All the benefits of a private lodge within the Kruger National Park itself
The private concessions within the Kruger National Park are areas of land where carefully selected operators have a licence to offer all the benefits of a safari lodge on a private reserve. Each concession is several thousand hectares, and the lodges who are situated here are able to leave the road network within their concession boundaries during game drives 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.
Part of your game drive will be on the private concession, but you may also find that you venture outside the concession boundaries onto the public roads of the National Park - where you will still see wildlife, but also probably a red hire car (or 2 or 3 or more!) as well.
The most frequently asked question about concessions within the Park is how do they differ from the private reserves such as Sabi Sands and Timbavati....and which is better?
With concessions, the land is owned by South African National Parks (SANParks), and they then grant a licence to an company to operate a safari lodge on that land for a period of, for example,10 years. The private game reserves are all privately-owned land that have been given over to wildlife conservation and the owners of the land run their own safari lodges.
So which is better?
The concessions will sometimes have a better landscape as the rules imposed by SANParks restrict the number of guests and strictly limit off-road driving, and this helps preserve the environment. On the Private Game Reserves, the fact that the guides can go off-road more often mean that you can get closer to the wildlife more often than in a concession.
If you'd like to know more about the slightly different experiences offered by the private concessions inside Kruger compared with the private reserves that adjoin the Park then please get in touch - we'd love to help!