Visiting South Africa: Kruger National Park

South Africa is statistically Africa’s most visited country in terms of tourism and entertainment, hosting well over a million tourists every year.

This feat however did not come on a silver platter for the Southern African country, it took them decades of conscious and sturdy effort to achieve the feat and today ranks among the best destinations for tourists.

With so many attractions to pick from, visiting S.A as a tourist as a dream for many especially those living in other parts of the African continent. One such attraction tourist can choose to visit among the lot is he iconic Kruger national park.

The Kruger National Park stretches across the Mpumalanga and Limpopo provinces of South Africa and is recognized as one of the largest wildlife parks in Africa covering a land size of 19,485 kilometre square.

The park was first established in 1926 as South Africa’s first national park during the Apartheid era to serve as a special reserved area for endangered species that were at the risk of extinction if not protected.

Since then the park has grown in popularity to become Africa’s prime animal reserve, receiving millions of visitors every year. The popularity of the park reached its peak in 2004 when it received an estimated 1.3million visitors in the course of the year, but has since then managed to maintain and improve upon the number.

The animal population in the park is also among the most impressive in Africa, with over 300 different species of animals, mostly endangered species living harmoniously in the park, most common among them being the lions, zebras, Girrafe, Deer, Cheetahs, Leopards and elephants.

Nyala (Tragelaphus angasii) ewe near Kruger National Park

Leopard on the rocks in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Zebra with a baby in the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Kruger National park aside its animal population is also home to about 300 archaeological sites which gives credence to the fact that before modern civilization and the area’s conversion to a reserve, it used to be home to a group of people in the primitive era. Visiting tourists are given access to visit these historical archaeological sites and learn a thing or two about history related to the park.

In fact it is very rare to see rare for tourists to visit South Africa and not make a trip to the Kruger National Park, showing just how important the reserve is to the South African tourism sector.

The reserve is opened to all and sundry  but strictly protected from activities such as poaching with the South African government taken stringent measures such as jail time for people found to be engaging in such activities in the park.