Phalaborwa

Phalaborwa is a mining town in the Limpopo Lowveld where the Ga-Selati River meets the Olifants, and it is the only town in South Africa that shares a border with Kruger National Park. Most visitors treat it as a gateway: you sleep here and drive through the Phalaborwa Gate into the park. The town itself is clean and practical, and it grew up around an open-pit mine said to be the widest hole dug anywhere in Africa.

Getting there

By road, the R71 runs from Polokwane through Magoebaskloof and Tzaneen to Phalaborwa and ends at the Kruger gate just east of town. Polokwane to the gate is about 210 km (around 2 hours 40 minutes) and Johannesburg about 500 km (around 5 hours 30 minutes). The local airport, Hendrik Van Eck, sits right next to the park, but Airlink stopped scheduled flights on 10 June 2020 and the airport has handled only charters since. Older guides still list a Johannesburg flight, so check before you plan around it.

When to go

It is hot. Winter days still average up to about 26°C with nights near 9°C, and summer is hotter still; the town recorded 50°C in December 2018. Rainfall is low, around 529 mm a year. Winter is the comfortable season for game drives, and Kruger gate times shift through the year: roughly 05:30 to 18:30 in high summer and 06:00 to about 17:30 or 18:00 in winter. Plan your drive back to the gate around those times.

What to do

Kruger is the reason to be here. The Phalaborwa Gate opens onto the central and northern parts of the park. The north carries less game than the south but is known for its birds. Letaba Rest Camp is the main camp on this side, sitting on the Letaba River, and its Elephant Hall is a museum about elephant life. On the way in, the Masorini picnic site, about 12 km from Phalaborwa, has an Iron Age archaeological site, which fits with the history here: people mined and smelted copper and iron in this area by around 400 AD.

Back in town, the Hans Merensky golf course borders Kruger, and giraffe and warthog wander across the fairways. Lion and leopard have been seen on the course after dark, which is why the hotel drives guests to their rooms by golf cart at night. The Hans Merensky Nature Reserve on the Great Letaba River can mostly be walked on foot, and the Letaba Ranch reserve is known for elephant and buffalo.

Good to know

All of Kruger is a malaria area, so speak to a doctor about tablets before you come and use repellent and long sleeves in the evenings. The Palabora Mining open pit is close to 2,000 m across. Inside Kruger, speed limits are 50 km/h on tar and 40 km/h on gravel. The Blyde River Canyon viewpoints, including God’s Window and Bourke’s Luck Potholes, are within day-trip range.

Last updated 6 October 2026. Sources: Wikipedia, Wikivoyage (Kruger National Park), Wikivoyage, Wikipedia (Hendrik Van Eck Airport), SA-Venues (Phalaborwa), Limpopo Tourism Agency, Mail & Guardian.