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Great, we will be there in five days
I'm looking forward to be there since January. It's a long planed trip

Will this help?
234 / 09:25 for your distance.

So getting at BnD at 2 in the afternoon is not going to happen, unless you skip many sightings.

The road from Letaba to BnD can be very productive and you can easily get caught in a traffic jam. I think it's doable but it's much better if you don't have to do it until 2

Traffic jam? Is there so much traffic? We will be there on 3rd August (Wednesday).
Can we leave Letaba at 6:00 am? I mean, the gate opens at this time. But we also have to check out...

Of course you can leave at 6, you only have to leave your key in the keybox (usually 10-15 meters in front of the gate) and trhe check-out is done.
You will be surprised how soon you have a traffic jam if there are cats near the road or (even worse) if they make a kill. In my opinion you should always have the time to spend an hour at a sighting that could be behind every corner. I hope you have a great trip

thanks @ all for your information

Now I have to think about my plan, but I think when we leave Letaba at 6:00 am we will be in Berg en Dal by 15:00 pm.

@ DuQues: Thanks for the sheet

Hi Sigi009

Your trip is possible. I did Satara to Malelane in 6 hrs. Some open parts I travelled at 50, the rest I slowed down to 30. I also stopped at three traffic jams (two leopard sightings and one lion sighting, but the kind where everyone fights to see flick of a tail and the twitch of an ear every half hour, you know that type of sighting so i just forced my way through and off i went). I also had leg stretches at Tshokwane, Skukuza and Afsaal. I had some good sightings but couldnt hang around too long though.

Enjoy

Sigi009,

You can easily do this trip in 6,5 hours and can even get to Berg n Dal just after 12 pm. We had sightings of leopard, lion, buffalo road block, elephant charging, stopping for a few minutes at dams and a brunch break at Tshokwane traveling from Numbi gate to Letaba (7:40 to 14:00) This distance is only 10 km shorter. Just stay on the tar road and even in a traffic jam as we experienced at the leopard sighting you can get through within 10 minute.

If you do get great sightings it will be nice to stay longer, but if you need to be at a place in a certain time you will not loose out so much. It all depend on how much time you want to utilise watching game and if you can give up a day, but still see animals only for a shorter time go for it. The problem with animal sightings you can never guarentee on what you will see and say how much you will miss out.

We saw a lot on our trip from Numbi to Letaba and had enough time to go for an afternoon drive.
My experience with cat sighting are that you will see the best early in the morning, so if you drive 30 km per hour for the first 4 hours you can reach Satara at 10 am spending more than 1 hour at sighting.

Satara to Berg n Dal is 155 km and can be done in 3 hours legally, but say you do see some sightings and spend another 2 hours watching or stopping at picnic sights you can get to BergnDal at 3 pm. At some point you will have to decide you can not spend time for too long and just carry on. This best will be to set targets to reach points at a certain time and if not reach compensate by skipping sightings during the next stretch.

Sigi009
Son Godin is quite right!!
Unless you are really unlucky, you will have no problem in getting to B en Dal by 2pm.

I am sure that you will be sensible enough to keep an eye on the time, and not stay too long at any one sighting.

I know that traffic jams do occur, but you can usually get around them, with a bit of manoeuvring, and they are not found very often!!

We did Malelane to Letaba in 2009, stopping at Afsaal and Tshokwane for bathroom breaks as well as various special sightings. We were worried we would be late, so left at 5am drove steadily, and arrived at 12pm.

As you will know, in an ideal world you would go slowly to game view, but because you need to be in B en Dal at a specific time, you can travel legally at 50k on the tar roads, so you can please yourself how fast or slow you go!!

Hope you have a wonderful visit!!

It is a long way till next June but will be driving from JNB to Letaba on the 10th of June for 3 nights then down to Skukuza for 2 nights then back to JNB for a night then back to Houston Texas.
Will be 9 or 10 of us. with 4 children from 2 to 7. The drive from Letaba to Skukuza is how long?

THere are a number of routes you could take Frosty1, but the tar road is the shortest, and easily done in less than a day allowing for generous stops at sightings and lunch.

Hello,

First time to KNP. I would like to know the best route from lower sabie to Satara. Please also let me know where for lunch / snack if possible. I am thinking to do sunset game drive in Satara, would it be enough time to leave lower sabie at 11:00 in the morning.

Many thanks

Hello amshotel

You might want to change your plans to leave Lower Sabie as the gates open. So as not to miss the best time of day to see big cats and other preditors! If you leave Lower Sabie at 11 it will be the hottest time of day and the animals will be hiding under the shade of trees.

As for the route ... I rate the most direct route is the best one in this case! The H10 going North from Lower Sabie to Tsokwane picnic spot is a great cat road! One of the best in the park for seeing cheetah!

Then after a meal at Tsokwane, you have three options:
1. You could go straight up the tar the H1-3.
2 you could go on the dirt roads along the Eastern side. The s35, s37, s41, s100. The terrain is open grassland. Cheetah and Lion prefer this habitat.
3. You could go up the Western side towards Satara on the S33, and s36. The bush is quite thick here. The route is known for Sable Antelope and Leopard. The actual road is very poor and you will find your car rattling along for most of the route!

If you one to avoid traffic, take one of the dirt road options. However, game is usually more prolific along the H1-3.

Hello again

This is such a lovely area for great sightings. I would take the quickest route, it is also a route filled with ecodiversity.

The H10 is very diverse and offers many opportunities for sightings. The is also Nkunbe look out, a fabulous place to stop and take in the view.



Tshowkwane is a well loved picnic pot, just beware of the monkeys. You can have have a lunch, or prepared snack.





If you have time, look out for the S86, you can sometimes find sleeping lion.



It should take about 5 hours to get to Satara, which would get you there in time for a sunset drive.

Enjoy

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