"Kruger and Balule" a Kruger National Park Travel Page by Lalsey

Kruger is a "must see" for anyone going to South Africa. About the same size as Holland the park covers 19,624 square kilometers, and is home to 147 mammal species, 500 species of birds, 116 reptiles, 34 amphibians, 49 fishes, 457 types of trees and shrubs, 1 500 smaller plants, and millions of insects. You probably won't be lucky enough to see all of them, mind.

Looking at some other folk's pictures I don't think we were very lucky in the Kruger, and probably weren't there at the best time of year, as in May the bush is fairly thick and green. Apparently October/November is a good time to go, as it's the end of the dry season, and so animals will congregate nearer the water, so are easier to spot.

Please visit my diary of my visit in my travelogue for more details and pictures!

I spent the first part of my trip in Balule. The Balule Private Nature Reserve was created ten years ago when a group of farm owners decided to drop the game fences between their farms. This has since grown into a 35000 ha Private Nature Reserve with the Olifants River flowing through the centre of the reserve.

Balule Private Reserve is expanding all the time as other landowners join the initiative to become incorporated into the Greater Kruger National Park Management Area.

There are a number of private lodges in Balule.

http://balule.krugerpark.co.za/

The Kruger itself has very good amenities for tourists, perhaps at times it does feel too much like a safari park in the way that Brits will understand, however the animals are very much wild here!

I don't think the 1 and a half days I had hear was enough. There's so much to see, and some of it is down to chance and getting lucky, so I would advise three to four days here.