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Hi Lawrence,

I was in Shingwedzi over the long weekend. The restaurant had very few of the items on the menu and only cared to tell us that these were out of stock once the other food orders came out. I explained to the guy that it is great that they have some new items but one thing in catering that is very important is communication..... and the response was (and I am not kidding) .... How many cations would you like?

Very interesting to see the new menu; much improved from the previous menu (more veggie options). I would have to agree with 'threedogs' the prices are at least half of what i would pay in the UK. You certainly wouldn't pay £2 for a toasted sandwich or £4 for fish and chips in Scotland!

Chillx

Before giving up on restaurant food in KNP, please try the chicken salad @Letaba
Hope that is still on the menu ?

As far as I know the company that has the contract is Compass. Now try and get onto their "Contact Us" part of their website.....It is under construction. I have tried several times with some suggestions/complaints.

I have been working on a dream/business plan for some time now.. Me and my wife have been in the catering business for a long time. In this country and the UK. My plan/dream is to approach SANPARKS/Compass with a suggestion to start at the top and work our way down and spend some time in each camp and only do training. On presentation, service, basic waitering skills and most important .... communication, communication, communication. And ofcourse... pride in what you do!!

Self catering is the only option for me and my wife at the moment!

Can anyone tell us what the food is like, and prices,today ?
Last time we were in Kruger for 2 weeks we had to eat every day the same stuff and the menu was very limited and all the time the same at each camp.
The restaurants in the evening were empty ..... A pity because I remember me the days they had in all the restaurants a buffet with a choice in starters, dessert, coffee, cold or hot plates for a small budget.
At that time there was a lot of people eating in the restaurants.
Hope that Sanparks will manage back themselves in the near future ......
Soon we'll come over for another 2 weeks and I 'm looking how to bring a little variation in our lunch and dinner.
We certainly do Selati when we stay in Skukuza.
Thanks for your advice.

I believe that the restaurants are going through an 'improvement process' for want of a better description at the moment I think.
We haven't been to Kruger since September and although the food was fine at most restaurants the menu was the pretty much the same everywhere and not many healthy choices.
Hopefully this is changing in the near future.
Some restaurants are better than others.
Unless something has changed in the last couple of months I would give Satara a miss if you are in that area.

I agree, the menus are pretty much the same.

We enjoyed Letaba, Olifants, and... Darn it...the camp north of Olifants. Im remote and the name escapes me. good service and well prepared food, and a Black Label or two helped to set the atmosphere.

We didn't mind Satara, but granted all we ordered was pizza and my son ordered hamburger. He is nortorious for not being picky, however. Others have reported poor experiences there recently.

Hope this helps.

The restaurant in Mopani Camp is very good including the setting as it has a nice view over the dam.

We've been for 3 weeks in Kruger last Nov/Dec 12 and every camp north of Olifants (including) offered more less acceptable food.
Especially in Shingwedzi, which is unfortunately closed because of flood damage the whole of 2013.
But to be honest you must still not expect culinary highlights.
It is more less the same as you already experienced during your 2 weeks stay, Hamburger, Pizza, Steak, Curries and so on.
South of Olifants the camps offered for dinner braai with salad or a choice of meat with salad or veg.
The choice there was really disappointing but we asked for and could order as well for dinner the same as for lunch (which was curry, cutlet, hamburger, pizza and so on).
The food is of course important but for me count`s at the end the game viewing and the nature.

Personally, can never understand why Sanparks has used a huge multinational company, (quoted on the London Stock Exchange), to run its restaurants, when most people would rather eat simple buffets, braais and South African grub.

Why should a company that is one of the largest on the LSE, (top 100) care if a visitor sends them an email that they did not enjoy the food at Satara?

Why not employ a food and beverage manager in every camp to train staff and buy food, have them report to a higher power at Sanparks, and get it sorted?

After all, how many restaurants are there in Kruger?

I think they are missing an opportunity to really make some money especially with foreign visitors
We are a captive audience afterall

A quick update, we had a simple meal at Satara on Wednesday, of a toasted sandwich which came with a small serving of chips and altho it wasn't as hot as it could have been it was perfectly acceptable.
The service was friendly and relatively quick.
I have to admit they were very quiet thus under no pressure.
There seemed a good selection of nice freshly looking pies and a few ready made sandwiches plus a salad or 2 available and I saw someone having a pizza which he polished off so assume it was ok.

I fully agree and that is exactly our statement.
As we are from Europe(Belgium) it is not that easy to bring your food in.
At the last visits we stopped at Witbank or Nelspruit for shopping.
But you can buy only for a few days and the rest of our stay we have to go to the restaurants.
And it is not well if you have to eat 10 days of the small card/menu of Tree (and a little on the plate for plenty money) at noon and the evening.
Why Sanparks did not react as they see that there are no longer people at the restaurants in the evening (I saw it in most of the camps).
Probably they were under a contract for more years.
Hopefully it will changes soon....

In all honesty if Sanparks gave me the opportunity to run its restaurants I'd do it in a heartbeat and do a darn good job of it, not waste peoples time or money!
The fact is I agree with most where they are saying that in the good old days the restaurants were full at night I know my mom had to pre book at the restaurant otherwise you wouldn't get in.
As for the food selection why is everything the same?
how boring can the company running this be and still breath
Yes its the park and people shouldn't really worry about the meal, they are their for animals but the fact remains the people having meals deserve the best, because they are PAYING for it they have a right to complain they have a right to decent choices, they have a right to cleanliness and decent service.
From reading the forums this industry in the park is serious lacking, I think its about time they started considering changing for the better and not the latter!

Dear Alexmagda,
I forgot to tell you about the prices :
Nov/Dec 12, all in ZAR
Breakfast 34, extra toast 4, coffee13, health breakfast approx. 55
Lunch : Greek Salad 52, Hamburger 48, Veggie Burger 44, Curry 60, Fish & Chips 59, Sandwich 24
Dinner : In the South Braai approx. 100 otherwise same as for lunch
In the north : a la carte between 60 and 120/150 depending on the meat
Curry 70, Steak 95, Mixed Meat approx. 150 and we had in Letaba, SHingwedzi and Mopani a Special with was "Bobotie" for 100 (lekker !)
Water 11, Wine per glas 20, Appletiser 17

In Pretoriuskop they offered at lunch a büffet, but I think that was only because there was a group.

Please don`t hesitate to contact me if you need more information. Greetings, Brigitte