Itinerary · 9 days · 32 places
9 Days in Kruger
Nine days from Johannesburg city life via the waterfalls and gorges of the Panorama Route to four game-viewing days in Kruger National Park, with fixed bases in Sandton, Hazyview, Skukuza and Satara.
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Photo: Derek Keats · Pexels
The route on the map
The plan, day by day
Day 1Arrival in Johannesburg
Arrival in Johannesburg
Hotel check-in
A base in Sandton, the quiet business district with guarded streets, a short walk to Nelson Mandela Square and quick access to the N1 heading east.
Nelson Mandela Square
Evening stroll across the illuminated square with the six-metre statue of Mandela, surrounded by restaurant terraces and the entrance to Sandton City.
Day 2Soweto & apartheid history
Apartheid Museum
The visit begins with a ticket that assigns your entrance by skin colour and leads past cells, a Casspir armoured vehicle and film footage from 1976 to the constitution of 1996.
Hector Pieterson Museum
At the site of the Soweto school uprising, the famous photo of the dying twelve-year-old takes centre stage, while a stone line outside marks the route of the march of 16 June 1976.
Mandela House on Vilakazi Street
The tiny brick house where Nelson Mandela lived until 1962, with bullet holes in the façade and family photos in its four rooms.
Constitution Hill
The Old Fort with the Women's Gaol and Number Four cells, above which the Constitutional Court now stands with columns made from the bricks of the prison walls.
Evening: Juta Street in Braamfontein
The nightlife street of the student quarter with murals, small bars and rooftop terraces looking out on the Hillbrow towers.
Day 3Panorama Route: gorge, rock and window
Onward to Hazyview
Hotel check-in
Graskop Gorge Lift
A glass lift descends 51 metres into the gorge, where a wooden boardwalk leads through the mist forest past ferns and small waterfalls.
Pinnacle Rock
A free-standing quartzite tower of around 30 metres rising from the wooded valley basin; from the railing you can see the Driekop stream's waterfall alongside.
God's Window
From the edge of the Drakensberg escarpment the view drops 700 metres into the Lowveld as far as Kruger Park — in haze, the short climb to the patch of rainforest above the car park is worthwhile.
Evening: Perry's Bridge Trading Post
The timber complex at the entrance to Hazyview with a pub, crafts and fire bowls in the courtyard, where lodge guests gather in the evening.
Day 4Blyde River Canyon
Bourke's Luck Potholes
Where the Treur flows into the Blyde, swirling water has carved cylindrical holes into the yellow sandstone; bridges lead across the potholes.
Lowveld View viewpoint
A short stop on the R532 with an open view across the canyon to the reservoir and, when the air is clear, as far as the mountains of Limpopo province.
Three Rondavels
Three round rock domes with grassy tops stand like huts above the Blyde Dam — the canyon's best-known viewpoint.
Evening: Shangana Cultural Village
In the Shangaan village on the R535 there's drumming and dancing round the fire in the evening, while a guide explains medicinal plants and house-building.
Day 5First game drive along the Sabie
Onward to Skukuza
Hotel check-in
Lake Panic bird hide
A covered wooden hide by the dam, where hippos snort, crocodiles lie on the bank and kingfishers, jacanas and hornbills pass by at eye level.
Sabie riverside road H4-1
The tarred road follows the wooded river east — the park's richest stretch for leopards, plus elephants and buffalo on the sandbanks.
Nkuhlu picnic site
Shady rest stop right on the Sabie where you're allowed out of the car; vervet monkeys wait for a moment's carelessness, and hippos grunt below the bank.
Evening: night drive from Skukuza
Open 4x4 with a ranger and spotlight: genets, hyenas and, with luck, lions hunting after the gates close.
Day 6Lower Sabie and the plains
Sunset Dam
Shallow dam just before the rest camp, where hippos, marabou storks and elephants crowd together in the morning — photographing from the car is allowed.
Lower Sabie rest camp
The terrace above the Sabie offers the park's best breakfast view: crocodiles on the sandbanks below, elephants at the ford opposite.
Mlondozi picnic site
Rest stop on a rise above Mlondozi Dam, from where you can watch buffalo herds and elephants at the water through binoculars.
Nkumbe viewpoint
From the edge of the Lebombo foothills you look out over a treeless plain dotted with herds of wildebeest, zebra and buffalo.
Evening: Sabie deck at Skukuza rest camp
The camp's floodlit river deck, where after dinner you listen to the hippos as the constellations of the southern hemisphere hang over the water.
Day 7On to Satara: lion country
Onward to Satara
Hotel check-in
S100 gravel road along the N'wanetsi
The park's most famous gravel road follows the riverbed through open grassland — lion prides often lie in the shade by the roadside here.
N'wanetsi picnic site
Rest stop by the dam below the Lebombo Mountains with a lookout over the riverbed; skottel braais can be hired at the kiosk.
Sweni bird hide
Small hide above the Sweni stream, where elephants come to drink and bee-eaters hunt from the reeds.
Evening: starry sky at Satara rest camp
Satara lies in the middle of the plain without light pollution — on the lawn between the rondavels you see the Milky Way and hear lions roaring at night.
Day 8Timbavati road in central Kruger
S39 along the Timbavati
The sandy road follows the mostly dry Timbavati riverbed north, where giraffes stand among sausage trees and vultures perch on the branches.
Timbavati picnic site
Fenced rest stop under large trees with a kiosk and skottel hire, where you can get out of the car and braai for yourself.
Ratelpan bird hide
Hide at a pool on the S39, where in the dry season elephants, warthogs and storks crowd close to the water.
Evening: night drive from Satara
Second night drive, this time across the open plain: the best chances here of spotted hyenas at their den and lions by the road.
Day 9Last waterhole and departure
Nsemani Dam
The dam on the H7 west of Satara is the last chance for hippos, elephants and the lions that lie on its banks in the morning.
Departure from Kruger National Park
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