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Planning a Kruger and Panorama Route trip

Where the escarpment drops a thousand metres from the Highveld to the Lowveld, the Panorama Route links some of the most dramatic views in South Africa. Below it lies the Kruger National Park, one of the largest game reserves in Africa. A week from Gauteng covers both.

The Panorama Route

• Blyde River Canyon and the Three Rondavels: one of the largest canyons on earth and one of the greenest. The main viewpoint is a short, paved walk from the car park.
• God's Window: a viewpoint on the edge of the escarpment, nearly a thousand metres above the Lowveld.
• The Pinnacle: a tall column of rock standing alone in a forested gorge.
• Lisbon and Berlin Falls: each a short walk from its car park.
• Bourke's Luck Potholes: deep, round holes worn into the rock where two rivers meet, linked by footbridges.
• Pilgrim's Rest: a gold-rush village from 1873, kept almost as it was. Allow two or three hours.

Go early. The view is often clearest before the cloud rises, especially in summer. Keep to the paths and behind the railings, because rocks near waterfalls are slippery.

Seeing the Kruger

The park stretches about 350 km along the Mozambique border and has the Big Five, about 150 kinds of mammals and hundreds of kinds of birds.

• Self-drive: drive slowly on the park's tar and gravel roads, stopping at waterholes, rivers and lookouts. The south is busiest and has the most animals near the roads. The north is quieter and wilder.
• Guided drives: open vehicles with park guides at sunrise, sunset and night. This is the only way to be out in the park after dark.
• Guided walks with armed rangers.

The Kruger on a budget

• Residents pay lower conservation fees. A yearly park card pays off if you visit often.
• Stay in a campsite or a basic hut, or stay in a town near a gate and enter as a day visitor. Day visitor numbers can be limited in busy periods, so arrive early or book.
• Self-cater. The camps have braai places and shops.
• Avoid the school holidays.

The rules that keep you alive

• Gate times. Be inside your camp, or out of the park, before the gate closes. The times change with the seasons and are shown at every gate. Check them each morning and turn back with an hour to spare. Never speed to make the gate.
• Stay in your vehicle, except at marked picnic sites, hides and camps. Keep every part of your body inside.
• Keep to the speed limits: about 50 km/h on tar and 40 km/h on gravel. Animals walk onto the road without warning.
• Never feed any animal. Monkeys and baboons that are fed become dangerous.
• Give animals space. Never drive between an elephant and her calf, and back away from an animal that warns you.

Malaria

The Kruger is a malaria area, with the highest risk in the rainy season, from about October to May. See a doctor or travel clinic before you go. Use insect repellent and cover up at dusk. See a doctor at once for any fever in the weeks after your visit, and say where you have been.

A week from Gauteng

• Day 1: drive to Graskop or Sabie, four to five hours from Johannesburg.
• Day 2: the Panorama Route, starting early.
• Day 3: Pilgrim's Rest in the morning, then down into the Kruger by afternoon.
• Days 4 to 6: the Kruger, in one or two camps.
• Day 7: drive home.

Book early. Park camps fill months ahead for the school holidays.

This guide is based on Chapter 9 of Must-See Places in South Africa.