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• Guided drives

Guided drives

The Kruger National Park offers three kinds of guided drives: Sunrise, sunset and night drives which can all be booked in advance or in camp.

Please note that some camps do not offer night drives. For more information on which camps offer which drives, please visit the SANParks website.

Sunrise drives

On a sunrise drive you leave camp between half and hour and an hour before the gates open. In summer this can be as early as 04:30, which means that during the first part of the drive spotlights are used to find animals, as you wait for the sun to come up.

Because you are the first ones out, the sunrise drive gives you a great chance to find animals in the road, especially lions, which love to rest on the warm tar roads early in the morning.

Sunrise drives last approximately three hours.

Sunset drives

Sunset drives leave an hour or so before the sun sets and continue for a short while after dark, giving you the opportunity to find nocturnal creatures like spotted hyaenas, genets and African wild cats. The drive lasts about three hours and spotlights are used to find animals after dark. Some sunset drives stop at a safe place just before sunset, allowing visitors to get out of the truck to take photos and stretch their legs.

Night drives

Night drives depart from camp after dark and spotlights are used to find nocturnal animals for the duration of the outing, which usually lasts about two hours. Guides generally don't stop for diurnal animals like zebra or giraffe, but search specifically for species that are active at night, including porcupines, serval cats, leopards and bushbabies.

So what can I expect to see?

To give yourself the best chance of enjoying a guided drive, it is important to go with the right expectations. Ask the guides in camp what they tend to find in that specific area. At Lower Sabie, for instance, you have a good chance of finding lions on the sunrise drive. At Skukuza, I have found wild dogs and leopards on more than one occasion on the sunset drive.

However, don't expect to see large predators on every guided drive! Just enjoy the opportunity to be out with a knowledgeable guide at times that other visitors have to be in camp.

Remember:

No smoking is allowed on the guided drives, except when guides stop and specifically mention that it is allowed.
Always take warm clothing and insect repellant on the drives, as well as a snack and a drink.