is one of the world's greatest game reserves and a major safari destination. As it is the greatest of South African national parks, Kruger National Park harbors a wealthy variety of wildlife - from Africa's largest and most dangerous land mammals down to the thousands of species of insects, not to mention over 500 species of birds. The Kruger Park boasts 147 species of mammals, 336 different species of trees, 49 different species of fish, 34 species of amphibians and 114 species reptiles. Boasting of over  2 million hectares in size, the Kruger National Park is South Africa's top tourist destination and one of the best wildlife reserves of this size in the  current and most probably future universe. It has played an essential role in conservation and the growth of sustainable eco-tourism in South Africa.
Adjacent to the Kruger Park there lies huge private game reserves like Sabi Sands and Timbavati Reserves. These share borders with the Kruger Park and the area has been known as the greater Kruger conservation area. It is here that you will find some of the most beautiful private game lodges,guided bush walks and night drives. The bush and animals are the same as in the rest of the Kruger Park, but the accommodation is different. In the public area of the Kruger Park, most of the accommodation consists of bungalows or "rondavels" in the various rest camps. Camping is also an option. You can do self drive around or use a tour guide, but the vehicles are not allowed to go off-track to the bush in search of wildlife.
History of the Kruger Park South Africa
Between the pre historic era  and  the time when the Europeans arrived , that region of South Africa was inhabited by African tribes and bushmen that left a legacy of rock paintings and archeological sites. There is evidence that these early inhabitants lived in close harmony with nature without exploiting it. The bush and its wildlife sustained them, and they had respect for nature.
The first Europeans and merchants were attracted not by the wildlife, but by the desire to find gold, and so an era began of exploitation and degradation of the natural environment. President Paul Kruger was concerned about that  practice of rapid depletion of wildlife in the region due to hunting, and established a reserve called the Sabie game reserve in 1898. Colonel James Stevenson-Hamilton was appointed as first warden, and it is said that he only spotted his first impala on his 5th day at work! Current visitors to the Kruger Park in South Africa will know that impalas can today be seen in abundance in the park. Stevenson-Hamilton was a mover and a shaker, and reportedly quite a difficult man, and earned himself the nickname 'Skukuza' among the local population - 'he who turns everything upside down'. One of his first controversial conservation policies was to cull down the lion population, and in one month over two thousand lions were shot by his rangers! This allowed the herbivore population to recover, and slowly but steadily the natural ecosystem balance was restored.
The initial Sabie Reserve used to be the area between the Sabie and Crocodile Rivers in the South of the park. Later on, this was joined with the Shingwedzi reserve to form the the Kruger Park we know today.
The first tourists visited the park in 1927, and a total of 3 vehicles entered the Kruger Park t!The park was remote and inaccessible at first, but the network of roads and rest camps grew over the years to make the Kruger Park the best-developed big game reserve in Africa with an excellent infrastructure of tourism facilities. Around 2004, 1.3 million people visited the Kruger Park.