FAQ

Many people don’t see the point in driving through a bushveld looking for animals, but there’s so much more to it. Wild animals are seen as a nuisance in most inhabited areas, but if you’ve never seen the magic of animals in their natural habitat, untouched by humans, you’ve been missing out! Looking at Zoo animals in their enclosures might be considered nice, because you’re almost 100% guaranteed that you’ll see them, but that’s not how they behave in the wild. Nothing beats the thrill of finding a pride of lions laying in the shade, or walking across the road right in front of you, and once you’ve felt the reverberations of an elephant’s trumpet through your bones, you’ll be hooked! Our clients often come back for more, because you never know what you’re going to see next…

Every single one of our guides have a passion for the Kruger Park. We love waking up every morning and meeting new people, never mind sharing our love for the bushveld with them. We are highly experienced and have heaps of knowledge about the fauna and flora in the KNP at our clients’ disposal. One of our best characteristics must be that we focus on small groups to give each safari trip the best chance of seeing the best sights that the KNP has to offer. Our safaris depart any day of the week to suit our clients’ busy schedules and will accommodate all your needs as best we can. Visit our website for more information on our company…

We operate from Hazyview and will collect you from any of the lovely holiday resorts, lodges or nearby locations. Our vehicles depart at different times in different seasons… For full day or morning safaris, we leave at 5am in October to March and at 5h30am in April to September. For afternoon safaris, we leave at 13h00 pm in the afternoons. Most of the wildlife in the park prefers hiding in the shade during the hot afternoons, so we highly recommend joining us for the earlier safaris to get the most out of your trip.

Anything to do with the word “game” whilst on a safari; like game drives or looking for game, all refers to wild animals in safari context. You might also encounter “game” on the menus of some traditional restaurants, which basically means that you’re ordering wild buck meat, or even warthog.

Even though the KNP falls in a malaria area, most foreigners are pleasantly surprised at how few mosquitoes are actually encountered whilst on a safari. These mosquitoes breed in water, and even in the middle of our rainy season in December, we don’t consider them to be a relentless menace. Despite what you might have been told, mosquitoes are not a plague in the KNP and although we are always cautious about malaria, the locals in and around the KNP do not run around with repellents all the time.

If you’re really worried and consider yourself or anyone joining you on the safari to be particularly susceptible to this rare disease, be sure to consult your GP. There are many places in the park where you can buy mosquito repellent containing DEET: this is the most vital ingredient in insect repellents as it has been proved to repel the malaria carrying mosquitoes effectively.

Even though the Kruger Park is basically a giant protected bushveld and sparsely populated, there are many little “towns” and camps where you can find anything from grocery stores, souvenir stores, petrol stations and much more.

As mentioned before, there are many places in the KNP where we can stop over for lunch where you can buy take-away food or choose to have a meal at the various restaurants. We usually have lunch at Skukuza, but this is not set in stone.

Two words; comfortable and practical. Seeing as you’re going to be driving around for the majority of the time on your safari experience, it is advisable that you wear clothes that are not too tight and not too hot. Winters can be cold, so check the forecast beforehand, but summers are the opposite, so just take a jacket with you, in case it gets chilly, and stay away from high heels ladies! We might stop on top of rocky mountains to give you an in-person taste of the spectacular views in the KNP. Trust me, it’s spine chilling raw beauty.

You’ll be surprised at the true meaning of this term; it actually refers to the 5 most feared animals in the bush. They are extremely dangerous to hunt on foot and also rather rare. The Big 5 consists out of African Lions, Leopard, Elephant, Buffalo and Rhino. It really is a tourist attraction and many safari companies utilise this term as a major marketing strategy.

We cannot guarantee that there will be sightings of all five animals in the Big 5, but we can guarantee that we will do our best to find them. Elephant are massive, this is true, but in the lush untouched bushveld of the Kruger, if they don’t want to be seen, they can easily disappear behind the trees mere meters away from you. They tend not to be too shy, unlike leopard. Rhino are extremely scarce, but our guides know where their usual grazing spots are, and a pride of lion would attract so much attention, our radios would notify us if there’s a sighting nearby. Never the less, you are guaranteed to see a very diverse variety of animals in the Kruger National Park.

Children under 8 are more than welcome on privately hired open vehicles, yes. This is purely out of consideration for our other clients who do not have children and might not have the patience for their unique outlook and excitement about each wild animal we encounter. All children under 12 have discounted safari rates, as well as half price conservation fees to enter the Kruger National Park.

You can visit our website to view the current prices for our safaris, make a booking online to receive an invoice, and then make an online payment before the safari takes place, or contact Kurt Safari for any enquiries you might have regarding other payment options.

I cannot even begin to list the most amazing experiences we’ve had whilst on safaris in the KNP! There are too many to count, each encounter very different but equally remarkable. If you consider the size of the KNP and how many animals call it their home, you can only begin to imagine the things we’ve seen; from a ride of lionesses to the birth of a brand new baby giraffe. Each time our jaws drop at the splendour of mother nature. You will have to come and see it for yourself.

Placing yourself in the middle of a nature reserve where there are numerous predators and dangerous animals could sound pretty intimidating, but rest assured, Kurt Safari guide all have in-depth knowledge about the behaviour of these animals and would never put your life in danger. Elephants can be aggressive if they have young ones to protect and even lone elephant bull have charged at cars who don’t know when to back away, but obtaining injuries from wild animals whilst on a safari is very rare and you need not be worried, just enjoy the ride.