Punda Maria Gate is just 10km (6 miles) from Punda Maria Rest Camp (the most northerly camp in the park!). If you’re making a bee line for this camp, then this is an ideal gate to enter Kruger National Park by.
You may also consider entering by this gate if you’re going to one of the following rest camps, which are all in a southerly direction from the gate:
| Rest camp | Distance (km) | Distance (miles) |
| Bateleur | 119 | 74 |
| Shingwedzi | 81 | 50 |
| Sirheni | 54 | 34 |
Do note though, that Bateleur and Sirheni are bushveld camps. This means you can only visit them if you’re staying the night there.
The gate is near the top of the game reserve on the western side. It’s quite a journey to get there from Johannesburg. It’ll take you the best part of a day. It’s 6.5 hours to travel the 555km (345 mile) distance.
The gate is one of the smaller setups in the park, as it takes considerably less traffic than the gates further south.
Some people travel to the gate to go straight through Kruger National Park and on to Limpopo National Park in Mozambique, via Pafuri Border Gate. The border gate is 66km (41 miles) away. If you’re travelling at a good pace and don’t spend a lot of time watching wildlife, this distance will take you about 2 hours to drive.
If you want to go into the game reserve on the western side of the park, but not quite so far north, the next gate going in a southerly direction is Phalaborwa Gate. It’s quite a bit further south and is ideal for accessing the central region.