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Hi GregM-W

Taking the shortest route inside KNP from Malelane to Croc bridge (S114, S25), will take approx 3 hours, given that there will be stops at sightings.

When we were in Kruger earlier this year, the S25 was closed at Biyamiti and we took a nice detour along S114 ,S26, S108 and then S25. This took us the best part of 5 hours - we had quite a lot of very nice sightings

The alternative is to stay on the tarred road (H3, H4-1, H4-2) and then allow at least 6 hours. The H4-1 between Skukuza and Lower Sabie is always a very rewarding, but very busy route.

I think the best will be to get a good map and decide on a route once you know how much time you have available to get to Croc Bridge after entering. Should you enter early and your destination camp-gates closes at 18:00, you can have a very good time before getting to Croc Bridge!

Enjoy the visit

Thanks for the response.Love crawling the back/dirt roads. I will make the call on which way to go on approach to Malelane (don't know what delays we will have en route from Jhb).

Hi maybe someone who has been there recently might like to reply to this, but in Sept the s25 was still closed from the floods at Biyamiti, so you have to detour, which will take longer.

Thanks Elsa for merging this, makes sense. The KTP has been my stomping ground and Botswana. Need to get to know the Kruger so kicked off with the Lebombo trail in June.

Bevi, there is a bypass on the S25 past the damaged bridge now, so no detours necessary.

S25 (From S26 to S139, Biyamiti Low Level Bridge washed away (a temporary bypass has been completed and S25 has reopened)

Hi Forumites.

I will be travelling from Numbi Gate to Lower Sabie and was just wondering which route would be best to travel upon to give a nice drive (Scenery, birds, animals...) to get there, given no time limit.

1. H1-1 > H1-2 > H1-4
2. H2-2 > s25/s26 > H4-2
3. H1-1 > H5/S21 > H4-1.

This is the first time my folks have been to the park in 20+ years and first time I have been down south barring a night at Bnd so any advice would be splendid on making a nice trip of it.

Morning boje1212

They are all great - but my personal favourite (scenery and sightings) is the S21.

Have a great time and enjoy all the

Leana

Thank you very much for your reply.

Hi Boje

When will this trip be?

The sightings at Numbi are usually not as good as Phabeni, Malalane or Paul Kruger.

The H2-2 is usually very quiet in terms of game, but you will not encounter many cars there. Personally, I skip it

The S21 will not have heavy traffic on it, and is lately producing many lion sightings!! One of our forumites Heksie had mating lions to herself there yesterday

The H4-1 has lots of traffic, but still beautiful scenery with the Sabi River, and usually there is lots to see

Hi Cheetah.

Thanks for your reply. The trip will be in late Jan(18-26).

The S21 is sounding like exactly what I was looking for, little traffic and game.

We will probably skip H4-1 as a side note, as the dirt roads(S29 & S128), sound alot more appealing when en-transit to Satara. A friend who just stayed at Lower Sabie saw two different Serval sightings along the S128>

Yes indeed boje!
The H10, S29, S128 are all good roads for serval!! If you have luck on your side

The H10 is not an extremely busy road, but the S128, S122 are all lekker roads! Some of my favorites in Kruger Also a good region to see cheetah, although they always seem to evade me

Had my best ever serval (SIT) sighting on the H10 in mid morning.

It is also a good road for big unspeakables, lion, elephant, buffs and a lot of plains game. You could also be lucky with cheetah.

Same for me. At the the S29 crossing - in the middle of the road.

My first post, this SanParks forum has been a true treasure chest of information for this safari newbie!

My sister, brother-in-law, and I are planning to spend 7 nights in Kruger this August. We have booked 3 nights at Skukuza, then 3 at LS, and 1 at BnD (to be close to MQP the next morning).

Is it doable to make a round-trip drive from Skukuza to Satara, with one of the legs having some dirt-roads such as S36/33? Would we have enough time to do a detour on S-39 up to the Timbavati picnic site? If S-39 isn't possible, can we do S-100/H-6 loop on the return from Satara?

My ideal round-trip proposal for Skukuza-Satara:
H1-2
S36 then S33
H1-3
Lunch at Satara
H7
S39 to Timbavati picnic and back
S36 then S126
H1-3 then H1-2 tar roads back to Skukuza

I think the total is about 280 KM, long day I know but possible to do if we leave at 630 am ?

I am looking very forward to this trip, as we are also doing 5 nights at Africa on Foot before Kruger. I'm sure this won't be my last question. Many thanks for your awesome responses!

Welcome to the forum VicDD.

We usually do about 200km a day comfortably.

The problem is this. You will probably see something that you will want to linger at for a while, and time at picnic site seems to go quickly.