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Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve
Game reserve

A game reserve is an area of land set aside for maintenance of Game for tourism or hunting purposes. Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris or hunt wild game....
 in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. It covers 18,989 square km (7,332 sq mi) and extends 350 km (217 mi) from north to south and 60 km (37 mi) from east to west.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo
Limpopo

Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa of South Africa. The capital is Polokwane, formerly called Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of the Transvaal province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal....
 and Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga, , is a Provinces of South Africa South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Nguni languages....
. In the north is Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
, and to the east is Mozambique
Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest....
. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is a 35,000 km? peace park that is in the process of being formed. It will link the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as the area between Kruger and Gonarezhou, the Sengwe co...
, a peace park
Peace park

A Transboundary Protected Area is a protected area that spans across boundaries of multiple Country, where the political border sections that are enclosed within its area are abolished....
 that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park
Gonarezhou National Park

Gonarezhou National Park is a game reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. It is situated in a relatively remote corner of Masvingo Province, south of Chimanimani along the Mozambique border....
 in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park
Limpopo National Park

The Limpopo National Park was born when the status of Coutada 16 Wildlife Utilisation Area in Gaza Province, Mozambique, was changed from a hunting concession to a protected area....
 in Mozambique.

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

The park has 8 main gates that allow entrance to the different camps.






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Kruger National Park is the largest game reserve
Game reserve

A game reserve is an area of land set aside for maintenance of Game for tourism or hunting purposes. Many game reserves are located in Africa. Most are open to the public, and tourists commonly take sightseeing safaris or hunt wild game....
 in South Africa
South Africa

The Republic of South Africa, also known by Official names of South Africa, is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa....
. It covers 18,989 square km (7,332 sq mi) and extends 350 km (217 mi) from north to south and 60 km (37 mi) from east to west.

To the west and south of the Kruger National Park are the two South African provinces of Limpopo
Limpopo

Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa of South Africa. The capital is Polokwane, formerly called Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of the Transvaal province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal....
 and Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga, , is a Provinces of South Africa South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Nguni languages....
. In the north is Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
, and to the east is Mozambique
Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest....
. It is now part of the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is a 35,000 km? peace park that is in the process of being formed. It will link the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as the area between Kruger and Gonarezhou, the Sengwe co...
, a peace park
Peace park

A Transboundary Protected Area is a protected area that spans across boundaries of multiple Country, where the political border sections that are enclosed within its area are abolished....
 that links Kruger National Park with the Gonarezhou National Park
Gonarezhou National Park

Gonarezhou National Park is a game reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. It is situated in a relatively remote corner of Masvingo Province, south of Chimanimani along the Mozambique border....
 in Zimbabwe, and with the Limpopo National Park
Limpopo National Park

The Limpopo National Park was born when the status of Coutada 16 Wildlife Utilisation Area in Gaza Province, Mozambique, was changed from a hunting concession to a protected area....
 in Mozambique.

The park is part of the Kruger to Canyons Biosphere, an area designated by the United Nations Education and Scientific Organisation (UNESCO) as an International Man and Biosphere Reserve (the "Biosphere").

The park has 8 main gates that allow entrance to the different camps. The names of these gates are Paul Kruger, Numbi, Malelane, Crocodile Bridge, Punda Maria, Orpen, Phabeni, Phalaborwa and Pafuri.

The park is the site of the popular eyewitness viral video Battle at Kruger
Battle at Kruger

Battle at Kruger is an amateur wildlife video that depicts an unfolding confrontation between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and one or two crocodiles....
.

History

The area that the park currently encompasses was occupied by nomadic hunter-gatherers for thousands of years. People from Europe arrived in the early eighteenth century. In 1898 Paul Kruger
Paul Kruger

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger , better known as Paul Kruger and affectionately known as Oom Paul was president of the South African Republic ....
, the president of the Transvaal Republic, created Sabie Game Reserve in order to control hunting and protect the diminished number of animals in the park. James Stevenson Hamilton became the first warden of the reserve in 1902. The reserve was located in the southern one-third of the modern park. Shingwedzi Reserve, now in northern Kruger National Park, was proclaimed in 1903. In 1926, Sabie Game Reserve, the adjacent Shingwedzi Game Reserve, and farms were combined to create Kruger National Park, which was opened for public visitors in 1927. During the apartheid era, the 1950 Group Areas Act and the 1953 Separate Amenities Act prevented black Africans from visiting South Africa's parks. In 2002, Kruger National Park, Gonarezhou National Park
Gonarezhou National Park

Gonarezhou National Park is a game reserve in south-eastern Zimbabwe. It is situated in a relatively remote corner of Masvingo Province, south of Chimanimani along the Mozambique border....
 in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe , is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo River rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east....
, and Limpopo National Park
Limpopo National Park

The Limpopo National Park was born when the status of Coutada 16 Wildlife Utilisation Area in Gaza Province, Mozambique, was changed from a hunting concession to a protected area....
 in Mozambique
Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest....
 were incorporated into the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park
Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park

Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park is a 35,000 km? peace park that is in the process of being formed. It will link the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, Kruger National Park in South Africa, Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe, as well as the area between Kruger and Gonarezhou, the Sengwe co...
.

Geography

The park lies in the east of South Africa, in the eastern parts of Limpopo
Limpopo

Limpopo is the northernmost Provinces of South Africa of South Africa. The capital is Polokwane, formerly called Pietersburg. The province was formed from the northern region of the Transvaal province in 1994, and initially named Northern Transvaal....
 and Mpumalanga
Mpumalanga

Mpumalanga, , is a Provinces of South Africa South Africa. The name means east or literally "the place where the sun rises" in Nguni languages....
 provinces. It is one of the largest national parks in the world, with an area of almost 20,000 km2. The park is approximately 360 km long, and has an average width of 65 km. At its widest point, the park is 90 km wide from east to west. Several rivers run through the park from west to east, including the Sabie River
Sabie River

The Sabie River runs eastwards through Mpumalanga and Kruger National Park and on to Mozambique. Settlements on its banks include Sabie, Skukuza and Lower Sabie....
.

Flora and fauna


Plants

The Kruger National Park is divided into six eco-systems: Baobab sandveld, Mopane
Mopane

The mopane or mopani tree grows in hot, dry, low-lying areas, 200-1,150 m, in the far northern parts of southern Africa, into South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Namibia, Angola and Malawi....
 scrub, Lebombo knobthorn-marula bushveld, mixed acacia thicket, Combretum-silver clusterleaf woodland on granite and riverine forest. Altogether it has 1,982 species of plants.

Birds

Out of the 517 species of bird
Bird

Birds are wing, Bipedalismal, endothermic , vertebrate animals that lay egg . There are around 10,000 living species, making them the most numerous tetrapod vertebrates....
s found at Kruger, 253 are residents, 117 non-breeding migrants, and 147 nomads. Also, eagles can be found there.

Mammals

Kruger Panorama3
All the Big Five
Big Five game

The phrase Big Five game was coined by big-game hunters and refers to the five most difficult animals in Africa to hunt on foot. The term is still used in most tourist and wildlife guides that discuss African wildlife safaris....
 game animals are found at Kruger National Park, which has more species of mammal
Mammal

Mammals are a class of vertebrate animals whose name is derived from their distinctive feature, mammary glands, with which they feed their young....
s than any other African Game Reserve (at 147 species). There are webcams set up to observe the wild life.

, the park has counted approximately:

  • 31,000 African Buffalo
    African Buffalo

    The African Buffalo or Cape Buffalo is a large African bovid. It is up to 1.7 meters high, 3.4 meters long. Savannah type buffaloes weigh 500-900 kg, with only males, normally larger than females, reaching the upper weight range....
  • 350 African Hunting Dogs
  • 440 Black Rhinoceros
    Black Rhinoceros

    The Black Rhinoceros , also colloquially Black Rhino, is a species of rhinoceros, native to the eastern and central areas of Africa including Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon, South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe....
  • 7,000 White Rhinoceros
    White Rhinoceros

    The White Rhinoceros or Square-lipped rhinoceros is one of the five species of rhinoceros that still exist and is one of the few megafauna species left....
  • 25,000 Burchell's Zebras
    Plains Zebra

    The Plains zebra , also known as the Common zebra or the Burchell's zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread form of zebra....
  • 500 Bushbuck
    Bushbuck

    The Bushbuck is an antelope that is found in forest and woodland throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. Also called "bush antelope", this is used occasionally for any relativers with which it shares its habitat....
    s
  • 200 Cheetah
    Cheetah

    The cheetah is an atypical member of the cat family that is unique in its speed, while lacking climbing abilities. Therefore it is placed in its own genus, Acinonyx....
    s
  • 300 Common Eland
    Common Eland

    The Common Eland is a Savanna and plains antelope found in East Africa and Southern Africa....
  • 6,600 Giraffe
    Giraffe

    The giraffe is an African even-toed ungulate mammal, the tallest of all land-living animal species, and the largest ruminant. It is covered in large, irregular patches of yellow to black fur separated by white, off-white, or dark yellowish brown background....
    s
  • 9,000 Greater Kudu
    Greater Kudu

    The Greater Kudu is a woodland antelope found throughout East Africa and Southern Africa Africa. Despite occupying such widespread territory , they are sparsely populated in most areas, due to a declining habitat, deforestation and hunting....
    s
  • 3,000 Hippopotamus
    Hippopotamus

    The hippopotamus or hippo is a large, mostly herbivore African mammal, one of only two Extant taxon species in the scientific classification Hippopotamidae ....
  • 1,500 Lion
    Lion

    The lion is a member of the family Felidae and one of four big cats in the genus Panthera. With exceptionally large males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger....
    s
  • 1,000 Leopard
    Leopard

    The leopard is a member of the Felidae biological family and the smallest of the four "Panthera" in the genus Panthera; the other three are the tiger, lion and jaguar....
    s
  • 2,000 Spotted Hyena
    Spotted Hyena

    The Spotted Hyena, or Laughing Hyena, is a Carnivora mammal of the family hyaenidae. It is the largest of the hyenas, and is native to sub-Saharan Africa, save for the Congo basin....
    s
  • 13,100 Elephant
    Elephant

    Elephants are large land mammals of the order Proboscidea and the family Elephantidae. There are three living species: the African Bush Elephant, the African Forest Elephant and the Asian Elephant ....
    s
  • 3,000 Waterbuck
    Waterbuck

    The Waterbuck is an antelope found in West Africa, Central Africa, East Africa and Southern Africa.Waterbuck stand 100 to 130 centimetres at the shoulder and weigh from 160 to 240 kilograms....
  • 10,000 Blue Wildebeest
    Blue Wildebeest

    The Blue Wildebeest is a large ungulate mammal of the Bovid family and one of two species of wildebeest. It grows to 1.7 meters shoulder height and attains a body mass of up to 380 kilograms....
  • 90,000 Impala
    Impala

    An impala is a medium-sized African antelope. The name impala comes from the Zulu language. They are found in savannas and thick bushveld in Kenya, Tanzania, Mozambique, northern Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, southern Angola, northeastern South Africa and Uganda....
    s


The park stopped culling
Culling

Culling is the 'selection' of surplus animals from an animal population. In a wild population the selection is often done by killing the animal immediately....
 elephants in 1989 and tried translocating them, but by 2004 the population had increased to 11,670 elephants (2006: approximately 13,500). The park's habitats can only sustain about 8,000 elephants. The park started using annual contraception in 1995, but has stopped that due to problems with delivering the contraceptives and upsetting the herds.

Kruger National Park holds over 480 tons of ivory
Ivory

File:Ivory decoration.jpgIvory is formed from dentine and constitutes the bulk of the teeth and tusks of animals such as the elephant, hippopotamus, walrus, mammoth and narwhal....
 in storage. According to Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna
Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna

File:CITES logo.gifCITES is an international agreement between governments, drafted as a result of a resolution adopted in 1973 at a meeting of members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature ....
 (CITES), it is allowed to sell 30 tons.

Following approval by CITES, 47 metric tons of stockpiled ivory from Kruger were auctioned on November 6, 2008. The sale fetched approximately US$6.7 million which will be used towards increasing anti-poaching activity. The average price for the 63 lots on auction was US$142/kg.

Accommodation

The Kruger National Park has 21 rest camps, as well as 7 private lodge concessions, and 11 designated private safari lodges. The concessions are parcels of land operated by private companies in partnership with communities, who outsource the operation of private lodges.

Wilderness trails

Nine different trails are on offer in the Kruger National Park. Some are overnight and the last several days in areas of wilderness are virtually untouched by humans. There are no set trails in the wilderness areas; a visitor walks along paths made by animals or seeks out new routes through the bush.

See also

  • Protected areas of South Africa
  • Peace park
    Peace park

    A Transboundary Protected Area is a protected area that spans across boundaries of multiple Country, where the political border sections that are enclosed within its area are abolished....
  • Abel Chapman
    Abel Chapman

    Abel Chapman was a Sunderland-born hunter-naturalist. He saved the Spain Ibex from extinction and helped in the establishment of South Africa's first game reserve....
  • Battle at Kruger
    Battle at Kruger

    Battle at Kruger is an amateur wildlife video that depicts an unfolding confrontation between a herd of Cape Buffalo, a small pride of lions, and one or two crocodiles....


External links


Tourism

  • *


Map

  • with camps, waterholes and dams marked
  • (2MB .kmz file) including travel (lodges and restcamps, roads, gates, airstrips, distances), ecological (biomes, rainfall, animal census) and historical (evolution of the park since 1884) layers.