This tour includes the following:
- Daily departure from Johannesburg
- All accommodated no camping
- The panorama route
- Full day in Kruger National Park
- Night drive in a big 5 game reserve
- All meals except lunches
- Game walk
- air conditioned vehicle
- Guides
- two nights free accommodation
Panorama route-
The Blyde River Canyon is a significant natural feature of South Africa, located in Mpumalanga, and forming the northern part of the Drakensberg escarpment. It is 16 miles (26 km) in length and is, on average, around 2,500 feet (762 m) deep. The Dam itself, when full, is at an altitude of 665m (2182 feet). The Canyon consists mostly of red sandstone. The highest point of the canyon, Mariepskop, is 6,378 feet (1,944 m) feet above sea level, whilst its lowest point where the river leaves the canyon is slightly less than 1,840 feet (561 m) above sea level. This means that by some measure the Canyon is over 4,500 feet (1,372 m) deep.
While it is difficult to compare canyons world-wide, Blyde River Canyon is one of the largest canyons on Earth, and it may be the largest 'green canyon' due to its lush subtropical foliage. It has some of the deepest precipitious cliffs of any canyon on the planet. It is the second largest canyon in Africa, after the Fish River Canyon, and is known as one of the great wonders of nature on the continent.
Possibly the best view in the whole of the Blyde River Canyon is of the "Three Rondavels", huge, round rocks, thought to be reminiscent of the houses or huts of the indigenous people, known as rondavels. This canyon is part of the Panorama route. This route starts at the town Graskop and includes God's Window, the Pinnacle and Bourke's Luck Potholes.
Kruger National Park
Kruger national park is about 60 to 90km wide and about 350km long and consist out of the following ecozones
- Mixed bushwillow bushveld
- Pretoriuskop sourveld
- Malelane mountain Bushveld
- Sabie river thickets
- Crocodile river thickets
- Marula/knob thorn open tree savanna
- Delagoa Thorn Thickets
- Riverine areas
- Southern Lebombo Mountain Bushveld
And much more.
Rest camps are:
- Berg and dal
- Crocodile bridge
- Letaba
- Lower sabi
- Mopani
- Olifants
- Orpen
- Pretoriuskop
- Punda Maria
- Satara
- Shingwedzi
- Skukuza
Game viewing in general is very good and accompanied by a professional guide makes it even better.
Dullstroom
Dullstroom-Emnotweni is one of the coldest towns in Mpumalanga province, South Africa, and along with Underberg, it is one of South Africa's premier flyfishing destinations. The town features the highest railway station in South Africa at 2,077 m above sea level as well as at the foot of De Berg, the highest point in the province at 2,332 m high. Dullstroom was established in 1883 by Dutchman Wolterus Dull to settle Dutch immigrants. During the Second Boer War the town was destroyed and most of the settlers returned to the Netherlands
Additional Information
The Kruger National Park (KNP) is in north-east of South Africa and and runs along the border of Mozambique in the east, Zimbabwe in the north, and the southern border is the Crocodile River. The park covers 20,000 square kilometers and is divided in 14 different ecozones, each supporting different wildlife. It is one of the main attractions of South Africa and it is considered the flagship of South African National Parks (SANPark).
History
The park was established in 1898 by the South African President Paul Kruger as a protected area for wildlife and it opened its gate the general public in 1927 for the first time.
Currently, the park is run by the South African National Park Organization (SANP) and is probably the best managed African National Park. Wildlife conservation, education and tourism are the main objectives of the KNP. Effective measures to prevent poaching are in place and as a result of this cars are generally inspected upon entering and leaving the park.
The Kruger National Park has now been combined with the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique and the Gonarezhou National Park, Manjinji Pan Sanctuary and Malipati Safari Area in Zimbabwe into a new transfrontier park to be called The Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, although border restrictions at crossings still apply, and border posts are not open all day.
Landscape
Flora and fauna
The southern part of the park along the Sabie and Crocodile river is rich in water and has a lot of game viewing opportunities. Here you can see the best of African flora and fauna such as Lions, Leopards, Elephants, Rhinos, Buffalos often referred as the big five, but there are plenty of others to see as well. Driving around the Sabie river will always result in seeing some interesting animals. The vegetation around the Sabie river can be very dense forest and thicket and it gets a little bit more open driving down south to the Crocodile river. The northern part of the park supports less flora and fauna and is often referred as the birding paradise.
Climate
South Africa is located south of the equator and has therefore a reverse order of summer and winter than Europe and North America. Generally is the KNP a dry and hot area, regardless of summer or winter. The South African summer (September -April) in the KNP is hot and sunny with occasional showers and temperature in the shadow range from 18°-30°C. and the winter (May-August) is warm and dry with temperatures ranging from 8°-22°C. September-April Hot and sunny with sporadic thunder showers. Average temp 18-30°C.
