I have visited the Kruger park over 15 times with my family over recent years. Tom Kelly's overview of the Kruger gives the impression that it's hard to eat cheaply there - but the Kruger is a great pace for a budget family holiday. You can stay in cheap accommodation at most rest camps (usually fixed safari tents for two or four or budget huts for two-six which are spotlessly clean and have comfortable beds and a wash basin). In addition to more expensive restaurants, all the rest camps have cheap cafes and shops selling food so you can eat well indoors or have a BBQ (braai) under the stars for next to nothing. In general, most of the wildlife tends to congregate in the Southern area of the park (from Skukuza down to Crocodile Bridge and across to Malelane)so this is the area I would most recommend - but the Northern areas of the park have fewer tourists and thus are more peaceful.

www.krugerpark.co.za/

Google map: tinyurl.com/ybgk2ax

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A luxury lodge in a private reserve on the edge of the Kruger Park. Find your soul in the heart of the wilderness - this place will change your life (if you'll let it).

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Awesome bush experience in South Africa's famous national park - and affordable too. The treehouses are lined up along the banks of the beautiful Klaserie River. Nothing compares to waking to the chorus of weaver birds and hippos. The trip included game walks and game drives in the park where we were lucky enough to spot a leopard attempt to chase down an impala.

The camp is in the Balule section of the Kruger National Park. I booked through Terry Murphy at African Budget Safaris in Hout Bay, Cape Town.

tinyurl.com/28hcwa

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A useful tip for people going on self-drive safaris - you may come across places in the parks called 'look out points' - don't get out of your vehicle!

The signage was quite confusing and when we went with a guide later on, he was shocked that we'd been out of the vehicle.

Also, beware group safaris - definitely cheaper but sometimes your companions can get agitated by the animals - at the time the guide had been worried about the fact that my brother and I were only 12 and 14 but in the end it was the fully grown woman who was scared of the elephants and moaned to be taken back to the lodge.

The best holiday - if you have the opportunity to take your children on a safari, go for it! My brother and I will never forget it and it was a real eye opener in other ways too - such as seeing for the first time whole communities living on the embankment of motorways in tin houses - they can't teach you in school the way seeing that in person can.

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