Skukuza Restcamp

Accommodation

Below is an itemised inventory of the different classes of accommodation available at Skukuza Restcamp.

• Campsites comprise of eighty tent or caravan sites, all with electricity points, communal ablutions, and cooking facilities with twenty-four-hour boiling water, electric hotplates and washing up facilities. Campsites accommodate a maximum of six people per site

• Twelve two-bed and eight four-bed furnished canvas safari tents on stilts are available for booking, and include a fridge, standing fan and small veranda, as well as communal ablutions and communal kitchens

• 178 round–walled, two or three-bed, African style bungalows with thatched roofs are also available. These are complete with en-suite ablutions, and either fans or air conditioning in each unit. Most bathrooms have showers, some baths. Kitchenettes range from having hotplates and sinks, to just sinks, while some have neither. Cutlery and crockery can be requested from reception

• Luxury bungalows are available in twenty one-bedroom units, all with en-suite bathrooms. Each unit has a double bed, air-conditioning and a limited channel access DSTV television. Luxury units are available with a riverside view and kitchen, while semi-luxury units have no river view and make use of a communal kitchen

• Known as Waterkant 2, the family cottage unit constitutes a section of the Waterkant Guest House complex. It includes a kitchen, four bedrooms, a living room, one bathroom and a river view

• Guest Cottages comprise of fifteen four or six-bed units. Each cottage has its own kitchen, multiple bedrooms and usually more than one bathroom. Guests can confirm bed sizes during booking as these are available in a single or double sizes

• Guest houses are large, luxury units in prime positions around the camp. All come with river views. Kitchens are equipped with microwave ovens, and the units have multiple bedrooms and bathrooms, as well as limited channel access DSTV televisions. Moni house sleeps eight people with four bedrooms, as do Nyathi and Waterkant. Wild Fig Guest House sleeps twelve people in six rooms. 

Activities & Facilities

Skukuza Camp offers adventure in the form of guided bush walks and game drives, all under the supervision of well informed and keen professional field guides. Important to note is that children under the age of six are not permitted on game drives, and children under the age of twelve are restricted from game walks.

The Stevenson-Hamilton Memorial library, Lake Panic Bird Hide and a nine hole golf course provide entertainment for guests, along with seasonal kids educational programs and wildlife films screened daily (barring Sundays)

Facilities at the camp include information at the reception area, public telephones, a post office, a bank, car hire, two restaurants, shops, a deli with an internet cafe, shops, a laundromat, filling station, communal kitchens and bathrooms, cutlery and plate hampers available from reception, a garage with a workshop, a car wash, basic on-site first-aid assistance, auditorium and conference facilities, a day visitor picnic area outside the camp with its own swimming pool, and a further two swimming pools in the camp which are available to overnight residents only). Cell phone reception is also fully available, and limited channel access DSTV televisions in the luxury units. The Skukuza indigenous nursery is also open to visitors.

Important Information

Park officials warn that certain creatures which inhabit the park could prove dangerous if not approached or handled correctly. These may include bats, spiders, snakes, and scorpions.

Day Visitors

Skukuza has a designated day visitor area where day visitors and visitors from other camps can barbeque (braai) and picnic. A new swimming pool for day visitors is located downstream from the main camp.

Conference Facilities

Skukuza Rest Camp is the largest camp in the Kruger National Park and is located on the banks of the scenic Sabie river. The camp hosts two well-facilitated conference venues; the smaller Goldfields Auditorium, and spacious Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre. Goldfields Auditorium seats up to 158 delegates in a theatre/cinema style format, and Nombolo Mdhluli Conference Centre accommodates up to 750, with a range of dynamic seating arrangements available. Both conference facilities offer a range of equipment for delegates to use.

Facilities and Services

Conference Facility One (Goldfields Auditorium):
• A projector room with rear projector facilities,
• translation booths,
• microphones,
• TV and video,
• screens,
• flip chart and stand,
• and slide and overhead projectors.

Wildlife

Of the often-quested-for Big Five, Skukuza hosts an estimated 1,500 lion, 12,000 elephant, 2,500 buffalo, 1,000 leopards and 5,000 rhino (black and white). Other attractions include Wild dog, a warthog population, vervet monkey (from which visitors should be careful to protect their possessions). Nighttime visits are made by genet, thick-tailed bush baby and fruit bat, while the river front of the camp offers an opportunity to look for hippopotamus and buffalo.

Other animals to be found here include aardvark, Roan, Sable, Chacma baboon, aardwolf, lesser and thick-tailed bushbaby, side striped and black backed jackal, Dwarf, Selous's and Meller's mongoose and the red and common duiker. Added to this are Angolan free-tailed, Wahlberg's and Peter's epauletted bats, elephant, buffalo, caracal, cheetah, lion, and leopard, African wildcat and wild dog, hippopotamus, giraffe, Sharpe's Grysbok, Lichtenstein's Hartebeest, impala, klipspringer, kudu, common and mountain reedbuck, oribi, striped polecat, steenbok, warthog and numerous others.

The camp's plant life includes large sycamore fig trees, jackal berry and Natal mahogany, with a surrounding ecozone of thorn thicket, and prominent Knob-thorn and sickle bush.

Birder's can encounter Finfoot and Half-collared Kingfisher, and, in the summer the area sees Lesser Masked and Village (Spotted-backed) Weavers, Green Pigeons, Red-faced Cisticola and Spectacled Weaver, Little Sparrowhawk, Collared Sunbird, Red-backed and Bronze Mannikin, Purple-crested Turaco (Lourie) and three bushshrikes (Orange-breasted, Grey-headed and Gorgeous). The elusive White-browed (Heuglin's) Robin-chat is another indigenous species, as well as seven species of flycatcher( Paradise , Black, Dusky, Spotted, Grey Tit- (Fantailed), Ashy (Blue-grey) and Pale (Pallid)), Bat-hawk or Eurasian Hobby, and Woodland Kingfishers hunting in the glow cast on a local fig tree by the lights of the restaurant at night.

Directions

View our comprehensive maps page to see the full range of printable and interactive maps.

Travel routes and times from central Gauteng are listed below. Travel by road requires entry through one of Kruger National Park's gates.

By Air:

• Skukuza Airport (SZK), located in the Kruger National Park Southern area, is the closest airport. There are daily scheduled flights between Skukuza Airport and OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg and Cape Town International Airport in Cape Town.

• Private once-off chartered aircraft wanting to land at Skukuza Airfield need to obtain prior permission from Park Management.

By Road - Paul Kruger Gate:

• Take the N4 to Nelspruit.
• Then take the R40 to Hazyview via White River.
• From Hazyview, take the R536 to the gate. Allow between 5 to 6 hours for the trip to the gate.
• Skukuza Rest Camp is 12 km away from the gate. Allow about 30 minutes for the drive to the camp.

By Road - Phabeni Gate:

• Take the N4 to Nelspruit.
• Then take the R40 to Hazyview via White River.
• From Hazyview, take the R536 to the gate.
• Phabeni Gate is approximately 10 km from Hazyview. Allow between 5 to 6 hours for the trip to the gate.
• Skukuza Rest Camp is 39 km from the gate. Allow about 1 and ¾ of an hour for the drive to the camp.
GPS: -24.9954000 (latitude), 31.5928700 (longitude)

Recommended game drives from this camp:

1. On the H3 from Skukuza, take the H1-1 right towards Pretoriuskop. The S66 dirt road leads to the Variogram or takes the S11 further on past the Napi Rocks. At Pretoriuskop, exit the H1 on the S14 and keep left, joining the H2-2 (Voortrekker Road), which leads past Jock’s Birthplace back to the H3. At the H3 junction, you can either turn left, back towards Skukuza, or turn right, and continue to Malelane Gate.

2. Take the H4-1 east, and follow the road to the right, passing the Nkhulu picnic spot. Continue on the H4-1 until you reach the S21, which you will take past the Mhlupheka, Nwatimhiri and Renosterkoppies waterholes, and Bushman Paintings. The road rejoins the H3, which leads back to Skukuza.

Reviews

The Safari Tent was great stay.

It has more than you need for overnight. We enjoyed very much.

The experience was awesome.

Everything neat, clean. Was wonderful.

Good

The rondavel was cool and reasonably clean. We enjoyed our stay very much.

Great accommodation.......A wonderful experience.

Tents and ablutions very neat and clean.

We brought you rain. Loved the accommodation. The natural friendliness and smiles from the Shangaan people was a highlight

Skukuza Restcamp has become my favourite, and the Cattle Baron restaurant was amazing. The camp is beautifully clean, the bungalows comfortable and spotless. The only downer to the stay was the ranger/driver on the nightdrive. He really seemed unknowledgable and drove so fast we all had to scream repeatedly for him to stop once something of interest was spotted.