Kruger Concessions

Imagine sitting around a blazing camp-fire at night, glass of red wine in hand after a world-class meal, recounting the exciting events of a day on safari. In the distance, the roar of a male lion pierces the serenity of the night. Your lodge ranger stands up, rifle in hand and within an instant, you are whisked off in an open top 4x4 vehicle to go and find the elusive predator- in the Kruger Concessions area, this is an everyday reality.

Up until recently the only accommodation in the Kruger National Park was government run rest camps and bush camps. In a smart and commercial move certain large sections of land were leased to private operators from which they could set up lodges and manage them in a similar way to the Private Reserves on the western boundary of the Kruger Park such as Sabi Sands and Timbavati.

The advantage of the private lodges in the Kruger Park is that you can still enjoy bush walks, night game drives and restricted off road driving. The Kruger Park is home to the big five and prolific game viewing. Crucially, these operators are able to leave the road network within their concession in order to get closer to the wildlife - this is something that is not allowed in the public areas of the National park, even on the guided drives that leave from the National Parks Camps.

Imagine sitting around a blazing camp-fire at night, glass of red wine in hand after a world-class meal, recounting the exciting events of a day on safari. In the distance, the roar of a male lion pierces the serenity of the night. Your lodge ranger stands up, rifle in hand and within an instant, you are whisked off in an open top 4x4 vehicle to go and find the elusive predator- in the Kruger Concessions area, this is an everyday reality.

Up until recently the only accommodation in the Kruger National Park was government run rest camps and bush camps. In a smart and commercial move certain large sections of land were leased to private operators from which they could set up lodges and manage them in a similar way to the Private Reserves on the western boundary of the Kruger Park such as Sabi Sands and Timbavati.

The advantage of the private lodges in the Kruger Park is that you can still enjoy bush walks, night game drives and restricted off road driving. The Kruger Park is home to the big five and prolific game viewing. Crucially, these operators are able to leave the road network within their concession in order to get closer to the wildlife - this is something that is not allowed in the public areas of the National park, even on the guided drives that leave from the National Parks Camps.

The benefit of staying at one of the Kruger concessions as opposed to the Kruger Park itself is that each concession has its own land which cannot be utilised by the general public so contact with other safari viewing vehicles is an extremely rare occurance. You do, however, have the added benefits of being able to traverse the Kruger National Park land giving you access to a potential area of land the size of Wales in the United Kingdom.

The sheer quality and luxury of the Kruger Concession Lodges is something to behold in itself. Lodges such as Singita’s Sweni and Lebombo as well as Jock Safari Lodge and Tinga have certainly raised the bar extremely high in this region.

Another major selling point of the Concession Lodges is the variety of their topography and ecosystems, which can differ greatly from the lodges in the Sabi Sands and Kruger Private Reserves Regions. It’s a good idea to combine a stay in the Kruger Concessions with a couple of nights in one of these other areas- this will give you a fantastically rounded safari experience.

Please ask one of our Travel Experts to help you plan the perfect combination stay, and to help suggest which lodges best suit your tastes.