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As a true multi-tasking Musketeer i found one thing a bit awkward in Kruger. As we have to travel through Kruger with a suitcase for a few weeks we must at least do some washing once or twice.


Found the washing machines but never in any bungalow a drying rack/or something similar to hang the clothes on.

So we had to tie a rope and pegged the clothes between the beams on the veranda.

A drying rack looks like a good and cheap investment. Couldnt get the idea out of my mind that my undies etc got the appreciation from the neighbours

There should be clotheslines near the washing machines Bert. That's where I let my laundry dry last year.

I've only used the washers at Olifants, but there are also dryers there and they are a real bargain!!
The wash, in a large Maytag, is only R5, and drying in a big Maytag dryer is only R2, which covered more time than I needed for my wash to dry and that included sweatshirts and sweatpants, as well as shorts, T-shirts and other items.
Guess I'd assumed that the launderette facilities at other camps were the same and included both washers and dryers.

MM, maybe for you, but I was there for 26 days and there's no way I could stay that long (plus 3 weeks in Cape Town) without doing some laundry. It's all relative ...

We always wash each days undies.......soak it in the basin overnight & a quick wash in the morning.
SO then take a hanger, hang one undie on each side and hook it over the shower door rail with the bathmat on the floor!
Leave all bathroom windows open and if not dry by that evening, it's dry the next morning and whalla!

I wash undies and socks during shower time and put them on the back window ledge of the car. I only need take 2 sets (Yeah, but I DO take more!)

All camps we stayed in have sufficient washing and drying facilities, as Gwen stated.
With 2 kiddies, one needs to attend to the washing as well.
I just use the driers, less effort.
But agree Bert, Satara is bad.
For some reason everybody wants to do their washing there.
The best one I've used in the park was at Pretoriuskop.
More than enough machines and lines.

While on the subject of washing
Some washing machines only accept old R5 coins
Like the ones in Satara for eg.

Must admit that the washing is done for a fair price

I was glad to see that Letaba had one machine for the old R5 and one for the new one. Luckily I was prepared for both.

I seem to recall that some staff would offer to do laundry for a nominal fee. Is this still in the case?

Ray I think its viewed in the same category as washing cars, and dishes where the employees have their normal jobs to do and thus (Could be wrong) they are not allowed to....Most camps have clothes washing facilities...maybe not balule and Tsendze and the Bush camps but the Skukuza and sataras of this world certainly will have

I know Mopani, Punda maria, Shingwedze, Satara, Olifants, Letaba, Pretoriuskop, Berg en Dal, Skukuza and Lower Sabie all have laundry's and they are those big "speed queens"
They work very well, and only take half an hour
Tumble dryers are there and wash lines.
It costs R5( some take old coins and some new) start collecting now!
For a wash just take own washing powder.
Its a good meeting place for a gossip over what has been seen and where!! and its not only the ladies that do their washing!!

We were actually hoping to be able to find an employee who does laundry on the side. Of course, I'm assuming that 1) the pay for employees around camp is lousy and 2) housekeepers are from economically-depressed local communities. If not, coin-operated machines will do!

anne-marie its quite simple, you select wash on the dial, load your washing, add the powder etc, insert the coin (R5) in the slot, push the lever in, so your R5 dissapears and there you go,
The machine will start taking water and wash and spin.
The dryers is another story, at PKop they took R2 coins and that only gives you about 20min of drying, not nearly enough to dry a load of clothes so you have to check and reload money if you want your clothes completely dry.

This is our experience at Olifants.

We followed the instructions on the machine.
Once we put the money in lights came on the machine and it started filling with water.

After about half an hour the attendant (not sure if she was officially the laundry attendant or just a cleaner) came in.
She started filling the machine with water from the sink.
Her English wasn't good but she indicated that the washing wouldn't actually start until the water was at a certain level.

She came back to supervise us filling up for the spin cycle too.

When it came to the drying, SO had wandered off with the money so she loaded up the dryer and put money in from her ready supply.
We paid her back, left a hefty tip for the water filling and left the rest of our soap powder.

I wouldn't have wanted to negotiate with her for doing the whole wash but she is certainly great at helping out clueless foreigners.