Kruger National Park showing a herd of elephants.

Over the lock-down periods, we have had a lot of interest in our Kruger Safaris from people living in Eswatini (Eswatini) who have never been to Kruger before. As soon as the borders open up again to leisure travel we are going to be offering special rates to Eswatini (Eswatini) residents who would like to go and experience a 2 – 5 day Kruger safari.

Kruger National Park showing two rhinos

Guests will be able to choose from a low-cost camping safari or a mid-range bungalow safari. All trips will be run in our open safari vehicles with our qualified and experienced wildlife safari guides, offering a true, authentic safari experience. Kruger is the best place in the whole of Africa to spot the famous Big 5 (lion, elephant, leopard, rhino and buffalo) but there is also so much more to see. 

Game drive in Kruger National Park.

All the camps are safe and comfortable with shops, restaurants, swimming pools and excellent ablution facilities. 

We offer private safaris for closed family units which means you can have the safari vehicles and your accommodation all to yourself, offering extra Covid safety and true exclusivity.

Game drive by the dam

If you would like to explore Kruger please send us an email tours@alloutafrica.com and we’ll get in touch to design the ultimate tailor-made Kruger experience for you and your group.

I received the news a week before my trip and my heart skipped a beat as I was not sure on what to expect. I had mixed feelings about this as it was going to be my first time ever going on a safari. A lot of things were going on in my mind, I was thinking what if the car breaks down in the middle of nowhere and no one comes to our rescue, what if we get eaten by lions. I had so many what if’s in my head. 

My transport picked me up at 9 O’clock in the morning driven by Ayandza from the tours office, deep in thought as we drove off to the famous Kruger National Park. I was as happy as a child eating ice-cream. The funniest part is that though skeptical about the whole trip, I could not wait to reach my destination. 

I spent 2 nights sleeping in a tent at the beautiful African bush and my days on safari tours, trying to find the big 5 and explore the natural beauty and wonders of my land Africa.

There’s only 2 words to describe my experience…’’Absolutely Amazing! I got addicted seeing wild animals every day, you can never get enough seeing these beautiful creatures in their habitat, it was one of the most fascinating experience I have ever had. A big thanks to Jackie Wall, Tours Director, for organising this beautiful trip for me and to my bosses at the AOA office for allowing me the opportunity. 

I must say at some point I was terrified by the elephants as they charged towards our OVS. Thanks to Ruben and Adriaan, who were our guides the entire trip, they were calm as the sea and took care of the situation by stopping the vehicle and asking everyone to be quiet and stay calm until these huge creatures cross the road to the other side. I was quick to loosen up as I was with a group of All Out Africa volunteers who made it a point that I was ok by comforting me as they could see that I was scared and trembling. 

Be warned!! This is a once in a life time trip that everyone must experience. Trust me,  you won’t think twice about coming back because Africa is a truly magical place and next time I will be taking my children with so they too get a chance to experience such beauty in their very own continent.

Click here Kruger Day Safari if you want to know more about this experience.  

Why is this of interest? Well, having killed or chased off most large animals (megafauna) from areas that we humans use (most of the planet!), investigating the change this causes is important in understanding the effects we are having on the planet. 

Why bother, you may ask? Did you know that the total mass of all wild animals on earth larger than a rabbit (that’s everything from porcupines to elephants and sting rays to whales) is less than 1/10th the mass of humans & domestic livestock? Did you know we are in the middle of the biggest extinction event since the dinosaurs were wiped of the face of the earth, and it is caused by humans? We are systematically obliterating natural life on earth to feed & house our growing population with an expanding appetite for consumption and if something doesn’t change we will unwittingly “cook the goose that lays the golden eggs” and send ourselves the way of the dinosaurs.

How do we prevent this catastrophe? We need to change mind-sets and actions, and to do this requires many small steps that multiply over time. Imagine a centre that enables field research to understand deeply the mechanisms of biodiversity loss and human induced ecosystem change in one of the most critical regions of high biodiversity and growing human population and development. Imagine this centre creates an ethos of collaboration and acting responsibly towards the environment through training and inspiring future conservationists. You don’t have to imagine it, we’ve already created it and it’s called the Savannah Research Centre(www.savannahresearch.org). Based at this centre working with UNISWA and the University of Florida, All Out Africa is implementing a long term investigation of how we humans are influencing the savannah ecosystem by studying the changes in biodiversity across a range of protected areas and other more intensively used landscapes. We do so by surveying rodents, birds, bats, ungulates, predators and vegetation using consistent methods in a repeated series of permanent sites spread out across the landscape. In the process we are also training and inspiring African and international students who will become future protagonists for the environment and conservation of wildlife. Could this create the change that’s needed to turn the tide on our seeping catastrophe? We certainly hope so!

The workshop held in Kruger was one step in this process, and an exciting one, which hopefully will bear fruit for our planets flailing wildlife.

If you would like to join with our current conservation efforts in Eswatini, check out our Savannah Conservation Project for more information about how you can become a volunteer!

https://alloutafrica.com/volunteer-projects/conservation-projects/savannah-research-and-conservation-volunteer-project/

Written by Kim Roques | All Out Africa Co-Founder