The Kruger National park

The Kruger National Park is among Mpumalanga’s biggest assets, a vast expanse of sun-drenched bushveld and home to the Big Five. The Park was established in 1898 to protect the wildlife of the South African Lowveld and is one of the most famous national parks in the world.

It measures 350 km from north to south, and approximately 60 km at its widest point, covering a total surface area of 1 948 528 hectares of unrivalled diversity of life forms fuses with historical and archaeological sites – this is real Africa. The ecosystem is constantly maintained in its natural state to afford visitors the feeling and ambience of Africa.

Truly the flagship of the South African national parks. 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.

The Park has approximately 1 982 species of plants,227 butterfly species, 53 species of fish, 517 species of birds, 253 are residents, 117 non-breeding migrants, and 147 are nomads. There are 35 species of reptiles 148 species of mammals, 1 500 lions, 1 000 leopards, 200 cheetahs, 350 wild dogs, 2 000 spotted hyenas, 13 050 elephants, 4 509 white rhinos, 350 black rhinos, 17 797 Burchell’s zebras, 3 000 hippos, 3 800 warthogs, 5 114 giraffes, 27 000 buffaloes, 300 elands, 70 roan antelopes, 550 sable antelopes, 5 798 greater kudus, 300 nyalas, 500 bushbucks, 5 000 waterbucks, 300 reedbucks, 9 612 blue wildebeests, 200 tsessebes, 85 869 impalas and 5 000 crocodiles.

History
The park was first proclaimed in 1898 as the Sabie Game Reserve by the then president of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger. He first proposed the need to protect the animals of the Lowveld in 1884, but his revolutionary vision took another 12 years to be realised when the area between the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers was set aside for restricted hunting.
James Stevenson-Hamilton (born in 1867) was appointed the park’s first warden on 1 July 1902.
On 31 May 1926 the National Parks Act was proclaimed and with it the merging of the Sabie and Shingwedzi Game Reserves into the Kruger National Park.
The first motorists entered the park in 1927 for a fee of one pound.
Many accounts of the park’s early days can be found in the Stevenson-Hamilton Memorial Library.
There are almost 254 known cultural heritage sites in the Kruger National Park, including nearly 130 recorded rock art sites.
There is ample evidence that prehistoric man – Homo erectus roamed the area between 500 000 and 100 000 years ago
Cultural artifacts of Stone Age man have been found for the period 100 000 to 30 000 years ago.
More than 300 archaeological sites of Stone Age man have been found
Evidence of Bushman Folk (San) and Iron Age people from about 1500 years ago is also in great evidence.
There are also many historical tales of the presence of Nguni people and European explorers and settlers in the Kruger area.
There are significant archaeological ruins at Thulamela and Masorini
There are numerous examples of San Art scattered throughout the park

Climate
Kruger is in a summer rainfall area. Such precipitation is usually convectional and can result in heavy downpours.
The summer months (October to April) are hot and often balmy.
Winters are warm and mild, although visitors going on night-drives will require warm clothing.

Ecology
The geological heritage of the area has also a decisive impact on climate. The local altitudinal range is from 200m to 2,050m above sea level. Rainfall increases with proximity to the Great Escarpment. Annual levels vary from an average of 400mm per annum in the savannah areas in the east up to 3,000mm per annum in some areas in the south and west. These climatic variations further add to the increase in ranges of habitats which favour great species diversity. The Kruger National Park area has very high levels of biodiversity and endemic (uniquely local) species as a consequence.

The Kruger National Park's underlying rock types also determine the nature of the soil that breaks down from them. In broad outline the younger surface of dark brown loams derived from the basalts today form Knob Thorn / Marula Savannah and Tree Mopane Savannah. The older exposed surfaces have more sandy soils derived from granite, and yield woodlands dominated by the Combretum species of leadwood and the bush willows. These in turn impact the species of game that inhabit each of the Kruger National Park's ecozones, from the browsers and grazers that prefer each habitat to the carnivores that prey on them.

Mixed Bushwillow Woodlands

• Pretoriuskop Sourveld
• Malelane Mountain Bushveld
• Sabie Crocodile Thorn Thickets
• Thorn Veld
• Knob Thorn / Marula Savannah
• Delagoa Thorn Thickets
• Riverine Communities
• Lebombo Mountain Bushveld
• Olifants Rugged Veld
• Stunted Knob Thorn Savannah
• Mopane Scrubveld
• Alluvial Plains
• Sandveld
• Tree Mopane Savannah
• Mopane / Bushwillow Woodlands

Tips and info for the Kruger National park

A deck to remember at Lower Sabie
Lower Sabie’s absolute gem is its wide deck around the restaurant which overlooks the Sabie River. You can watch hippos, rhinos, elephants or other great beasts while you dine or sip sundowners to the cry of a fish eagle.
There is a good chance of seeing the Big Five near Lower Sabie. Try Duke’s Water Hole on the S137 where a lion pride often hangs out. There are also sightings of cheetah and wild dog.

Crocodile Bridge
The number 9 rondavel at Crocodile Bridge is worthy of praise. It’s in the corner of the rest camp facing the Crocodile River and, sitting on the stoep, you have no sense that there’s anyone else around. Hippos graze just beyond the fence, hyenas patrol the perimeter just meters from where you sit and buffaloes wallow in the cool river water. You know that you are in one of the most extraordinary places in the world.
Off-road

Near Pretoriuskop, there’s a 4X4 trail. The Madlabantu (Man-eater) Trail circles the camp, using a combination of visitor roads and off-road paths, beginning at the Fayi Loop. There are huge bushveld trees and looming granite whalebacks that seemed to attract kudus, buffaloes and klipspringers. The trail can be booked at Pretoriuskop reception.