Hunting big game in Africa with gun and camera with Hunting in Africa Safaris

Combine any of the available South Africa hunting packages with a photographic trip to the best known Africa nature reserve, the Kruger National Park (KNP). This is an add-on to an existing Africa big game hunting package. The Big 5 was named by the early famous pioneer hunters as being the five most dangerous animals to hunt. The Big 5 are African elephant, lion, leopard, Cape buffalo and white rhino. Driving around within the boundaries of Kruger Park (which is about 5 million acres in extent) we will continually strive to find the members of the Big 5 and any other critters that take our fancy. In Kruger Park we may only hunt with our cameras but be assured we have seen many free-roaming trophy animals! It cannot be guaranteed you will see the Big 5, but we will do our utmost to put you in a favorable position to take some of the best South Africa wildlife pictures while on the wildlife photography leg of your hunt.

These pictures you get to take will forever remain with you, bringing back vivid images of your photographic and hunting safari in Africa.

Hunting the Big 5 with a camera is much cheaper than rifle hunting or bowhunting the Big 5!

A typical photo safari day in Kruger Park

A typical photo safari day will start as early as 5:30 am in our winter (end April – end July) packing to see us off at between 6 am and 6:30 am depending on how long it takes you to get ready. We start driving in our truck trying to find any animals that peak our interest stopping whenever we want to and for how long we want. This is a private photo safari where we determine the pace.

At about 11 am we break for a cooked meal and some well-deserved coffee stretching our legs. By 2 pm we are ready to take a break before heading out again by 3 pm. On returning to base camp at about 5:30 pm we get ready for dinner and some drinks. If not too chilly outside we make a small fire for companionship reflecting on what we saw and did during the day.

Hunting big game in Africa with gun and camera package
Trophy fee included for	1 Kudu
Trophy fee included for	1 Blue wildebeest
Trophy fee included for	1 Impala
Trophy fee included for	1 Warthog
Daily rates for hunting included for	7 hunting days
Kruger Park photo safari daily rates included for	3 days and 2 nights
Cost of the Hunting big game in Africa with gun and camera package
1 X 1	$ 5 950-00
2 X 1	$ 5 450-00
Observers fee for the duration of the hunting and photo safari trip	$ 2 050-00

At the end of the photo safari we head out to our hunting lodge where we get ready to start hunting!

A short history on the Kruger National Park

The Kruger National Park is one of the oldest nature reserves in South Africa. The oldest proclaimed nature reserve in South Africa is the Groenkloof Nature Reserve (Green Valley) in Pretoria, which after the Yellowstone National Park is the second oldest proclaimed nature reserve in the world.

Above: Outside the Phalaborwa Gate prior to entry into the Kruger National Park, South Africa.

Kruger Park came to being as a result of the efforts of the visionary President of South Africa, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger (Paul Kruger), immediately prior to the start of the second Anglo Boer War of 1899 – 1902. A lesser known fact is that Paul Kruger was also the driving force to establish the Transvaal Museum (a museum of natural history) in Pretoria that still has it’s doors open today.

Above: On a guided tour of the Masorini iron age archaeological site inside Kruger Park

In 1898 the area between the Crocodile- and Sabie Rivers in the far north eastern parts of the country, bordering Mozambique, was set aside as a game reserve. After peace was signed (Vrede van Vereeniging: the Vereeniging Peace Treaty) between the British Empire and the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) (South African Republic) during May 1902, Lt-Col James Stevenson-Hamilton was appointed as the first warden of what was then known as the “Sabie Game Reserve”.

Above: Having a meal on the porch at Lower Sabi rest camp. Note the hippos in the back on the right of Deanna on the far right.

One of Stevenson-Hamilton’s duties was to evict one and all (hunters, poachers and residents alike) from between those rivers and to create what was to become known as the Sabie Game Reserve. The word sabie is derived from a Shangana-Tsonga word (one of the local black tribes) ulu-saba referring to the sound of water flowing over stones in a creek. For this reason Stevenson-Hamilton earned the nick-name of Skukuza, which translates to: “He who sweeps clean”. Today, Skukuza is the administrative headquarters of the Kruger National Park, almost like the Capital City of a small country.

Above: One of the many bird species in Kruger Park: a yellow-billed hornbill

In 1904 the area between the Shingwedzi- and Limpopo Rivers was incorporated into the Sabie Game Reserve increasing the total area to 2 million hectares , or about 4,942 million acres. In 1918 the Sabie Game Reserve was given National status.

Above: At Crooks Corner in the Kruger National Park.

On 31 May 1926 the Sabie Game Reserve was renamed in honor of the man whose vision it was to start what was to become one of the most famous game reserves in the world, the Kruger National Park.

Above: One of the many wonderful sights in the Kruger park. A giraffe with a red-billed oxpecker on it’s back.

Today the Kruger National Park still boasts a small, completely untouched piece of wilderness inside of the human wilderness of southern Africa.

Above: Keeping quiet we could get this close to an elephant in Kruger Park. Do not attempt to come this close if you are not a professional or accompanied by a professional in the service of Hunting in Africa.

Some quick facts about the Kruger National Park:

490 recorded bird species
147 mammal species
94 different reptile species
33 amphibian species
about 200 different tree species
17 main rest camps – these are accommodation areas that are fenced and safe for humans to stay at
most of these facilities have shops for food purchases, restaurant facilities and self-catering options
the far north-eastern corner of the park is known as Crooks’ Corner, where the international boundaries of South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique meet up at. Please read more about Crooks’ Corner and the best known elephant poacher of our time

Traveling with any of the professionals at Hunting in Africa, your chances are just so much bigger of seeing the Big 5 at your own leisure, time and privilege.

For your convenience we can take the six hour drive to the park via some picturesque countryside or, if your budget allows, we can take a direct commercial flight to some of the private and exclusive areas surrounding Kruger.