Kruger National Park (South) & Panorama Route

Africa's most famous self-drive safari, with the Big Five concentrated around Skukuza in the south, plus nearby private reserves and the canyons of the Panorama Route.

Kruger National Park (South & Panorama Route) covers the southern section of Kruger in South Africa's northeastern Mpumalanga province and the Drakensberg escarpment to its west. Kruger is one of Africa's oldest and best-equipped wildlife reserves, and all of the Big Five are found here. The south is centered on Skukuza and includes rest camps such as Lower Sabie, Berg-en-Dal, Pretoriuskop and Crocodile Bridge, with the highest animal density in the whole park and mostly paved roads, making it ideal for a first self-drive safari. To the west, the Sabi Sand private reserve is unfenced from the park and famed for leopard sightings, where you can stay at luxury camps and take game drives and night drives. About 70 km to the west is the Panorama Route: the Blyde River Canyon, God's Window, Bourke's Luck Potholes, the Pinnacle and a string of waterfalls, at high altitude with a cooler climate. May–September is the dry season and the best for game viewing, with fewer mosquitoes; October–April is hot and rainy, with many young animals, and is also the malaria-risk period, so take mosquito precautions and consult a doctor. Getting there: from Johannesburg it is about 5 hours by self-drive via the N4, or you can fly to Skukuza Airport or Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport. Park gates open at sunrise and close at sunset, and official camps must be booked in advance on the SANParks website. Recommended stay: 3 nights in the park and 1–2 days on the Panorama Route; if the budget allows, add 2 nights at Sabi Sand.

Top sights

• Southern Kruger / Skukuza – Kruger's largest rest camp and administrative centre, the core of the southern section on the Sabie River with the highest wildlife density…
• Sabi Sand Game Reserve – A premium private reserve bordering Kruger with no fence between them, boasting the world's highest leopard sighting rate; off-road trackin…
• Blyde River Canyon – The world's third-largest canyon and the largest 'green canyon'; the Three Rondavels viewpoint overlooks red sandstone cliffs and emerald r…
• God's Window – A viewpoint with a 700-metre drop on the Drakensberg cliffs; on clear days you can see the Lowveld grasslands all the way to Kruger and Moz…
• Bourke's Luck Potholes – Cylindrical rock basins carved by swift currents where the Blyde and Treur rivers meet, with layers of ochre-red and yellow cliffs; the sta…
• Kruger Shalati Train on the Bridge – A train hotel parked on the old railway bridge over the Sabie River at Skukuza. Its rooms hang above the river, and from the pool you can w…
• Lower Sabie Rest Camp & Sunset Dam – The most popular rest camp on the Sabie River, with a restaurant terrace overlooking the river. The nearby Sunset Dam is a year-round gathe…
• Crocodile Bridge Rest Camp – The gateway and camp at Kruger's southeastern corner. The open grasslands nearby are a popular area for seeing rhinos, buffalo and lion pri…
• Berg-en-Dal Rest Camp – Kruger's southernmost hill camp, surrounded by rolling hills. Elephants and rhinos visit the dam here, and the area is home to African wild…
• Pretoriuskop Rest Camp – Kruger's oldest rest camp, where white rhinos, sable antelope and giraffes can be seen among granite hills. The camp has a natural rock swi…
• Lake Panic Bird Hide – A bird hide overlooking a reservoir near Skukuza, where you can sit quietly and photograph kingfishers, herons, hippos and crocodiles up cl…
• The Pinnacle Rock – A freestanding quartzite pillar about 30 metres tall rising from a forested gorge. It is a classic photo stop at the start of the Panorama…
• Lisbon Falls – The highest waterfall in Mpumalanga, with a drop of about 94 metres that splits into several streams and plunges into a deep pool. A clifft…
• Berlin Falls – A slender waterfall about 80 metres high, shaped like a candle flame, plunging into a deep pool surrounded by red rock walls and forest.
• Mac-Mac Falls – A twin-tiered waterfall about 65 metres high. Legend says it was once a single fall until prospectors blasted the rock and split it in two…
• Lone Creek Falls – A waterfall about 70 metres high near Sabie. A few minutes' walk along a paved path from the car park brings you close enough to feel the m…
• Graskop Gorge Lift – Ride a glass observation lift about 51 metres down to the gorge floor, then walk the wooden boardwalks through indigenous forest and past w…
• Pilgrim's Rest – A gold-rush town that sprang up after gold was found in 1873. The whole town is protected as a heritage site, with its corrugated-iron-roof…
• Sudwala Caves – Caves formed in extremely ancient dolomite. The enormous circular "amphitheatre" chamber can hold several hundred people, and there is a di…
• Lowveld National Botanical Garden – A national botanical garden at the confluence of two rivers on the edge of Mbombela. It has a cycad garden, an African rainforest area and…
• Hoedspruit Endangered Species Centre – A conservation centre famous for breeding cheetahs. Guided game-drive tours let you get close to cheetahs, African wild dogs and orphaned r…
• Moholoholo Wildlife Rehabilitation Centre – A rehabilitation centre that treats injured, poisoned or abandoned wildlife. On the tour you can get close to birds of prey, leopards and h…
• Shangana Cultural Village – A village run by the Shangana (Tsonga) people near Hazyview, the western gateway town to Kruger. Daytime tours show traditional life, and i…
• Graskop – An accommodation hub on the Panorama Route, close to God's Window and the gorge lift. Its signature stop is Harry's Pancakes.

Where to eat

• Kruger Station Restaurant – Dining area in the old railway station at Skukuza Camp, where you can eat beside a steam locomotive or inside its carri…
• Harries Pancake House (Graskop Main Branch) – The most famous stop on the Panorama Route, a long-running pancake house in central Graskop serving both savory and swe…
• Cattle Baron Steakhouse (Skukuza) – Riverside steakhouse at Skukuza Camp, with a terrace overlooking the Sabie River. Known for wet-aged steaks and game di…
• Kuka Restaurant – All-day restaurant in Perry's Bridge commercial area in Hazyview, where you can eat game dishes, burgers, pizza and coc…
• The Glass House Restaurant – Graskop's top-rated dinner spot, run by owner Abe, who personally welcomes guests. The bobotie and malva pudding are th…

Itineraries

• Kruger Safari & Vilankulo Beach Escape – Spot the Big Five in South Africa, then fly to Vilankulo for an island getaway, experiencing two types of vacations in…
• Panorama Route & Kruger Self-Drive – Drive east from Johannesburg to see the Blyde River Canyon, then stay in park camps for self-drive safaris.
• Kruger, Mozambique Coast & Eswatini Loop – An epic Southern African road trip from Johannesburg, linking canyons, safaris, coastal highways, and kingdom valleys.
• Cape Town, Garden Route & Kruger Panorama – The ultimate first-time South Africa itinerary: Cape Town, Winelands, the Garden Route, and a flight to the northeast f…
• Kruger, Eswatini, Zululand & Drakensberg – Drive from Johannesburg to Durban, traversing the east via the Panorama Route, Eswatini, wetlands, and the Drakensberg.