What's in the app
Four things, done properly: the guide, the map, the sightings feed, and the offline pack that holds it all together when the towers are a memory.
The field guide
941 species and counting: 519 birds, 142 mammals, and the reptiles, trees and everything else you end up arguing about around the fire. Each page carries the facts you'd otherwise be guessing at: size, lifespan, gestation, litter size, territory, what it eats, how it behaves, and where in the park you have a real chance of finding it.
Species pages are built for a sighting in progress, not a textbook. Big legible headings, photos where we have them, and an honest "we don't know yet" instead of filler.
Corrections are a feature. Every page has a report button. Rangers, guides and sharp-eyed visitors have already straightened us out more than once, and the fix ships to everyone.
The map
Every road, labelled with its distance. All 12 main camps and the gates between them, each with summer and winter times (winter gates open later and close earlier, and that catches people out). Picnic spots, hides, waterholes and viewpoints, filterable so you can strip the map back to just the thing you care about.
The weather panel shows the current temperature and the day's forecast next to sunrise and sunset for wherever you are in the park. Pick your basemap, close the panel, drive.
Sightings
Report what you find: species, a pin, a photo if you got one. Reports are checked before they go public, which keeps the feed worth reading. Browse by camp or look at what's near you, on the map or in the feed.
Each sighting shares as a link or QR code, so sending that leopard to the family group chat takes one tap. And for obvious reasons we keep exact rhino locations out of public posts.
The offline pack
One download, taken over camp wifi or the night before you fly, puts the entire guide on your phone. No signal needed after that. Anything you've read loads instantly; anything you haven't is already there.
When the guide updates, grab a fresh pack and carry on. That's the whole system, because it's the one that still works at 5am on a dirt road.
Made to be read in the bush
Dark mode that's actually dark. Text that stays legible in full sun. No account needed to read the guide, no paywall ambush in the middle of a leopard sighting. Log a sighting or send a correction and you can sign in, but browsing Kruger never asks for your email.
What's next
iOS first, Android straight after. Better birding tools and richer trip planning are on the list. The order of that list is set by what people email us about, so if something bugs you in the app, say so.
Get it before your next trip
VeldGuide launches on iOS soon, with Android to follow. Ask us for a nudge when it does.