Map of the Private Reserves that form the Greater Kruger Park
The Greater Kruger Park is made up of the Kruger National Park and the private reserves that border it, and in total comprises of over 2 million hectares of protected land.
The private reserves are all privately-owned land which have been given over to wild-life over the recent decades, and they range in size from around 11,500 hectares to 65,000 hectares. The majority of these reserves have no-fences between themselves and Kruger meaning that the animals are able to live freely in this huge area.
The Sabi Sands is the oldest and most well-known of the Private Reserves, and is home to the famous lodges of Singita, MalaMala, Lion Sands, and Londolozi amongst others.
Greater Kruger.
Getting There and Away
There are three major airports that serve the Greater Kruger area with scheduled flights - Kruger Mpumalanga International Airport (airport code MQP) at Nelspruit, Hoedspruit Airport (airport code HDS) near Hoedspruit, and Skukuza Airport (airport code SZK) which is in the Park itself at Skukuza Rest Camp.
Generally speaking you should try and fly into MQP for access to Kruger through the Paul Kruger Gate and if you are staying at one of the lodges in the southern Sabi Sands.
Skukuza is ideal if you are staying in the Park itself, or if you are staying at any of the Lion Sands, Sabi Sabi or AndBeyond Kirkman's Kamp lodges, as these lodges have permission to drive from Skukuza into the Sabi Sands Game Reserve via a private bridge.
For all the other private reserves (including northern Sabi Sands) and access to the more northernly Kruger gates you should fly into HDS.
You can also take a shuttle flight directly from Johannesburg and land in the actual reserves where you are met and transferred to your lodge by a game viewing vehicle - so a 'bonus' game drive as soon as you arrive!
If you have a hire car you can drive to Kruger from Johannesburg - it is a strightforward drive, but you would need to allow up to 6 hours for the journey.
You can find out more about the various travel options here.