Malelane Gate

When you drive through Malelane Gate, you will be entering the core original reserve, where Kruger Park’s first warden, Colonel James Stevenson-Hamilton was placed in 1902. It was his job to create a home for the wildlife where no one could hunt them. There are a few routes you can follow. These routes will guide you to restcamps and some game viewing spots.

Entering Kruger through Malelane Gate is like taking a trip back in time. Behind you lies the pumping   heart of South Africa’s subtropical export industry based on the growing and   processing of citrus, sugar, avocados, bananas, mangoes, litchis, nuts and vegetables.

Before you is the pristine environment as it existed before the economic   development of the lowveld.

Malelane Gate is on the Crocodile River,   about 50km upstream from Crocodile Bridge. Be warned, it is one of Kruger’s   busiest gates and there are often long queues of cars waiting to get into the   Park at weekends and during school holidays.

Malelane has been a river crossing for   hundreds of years and takes its name from the Malelane Regiment of King   Mswati II of Swaziland which was stationed here in the 1850s when the area   was under Swazi control. Mswati’s regiments conducted regular forays into   present-day Kruger during the mid-19th century and, at points, his influence   extended as far as southern Zimbabwe and central Mozambique. Many of the   names in southern Kruger are Swazi in origin, while Shangaan names dominate   further to the north.

Closing Time for all Gates October to February: 18h30

March to April: 18h00

May to July: 17h30

August to September: 18h00Opening Time for Entrance Gates

October to March: 05h30

April to September: 06h00