Why self-drive
You pay SANParks camp rates plus a rental car — a fraction of lodge prices — and you keep your own schedule. For budget travellers and anyone who likes the quiet hunt of finding their own animals, it's one of the best-value safaris on earth. No guide, no group, no fixed route: you drive the park roads at your own pace between gate hours.
The rules that matter
Gate times change with sunrise and sunset — they're posted at every camp, and you must be back inside before closing or you'll be fined and the camp manager will be waiting. Stay in the car. Windows up in predator areas; no standing through the sunroof; no feeding, calling, or clapping at animals. Speed limit 50 on tar, 40 on gravel. The animals are wild; the ones that look calm have learned to tolerate cars, not people on foot.
What you'll actually do
Up at dawn, gate opens, you drive until mid-morning when it gets hot and the animals shade up. Back to camp, lunch, a swim, a rest. Out again from 3pm until gate-close at dusk. Repeat. You will not see everything; you'll see a lot. The guides at sightings share locations — learn to read the car clusters.
What it costs
Conservation fee (R100–400/person/day), camp accommodation across the hut-to-bungalow range, fuel, and your own groceries from the camp shops or a town like Hazyview on the way in. A couple in a sedan, four nights, self-catering, can do Kruger for well under R10,000 all-in.