The Kruger Park is the largest national park in South Africa, and was established in 1898.  In 1926 it was named after Paul Kruger, former president of South Africa.  The Kruger National Park overlap the provinces of  Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and is west of the Lebombo Mountains on the Mozambique border.  The headquarters are based at Skukuza.  The park, with an area of 7,523 square miles (19,485 square km), is about 200 miles (320 km) long and between 25 to 50 miles

(40 to 80 km) wide.  The area has a generally flat terrain with low ranges of hills traversed by nearly

5,000 miles of paved and gravel roads. The vegetation varies from open veld to dense bush that includes Mopane, Acacia, Baobab, and the famous Marula trees. Wildlife includes zebras, wildebeest, impalas, giraffe, buffalo, elephants, lions, African wild dog, leopards, cheetahs, rhinoceroses, numerous birds as well as a big spectrum of reptiles. Although six perennial rivers cross the park, droughts often make artificial watering necessary.  In 2002 Kruger National Park joined with Mozambique’s Limpopo Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou National Park to form the Great Limpopo Trans frontier Park, the largest game park in Africa.