Damien, here's a few thoughts about Kruger to get the ball rolling.
Birding in the Kruger National Park (KNP) is superb. On a safety note, you may not get out of your vehicle except in the various rest camps, at picnic sites, at bird hides and at certain view sites. You can drive yourself around, so you are in no way dependent on a guide who is trying to find the Big Five for his clients. The best birding is often in the rest camps themselves, for there the birds have become used to people, and allow close approach. The same applies at picnic sites, where you can get out of your car, rent a gas cylinder for a few rand, and cook your breakfast, should you so wish. There are also excellent hides in certain areas of the park. There is a good one near Skukuza, the main camp, which is first class for water birds.
The park is broadly split into different habitats……..
1) North of Olifants Restcamp the vegetation is largely mopane veld (Colophospermum mopane), much favoured by elephant. We have always found birding in and around the Letaba rest camp to be particularly good. Both Olifants and Letaba have riverine frontage, which boosts the variety of birds significantly. Olifants is situated high on a cliff, affording spectacular views.
2) In the far north, the sandveld around Punda Maria yields many unusual tropical species, including Black-fronted Bush-shrike, and up around the Luvuvhu River to the north you can find Bohm’s and Mottled Spinetails.
3) South of Olifants the vegetation is principally Acacia thornveld, which has a good bird population. Bird parties in such habitat may yield different waxbills such as blue and violet eared waxbills, finches such as green-winged pytilia and firefinches, and beautiful starlings like the greater blue-eared glossy starling.
4) The area near Berg-en-Dal in the south-west is hilly, mountainous and rocky, with a bird and animal population suited to such habitat.
5) The larger rivers boast excellent riverine forest, with large trees such as Sycamore fig Ficus sycomorus, and Apple-leaf Lonchocarpus capassa. Giant eagle owls often roost in such trees, and the fig fruit attracts many frugivorous species, especially African Green Pigeon.
Listen at night when in camp for the Prrrrrrrrup! call of the African Scops Owl. You can often find it sitting at the fork of a branch close against the trunk. Since it relies on its camouflage, it will often allow close approach.
Whatever you do, as soon as you get to the park entrance gate, buy the best map of the KNP available, for it will show not only the roads, but all the hides, picnic spots and viewsites as well.
Watch the vultures to find lions. Circling vultures are simply using a thermal to gain altitude, but if you see vultures and/or marabou stork descending from all directions towards a single location on the ground, there may well have been a recent kill. Likewise vultures and Marabou sitting in gangs in trees suggest that the predators may still be on the kill.
You can use this map for your basic park geography. You can click on any area and enlarge it, so the detail available is reasonable.
http://www.krugerpark.co.za/Maps_of_Kruger_Park-travel/kruger-park-map-main.html
Best wishes,
Dave Kennedy