Hazyview
The self-drive Kruger gateway — the closest town to Phabeni and Numbi gates, and a launch point for the Panorama Route.
Trip Role
Ideal stay
Best for
Our take
The best base for self-driving the southern Kruger gates and the Panorama Route.
The best base for self-driving the southern Kruger gates and the Panorama Route.
- Trip Role
- Base
- Ideal Stay
- 2-3 nights as a Kruger base
- Best For
- Self-drive Kruger and Panorama Route
- Go If
- You're self-driving southern Kruger and/or the Panorama Route.
Why go
Hazyview is the practical self-drive Kruger base — minutes from Phabeni and Numbi gates, and the natural fork between the southern park and the Panorama Route. Banana farms, lodges, and the Skyway Trail zip-line.
What we love
Proximity to Phabeni Gate — you can be inside Kruger in 20 minutes.
What to know
4.5h from Johannesburg; a car is essential. Book Kruger gate and camp permits well ahead in season.
Best things nearby
Graskop
The Panorama Route's main town — God's Window, Blyde River Canyon viewpoints, and pancakes on the main road.
Hoedspruit
The bushveld town between Kruger and the private reserves — the safari logistics hub with a real community of guides and lodges.
Kruger National Park
South Africa's flagship Big Five park — nearly two million hectares of lowveld, 147 mammal species, and one of the densest wildlife populations in Africa.
Sabie
A forestry town in a misty valley on the escarpment — waterfalls, forests, and the southern Panorama Route base.
More town in Mpumalanga
Barberton
An old gold-mining town ringed by the Makhonjwa Mountains — the earth's oldest rocks and a real working town, not a museum.
Dullstroom
A high-altitude trout-fishing village on the way to the Lowveld — cold, misty, and a weekend escape from Joburg.
Graskop
The Panorama Route's main town — God's Window, Blyde River Canyon viewpoints, and pancakes on the main road.
Komatipoort
The last town before Kruger's Crocodile Bridge gate and the Mozambique border — a hot lowveld base, not a destination.
Lydenburg
A 1849 voortrekker town at the foot of the Long Tom Pass — the historical gateway onto the escarpment from the highveld.
Machadodorp
A highveld trout-fishing village on the N4 — a quiet fuel-and-river stop between Joburg and the escarpment.