Marloth Park Conservancy

[Lisbeth]

You have various animals walking about your house and there are lots of birds There is a small "centre" with various shops and it is rather close to Crocodile Bridge.

If you want to stay outside the Park, there is also Ngwenya Lodge right on the river.

[Richprins]

It is VERY hot there in summer!

[Lisbeth]

There are lots of trees so very shady. I have survived for a month in the middle of summer and then you do not stay put there, you go to Kruger very often (and put on the aircon ). It also happens that it rains

[PJL]

You have various animals walking about your house and there are lots of birds There is a small "centre" with various shops and it is rather close to Crocodile Bridge.

If you want to stay outside the Park, there is also Ngwenya Lodge right on the river.

Has anyone braved the gate queues during school holidays? We are seriously considering a trip to Marloth Park in the June/July holidays and whilst we wouldn't be aiming to be in Kruger every day, one of my main concerns is how long the gate queues might be. If you do a pre-booked day visit are you given any preferential treatment at the gate? Alternatively what kind of time before gate opening makes sense to avoid most of the queues?

[Richprins]

All of the above Peej!

But it is a bit hit and miss. Will ask leachy the best advice...

And Roger just did that this holiday.

[RogerFraser]

You have various animals walking about your house and there are lots of birds There is a small "centre" with various shops and it is rather close to Crocodile Bridge.

If you want to stay outside the Park, there is also Ngwenya Lodge right on the river.

Has anyone braved the gate queues during school holidays? We are seriously considering a trip to Marloth Park in the June/July holidays and whilst we wouldn't be aiming to be in Kruger every day, one of my main concerns is how long the gate queues might be. If you do a pre-booked day visit are you given any preferential treatment at the gate? Alternatively what kind of time before gate opening makes sense to avoid most of the queues?

PJL we stay regularly at Marloth as my sister has a place there . If you want to get in at Croc bridge during school holidays pre-booking is essential and the earlier the better as the pre-booking slots go quickly in holidays .At the gate they will separate pre-booked cars and allow them into the park first .Alternative is to go to Malelane gate they also allow pre booking but they dont give preference so its first come first served until they hit quota then only pre-booked gets in . In Dec we did Croc bridge once on pre booking and a few times late afternoon entry without pre booking(be aware there is a 12 PM prebooking slot they give prefrence to as well) .Early mornings we did Malelane and got in fairly quickly each day .

[PJL]

PJL we stay regularly at Marloth as my sister has a place there . If you want to get in at Croc bridge during school holidays pre-booking is essential and the earlier the better as the pre-booking slots go quickly in holidays .At the gate they will separate pre-booked cars and allow them into the park first .Alternative is to go to Malelane gate they also allow pre booking but they dont give preference so its first come first served until they hit quota then only pre-booked gets in . In Dec we did Croc bridge once on pre booking and a few times late afternoon entry without pre booking(be aware there is a 12 PM prebooking slot they give prefrence to as well) .Early mornings we did Malelane and got in fairly quickly each day .

Thanks for the info Roger
Good to hear that they potentially separate the pre-booked vehicles. Do you still need to fill in entry forms even with a pre-booking?

I see they have a few options when it comes to the pre-bookings... arriving 0-2 hours after gate opening, 2-4 hours and 4+ hours. Does that then mean if you have booked 0-2 hours but then pitch up at lunchtime you're treated like a normal day visitor?

Assuming we go in early on some days with a pre-booking, what kind of time do you think we would have to get to the gate at in order to not queue for too long?

[RogerFraser]

Thanks for the info Roger
Good to hear that they potentially separate the pre-booked vehicles. Do you still need to fill in entry forms even with a pre-booking?

I see they have a few options when it comes to the pre-bookings... arriving 0-2 hours after gate opening, 2-4 hours and 4+ hours. Does that then mean if you have booked 0-2 hours but then pitch up at lunchtime you're treated like a normal day visitor?

Assuming we go in early on some days with a pre-booking, what kind of time do you think we would have to get to the gate at in order to not queue for too long?

if you pre-book 0-2 you need to arrive inside the time slot else the pre-booking has lapsed and you will be counted as a normal day visitor

We normal plan to arrive about 30 minutes prior to gate opening to get in the queue .this normally means we in the 2nd or third batch of processed vehicles .You also need to remember that the OSV's get preference even over pre-booked visitors so that can also delay the gate .We also found in December that croc bridge got very very bad at processing not sure the reasons why but there was regularly only one gate open so it was faster to park and go into the office than wait to queue for the gate to capture our details .We usual y recommend grabbing a handful of entry forms on first visit and fill them all in it was and still is a suggestion from us that pre-bookings should allow pre-filling in an online form to allow quicker processing .

[Richprins]

Rog!

This PJL asks a lot of questions!

[Lisbeth]

A sign of intelligence