Kruger National Park

The park was first proclaimed in 1898 as the Sabie Game Reserve by the then president of the Transvaal Republic, Paul Kruger. He first proposed the need to protect the animals of the Lowveld in 1884, but his revolutionary vision took another 12 years to be realised when the area between the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers was set aside for restricted hunting.

James Stevenson-Hamilton (born in 1867) was appointed the park’s first warden on 1 July 1902.On 31 May 1926 the National Parks Act was proclaimed and with it the merging of the Sabie and Shingwedzi Game Reserves into the Kruger National Park.

The first motorists entered the park in 1927 for a fee of one pound.Many accounts of the park’s early days can be found in the Stevenson-Hamilton Memorial Library.There are almost 254 known cultural heritage sites in the Kruger National Park, including nearly 130 recorded rock art sites. There is ample evidence that prehistoric man – Homo erectus roamed the area between 500 000 and 100 000 years ago Cultural artifacts of Stone Age man have been found for the period 100 000 to 30 000 years ago.

More than 300 archaeological sites of Stone Age man have been found Evidence of Bushman Folk (San) and Iron Age people from about 1500 years ago is also in great evidence. There are also many historical tales of the presence of Nguni people and European explorers and settlers in the Kruger area.There are significant archaeological ruins at Thulamela and Masorini There are numerous examples of San Art scattered throughout the park.

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• Kruger National Park
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Reservations Contact Centre Business Hours:

• Monday to Friday:  07:30 – 16:00
• Saturday/Sunday & Public Holidays - Closed.
• Reservations Contact Centre Number: 012 428 9111

Please note that year in advance bookings for November 2024 will open on the 1st of December 2023.

FESTIVE SEASON WORKING HOURS – 2023/24
Reservations Contact Centre, Travel Trade, Front Office, Specialized Reservations, Reservations Finance and Wild Card Offices.

On Monday January 8th office hours will resume as normal from 7h30 to 16h00.
For your convenience, you may make a Booking Online at www.sanparks.org and earn yourself a 5% discount.
For any Short Notice bookings, you are welcome to book directly with the camps.
NB: Bookings for December 2024 and January 2025 will open on 23 January 2024 at 07h30 am.

For other related queries: 

• Refunds - Reservation.Refund@sanparks.org
• Payments - reservationpayments@sanparks.org
• Travel Trade: traveltrade@sanparks.org
• Specialized Reservations: specialisedreservations@sanparks.org
• Wild Card: wildcard@sanparks.org