Kruger National Park Full-Day Safari from Hazyview

Kruger National Park: South Africa's flagship reserve

Kruger National Park stretches about 350 kilometres from the Crocodile River in the south to the Limpopo in the north, covering close to two million hectares of lowveld savannah, riverine forest and granite koppies. It was first protected in 1898 as the Sabie Game Reserve and became a national park in 1926, which makes it one of the oldest and best-managed wildlife areas on the continent. All of the Big Five live here, together with giraffe, zebra, hippo, crocodile, wild dog, cheetah, hyena and a remarkable variety of birds.

Is Kruger worth visiting on a single day? Absolutely, provided you choose the right section. The southern Kruger, where this safari takes place, has the highest density of animals in the park thanks to its rivers and mixed woodland, so a full day here usually delivers a long list of sightings. Our guide knows the loops where animals were seen the day before and uses the park's radio network and fresh tracks to decide which way to drive.

Phabeni Gate and the Sabie River road

The Phabeni Gate lies only about fifteen minutes from Hazyview, which is why this is the most convenient Kruger safari from Hazyview: you are inside the park before the sun is fully up, when predators are still moving. Kruger opening hours vary by season, with gates opening between half past five and six in the morning and closing between half past five and half past six in the evening, and our early departure makes the most of the cool first hours when lion and leopard are most often seen.

From Phabeni the road drops towards the Sabie River, a permanent river lined with sycamore figs, jackalberry and tall reeds. The riverbank road towards Skukuza is one of the most productive drives in the whole park: elephant come down to drink, hippo grunt from the pools, crocodiles bask on the sandbanks and leopard rest in the big trees. Your guide stops at every worthwhile sighting, switches off the engine and lets you watch and photograph in silence.

The Big Five and the wildlife of the southern Kruger

The term Big Five was coined for the five animals hardest to approach on foot: lion, leopard, elephant, buffalo and rhino. The southern Kruger is home to all of them, and the mixed thorn thickets around Skukuza and Pretoriuskop are especially good for white rhino and large elephant breeding herds. On a typical day you can expect impala in their hundreds, giraffe browsing the acacias, zebra and wildebeest on the open patches, warthog families, kudu and waterbuck near the river and baboon troops on the road.

Sightings are never guaranteed, because these are wild animals in a vast landscape, but a full day gives you far better odds than a short drive. Birdlife is superb all year, from lilac-breasted rollers and hornbills to fish eagles and vultures circling a kill, and the open vehicle lets you hear the bush as well as see it. Our guide explains behaviour, tracks and plants, so even quiet stretches of road are full of interest.

Rest camps, picnic spots and the midday break

Kruger's rest camps are small fenced villages inside the park with shops, restaurants, fuel and viewpoints, and they are where we stop for breakfast and lunch. Skukuza, on the Sabie River, is the largest camp and has a restaurant deck above the water, a shop for snacks and souvenirs and clean restrooms. Lower Sabie, further downstream, has a terrace overlooking a dam where elephant and buffalo come to drink while you eat. Meals and drinks are not included, so bring some cash or a card to buy what you like.

The midday hours are the quietest for game, as most animals lie up in the shade, so this is the natural time for a longer break and a slower drive along the river loops. In the afternoon activity picks up again, and the drive back towards the Phabeni Gate often produces the day's best elephant and rhino sightings before we exit comfortably ahead of closing time.

Hazyview, the easy base for Kruger safaris

Hazyview is a small lowveld town on the Sabie River in Mpumalanga, surrounded by banana and macadamia farms and about fifteen kilometres from the Phabeni Gate, with the Numbi and Paul Kruger gates also within easy reach. How to get to Hazyview is straightforward: it is roughly one hour from Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (MQP) and about five hours by road from Johannesburg, and we can arrange private transfers on request. Most visitors stay here for two or three nights and combine a Kruger safari with a Panorama Route day.

The best time to visit Kruger is the dry winter, from May to September, when the grass is short, the trees are bare and animals gather at the remaining water; mornings are cold on the open vehicle, so bring layers. Summer, from October to March, is green and hot with afternoon storms, excellent birding and many newborn animals, but thicker bush makes viewing harder. Kruger is a malaria area, so speak to your doctor about precautions before you travel.