Hazyview or Skukuza: which makes more sense for Kruger?

The simple version

If the thing you most want is to wake up inside Kruger, choose Skukuza.

If you want Kruger but also care a great deal about the quality of where you stay, Hazyview may make more sense.

That is probably the simplest way to look at it.

From The Zarafa, Phabeni Gate is 17 km away.

So the difference is not between having Kruger and not having Kruger.

It is mostly about what you want the rest of the holiday to be like.

What Skukuza does very well

Skukuza is inside Kruger.

That is its great advantage.

You wake up in the park and your day starts there.

For somebody who wants to spend as much time as possible game viewing, that is hard to argue with.

You are living according to the rhythm of Kruger, and for many visitors that is exactly the experience they came for.

What The Zarafa does differently

The Zarafa is not inside Kruger, but neither are you staying in an ordinary hotel environment.

We are within a wildlife estate, with bush around the lodge and a limited number of animals moving through the wider estate.

What we do not have is Kruger\’s range or density of wildlife.

We would never pretend otherwise.

That is what Kruger is for.

What The Zarafa gives you is something quite different once the safari is over.

Coming back matters

From Phabeni Gate, you are back with us in around twenty minutes.

Then there is your own private pool.

A spacious villa.

A proper bathroom.

A quiet garden.

A drink.

And later, a five-course dinner.

There are only five villas, so the whole experience is small and personal.

For guests who care about the hotel as much as they care about the safari, that is quite an important difference.

Does staying outside Kruger spoil the safari?

Not in our view.

Once you enter Phabeni Gate, you are in Kruger.

You are driving the same roads and looking for the same animals as everybody who slept inside the park.

The difference is the short drive before and afterwards.

For us, twenty minutes is a very reasonable exchange for the comfort and privacy you get for the rest of the day.

The accommodation is part of the holiday

Kruger accommodation is largely about location.

And it is a very special location.

At The Zarafa, the villa itself has to earn its place in the trip.

You should want to spend time there.

You should want to use the pool.

You should look forward to coming back after safari rather than seeing the room simply as somewhere to sleep before tomorrow morning\’s drive.

That is the kind of stay we prefer.

And then there is dinner

After a long safari day, getting back into a car to find somewhere to eat can lose its appeal very quickly.

You do not need to at The Zarafa.

Dinner is five courses and the menu follows a different country each evening.

Come back from Kruger.

Have a shower.

Have a drink.

Take your time.

Dinner is here.

We think the evening deserves as much attention as the morning safari.

Hazyview also gives you another direction to go

This is probably Hazyview\’s biggest advantage on a longer stay.

Kruger is one way.

The Panorama Route is the other.

One day can be elephant, buffalo and leopard.

The next can be waterfalls, forest and Blyde River Canyon.

Then you can have a day where you do very little at all.

You have more room to change your mind.

What about wildlife at The Zarafa?

You will find some.

We are in a wildlife estate rather than the middle of town, and the animals are part of the setting.

But we keep the claims sensible.

This is not a Big Five reserve and you should not book The Zarafa expecting lions to walk past the breakfast table.

What we offer is the quiet and atmosphere of the Lowveld with some wildlife around us, and very easy access to one of the world\’s great wildlife parks when you want the full experience.

That combination suits us very well.

What about a private safari lodge?

This is where price becomes part of the conversation.

Many private safari lodges offer beautiful accommodation, excellent food and excellent service.

So do we.

The major difference is that their nightly price also pays for a private wildlife reserve and usually a package of safari activities.

At The Zarafa, you can have a high standard of accommodation, personal service, your own pool and five-course dining at a substantially lower price, then book the Kruger safaris you actually want.

For some people the private reserve is worth the premium.

For others, it makes much more sense to separate the two.

Is Skukuza ever the better choice?

Certainly.

If somebody told us:

"I want to spend as much time as possible inside Kruger and the room itself is not very important to me,"

we would say stay inside.

That is an easy decision.

But if the room, food, privacy and service matter too, the comparison starts looking rather different.

What about splitting the stay?

That works very well.

Spend a night or two inside Kruger if you want to experience sleeping in the park.

Then come to The Zarafa.

You get both without asking either place to be something it is not.

And after a few early safari mornings, your own pool tends to be very well received.

Our answer

Skukuza puts you in Kruger all the time.

The Zarafa lets you choose when you want Kruger.

The rest of the time you have a private pool, five-course dinners, personal service, the Panorama Route nearby and the quiet of a small lodge set within a wildlife estate.

For a lot of people, that is the better holiday.