Cornelius Amann
October 06, 2026
5/5
South Africa: Kruger and the Panorama Route
6 days from Johannesburg: a night on the Panorama Route above the Blyde River Canyon, three nights at one private reserve lodge near Hoedspruit, a full day in Kruger National Park and a short flight back.
6 days · Round trip from Johannesburg · up to 12 guests
The Blyde River Canyon from the escarpment rim Photo: Elin Jonsson elinjonsson, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blyde_River_Canyon,_Sydafrika_(Unsplash).jpg)
The facts
At a glance
- Length
- 6 days, 5 nights
- Start and end
- Round trip from Johannesburg
- Group size
- 7 to 12 guests
- Activity level
Easy
Mostly sitting in open safari vehicles: drives of about three hours at dawn and in the late afternoon, and one full day of up to eleven hours in Kruger with stops. Walking is short, on paved paths, steps and footbridges at the Panorama Route viewpoints; the optional bush walk is about two hours at an easy pace on uneven ground. Skip any drive or the walk and rest at the lodge.
- Meals included
- 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches, 3 dinners
- Room of your own
- + CAD 685 (estimated price)
- Season
- April to October
Highlights
Why this trip
- God's Window in the late-afternoon light, the day we reach the escarpment
- Bourke's Luck Potholes in the morning, then the Three Rondavels over the Blyde River Canyon before the haze builds
- Three nights at one lodge in a private reserve near Hoedspruit: unpack once
- Dawn and afternoon drives in open vehicles with a ranger and tracker, coming home at dusk
- A full day in Kruger National Park from Orpen Gate to the Satara plains, with a sit-down lunch in the park
- The Apartheid Museum with your guide on arrival day, included
- A flight of about an hour back to Johannesburg instead of six hours on the road
What makes this trip different
Free time is part of the plan
Free time and choices are marked on the days they fall.
Solo without the penalty
A room of your own is + CAD 685 (estimated price).
Day by day
Itinerary
Tap any stop on the map to open that dayClick any stop on the map to open that day
Arrive in Johannesburg
O. R. Tambo International Airport to the Apartheid Museum, then your hotel in the northern suburbs
- Welcome dinner
- Stay in Johannesburg
- Drive about 1 h
Fly into O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB), east of the city, where a driver meets you in arrivals. If you land by about noon, your See Sight Tours guide takes the group to the Apartheid Museum at 2 pm. Its rooms follow the country from the gold rush that founded Johannesburg in 1886, through the apartheid laws and the 1976 Soweto uprising, to the first democratic election in 1994. Allow about two hours; it is a heavy visit, so the rest of the day stays light. The museum is closed on Mondays, so on a Monday arrival we visit Constitution Hill instead, the old prison that now houses the Constitutional Court. We drive back over the Nelson Mandela Bridge as the city lights come on, to a hotel in Rosebank or a similar walkable northern suburb.
Evening
In the evening the group meets for a short briefing on safari routines, early starts and what to wear in an open vehicle, then sits down to a welcome dinner nearby. Land later and you join us at dinner.
Included
- Pick-up at O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB)
- Guided visit to the Apartheid Museum (Constitution Hill on Mondays, when the museum is closed)
- Welcome briefing with your guide
- Welcome dinner
Free time: Free until the museum visit, or until dinner if you land later
Activity: Land by about noon to join the museum visit; the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary.
Up to the escarpment and God's Window
Johannesburg to Dullstroom, over the Long Tom Pass to Sabie and Mac Mac Falls, then Graskop and God's Window
- Breakfast and lunch
- Stay in Graskop
- Drive about 5 h
This is the one long road day, about 400 km and five hours of driving, broken into stretches of about 1.5 to 2 hours between stops. There is no shorter road to the escarpment, and flying to Kruger Mpumalanga International would still leave more than an hour's drive up to Graskop, so we take the road and make the stops count. We leave your hotel at 8 am and head east on the N4 across the flat highveld, with a coffee stop after about ninety minutes.
Afternoon
Lunch is a sit-down meal in Dullstroom, a trout-fishing town at around 2,000 m. In the afternoon the road runs through Lydenburg and over the Long Tom Pass, down through pine plantations to Sabie, and we stop at Mac Mac Falls, where the river drops about 65 m into a wooded gorge. We reach Graskop, a small town on the edge of the Drakensberg escarpment, by mid-afternoon. In the late light we drive the short loop to God's Window, where the cliffs fall hundreds of metres to the lowveld.
Evening
Dinner is your choice in town.
Included
- Drive from Johannesburg to Graskop with your guide, via Dullstroom and the Long Tom Pass
- Sit-down lunch in Dullstroom
- Mac Mac Falls
- God's Window in the late afternoon, with entry fees
Free time: Evening free in Graskop
Activity: The longest road day, over the usual 4 hour cap: there is no shorter road to the escarpment and a flight saves little once the drive up from the airport is counted; three stops break it up. Short paved paths and steps at the viewpoints.
Blyde River Canyon, then into the bush
Graskop to Bourke's Luck Potholes and the Three Rondavels, then down the Abel Erasmus Pass to a private reserve near Hoedspruit
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Private reserve near Hoedspruit
- Drive about 2.5 h
We leave Graskop at 8 am and reach Bourke's Luck Potholes at about 8:30, ahead of most coach groups. Here the Treur River meets the Blyde, and swirling water, sand and stones have drilled deep round pools into yellow and red rock; footbridges cross right above them. About 30 to 40 minutes' drive north, the Three Rondavels viewpoint looks across the Blyde River Canyon to three round, grass-topped peaks above the water of the Blydepoort Dam.
Morning
Morning is the clearest time here, before the haze builds. From the canyon rim we drive down the Abel Erasmus Pass and through the J. G. Strijdom Tunnel onto the lowveld, several hundred metres lower and noticeably warmer, and on past Hoedspruit to a lodge in a private reserve, where we stay three nights.
Afternoon
Lunch is at the lodge, then a rest.
Evening
At about 4 pm the first game drive leaves in an open vehicle with a ranger and a tracker, stops for a sundowner as the light goes, and comes home in the dusk, with a spotlight after dark where the reserve allows it. Dinner is at the lodge.
Included
- Bourke's Luck Potholes in the morning
- The Three Rondavels viewpoint over the Blyde River Canyon
- Panorama Route entry fees
- Lunch and dinner at the lodge
- Afternoon drive with a ranger and tracker, with a sundowner
Free time: Early afternoon free at the lodge
Activity: We leave Graskop at 8 am, like every road day; only the dawn drives and the Kruger gate start earlier. Short walks on paths, steps and footbridges at the viewpoints. Open vehicles get cold after dark for much of the year; keep a warm jacket to hand.
Dawn and dusk in the private reserve
A full day at the lodge and in the reserve
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Private reserve near Hoedspruit
Morning
Coffee and rusks are at about 5:30 am, and we are out at first light, the coolest hours, when animals are most active.
Evening
The ranger reads the night's tracks in the sand and decides where to go. Unlike in the national park, vehicles here can leave the road to follow a sighting, and the few vehicles on the reserve share news by radio instead of queueing. We look for elephants, buffalo, rhinos and giraffes, and the tracker watches for fresh signs of lions and leopards; nothing is promised, but time in the bush helps. We are back at about 9 for a full breakfast, and the middle of the day is yours: sleep, read, or watch the lodge waterhole as the heat builds, if the lodge has one. Lunch is at the lodge. At about 4 pm we head out again, stop for a sundowner on a rise as the sky colours, and drive home in the dusk, with a spotlight after dark where the reserve allows it, looking for owls, genets, hyenas and hunting cats. Dinner is at the lodge.
Included
- Dawn drive with a ranger and tracker
- Afternoon drive with a sundowner
- All meals at the lodge
Easier option: Sleep in and skip the dawn drive; breakfast waits for you at the lodge.
More active option: Swap the dawn drive for a walk of about two hours with an armed ranger, learning to read spoor, dung and birdcalls at an easy pace on uneven ground.
Free time: Middle of the day free at the lodge
Activity: Walks usually have a minimum age (often 16) set by the reserve; we confirm it when we name the lodge. Waterholes, night driving and walks depend on the reserve and are confirmed with the lodge.
A full day in Kruger National Park
The private reserve to Orpen Gate, east across the plains to Satara rest camp, and back
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Stay in Private reserve near Hoedspruit
- Drive about 2 h
Today we go into Kruger National Park itself, nearly 20,000 square kilometres of lowveld and a national park since 1926.
Morning
We leave the lodge at about 5:30 am with coffee and a packed breakfast and drive about an hour to Orpen Gate, entering soon after it opens. You ride in an open safari vehicle licensed for the park, with a qualified field guide at the wheel and your See Sight Tours guide alongside. Inside Kruger vehicles keep to the roads, and the scale is the point: we head east past the dams along the way to the open grassland plains around Satara, good country for zebra, wildebeest and the lions that follow them.
Afternoon
Breakfast is at a picnic site, and lunch is a proper sit-down meal at Satara rest camp. In the heat of the middle day animals rest, so we wait at waterholes, then work back west in the softer afternoon light and leave before the gate closes.
Evening
We are back at the lodge for a drink by the fire and dinner.
Included
- Full-day drive in Kruger National Park in an open safari vehicle with a qualified field guide
- Kruger conservation fees
- Picnic breakfast in the park
- Sit-down lunch at Satara rest camp
- Dinner at the lodge
Easier option: Stay at the lodge for a slow day and join its afternoon drive in the reserve instead; tell us when you book.
Activity: About eleven hours out with stops, two of them on public roads to and from the gate. In the national park you stay in the vehicle except at rest camps and picnic sites. Gate times change by month and are confirmed with your final itinerary. If Orpen Gate is closed on your dates, we enter by Phalaborwa Gate instead and adjust the route north of Satara.
Last dawn drive and fly to Johannesburg
The private reserve to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport, then a flight to O. R. Tambo International Airport
- Breakfast
- Drive about 30 min
Evening
One more early start: coffee at about 5:30 am and a last dawn drive, the best chance to find whatever the group has not yet seen, with the ranger following the night's tracks and the vultures and raptors lifting off as the air warms. We are back at about 9 for a full breakfast and time to pack. Late in the morning we drive about half an hour to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport, a small airport on the edge of the lowveld, and fly to Johannesburg in about an hour and ten minutes, instead of spending six hours on the road. Your See Sight Tours guide flies with you and sees you to the terminal at O. R. Tambo International Airport, where the trip ends in the early afternoon. Book an onward flight leaving after about 5 pm. If you are going on to Cape Town, a connection that afternoon puts you there for dinner, and this trip runs straight into our Cape Town itineraries.
Included
- Dawn drive with a ranger and tracker
- Breakfast at the lodge
- Transfer to Hoedspruit Eastgate Airport (HDS)
- Flight from Hoedspruit to Johannesburg (JNB), with a checked bag
Easier option: Skip the dawn drive and have a slow breakfast at the lodge before the airport transfer.
Activity: Book an onward flight leaving Johannesburg after about 5 pm; the Hoedspruit flight usually lands around 1 pm, and the exact time is confirmed with your final itinerary.
- Johannesburg1 night
- Graskop1 night
- Private reserve near Hoedspruit3 nights
- Johannesburgend
- Overnight stop
- Day trip
- By boat or train
Wildlife and weather: The dry winter, May to September, thins the bush and draws animals to water, so sightings are easier, but dawn drives can be near freezing in June and July. Summer, November to March, is hot, green and wet, with young animals and migrant birds but thicker bush, and afternoon mist can hide the Panorama Route viewpoints.
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Before you book
Right for you?
Good for you if you want
- A first safari in under a week, or a module before or after Cape Town
- Travellers who want a private reserve and the national park, not one or the other
- Anyone who would rather fly than spend the last day on the road
- Photographers who want dawn and dusk in the bush and the canyon in morning light
Not for you if you want
- Travellers who do not want early starts: drives leave around 5:30 am
- A luxury Sabi Sand lodge: this is a comfortable full-board lodge, not a top-end one
- Young children: walks and some lodges have a minimum age
- Cape Town in the same week: see our 10-day Cape Town, Winelands and Kruger trip
Book flights after we confirm your seat.
5 nights
Where you'll stay
Your hotels are named in your trip confirmation.
- Johannesburg1 night
- Graskop1 night
- Private reserve near Hoedspruit3 nights
One price
What's in the price
Included
Accommodation
- 5 nights: 1 in Johannesburg, 1 in Graskop on the Panorama Route, 3 at a safari lodge in a private reserve near Hoedspruit on full board
- Rooms shared, or your own for a supplement
Transport
- Pick-up at O. R. Tambo International Airport (JNB) on day 1
- Our own air-conditioned vehicle and driver from Johannesburg to the reserve
- Open safari vehicles with a ranger and tracker in the private reserve, no more than 8 guests to a vehicle
- An open safari vehicle with a qualified field guide for the day in Kruger
- Flight from Hoedspruit (HDS) to Johannesburg (JNB) on day 6, with a checked bag
Your guide
- A See Sight Tours guide with the group from arrival to the flight back to Johannesburg, with lodge rangers and trackers in the reserve and a field guide in Kruger
Activities
- The Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg (Constitution Hill on Mondays)
- Mac Mac Falls and God's Window on the Panorama Route
- Bourke's Luck Potholes and the Three Rondavels at the Blyde River Canyon
- Panorama Route entry fees
- Four game drives in the private reserve at dawn and in the afternoon, with a sundowner and, where the reserve allows, a spotlight after dark
- A guided bush walk in the reserve, in place of a dawn drive
- A full day in Kruger National Park from Orpen Gate, with conservation fees
Meals
- 5 breakfasts
- 4 lunches: Dullstroom, the lodge on days 3 and 4, Satara rest camp in Kruger
- 4 dinners: the welcome dinner in Johannesburg and 3 at the lodge
Not included
- International flights to and from Johannesburg
- Travel insurance
- Visa fees, if your passport needs one
- Lunch on days 1 and 6 and dinner in Graskop
- Drinks, except what the lodge includes (confirmed when we name it)
- Tips for rangers, trackers, lodge staff and your guide
- Malaria tablets and vaccinations
- Personal expenses
Extras
- Room of your own
- CAD 685 (estimated price)
When you can go
Dates and prices
Pick your start date when you request to book. We check that date and confirm it in your quote.
Prefer to travel without a group or guide? Ask us about arranging hotels, transport and city tours for you to travel independently.
Before you book
Booking terms
Nothing is charged now. Full terms and the cancellation schedule come with your quote, before you accept.
Business addresses
See Sight Tours Trips (USA): 3172 N Rainbow Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89108, United StatesSee Sight Tours Trips (Canada): 5305 50 Avenue, #1091, Red Deer, AB T4N 4B6, Canada+1-888-961-6584Guest reviews
What guests say
Reviews from guests on our day tours.
Jane
October 06, 2026
5/5
Susan
October 06, 2026
5/5
Tom L
October 05, 2026
5/5
MandL83
October 05, 2026
5/5
Darren O
October 05, 2026
5/5
Good to know
Questions
What does the price include?
Five nights (Johannesburg, Graskop and three full-board nights at a safari lodge), 5 breakfasts, 4 lunches and 4 dinners, your airport pick-up, our own vehicle and driver, four game drives and a bush walk in the private reserve, a full day in Kruger with conservation fees, the Panorama Route entries, the Apartheid Museum, the flight back to Johannesburg and your See Sight Tours guide.
How big is the group, and how many people are in each safari vehicle?
The small-group trip runs with 7 to 12 guests. In the reserve and in Kruger there are no more than 8 guests to an open vehicle, so a larger group uses two, and seats rotate each drive so everyone gets an outside seat.
Who leads the trip?
A See Sight Tours guide travels with the group from your arrival in Johannesburg to the flight back. In the private reserve the lodge's rangers and trackers drive and track, and in Kruger a qualified field guide drives the open vehicle, with your guide alongside.
How fit do I need to be?
Not very. Most of the trip is spent sitting in vehicles, and the viewpoints have short paved paths and steps. The early starts and the long Kruger day are the tiring parts. The bush walk is optional, about two hours at an easy pace, and you can skip any drive and rest at the lodge.
I am travelling solo. What does a room of my own cost?
A room of your own is from CAD 685 more, about 17% of the trip price, and is shown before you request to book, never added at checkout. Solo travellers join the same drives, tables and vehicles as everyone else.
When is the best time to go on safari in Kruger?
May to September, the dry winter, is easiest for game viewing: the bush thins and animals gather at water, though dawn drives are cold in June and July. April and October are warm and good too. Summer is hot, green and wet, with young animals and birds but thicker bush, so we run the small group from April to October.
How does booking work?
Choose a departure and request to book. We confirm your trip within 24 hours, and no payment is taken until we do. The price is per person sharing a room, with taxes: from CAD 4,020 in the small group or CAD 7,235 as a private trip.
Can we travel privately or on our own dates?
Yes. Besides the small group, the trip comes as a private trip for your party only, on a date you choose, with your own guide and vehicles. If you would rather travel independently on your own dates, ask us from the dates section and we quote the same lodge, transfers and flight for you.
Do I need a visa or malaria tablets?
Canadian, US, UK and most EU passport holders do not need a visa for a short stay; your passport needs two blank pages. The Kruger area is a malaria area, with higher risk in the wet summer, so see a travel clinic about tablets before you go.
Can I combine this trip with Cape Town?
Yes. The trip ends at Johannesburg airport in the early afternoon, and flights to Cape Town take about two hours, so you can be there for dinner. We can add Cape Town nights and tours, or look at our 10-day Cape Town, Winelands and Kruger trip, which covers both in one itinerary.
What is the difference between Kruger and a private reserve?
In Kruger National Park vehicles stay on the roads and must be out by gate closing, but the park is huge and varied. In a private reserve rangers can drive off-road to follow tracks, usually go out after dark with a spotlight and lead walks, within the reserve's rules. We give you three nights in a reserve and a full day in Kruger.
How long are the drives between places?
Day 2, Johannesburg to Graskop, is the long one: about 400 km and five hours, broken by a coffee stop, lunch in Dullstroom and Mac Mac Falls. Graskop to the lodge via the canyon is about two and a half hours. We fly back from Hoedspruit in about an hour instead of driving six.
See Sight Tours has been providing travel services across North America since 2006. Operating in 20 cities across Canada and the USA, the company specializes in small group tours that offer personalized, high-quality experiences for travelers.
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