you need to keep in the 2 left hand lanes of the highway and follow the signs to the N12 west highway.
Note that this split of the two highways is not well signposted and even local S. Africans miss this split!
So watch for it once in the eMalahleni (Witbank) area.
Follow this highway to Benoni and into Boksburg area.
Take the R21north highway to Airport/ Pretoria .
The 2nd offramp on this highway is the Airport turn off.

If you miss the N12 at Witbank, stay on the N4 until you reach Pretoria.
Take the N1 highway south bound and then the R21 south to Kempton Park and the Airport.
It's a slightly longer route, but gets you there on Highways the whole way and time wise it's only about 30min extra.

From Sabie, take the Long Tom Pass (R37) to Lydenburg .
Follow the signs to the R540 to Dullstroom and Belfast.
Go thru Belfast and join the N12 (route is well signposted in the town) and follow the above directions from Belfast above..

From Hazyview you can either take the route via Sabie or go to White River and Nelspruit along the R 569 and then follow the above directions
Hope this helps

You need to follow the N12 highway which joins the N4 at Witbank.
This route is well described earlier in this thread (the 1st post I think).
From Randburg you need to get onto the N1 and at the N3 split, take the N3 south.
At Gillooleys interchange, take the N12/R24 east split and move into the right hand lanes as soon as you can as the highway splits almost immediately into R24(to the airport) and the N12 to Boksburg, Benoni, Witbank. If you end up on the R24, don't panic.
When you get close the airport follow the signs to the R21 south and then onto the N12 east/ Witbank.
Its only slightly longer.

Time needed to get to KNP: Malelane gate will take about four and a half hours.
We like to stop at Middelburg Utra city or Millys (both are petrol stations with fast food joints)
Middelburg is closer to Jhb.
Choice of stop depends on the kids toilet needs.
We also like to stop at Erics farm stall which is in the lowveld (ie once you are down the passes) about 1/2hr-45 mins from Nelspruit.
They make great pancakes there.

Crocodile Bridge gate is about 40 mins further than Malelane gate)
The drive to Lower Sabie can be done in an Hour but will usually take longer as this is a great road for sightings.
If you go in at Malelane gate the drive is much longer to Lower Sabie (could be as long as 4 hours),
Another option is Kruger gate, also about four and half hours from JHB and about two and half hours drive to lower Sabie, once again remembering that this is another great sighting road.
All in all, my 1st choice gate with younger kids would be Croc Bridge.
Without kids,
I would probably go in at Kruger gate

Have a great trip

I would welcome some advice on getting to KNP from Jo'burg airport.
We will be travelling to Olifants camp from Jhb airport.
Are we best to go via Nelspruit and up to Phalaborwa or should we head north via Pretoria and across via Tzaneen.
In either event what would the time required be?
We plan to leave very early to get some time in the park at the end of the day.
Tolls etc not an issue just looking for the least stressful driving route.

Hi MF,

Also remember that Olifants is about 80 km from Phalaborwa. This should take at least 3 hours or so, depending on the number of stops for animals.

Suggest you leave real early!

Thoughts on directions from Jo'burg to Punda Maria? And suggestions for a place to stop and stock up on food/camping supplies along the way?

Hi Fishing Owl.
I would take the N1 north.
If you are leaving from the airport take the R21 north to Pretoria and then follow the signs to the N1 north.
You need to go past a number of smaller towns and once in Polokwane you could replenish stocks there.
I don't know the shops there, but it is a fair sized town and will have a Spar and almost certainly a Pick n Pay. Get back on the N1 as far as Makhado formerly Louis Trichardt .
Take the R524 to Thohoyandou . B
Go through the town and onto Punda Maria

N12 east is not too bad BUT if you hit JHB between 06.45am and aboutm8.15am Geldenhuys and Gilooleys interchange are horrific. I
f you leave Potch at 7am , you'll only get to this area I guess around 9?
So assuming there's no accident it shouldn't be too busy.
It will then take 4-4/12 hours to get to Malelane so you would get there about 2pm which gives you 6 hours to get to Lower Sabie.
Its possible. Its 65km from Malelane to LS at an average speed of 25km time about 3hours.
But if you are delayed along the way Crocodile Bridge is only about 40min from Malelane and 35km (1and half hour about? to LS