From the Austrian Alps to the Kruger Lowveld: two brothers, their best friend and a family that keeps coming back to the bush.
Our story
Alex and Peter grew up on a small farm in rural Austria, surrounded by mountains, farmland and forest. They spent their childhood outdoors, building tree houses and exploring the family woodland. The Kruger came into their lives later, and at different times.
It all started in 2006 with an invitation from Alex’s best friend Alistair to spend the summer in Marloth Park. Today the three of them run Tusker Trails (Pty) Ltd and build Kruger Companion together, with Anna as part of the family on every trip.
The people
Co-founder · FGASA field guide
Alex has been exploring Kruger since 2006, after Alistair brought him to Africa. He is a FGASA-qualified field guide, lived in South Africa for two years and helped build a safari business. At Kruger Companion he brings tourism, business and the practical needs of travellers.
“The Kruger taught me the value of slowing down. Once you begin watching the landscape properly, there is always something happening.”
Co-founder · Developer & photographer
Peter is a photographer, first brought to the Kruger by his brother Alex. In early 2025 he started programming what became Kruger Companion, and he still builds the apps today, bringing the technical development and the photography.
“For a photographer, the Kruger is never the same place twice. The light changes, the seasons change and the animals decide where the story will unfold.”
Co-founder & director
Alistair is the one who brought Alex to Africa, and that is where the passion started for all of us. A musician as well as a photographer and videographer, he has been visiting Kruger National Park for over 20 years. When Tusker Trails was set up, he joined as an equal co-founder and director.
Kruger family
Anna was introduced to Kruger by Peter, her husband. He proposed to her in the park in 2022. A true Kruger lover, she is especially passionate about elephants and the quiet magic of life in the bush.
How it happened
2006
Alex, still at school, is invited by his best friend Alistair to spend the European summer holidays with his family in Marloth Park. He works as a ski instructor to pay for the flight and plans to stay nine weeks. By the time he leaves, the Kruger Lowveld has become part of his life.
2006 to 2010
Alex returns almost every summer. With Alistair he explores the Kruger from south to north in a Land Rover Defender with a mattress in the back, moving between campsites, learning the roads and listening for alarm calls.
2015
Alex brings family and friends to the Kruger, Peter among them. He was not sure at first, mainly because of the spiders, but the landscape quickly won him over.
After 2015
Alex lives in South Africa for two years and helps establish a safari business. Guests are encouraged to stay at sightings, watch behaviour and take an interest in the wider landscape instead of rushing between animals.
2022
Peter proposes to Anna in the Kruger at Ntandanyathi Hide. They return to the Lowveld for their honeymoon at Jock Safari Lodge.
Early 2025
Looking through an ordinary wildlife pamphlet, Peter feels visitors need something more practical. He starts programming, shows the first version to Alex, and every trip raises the next question: where is the nearest gate, how long will a route take, will the map work without reception?
Tusker Trails
Tusker Trails (Pty) Ltd is set up to carry Kruger Companion forward. Alistair joins Alex and Peter as an equal co-founder and director, turning a two-decade friendship into a formal partnership.
Skukuza
On the restaurant deck at Skukuza, our “Can you spot them all?” shirts catch the eye of Marc Taback, board member of The Boucher Legacy. The conversation leads to a partnership with The Boucher Legacy, a collaboration with Southern Stars Safaris and an introduction to KRUGER MAGAZINE.
June 2026
The meeting with KRUGER MAGAZINE at Strauss River House in Malalane has barely started when monkeys alarm-call across the Crocodile River and a leopard steps into view. The story appears in Issue 37, Spring 2026.
Next
We keep testing the app in the landscape it was made for. The plan: a more permanent base in Marloth Park, closer ties with conservation and tourism organisations, and more information for visitors.
The app should support the safari, not become the safari. The most important instruction will always be to put the phone down, look up and pay attention.
What we build
Our free app for Kruger visitors: plan, navigate and identify wildlife in one place, even without reception.
Our safari companion for the national parks of East Africa: animal checklists, a sightings map and park guides, built on everything we learned in the Kruger.
What we stand for
Every feature started as a question on one of our own trips. Routes, camps, gate times and checklists come from the road, not from a desk.
“We made a deliberate decision not to turn wildlife into moving pins on a public map.” We ended live sightings because exact locations of rhinos or wild dogs can help poachers.
Large parts of Kruger have no signal, so the core field functions of the app work offline, right where you need them.
As featured in
“The brothers behind Kruger Companion” by Savanna Strauss, in conversation with Alex Hoppenrath and Peter Höck.
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