• home
• Explore
• South East
• Crocodile Bridge to Malelane

There are several routes between Crocodile Bridge and Malelane. The most direct route is the Crocodile River Road (S25), while the longer route is via the Bume or Randspruit roads via Biyamiti weir.

About the South East
Crocodile Bridge Gate
Crocodile Bridge to Lower Sabie
Crocodile Bridge to Malelane
Crocodile Bridge to Skukuza
Lower Sabie Nhlowa Road
Lower Sabie to Skukuza
Lower Sabie to Tshokwane
The Biyamiti Area

See Kruger Park South East Self-drive Map

Crocodile River Road (S25)

The Crocodile River Road (S25) heads westward into fairly dense thorn thickets and grassland where one has the option of either heading into the central part of the southern Park - along the Bume Road (S26) into the Biyamiti Loop (S23), or to carry on following the Crocodile River towards Malelane.

Generally, the further west one travels in the south of the Park, the denser the vegetation becomes. This is particularly true during late summer when the bush is at its thickest, which makes it harder to see game.

There is a get-out point along this road is at Hippo Pools (S27), eight kilometres from the entrance gate. There is a guard on duty at Hippo Pools who can show one the remains of San art on the rocks overlooking the river. Unfortunately, most of the artwork disappeared in 2000 when floods washed away many rocks from this part of the river.

The area is unshaded and can get extremely hot in summer. There's a good chance of seeing hippos and crocs from Hippo Pools and there are often buffalo along the broad river bank. One unusual incident reported from the Croc River Road dates back to 1960's when former ranger Thys Mostert saw a fight to the death here between two male giraffe.

The road passes the site of the site where General Ben Viljoen destroyed his artillery pieces at the end of the Anglo-Boer war.

Lwakahle Concession

This is a 15 000-hectare private reserve in the Crocodile thorn thickets midway between Biyamiti and the Crocodile River. Lwakahle, which is derived from the siSwati word for "they fight well", is steeped in history as there are several Iron-Age sites here dating from the 16th and 17th centuries as well as a section of the old Delagoa Bay transport road. There are three distinct habitat zones in the concession - the bushwillow and raisin bush scrubland in the south, the gabbro sweetveld in the middle and knob-thorn, marula savanna in the north.

Lukimbi Lodge is the luxury safari lodge in the Lwakahle. It has luxury suites, each with its own private lounge and deck overlooking a woodland valley and stream. The lodge has an excellent spa that offers beauty treatments and reflexology. It also has a well-stocked library, conference centre, gym and pool. Lukimbi has a chapel - just in case the flush of bushveld romance necessitates a sudden (or planned) exchange of wedding vows.

One of Kruger's more unusual kills took place at Lukimbi soon after its launch in 2002 - a leopard pursued an impala into the dining area of the lodge sometime after midnight and slaughtered it near the buffet table. It was probably a good thing that all guests were asleep - by the time they arrived for breakfast, staff had cleaned up the grisly remains of the kill.

The woodlands around Lukimbi have both white and black rhino and elephants are frequent visitors to the lodge.