Driving in Kruger

[Bushcraft]

I have just got back from a rather crowded southern Kruger and ended up getting very frustrated on the roads to the extent that I wanted to leave after 6 days in the park.

The southern traffic jams on the main routes are nothing new and are exceptionally bad near the park entrance gates in the mornings due to the influx of day visitors, so after a few major jams, people out their cars, shouting and screaming, etc, we decided to stick mainly to the less driven narrow dirt roads.

The dirt roads come with their own frustrations for me personally, so I was wondering on member’s road etiquette in the south and what people feel about it.

I will never block the road and if I do, I will move as soon as I see another car arriving, or ask them if they mind waiting 1 minute just so that I can get a pic.

If I want to drive at 20km/h on a narrow dirt road and a car arrives behind me doing 40km/h; I will pull over so that they can pass, but if I want to do 40km/h; I expect them to pull over.

Etc

And as for those crazy 3/4 cars abreast traffic jams. Why don’t SANParks control those types of sightings in the south if they insist on letting hundreds of day visitors in.

I’m not sure if many are just clueless, arrogant or if they just don’t have manners, but driving in the south of Kruger is no longer fun for me, so I was wondering how you guys handle it.

[PRWIN]

South of Letaba will not see me again. The time we had up at Shingwedzi was great, no traffic jams , okay just once but as soon as we past Letaba we found road kill people getting out of there cars at dams , people driving completely off road and then walking to the edge of a pound to see a elephant having a mud bath . what I noticed all this came as soon as there was good cell phone reception, maybe SP should remove all there towers then the bbm and whats app groups wont exist .

[Amoli]

I think I will go more north...

The way I experienced it was that the big shiny cars were racing from one parked car to the next. It seemed they couldn't find their own sightings due to overgrown bush and were depending on what others saw..

I had frustrating moments. If I tell you I could photograph just over 40 species of birds in 8 days - in comparison to Flutts seeing 53/57 on one drive through Rietvlei.

I would stop at some activity and wait for birdies to sit down ..... and a 4+4 would stop next to me, diesel engine puttering and shouting... WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT.....SORRY, I DIDN'T HEAR.... and then, very annoyed, tearing off to the next car parked off the road somewhere.
When I return my attention to the bush, there is not a bird in sight. (this should be a crying smiley)

The only difference the Sand roads did was that when they come to a standstill next to me and when they tear off, I am covered in dust and I have to grab for a cover for my camer. Not really nice stuff this time round.

[Flutterby]

Shame Amoli! We definitely had less bird sightings on this trip but I think a lot have already left for winter. I have to say we didn't have too many problems with traffic down south...only two sightings were a bit crazy. We did see a lot of speeding vehicles, north and south, but almost all of them were staff vehicles!

[harrys]

Do as we do go when it's not school holidays and long weekends............problem solved .....OH some of you have kids at school........bad luck, you'll have to wait till they are done with school and out of the house

[Richprins]

I'm always at school...


But ja...long weekends are just to be avoided, or go in for meets. Easy if you're a local, I suppose. These jams are a travesty for people who have come a long way for the peaceful bush experience!

What I do is just duck to the most remote dirt road in these circumstances...and yes, there are some in the South!

Also, sitting at a water point in July or October holidays is a good target...saves fuel and less frustrating?

The cellphone network won't go away, unfortunately. Actually some human rights thing, no jokes, plus antipoaching rely on it as much as the poachers!



https://africawild-forum.com/viewtopic.php?f=197&t=2423


What has been coming out rather strangely over the last year is tourists going "walkabout"...strolling through the bush after animals. It is not unique over the years, but definitely more prevalent!

No idea why?

[Sprocky]

Do as we do go when it's not school holidays and long weekends............problem solved .....OH some of you have kids at school........bad luck, you'll have to wait till they are done with school and out of the house

Or, find one of the better places to go to!

[Sprocky]

The problem of speeding in Kruger continues and in my opinion is getting worse!

Yesterday I entered at Pafuri gate to return to Phalaborwa. The speed of some of the vehicles was over whelming. This included guests, overloaded bakkies, delivery trucks, staff vehicles, SANParks busses and SAPS vehicles.

The fastest vehicles were right up north and the more south I moved the slower they seemed to travel.

Something needs to be done about this, very soon!!!

[PJL]

Hearing all the stories is making me glad our trip in Sept/Oct is the week before school holidays!!

I'm not sure how the situation of people getting out their vehicles could be helped. It happens everywhere and is something I often see on trips into Addo (generally guys with weak bladders getting out for a toilet break ). Maybe they should equip the honorary rangers with paintball guns then they can shoot anyone they see out their car

[Flutterby]