6 Day Kruger Wildlife Family Safari Vacation

Kruger National Park

You’ll enjoy daily game drives for the duration of your stay in the Kruger National Park, tailored around your preferences. The finer details, such as daily departure times, length of game drives and the direction they’ll take, as well as when and where meals are taken, will be communicated to you by your private guide once in the park. He or she will keep track of animal activity through sightings boards, as well as use his or her extensive knowledge of the park, to ensure maximum wildlife sightings. The size of Kruger facilitates a great diversity of ecosystems, each of which is the preferred habitat of many, many species of animals. In the north-central region, the open plains are covered with Mopane as well as Red Bushwillow and Leadwood in places. An abundance of elephant occur here and sightings of herds of several hundred animals are not uncommon. In no other reserve in South Africa will you see elephants in such large numbers. Permanent rivers such as the Olifants and Letaba are home to hippo and croc and form a lifeline in an often dry and harsh environment for many animals such as leopard, which enjoy the refuge of the large trees growing along its banks.

Timbavati Private Game Reserve

While in Timbavati, you’ll enjoy two exciting guided game drives daily atop custom-built 4x4 vehicles, conducted by your professional ranger and tracker. You may also choose to participate in an optional guided bush walk at no additional expense (if weather conditions permit).

Timbavati, although not as well-known as its Southern counterpart, the Sabi Sand, is by no means inferior. In fact, one would have a strong case if you argued that Timbavati offers a more comprehensive wildlife experience. Like the Sabi Sand, the Timbavati also shares an unfenced boundary with the remote central Kruger National Park, allowing unrestricted movement of wildlife through the region. With fewer lodges, traversing areas in Timbavati are larger than all but five of the 27-odd lodge territories in the Sabi Sand. The Southern extent of Africa’s ‘Mopani Belt’ transects the reserve. Game drives taking place in the northern regions will, therefore, wander through Mopani woodland, a tree favored by African elephants, while if your ranger decides to travel southwards then you’ll find yourself in typical African savanna bushveld. This ecological diversity makes for a greater multiplicity of species, some preferring one habitat biome and some the other, with other species not restricting themselves to either.

Since the 1950s, occasional sightings of white lions have been recorded in the Timbavati. White lions have never been recorded in any other reserve in Africa except in the neighboring Kruger National Park, making the possibility of sighting one of these unique animals a good enough reason on its own to visit. Of course, the remaining Big Five suspects – leopard, buffalo, elephant, and rhino – are also commonly sighted, as are impala, zebra, giraffe, warthog, waterbuck, nyala and wildebeest. African wild dog and cheetah, once uncommon, are now recent additions to the predator hierarchy and are sometimes also spotted. Your daily game drives will take place during periods of peak wildlife activity - during the early morning, late afternoon and evening. The remainder of your day may be spent enjoying the creature comforts of your luxurious accommodations.