My experience is that for a week or so of safari'ing, Kruger National Park, 300 miles E of JNB, provides by far the best game-viewing experience for the buck.

Besides safety, the big problem in the Kenya area is poaching. There's little control, and besides diminishing the population, it makes the animals very skittish - without a great deal of luck or the services of a guide it's hard to get within a mile of anything interesting.

Contrast Kruger, where historically poaching has been well controlled - the animals are almost too comfortable with humans, so it's trivial to drive up to a herd of giraffe or a pride of lion in your self-drive.

Under the old government, the place was the weekend family outing for the locals, and was incredibly cheap for first-class accommodation. They're trying to get more tourist dollars out of it now, but it's still an incredible bargain for a great game-viewing experience.