PRETORIUSKOP
This is the oldest of all the camps in the Kruger National Park. There are four groups of stands next to one another, all more or less along the fence. About 10 of the stands against the fence each have a permanent tent and are held back for special bookings.
It is a great camp with two bathrooms – one by the first stands and the other at the farthest point. The laundry ismore or less in the middle and the machines operate with R5 coins. To wash dishes, you walk past the first bathrooms. The kitchen is in the square building that has no side walls (as in most of the Kruger’s campsites). Here you’ll find a washing-up area, a couple of electric two-plate stoves and instant boiling water.
If Pretoriuskop won an award, it would be for its pool. Okay, it’s probably one of the pools in the Kruger that is the farthest from the sites, but the five-minute walk to get to it is well worth it. The pool is built on the side of a rock that protrudes several metres above the ground, and the water is crystal clear. On top of the rock there’s even a splash pool for the kids from which a stream cascades into the larger pool. Even in the heat of the day when the campsite is chock-a-block, the pool never gets too busy.
If you’re not right by the fence, you can still appreciate the wildlife. The guinea fowl in the camp are as tame as chickens and wander around like a slow whirlwind from one stand to the next – you can take pictures up real close. (Don’t be alarmed when you zoom in, because then that wrinkled head looks like that of a predator from the distant past.)
Not all the monkeys in the camp get up to mischief. Some of them simply hang around in the tree next to your stand, as if they are on holiday just like you are.
SKUKUZA
Pappa Bear
If you want to know exactly how popular a campsite is, check out how busy it is when weather conditions are less favourable. In the Kruger, that would be the middle of summer, because then the mercury will hit 40 ºC, summer rains will cause lush and green forests, and malaria might be in full swing.
In Skukuza, the game park’s main camp, you will have to make peace with the crowds, all year round, but here you can keep yourself busy with some things that aren’t available at other camps. There are also a multitude of
