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Orpen Main Rest Camp is situated in the central region on the western border of the Kruger National Park. It is a small main camp and serves as an entrance gate to the central region.
Getting There
Where is Orpen Rest Camp?
Orpen Rest Camp is located in Central Kruger National Park.
What is the closest Kruger Park entry gate to Orpen Rest Camp?
Orpen Gate is a 2 minute drive to Orpen Rest Camp.
What is the closest airport to Orpen Rest Camp?
Eastgate Airport in Hoedspruit is the closest airport to Orpen Rest Camp (68 km from Orpen Gate)
How long does it take to drive to Orpen Rest Camp from Johannesburg?
It takes 4 to 5 hours to drive from Johannesburg to Orpen Rest Camp.
What is the GPS coordinates of Orpen Rest Camp?
-24.475560, 31.390732
Facilities
What facilities does Orpen Rest Camp have?
- Information at Reception
- Swimming Pool
- Coffee shop
- Laundromat
- Shop
- Communal bathrooms
- Communal kitchens
- Petrol station
- Cutlery and plates hampers (from Reception)
- Basic first aid assistance
- Day visitors picnic area in camp
- Cellphone reception
- Public telephone
- Post box
Accommodation
Where can I stay at Orpen Rest Camp?
Orpen Rest Camp offers lodging in 12 comfortable thatched Bungalows that sleep 2 guests. They have a bathroom with a shower and an outdoor kitchen.
In addition, there are 3 larger more luxurious Guest Cottages, offering accommodation to a maximum of 6 people. These larger cottages have 2 air-conditioned bedrooms, each with 3 single beds and bathroom en-suite. There is one bathroom with a bath, toilet and basin and the other with a shower, toilet and basin.
Orpen Rest Camp also has one communal kitchen and ablution block.
Accommodation Types
- Bungalows
- Guest Cottages
See more on Orpen Rest Camp accommodation
Wildlife
What wildlife can I see around Orpen Rest Camp?
The scattered trees and wide-open plains covered by sweet grass attract many browsers; this in turn attracts the eye-catching Cheetah, Lion and Leopard, to Orpen's Kruger National Park accommodation and lodging. Rabelais Dam is 7km (4.5 miles) from the rest camp.
Just outside the fence of Orpen Camp is a small waterhole, and game can be seen here at just about any time of day from Orpen. Mostly it is Impala and Baboon that forage round the stony area, but often in the evenings Elephant will come to quench their thirst.
What activities can I do at Orpen Rest Camp?
Orpen Rest Camp offers guided game drives, game walks, and night drives. The Ratel Pan Bird Hide is 58 km outside the camp.
See more about Orpen Rest Camp activities
History of Orpen Camp
Orpen Camp did not exist in the early days of Kruger National Park. Nor did Orpen gate, which today is one of the principal access points to the central part of the Park. Between 1926 and 1954, the entrance to this part of the Park was at Rabelais, the name of the original farm. A small, white rondawel (hut) indicates the place where the gate once stood, and is now a museum dedicated to JH Orpen and his wife Eileen.
One of the urgent needs of the infant Kruger National Park was the provision of water to the growing number of game. The park represented a cause that was close to many people's hearts.
JH Orpen, a surveyor and member of the National Parks Board helped sponsor boreholes for the park. His wife Eileen bought up 7 farms immediately to the west of Rabelais gate during the 1930s and 1940s and donated them to the Park, thereby extending the total area by almost 24 500 hectares. When the entrance to the Park was moved 10km (6 miles) to the west of Rabelais in 1954, and a new rest camp was established beside the gate, it was named in honour of the Orpen family.
Please Note: ALL Emergency Road Services are from Satara.
