Client Testimonials:

'The safari experience was awesome. Everything went perfectly as planned to our great satisfaction. I am in love with Africa. Thank you so much".
Pam Wright, L.A., USA

Country Info > South Africa >Visa Info > Travel Basics >Safari Tours > Beaches > National Parks >Arts & Culture > Shopping & Watersport > Govt & Economy

South Africa National Parks

Our dedicated travel experts are more than ready to organise a customised vacation tour to South Africa for you. Click here to provide us with all your vacation plans and we will turm your vacation dreams to reality!!

1. KRUGER NATIONAL PARK

The world-renowned Kruger National Park offers a wildlife experience that ranks with the best in Africa. Established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld, this national park of nearly 2 million hectares, SANParks - Kruger National Park is unrivalled in the diversity of its life forms and a world leader in advanced environmental management techniques and policies.

Truly the flagship of the South African national parks, Kruger is home to an impressive number of species: 336 trees, 49 fish, 34 amphibians, 114 reptiles, 507 birds and 147 mammals. Man's interaction with the Lowveld environment over many centuries - from bushman rock paintings to majestic archaeological sites like Masorini and Thulamela - is very evident in the Kruger National Park.

These treasures represent the cultures, persons and events that played a role in the history of the Kruger National Park and are conserved along with the park's natural assets.

MAIN ATTRACTIONS

• The Big Five - Buffalo, Elephant, Leopard, Lion and Rhino.
• The Little Five - Buffalo Weaver, Elephant Shrew, Leopard Tortoise, Ant Lion and Rhino Beetle.
• Birding Big Six - Ground Hornbill, Kori Bustard, Lappet- faced Vulture, Martial Eagle, Pel's Fishing Owl and Saddle-bill Stork.
• Five Trees - Baobab, Fever Tree, Knob Thorn, Marula, Mopane.
• Five Natural/Cultural Features - Letaba Elephant Museum, Jock of the Bushveld Route, Maserini Ruins, Stevenson Hamilton Memorial Library, Thulamela.

The park is situated 72 km from Port Elizabeth in the Sundays River Valley and Zuurberg Mountain range. The access road from the main road (4 km) is tarred as far as the restcamp. Roads within the restcamp are tarred - all other internal roads are gravel.

The obvious main attraction of the Addo Elephant National Park is the park's 350 or so African Elephants. The Black Rhino and Cape Buffalo are also notable species, but unlike the elephant, these species are easier to see by night. Visitors should also look out for the flightless dung beetle, a species unique to the Addo region and that feeds on the faeces of the large ungulates.

There are also many other large herbivores, particularly antelope species such as kudu, eland, red hartebeest and springbok.The highly adaptable leopard has always managed to survive in the area and with the consolidation of the land during park expansion; lion will be reintroduced to complete the big five.

Furthermore, with the park now stretching to the shores of the Indian Ocean, whales and dolphins will swell the viewing opportunities.Among the smaller mammals to search for, family groups of suricate or meerkat (of Timon from "the Lion King" fame) may be seen.

Addo's birding opportunity covers excellent habitat contrast between dense thickets of Spekboom interspersed with open grassy areas and wooded kloofs (particularly in the Zuurberg region) In and around the Addo rest camp Karoo and Cape Robin, Bokmakierie, Southern Tchagra and Cape Bunting are prominent.

A trip into the game viewing area will not produce a plethora of birds, but Bokmakierie will once more be prominent, and Martial Eagle, Black Korhaan and Secretarybird may well be seen.In the wooded kloofs of the Zuurberg, Crowned Eagles breed. Forest species typical of the Eastern Cape, such as Olive Bush Shrike, Yellowthroated Warbler and Cape Batis can also be searched for.

3. CAPE PENINSULA NATIONAL PARK

Lying at the south-western tip of Africa, the Cape Peninsula National Park encompasses the incredibly scenic Peninsula mountain chain stretching from Signal Hill in the north to Cape Point in the south - a distance of approximately 60 km. The narrow finger of land with its many beautiful valleys, bays and beaches is bound by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the west and the warmer waters of False Bay in the east.

It has within its boundaries two world-renowned landmarks - majestic Table Mountain and the legendary Cape of Good Hope. These were both important beacons for the early explorers. Many myths and legends have sprung from them. Recognised globally for its extraordinarily rich, diverse and unique flora, this singular land formation - with rugged cliffs, steep slopes and sandy flats - is a truly remarkable natural, scenic, historical, cultural and recreational asset both locally and internationally. Nowhere else in the world does an area of such spectacular beauty and such rich bio-diversity exist almost entirely within a metropolitan area - the thriving and cosmopolitan city of Cape Town.

Places of interest in the Cape Peninsula National Park include Cape Point and Table Mountain, both featured amongst the top five most popular destinations in the Western Cape. Cape Point can be accessed by foot or by funicular, while the magnificent and world-renowned Table Mountain has a cableway facility to take visitors to its summit. Another attraction for visitors is Boulders, home to 570 pairs of the endangered African penguin.

The world-renowned Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens on the eastern slopes of Table Mountain (outside the Cape Peninsula National Park) is a spectacular repository of indigenous plants. The Cape Peninsula's dramatic topography and Mediterranean-like climate has produced an enormous array of habitats that allow the park to offer a rich variety of plants and animal species. Geologically, three major rock types exist in the area - the ancient Malmesbury shale, Cape granite and the very hard Table Mountain quartzitic sandstone.

The erosion of these rocks over the years resulted in the relatively sandy, shallow and nutrient-poor soils that support the predominant, and extremely diverse, vegetation type - fynbos. The Cape Peninsula has some 2 285 species of plants - more than the entire British Isles (1 492 species) or New Zealand (1 996).

Of these, 90 are considered to be endemic to the Cape Peninsula. Other types of unusual vegetation found in the park include the rare renosterveld grassland and afro-montane forest found largely in the eastern valleys and sheltered ravines of the mountain chain. The hardy strandveld has evolved to survive in the salty, coastal marine sand.

4. KGALAGADI TRANSFRONTIER PARK

The Kalahari Gemsbok National Park in South Africa was proclaimed in 1931 mainly to protect migratory game, especially the gemsbok. Together with the adjacent Gemsbok National Park in Botswana, this park comprises an area of over 3,6 million hectares - one of very few conservation areas of this magnitude left in the world.

Red sand dunes, sparse vegetation and the dry riverbeds of the Nossob and Auob show antelope and predator species off at a premium and provide excellent photographic opportunities. Kgalagadi could be considered a haven for birders especially when interested in birds of prey.

Kgalagadi (SA) has six different camps of varying size, facilities and cost. Three traditional rest camps that have a basic shopping facility and fuel are situated on the South African side of the Park. Kgalagadi is the first Park to provide accommodation in three wilderness camps that, with no fences, invite the Kalahari and the tranquillity of Africa right into your room.

Because of the sparse vegetation and concentration of animals in the dry riverbeds of the Auob and Nossob Rivers, Kgalagadi offers premium mammal viewing destinations anywhere. It is especially renowned for predator watching and for the seasonal movement of large herbivores such as blue wildebeest, springbok, eland and red hartebeest. Ground Squirrel and Suricate (Meerkat) are two more of the park's more prominent species.

Both these ground dwelling species live in large family groups for added protection and can easily be seen throughout the park. Honey Badger (Ratel), Pangolin (Scaly Anteater) and Bat-eared Fox are some of the park specials to search for. But it is the predators that are the park's biggest attraction. Excellent chances of seeing cheetah, leopard, brown and spotted hyena and the definitive black-maned lion exist.

5. Marakele National Park

The Marakele National Park in the heart of the Waterberg Mountains, as its Tswana name suggests, has become a 'place of sanctuary' for an impressive variety of wildlife due to its location in the transitional zone between the dry western and moister eastern regions of South Africa.

The park is characterised by contrasting majestic mountain landscapes, grass-clad hills and deep valleys. Rare finds of yellowwood and cedar trees, five metre high cycads and tree ferns, are some of the plant species found here. All the large game species from elephant and rhino to the big cats as well as an amazing variety of birds including the largest colony of endangered Cape vultures (more than 800 breeding pairs) in the world, have settled here.

Marakele is home to most of the large mammals synonymous with the African bush, including elephant, black and white rhino, buffalo, leopard and cheetah. Lion are not currently permanently found in the park, although they do occasionally wander in from Botswana or from neighbouring private reserves.

When Marakele's land consolidation is complete, permanent populations of lion, wild dog and spotted hyena will be re-established. The wild dogs have been the first of these reintroductions. Resident antelope include roan, sable, kudu, eland, impala, waterbuck, tsessebe and many smaller species. Chacma baboon and vervet monkey are two species to be watched carefully for mischief, particularly around the rest camps.

Arguably the Park's biggest birding attraction is the largest colony of Cape Vultures in the world (more than 800 breeding pairs). However the park is also appealing to birders as it falls within the transition zone between the dry western regions and the moister eastern regions of the country.

Thus it is possible to see certain closely related species alongside one another. These include (eastern species first) Southern and Crimsonbreasted Boubou, Arrowmarked and Pied Babbler, Tawnyflanked and Blackchested Prinia, Pintailed and Shafttailed Whydah, Blackeyed and Redeyed Bulbul, Grey and Cape Penduline Tit and Whitebrowed and Kalahari Robin.

The park is an excellent place to look for raptors, with many species using the uplift generated off the cliff faces of the Waterberg to ride thermals. Apart from the vultures, visitors should look for Gymnogene, Jackal Buzzard and several eagle species, including Black, African Hawk, Blackbreasted Snake and Brown Snake Eagle. In summer Wahlberg's Eagle becomes prominent.On areas of high ground Cape Rock Thrush, Mocking and Mountain Chat, Malachite and Greater Doublecollared Sunbird, Gurney's Sugarbird and Swee Waxbill should be searched for.

Other species to look out for in the lower lying bushveld and broadleaf woodland regions include Purple Roller, Black Cuckooshrike, Brubru, Whitecrowned Shrike and White Helmetshrike and the exquisite Blue, Violeteared and Blackcheeked Waxbills. Bee-eaters are conspicuous, particularly Whitefronted and Little with Swallowtailed (winter) and Carmine and European (summer) present as well. Persons staying at the Matlabas tent camp should watch the river for signs of Halfcollared Kingfisher and Finfoot.