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great road... i was in KNP 2 weeks ago.i had wild dogs at the look out point. and then a cheetah about 2 km further!! not a bad way to start a Monday morning!

At a guess I would say its the Mathekenyane or Granokop view point.
A wonderful spot to stand and see for miles all around.

I have travelled this road quite a few times but havent travelled the road recently - used the road in Aug 2011 during the ealry hours of the morning. No problems, but I would rather use another road if its possible

It is far from the prettiest.

DJ_MM, do you have to go straight from the gate to Pkop? Otherwise you can consider entering at Malelane and make it a nice drive?

I've used it plenty of times without trouble. I'm usually coming from Joburg and prefer to go through the hills from White River on the R40 to Hazyview and then enter via Phabeni if I have time, because then you get a nicer drive through the park to P/Kop.

One piece of advice I would give you about the R538 is to avoid it early morning and late afternoon as there are plenty of big buses and taxis on the road then.

cheers

Tony

Hi,

Thanks, we are flying from Cape Town tomorrow morning and will land at 08:30. We still have some shopping to do in Nelspruit and then on to Pretoriuskop.

How long is the drive from the Phabeni gate to Pretoriuskop? All my wildlife and Kruger Park books with the distances is packed in already?

My timeline: JBurg airport: 09:00
Nelspruit: 14:00
Leave Nelsruit at 15:00 after shopping..

How far is the Phabeni gate from Nelspruit?

Thanks for all your help
Regards

If you use the R40 from Nelspruit, it is 19 kms to White River, 47kms from White River to Hazyview (still on the R40) and then 12kms from Hazyview to Phabeni.

DJ, a very warm welcome to you.

Because of time constraints, I would drive the R538. I have done it many, many times without a hassle. It can have some frustratingly slow vehicles, but sometimes I have also had a fairly free run. There is nothing worse than racing against the clock. The road between Phabeni and Pretoruiskop is a gravel road, which would also slow you down.

If you leave Nelspruit at 3pm, it might be another hour before you hit Phabeni, depending on traffic. You could make it, but it might be a rush.

The R538 would cut some travelling time off your journey. It would give you a bit of time to get ready for a sundowner at Mestel dam.

Hi 'Mites,

Will be on the road heading towards Numbi Gate on Saturday. I just wanted ask if the road is 'safe'. Will be driving the Nelspruit/White River route (R40/R538). There was some disturbance a few months ago, but I haven't heard of any since.


Rol die wiele van die wa!

Hi there RiaanF,
I personally prefer Numbi Gate for a quick visit to our most hallowed haunt!
The N4 is glorious all the way up to Nelspruit, however beware the dreaded highveld mist early in the morning, and lots of speedtraps in the 80 zones.
The stretch between Nelspruit & White River is a breeze(but drive slowly)
The Connecting road between the old homeland & Numbi gate is riddled with man-sized potholes!
So watch out for them & the odd cow & mule! Pedestrians & taxis also abound in the first part.

But overall it's a great entry point & as long as you're focused and aware you should make great time!
Envious Regards
WTM87

Hi Riaan
Traveled a different route last november
N4 past Nelspruit
Turnof to the airport/White river R538
Before White River turn right on the R538 (Numbi gate sign)
stayed on the R538 till the turnof Numbi

Then, saw few minor potholes and had not trouble with taxis, pedestrians etc.

We also did that year before last Bert.

Good to get some recent feedback. I'll keep my eyes open for the potholes.

Although we drove a different route, we felt that the roads were better than they used to be - we clicked up lots of kms to driving Jo-burg to Kruger to St Lucia to Durban to Royal Natal and back to Jozi! Only bad road we found was the FS bit of R74!

Must be challenging maintaining roads that rural - I drove some pretty terrible ones in the Scottish highlands recently - more holes than road!

I drove that road last August from Numbi gate to the airport and it was ok, there was one part (forgot which one) with some potholes but they weren´t that big and travelling within the speed limit it was easy to see and avoid them.