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Which is your favourite picnic spot?

We have 3, all because of different reasons:

1. Scenic beauty and tranquility - PAFURI
2. Colourful groundsman - MOOIPLAAS (Somewhere else I said BABALALA - not ). Get this guy talking about the spoor found there early in the morning, he sounds like a tape recording! Love his tales of chasing away hyenas before anybody else arrives.
3. "Rusticness" - MUZANDZENI on the S36 south of Satara. Anyone who've ever used their "ablution facilities" will know exactly what I mean! You should see newcomers faces when they see the "toilet" for the first time.

Have to agree on PAFURI.

In the 1980's TSHOKWANE used to be a favourite of our family. Still had the communal fires going so there were always coals ready for a "braai". These days however it is always busy and we only use it as a restroom stop and maybe get a cooldrink.

Further down the S36 from MUZANDZENI you'll find NHLANGULENI with its pair of "long drops". Although we do not visit it often, you are often the only people there! Peace and quite. When we left their in Nov' 04 we found 6 lions lying next to the road not 200m fro
m the picnic spot!

I really enjoy Mooiplaas, Nwanetsi and Pafuri. Babalala also has it's own special character.

Babalala Picnic Spot. North of Shingwedzi, on the S56 near the junction of the H1-7 and the S56.

This is a great spot to stop for breakfast after a very fruitful drive along the S56 in the early morning. This has to be one of the best drives in the Park.

Nkuhlu is really a great place... a "braai" is reeeeally nice but if you don't want to you don't have to take or make your own food. They have a cafeteria available where you can sit down and eat or grab take aways!
( just be aware that monkey's is a problem here)
Same with spots like Tshokwane, Afsaal, skukuza and Lower-Sabie, while other spots like Mlondozi and Nwanetse (both are VERY nice) you HAVE to take your own food.
Lower-Sabie has a great cafeteria and restaurant on a wooden deck over the Sabie river!
I know you said you are going to Skukuza so don't know if you were just looking for places around Skukuza?
Up North Timbavati, Olifants camp, Letaba, Mopani, Mooiplaas, Shingwedzi and Pafuri (1 of my 2 favourites) is also great places for lunch/brunch!

Actually in all fairness i must say ALL places in Kruger is really great for lunch!

That's an easy one: Pafuri picknick site

Mooiplaas, 5 km south of Mopani.
It is a beautiful spot, not very busy. On two different occasions we had to wait for local elephant to first leave before we could use the lapa. Superb!

Any place, even in the middle of a tar road will do. As long as it is in Kruger.




On the S36, they forgot to mention that.
Is this info correct? As in there are toilets that one cannot use, thus enlarging the bladder even more?

For me its Babalala....

Only Kruger purists venture there and one of the great Kruger drives lies to the west along the river.

Quiet, and often a little breeze blowes.....

I have to agree with all who picked Nhlanguleni as favourite spot to have something to eat. And true, it is indeed a hidden gem. It is on the top of my list every time I go to Kruger.

There may be no shop to buy something to eat, but that's what makes it so special. You get out your own skottel (or hire one if you don't have), get the bacon/sausages/eggs/mushrooms/banana sizzling, slice some fresh fruit, make a nice cup of moerkoffie (sorry, but there's no other word for it) and just sit back and enjoy the surroundings.

On top of this, the Lugmag dam is close buy and there's always something to watch - sable indeed, but I've seen some young elephants enjoying themselves there sooo much that they had to be physically ordered back to the heard!

By the way - I'm on the verge of booking my next trip - second week of September and at Balule. Now I just have to let the boss agree that I'm going to have a nervous break down if I don't get time off!!!

I love them all but my favourite is Mooiplaas. Had a great lunch there while an elephant had lunch in the river bed.
I also like the fact that it's not too busy.

my 2 fav lunch/brunch spot
1. Mlondozi
2. Muzandzeni

And I still honestly can't choose a fav. So let me, in no particular order, give a list of those we never skip:

1. Afsaal (We're usually extremely hungry and thirsty after entering at Malelane Gate by then! )

2. Nkuhlu (Never skip it when we're at Skukuza)

3. Tshokwane (If one sticks out a bit, it's this one. Although very busy, we've driven specially from Satara to have lunch here. And nowhere else is the sound of the starlings so profound. HATE the shop though - WAY too small for the numbers visiting.)

4. Nwanetsi (What an end to the S100)

5. Babalala (Open and quiet)

6. Pafuri (Beautiful and of course like Afsaal, hunger after a long trip in plays a role)

I agree it don't have to be a picnic spot or camp! I also LOVE Nkumbe! Have a nice picnic, enjoy the peace and quite and scanning the whole earth beneath!