KrugerExplorer is our passion project; a simple idea of creating a beautiful and highly informative App and Website to help people discover and learn about Kruger National Park and its incredible wildlife.
But when we really got thinking about what was needed to actually achieve these goals, the project started to take on a whole new scope! So today we wanted to share our plan for the project, how we think it will work and why we (hope!!) it will be a fantastic tool and resource for visitors to get the most out of their Kruger experience.
You've heard amazing things about Kruger National Park and you want to experience it. You know that lots of people self-drive as a lower-cost, independent and adventurous way to explore the park, which sounds brilliant to you. But where to start? This place is huge and you don't know where to stay. What about hiring a suitable vehicle? Will you be able to find the animals? And will you even know what you are looking at when you do find it?!
Our vision for KrugerExplorer started as an App that would serve two purposes:
i) help self-drivers plan their itinerary with detailed routes that will increase the chances of seeing the animals they want to see - including lions, elephants, leopards plus the many other species of mammals and birds.
ii) be a field guide that will aid in the identification of the animals and share detailed information about all these incredible species. And this is not just for first-time visitors as the quality of information will be of use to even Kruger veterans who have traversed the park many times.
But re-reading the above paragraph suggests that isn't enough. Someone needs to have figured out how best to visit Kruger and be confident enough to self-drive through the park well before a routes and wildlife field guide App becomes useful to them.
Plan | Discover | Share
We didn't set out to have a tagline but as we thought about the right way to undertake this project, our simple new motto of Plan, Discover, Share became obvious.
The App and Website resources will help visitors Plan their trips to Kruger. This will include understanding where their favourite animals can be located in the park so they can choose the right camps to maximise sighting opportunities. We'd like to connect with providers of accommodation near the Gates to the park to facilitate Day Visitors. We would also like to collaborate with providers of rental vehicles. This will help visitors in getting valuable insights on all the kit and location needs they will have for their trip.
The App and Website resources will help visitors Discover the Kruger National Park. Following detailed route suggestions will maximise wildlife opportunities while educating on the surrounds and what visitors can hope to see on any given road. And when they find the amazing wildlife, they will be able to use the App to identify the animals using the outstanding photography and the detailed descriptions of the animal's physical characteristics, preferred habitat, behaviours and other interesting insights.
And finally, when visitors have returned home and want to Share and reminisce about their trip to Kruger, the KrugerExplorer communities on Social Media such as Facebook, Instagram and this Website will make spreading the word all the more rewarding and enjoyable.
Go! Go! Go!
So our passion project rapidly morphed from an App that is a routes and field guide to Kruger National Park, to a broad suite of App, Website and Social Media resources and communities that will help visitors to.... Plan, Discover, Share!
That also meant we had a huge amount more to do to get this project off the ground, so it's been Go! Go! Go! in our evenings and weekends. But we've made so much progress already - we have a Website, we have a Blog, we have a Facebook page and we have an Instagram page with over 7,000 followers (and counting!)
And we are building the App and writing the huge amounts of content that will be found in it - check back for next week's blog post on progress and some early screenshots of what the App is going to look like!
Danny & Charlotte
- www.krugerexplorer.com
- www.krugerexplorer.com/blog
- www.instagram.com/krugerexplorer
- www.facebook.com/krugerexplorer