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Month by month

Kruger in March

March is the hinge of the Kruger year. The rain eases, the grass stands at its tallest, and in the last week the Easter and autumn school holidays fill the camps again.

If you only want the answer

March is a shoulder month: 41 mm of rain over about 6 days at the park centre, highs of 30.7°C and nights of 20.5°C. The bush is still thick and the birding still strong, and the camps are quiet until the school holidays, which ran from 30 March in 2026 and start on 22 March in 2027. Gates now close at 18:00.

March weather: the rain starts to ease

The normals give March 41 mm of rain over about 6 days at the park centre, with highs of 30.7°C and nights of 20.5°C. Skukuza still averages 8.8 rainy days, so the south stays green longer than the centre. Storms are less frequent than in January, and the risk of floods falls through the month.

For game, March is a month of long grass. The pans still hold water, so animals stay dispersed and are harder to see. Birding remains strong, with the summer visitors still in residence.

Easter, school holidays and the gate quotas

The Easter and autumn school holidays decide how busy March is. In 2026 they ran from 30 March to 7 April; in 2027 they run from 22 March to 5 April (a news summary gives 20 March, the weekend difference). SANParks regularly applies day-visitor gate quotas over the Easter weekend, and once a quota fills only visitors with a booked bed get in.

Book early for those dates, especially in the southern camps. SANParks' cheaper camp period, by the reseller's 2026/27 rate tables, ends on 18 March, so the first half of the month is also the better-value half.

What reopened in March 2026

March was the month the park began to come back after the January floods. The Letaba High-Level Bridge reopened to traffic on 23 March 2026, Baobab Hill House in the Makuleke area of the far north was due back on 29 March, and the Giriyondo border post to Mozambique reopened on 31 March after more than two months closed.

From March the gates close earlier: 18:00 instead of 18:30, with entrance and camp gates still opening at 05:30. Malaria tablets are still recommended, and SANParks counts March inside its highest-risk period of November to April.

Sources