Big Cats Safari Route
- ROUTE: Orpen Gate / Satara / Orpen Gate
- TIME: 4,5 hours with animal sightings travelling at 30 km/h
- DISTANCE: 94 km
- BIG 5?: Yes
This is a prime area of Kruger – the big cats are very well represented on this route and is a great morning/afternoon route for people staying in and around Hoedspruit.
Enter through Orpen and travel along the H7 towards Satara… This 44km route can be busy, however, it has provided Moriti Private Safaris with some amazing sights over the years on our safaris! The first few kilometres of the road is perfect to spot cheetah and lion as this area has some great, open grazing and many of the park’s grazers are found here. Even leopards, who often prefer thickets to hunt in are often spotted along here!
Travel along for a while until you get to the Nsemani Dam. This dam is not great for photography, but there always seems to be something happening here!
At this point, you can decide to visit Satara for a much-deserved drink or turn around and head back. This seems pointless, but that is how good the H7 is! You never know what may be walking along the road at any given time. If you have some extra time, or if the weather is cool enough try this route as an add on:
N’wanetsi Loop (S100 – S41 – H6) – This route is very popular in the game reserve and very often is a great area for Kruger’s most famous big cats, lions… To be honest, without fail every time we do this route we see the lion! Fluke, maybe go see for yourself and let us know? The route is an extra 50km.
On your way back try the short 10km S40 / S12 loop. This loop takes you to Girivana water hole and is a great area for lions, again! The S12 does not show on the map below, but it certainly exists.
Check out Moriti’s Kruger National Park travel guide for more info on this awesome game reserve.
Don’t forget to hit me up for an awesome private Kruger safari sometime and come and see this route for yourself.
Head back to Orpen, get home, upload your photos and let us know what you saw.
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