So you have booked your Kruger accommodation now you need to decide the best gate to use to enter the Kruger Park.
You need to take into consideration your travel time, the Kruger is huge therefore you can’t expect to enter a gate in the south of the park and your first night is booked in the northern part of the park.
For camps in the south of the park
We suggest using Malelane Gate is the most convenient for travelers coming from Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Free State.
Malelane Gate is a great gate to use if you are staying on the South section of the park, when we stay at Lower Sabie or Skukuza we will enter through the gate and travel on the H3 and usually have a coffee break at Afsaal and with our coffee in hand choose one of the many sand roads to travel along, we suggest travelling along sand road because check-in is only at 2:00PM and the gates open at 6:00AM (depending on the time of year) so you have a long wait before check-in and there is no point rushing.
For camps in the middle of the park such as Satara and Orpen
We suggest using either Phabeni Gate or Paul Kruger Gate as the best gate to use to enter the Kruger Park if you are staying at Satara or Orpen , distance from Phabeni Gate to Satara is 138km/h and it should take you 3 to 4 hours to complete traveling at 40km/h and stopping to take photos of animals.
We stop at Skukuza before heading towards Satara and we travel along the H1-3 after a stop to stretch our legs at Tshokwane, on our last trip we used the S36 gravel road to travel up to Orpen.
You might be wondering why we wouldn’t use Orpen Gate to enter the park if we are staying at Orpen or Satara, we avoid it because there is a long stretch of road passing through a rural area with a speed limit at 60km/h, you have to be cautious because there are cows and sheeps crossing the road and the road has many potholes which you have to swerve to avoid.
For camps in the north of the park
We suggest using Phalaborwa Entrance Gate, the distance from Johannesburg to this gate is 503 km with a travel time of 5 and a half hours,
We suggest travelling on the H9 as you enter the park, lions are usually seen on this road and make a stop at Sable Dam the resident leopard is seen enjoying a drink.
If you want some ideas on what route to take from Malelane Gate to Skukuza read our post on the best route for animal spotting.
Thank you so much for reading,
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