Where to stay for Kruger National Park

Do you need to stay inside Kruger?

No.

There are good reasons to stay inside the park, but it is certainly not the only way to have a proper Kruger holiday.

From The Zarafa, Phabeni Gate is 17 km away.

You can leave early, spend the morning or the whole day in Kruger and come back to Hazyview afterwards.

For us, that is a very good arrangement.

You get Kruger when you want it, but you do not have to make every hour of the holiday about safari.

What is different about staying outside Kruger?

The obvious difference is that you are not sleeping inside the national park.

If waking up inside Kruger is something you have always wanted to do, then do it. There is a particular atmosphere to being there after the day visitors have left.

The Zarafa offers a different kind of stay.

We are set within a wildlife estate, so animals are part of the surroundings and you may come across them around the estate. What we do not have is the concentration and variety of wildlife you would expect from Kruger or a large private safari reserve.

For us, that is an important distinction rather than a disadvantage we need to disguise.

Kruger is where you go for the serious wildlife experience.

The Zarafa is where you come back to afterwards.

What do you come back to?

Every villa has its own private pool.

There are only five villas.

Breakfast and a five-course dinner are included.

You have space, privacy and somewhere you may actually want to spend an afternoon.

That matters more than people sometimes realise when they plan a safari holiday.

After six or eight hours in an open vehicle, your own pool starts looking remarkably sensible.

What about private safari lodges?

That is a different comparison.

There are some exceptional private safari lodges.

They can also be very expensive because the rate usually covers far more than the room. You may be paying for the private reserve itself, guided drives, meals, drinks and the whole safari experience as one package.

If that is exactly the holiday you want, it can be worth every rand.

But you do not have to pay for that package every night simply because you want a luxury Kruger holiday.

At The Zarafa, you stay well first.

Then you add the safari experiences you actually want.

Go into Kruger for a full day.

Take a private morning drive.

Self-drive another day.

Or decide that tomorrow is going to involve breakfast, the pool and very little else.

You are not paying for two game drives on the day you choose not to take one.

Better value does not mean lower standards

This is an important part of the comparison.

We do not see The Zarafa as a budget substitute for a luxury safari lodge.

The appeal is that you can enjoy a very high standard of accommodation, food and personal service at a much lower overall price than many private-reserve lodges.

The saving does not come from stripping things away from the villa or the service.

It comes largely from the fact that you are not paying for a private Big Five reserve as part of every night\’s rate.

That is quite a different thing.

And you still have the bush around you

The Zarafa is not a conventional town hotel.

The lodge sits within a wildlife estate, surrounded by the Lowveld landscape, and there are animals around the estate.

We deliberately do not promise what you will see from your villa because wildlife tends not to read marketing material.

You may encounter animals.

You may spend the afternoon seeing nothing more dramatic than birds, butterflies and whatever happens to wander past.

For the Big Five and the full Kruger experience, Phabeni Gate is twenty minutes away.

We rather like having both.

Hazyview also gives you more choice

Kruger lies in one direction.

The Panorama Route lies in the other.

That means one morning can begin before sunrise in the park and the next can take you towards mountains, waterfalls and Blyde River Canyon.

Or neither.

You can stay at the lodge.

That freedom is one of the reasons Hazyview works particularly well for stays of three or four nights.

Service is easier when there are only five villas

There is nothing particularly complicated about our approach to service.

There are simply very few guests.

That means we get to know people.

We tend to remember what you drink, what you prefer not to eat, whether you need help planning tomorrow and whether you would rather be left alone beside the pool.

You do not need to explain yourself to a new person every time you sit down.

For us, that is one of the nicest forms of luxury.

Should anyone still stay inside Kruger?

Of course.

If Kruger is the whole reason for your trip and you intend to spend almost every daylight hour in the park, staying inside makes perfect sense.

You can also combine the two.

Spend a night or two inside Kruger, or a few nights at a private reserve, and then come to The Zarafa.

You get the fully immersive safari experience and then a few days with more space, better privacy and a slower rhythm.

It is a particularly good combination after several early mornings in safari vehicles.

What would we choose?

For a holiday entirely about wildlife, we would spend time inside Kruger or on a private reserve.

For a **luxury Lowveld holiday that includes Kruger**, we would choose Hazyview.

You still have the bush around you.

Kruger is twenty minutes away.

But when the safari ends for the day, the rest of the holiday does not have to end with it.

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