{"id":9348,"date":"2018-11-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/tar-vs-dirt-roads\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T17:32:54","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T15:32:54","slug":"tar-vs-dirt-roads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/kruger-national-park-news\/frequently-asked-questions\/tar-vs-dirt-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"Tar vs. dirt Roads"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paved Roads vs. Dirt Roads: A Comparison<\/h2>\n

The Kruger National Park has more than 3000km of roads!\u00a0 It\u2019s a staggering, even daunting distance but you can rest easy knowing that these roads will always take you back to a camp. Even if you\u2019ve taken a loop road and you are unsure, keep in mind that it is call a loop for a reason.\u00a0\u00a0 Since you cannot get lost as long as you stick to a road, you may as well get adventurous and try a new road.<\/p>\n

Our guides know the park\u2019s roads like the back of their hands, and our Kruger Park safaris<\/span> take guests to the best places to see animals. So if you\u2019d rather not be adventurous, you can always book a safari with us.<\/h3>\n

The Tar vs. Dirt road debate<\/h3>\n

Tar or dirt? The Kruger National Park\u2019s roads are well maintained, and unless there has been severe weather (in which case the Park will close of the roads that are severely damaged) you can drive the roads with pretty much any car.<\/p>\n

It is to be expected that on a gravel road you may find corrugations which are not the most pleasant to drive on, but normally it is only small stretches of the road and then the road will once again be fairly easy to navigate.<\/p>\n

Many visitors to the Kruger National Park tend to stay on the tar roads. It is highly recommended that you break that habit and get on the dirt roads as this is often the best place to see animals. And regardless of the type of road you pick, one tip that we can give you is that it is always a good idea to stay on roads that are close to rivers or dams. Animals frequent these water sources!<\/p>\n

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Popular Tar Roads<\/h3>\n

Arguably the most popular tar road in the southern part of the Kruger National Park has to be the tar road between Crocodile Bridge and Skukuza.\u00a0 This road, for the best part, runs next to the Sabie River and is very scenic and has good sighting potential.\u00a0 But because of this, the road is very congested with traffic in the busy season.<\/p>\n

The stretch of road from Skukuza to Satara is another tar road that has a fair amount of game and the landscape is truly scenic.\u00a0 On this road there is an area around the Mantimahle Dam and Olifantsdrinkgat that usually attracts a lot of game.\u00a0 Also on this road there is a section that runs next to the Sand River, which is always a good place for viewing game.<\/p>\n

If its elephants you are after, the tar road from Lower Sabie to Tshokwane has good visibility and the lush vegetation en route is a big favourite with the elephant.\u00a0 Keep a keen eye out as you pass the rocky ridges of the Nkumbe Hill or you may miss seen the Klipspringer that make that area their home.<\/p>\n

Famous Dirt Roads<\/h3>\n

For some of the best wild life sightings, it is strongly advised to take the Crocodile River road.\u00a0 This is possibly the best dirt road for the best game viewing.\u00a0 This dirt road is 44 km and follows the Crocodile River.\u00a0 For Big 5 sightings, head out on this road when the gates open in the morning and you will be rewarded with an abundance of wild life.<\/p>\n

Another dirt road worth taking a drive on is the Albasini Road.\u00a0\u00a0 This road loops around the Shabeni Mountain that is the largest undisturbed rock face in the Kruger National Park.\u00a0 Baboon and klipspringer are among the sighting along this stretch of road.\u00a0 The Mestel Watering hole is also on this road which attracts a large variety of animals.\u00a0 Also on this road you can see the Albasini Ruins.\u00a0 Albasini established a trading post here known as Magashula\u2019s Kraal in 1945.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Kurt Safari<\/a> knows the best places to see animals in the Kruger, and we know all the roads. Book your safari with us and see the mighty Kruger National Park.<\/h3>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paved Roads vs. Dirt Roads: A Comparison The Kruger National Park has more than 3000km of roads!\u00a0 It\u2019s a staggering, even daunting distance but you can rest easy knowing that these roads will always take you back to a camp. Even if you\u2019ve taken a loop road and you are unsure, keep in mind that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9352,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[114],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9348","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories-of-the-kruger-national-park"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9348\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kurtsafari.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}