The Kragga Kamma Game Park is located in Port Elizabeth – the end of the Garden Route. This park was not on our itinerary at all. We honestly did not know it existed till the night before while sitting in our beautiful home in Knysna. We decided to add this stop on our way from Knysna to the Kuzuko Lodge. I am so glad we did the self drive through the Kragga Kamma Game Park.
What made us add this on?
We were aware that the game drives through Kuzuko Lodge did not entail seeing some of the exotic African animals such as giraffes, zebras and the White Rhino. We had pumped Myrra up so much that she would see these animals that we did not want her disappointed at the Lodge. This game park was on the way and it was a self-drive. This meant we could see the animals at our own pace.
More on our self drive through the Kragga Kamma Game Park
The park is home to many African animals such as: White Rhino, Buffalo, Giraffes, Zebras, Cheetah, Nyala, Bontebok, Lechwe, Lions and many more. The animals roam freely in their natural habitat while there is no chance for hunting along with getting a great opportunity to get up close to these animals on well-maintained roads. They also offer a guided tour in their open Landrover. The cost to get into the park is R 120 per adult and kids till 3 years are free.
Upon entering the park, we literally had to slam on our breaks while giraffes walked right on the road. They are so tall and majestic and we loved being so close to these beautiful animals. We had Myrra sitting in the front between our seats and she literally jumped with excitement when they were walking right in front of our car. We then came across zebras and spend a good 15 minutes literally amongst them running from one side of the road to the other.
As we drove through, we came across more animals either lounging on the middle of the road or dipping into one of the waterholes. There was a fenced area to view Cheetahs and even though we drove through the area twice, we were unable to spot any! We were told to look up into the trees as well but luck was definitely not on our side.
In the midst of the jungle was a restaurant that we stopped at to grab a quick bite. This restaurant was right by fenced area for the Cheetahs and while walking to the restaurant, we saw one lazing around right by the fence. All that time we had spent looking for one now seemed worth it! We spend a good half hour just looking at this gorgeous animal. The food was fairly good and it wasn’t your typical restaurant with a ton of food choices but we were all able to find something good to eat.
Upon exiting the park, we came across the Lion area. This area does not allow you to drive through. They have a sort of look out point where you can see the lions either sitting on the big rocks or sitting under the trees trying to escape the African heat. While Rohan was lucky enough to see them really close when they were sitting on the rock, the heat drove them under the trees and I was not able to have a good look at them. This game park was definitely a great addition to our itinerary because the kids will absolutely love the self-drives. We only saw two other cars in the entire 3.5 hours we were there and thus, we could really take our time and see all the animals.
This was really a fun experience for us! We knew we would not be able to take Amarra with us on the game drives in the Kuzuko Lodge and funny enough, it made me happy knowing she was at least able to see animals in this park – yes she does not understand anything and she was only 6 months old but this one was more for my satisfaction haha. We would definitely recommend this park to anyone who has little kids or for those who really want to take their time seeing animals. The Addo Elephant National Park also offers self-drive options but this park was much smaller and thus, we found it much more manageable.
