Our driver flew the Toyota over winding dirt track in order to make the 4.00pm safari.The ‘real’ bush magic was already penetrating, releasing a contradictory potion of adrenalin mixed with inner-calm, a sort of peace enveloped in excitement.

Tanda Tula is a private, luxury tented, game reserve on the north-west border of the Kruger National Park in the Private Nature Reserve of Timbavati, famed for the eponymous ‘white lions’. Tanda Tula does not wish to alter the magical mystery beneath old soul. By that I mean they don’t want to go too fancy or you may break the sacred spell.

Chill and be thrilled. The chill factor is not created by one simple ingredient alone. It is a combination of the staff’s inherent ease with nature, instilling a confidence and calm among guests, as well as a genuine ‘open-arms’ approach. The thrill factor is omnipresent. If the camp’s ‘culture’ is in tune with nature, then you should benefit enormously and Tanda Tula was ‘pitch-ed’ perfect.

The Tented Experience We arrived at the camp without fully comprehending the word ‘tent’. The pampering period of our ‘yesterdays’ suddenly seemed years away, and yet was it? Our ‘tent’, like the others, was raised, canvassed, thatched, terraced, pristine and decoratively authentic and we bonded instantly. This was our cosy, comfortable, bush-groovy, ‘home’ for two nights. Those two nights we slept a sleep as near to ‘positive coma’ as any other sleep before or since.

Drives The magic in the bush for me is that no matter how many times the dirt tracks are traversed by the indestructible Land Rover, the land, together with the animals belongs to the wilderness. A sort of Zoo reversal; we are the caged in our metal and tyres. Africa is unique among continents for allowing mankind to observe such a variety of wild animals in rich profusion on a landscape that is left to its own devices.

Our second day was a serious ‘elephant day’, as not only did these glorious giants surround the camp but we also came across them several times on our dusk drive. I have to admit that the big bulls induce a battering heart rate, with their musk, tusk and powerful presence and can send the adrenal gland into orbit.

It’s not only the animals that mesmerise you in the bush: it’s the light; the sudden cloud changes; the shocking cerise sunsets followed by a crimson twilight; the peculiar smells; the shapes of the thorn trees and the outline of the Nyala tree; the luminous jade coloured foliage after a thunderstorm, which creates a brilliant contrast against a sunlit charcoal sky; the sudden piercing of a profound silence. It is also the deep sense of mystery beneath a timeless ecology. However, you need the right nature reserve to open up your receptors and that is Tanda Tula.

Find out more and book direct with the hotel at www.luxuryexplorer.com