Joubert & Jacqueli Tulleken, Cape Town

Total number of visits: 17 Favourite camps: Tsendze, Letaba & Satara

JOUBERT WRITES: The Kruger was part of my childhood, and the smell of thatch is imprinted in my memory from those winter school holidays.

The park is very close to our hearts. Jacqueli and I first went there as a couple in 2012; we got engaged at Satara a year later, and in 2014 we spent 16 days in the park on honeymoon.

We live in Cape Town now, but when we lived in Pretoria we went to the Kruger at least twice a year. Once, impulsively, we drove to the park on a Saturday morning and drove home the next day!

In 2019, we took six months off and travelled around southern Africa. The trip included a month in the Kruger, which we explored from Punda Maria to Crocodile Bridge. It was great to see how the landscape changed from the dense mopane veld of the north to the knob-thorn and marula trees of the south. It was a privilege to explore the park at such a leisurely pace. Over the years, some of our best holidays with friends and family have been spent in the Kruger.

A perfect Kruger morning is to wake up in Satara, drive out on the S100, then have brunch at N’wanetsi picnic site. I also love the big herds of elephants and buffalo you can find around Letaba, and you should always stop on the Letaba bridge early in the morning to soak up the sounds of the veld. That’s where I took this pic of a crocodile.

One of our most special – and gruesome – sightings was near Talamati one afternoon, when we watched a pack of wild dogs catch a warthog right next to our Landy. They basically ate it alive! On another occasion, south of Satara, we saw a male lion pull a warthog from its hole, kill it and drag it across the road.

On a night drive near Lower Sabie, we had three lions right next to the gameviewing vehicle roaring their hearts out – it was spellbinding stuff!

Follow Joubert, Jacqueli and their Land Rover on Instagram: @jubasjourney, @jackienotinthecity and @mkulu_the_landy