A trip to South Africa wouldn’t be complete without a safari in Kruger. Kruger is one of the world’s largest game reserves, covering 7,500 square miles. For my South Africa Safari, I booked a three-day Kruger Safari through MoAfrika Tours, which included transportation from Johannesburg, accommodation, meals and the game drives.
Getting There
I took a shuttle from Johannesburg on the 4th of April. We left at 7:15 in the morning, and arrived at the tented campsite on the outskirts of the park around 2:00pm. Before I could unpack there were a few small white-faced monkeys, and impala grazing through the camp.
Sunset Drive in the Private Reserve
The evening safari started at 3:30pm. It was just three couples and me. The odd one out. The drive took place in a private reserve adjacent to Kruger, which I didn’t fully realize until we arrived. Warthogs, hippos, three rhinos near water including a younger one, giant termite mounds, a herd of buffalo that stampeded, zebras, blue wildebeest, and an African wildcat greeted us throughout our drive.
Then, at sunset, we spotted three lions: a lioness, a teenager, and a cub carrying a piece of zebra in its mouth that it did not let go of. They gathered around a watering hole to drink it. We were perfectly to positioned for me to capture some photos and I think I I may have taken one of the best wildlife photos of my life.
There was also a cheetah that we were allowed to pet. It had been raised around people since it was young and apparently enjoyed human company. It was still wild, it hunted in the preserve and came and left as it wished. I wasn’t going to pass on the opportunity to pet a cheetah.
A Full Day in Kruger National Park
Day two was the full day inside Kruger. We left at 5:50 in the morning and didn’t start in the park until around 7:30am. Once you get to the park there’s a process of getting the proper papers which the drivers do. Meanwhile there was nothing for us to do but sit and wait along with all the other people in their safari jeeps.
An elephant greeted us shortly after we entered. The park is filled with animals, but seeing them requires a bit of luck. They go where they want and that doesn’t necessarily mean by the road. A lot of time is spent searching, looking into the distance, squinting into the brush, and convincing yourself or others that the distant shape you see might be an animal. It’s exhausting, like participating in an I Spy book. It wasn’t uncommon for there to be long interrupted stretches of driving without seeing anything.
Over the course of the day, we did see a lot. Emus, giraffes, ostriches, hundreds of zebras, a hyena, a few baby hyenas, a Kori bustard which is apparently the heaviest flying bird, waterbuck, gnu, a rhino sleeping in the shade of a tree, a lion walking parallel to the road in bush for an extended stretch and a few birds with coloring so vivid they looked fake. We didn’t see a leopard and while we did see elephants, we never saw more than a few together.
My Unexpected Disappointed with Kruger
I left slightly disappointed though. I’d imagined dirt tracks, the outline of tire marks through grass, somewhere that felt wild and untamed. Instead, a majority of the day was a spent on the paved road that cuts through the reserve. It didn’t feel remote. It felt like a very large nature exhibit and I kept thinking of Disney World world’s Animal Kingdom and how that it probably didn’t feel too much different. A paved road through the park felt like the commercialization of something that shouldn’t be commercialized.
Nobody warns you how much of a safari is just being in a vehicle. It might be obvious, but it’s a lot. Up at 4:00 to 4:30 every morning, 30 to 45 minutes of driving just to reach the park, then hours more once you’re inside it. Three days in Kruger and I’m not sure I spent more than an hour on my feet total. Watching car after car crawl through the park I kept thinking about all the exhaust, the tire debris, the pollution of all those engines idling and the noose pollution in the middle of a wildlife preserve.
I couldn’t help but wonder, are we helping or hurting by being here like this? Would it make a difference if the vehicles were electric? It would certainly help with the noise pollution and pollution. The next safari I do, I’d like it to be on foot. A walking safari in Eastern Africa, removed from the jeep.
Sunrise Drive in the Private Reserve
The third morning was a sunrise drive back in the private reserve. The private reserve didn’t have any paved roads, and while it didn’t have open expanses as large as Kruger, it felt more natural. The guides were also better and communicated via radio to share what each other was seeing. Our guide spent much of the morning following tracks in the dirt road hoping to lead us to something.
As we entered the reserve, we saw the cheetah’s sister on the prowl, a rhino mom and her baby, hippos, elephants, crocodiles, giraffes, monkeys, an electrocuted snake. We also found a male lion with a full mane sleeping in an alcove of trees and brush, illuminated by the early morning light.
As we made our way toward the exit, we passed giraffes, zebras, monkeys and antelope as a final send-off.
Journey to Durban
We left the reserve at 9:15am and the tented camp at 10:15. We drove back to Johannesburg and arrived to the airport around 5:00pm, just in time my 19:45 flight to Durban.
Safari Details
- Tour operator: MoAfrika
- Duration: 3 days / 2 nights
- Departure: Johannesburg
- Accommodation: Tented camp
- Parks visited: Kruger National Park and private game reserve
- Date visited: May 2026
- Price: $602