People outside of (South) Africa still sometimes think that wildlife roam the streets, with lions being pets of some sort. In some sense, this is true. In Gauteng, you are always just a couple of kilometres away from vast amounts of game reserves. These are so close to us that you can still see them as part of our backyards.
A couple of months ago, or close to a year ago, the girlfriend and I decided to feed a baby Giraffe. On the same game reserve, you can drive through vast amounts of grasslands to see the wildlife, with the bussing and busy city centre just on the horizon. Then, the girlfriend and I only drove there in her small car, not a car suited for rough terrain. But now, we had the opportunity to drive deeper into the reserve, and what we found was amazing. I want to share with you in this virtual journey what we found. So please come along!
Grasslands
When I catch myself, I sometimes wonder how it would have been if we were the first ones to set our feet in these territories. What was it like to be the first one here? Sitting in the car, we can think ourselves back into the past, but we can do it with aircon and from a "safe distance".
But these vast grasslands are some of the most beautiful in the country. I love to see the wind blow through the grass, with the animals on the horizon only small dots left for your imagination to fill in.
Here is a short video of our trip, driving through these serene grasslands.
"Wild" Animals
How wild are animals still in our modern era? We have these strange enclaves where we place fences around our private properties, while the animals that get caught in between these claims to property become "wildlife" that we want to adore from the inside of our cars with roads twisting through the property. These "wild" animals sometimes look so depressed, but that is probably just me anthropomorphizing my emotions onto these animals.
But even in their strange uncanny "wild" ways, they are spectacular to look at. They are wild in some sense, but they are mostly caged in, even if the cage is vast hectares of field. This particular game reserve does not have predators, such as lions, in the main game reserve. So, there are effectively no predators to harm them. This again emphasises the idea that they are not wild any longer.
It is a strange experiment we are running really. What would these animals be without the predators? All of these animals look healthy and very calm.
As we drove past them, you could see just how beautiful they are. For example, this Eland buck (on the right) is a magical animal, standing almost taller than most cattle. They are a sight to admire.
And this little buck (below) looks like it does not have a care in the world. Usually, these animals will hide behind bushes and trees to stay away from predators. But now, they do not have that worry.
The "Wild Predators"
In separate reserves, there still remain some wild predators. The wild dog, a ferocious pack animal, is the first one on the list. They feed them at certain times of the day, and in doing so making a spectacle of the affair. But this again points to the fact that these animals are no longer wild. They are fed animals.
The other interesting one is the birds of prey, especially the vultures. They have a "vulture restaurant" which is basically a massive pile of bones that they provide these birds.
Alongside these magnificent birds, you will find even more crows, which is an interesting find. And as always, the crows attack the birds of prey, because that is just a crow move!
And then we saw the lions... What a strange sight to behold. The white lion, a rare and indigenous lion, stood there, waiting to be fed like a dog. They were so lazy and their beauty almost overshadowed by this strange dichotomy between wild and captive. Just around the corner, the truck stood waiting to feed these hungry lions.
When we exited the one reserve, we almost did not see the brown lions, the more common lion, lying between the grass. It was not 100 meters away from the truck that they used to feed the lions. People were waiting outside of their vehicles, rangers, but the lions could not care less. They were so used to people feeding them that they would not bite the proverbial hand that feeds them.
Again, this strange dichotomy of wild and captive, the lions clearly still wild animals that rely on the people to feed them, therefore captive.
But like the previous cases, this does not take away from the extreme beauty and magnificence of these animals. In my dream of being the first to walk in these grasslands, I would not have made it if I stumbled upon a lion...
A Wildlife Centre in the Game Reserve
As we drove deeper into the reserve, we stumbled upon a wildlife centre. I must admit, this caught me off guard. I did not expect such a place to be there. In any case, we parked there and checked things out.
At this centre, the strangeness increased, as there were animals from all over the world being housed there... From white tigers to jaguars. This was an eerie place if you looked past the beauty of these animals.
Why house a white tiger in the middle of a (South) African game reserve?
The beautiful animal stands out against the African background. The tiger is not indigenous to this land. But it looks so proud, even though its territory is no bigger than a couple of square meters.
So many other wild animals are also housed here. Some of them are indigenous, like cheetahs and leopards, but some others are not, like the jaguar.
Even if this centre cares for injured animals by giving them a home and teaching kids about them, what is the place for animals that are not indigenous? Maybe I am being too fussy, but the presence of these animals in the middle of a game reserve stood out as very odd...
Again, the strangeness and the beauty lead toward our momentary blockage of these thoughts. How beautiful are these animals not from up close? They make the travel worth it, even though the ethics of this are grey at best.
One of the cats above is indigenous, the other one is not. The small antelopes (Duiker; photograph below), are also indigenous.
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And then there are the many bird species that call the centre their home. These big birds are all under threat, as their natural habitats are being destroyed. It is such a sad thing to witness, but I am glad that these centres house these birds. For in the future, we might turn to these centres to repopulate the wild...
Let us not think about these depressive things too much!
Ending With the Cute Animals
My girlfriend saw the baby hippo and almost had a cute-attack. She ran to the side of the enclosure and lost her mind a bit with the "cuteness" of the baby hippo. One might wonder why we humans always tend to find baby animals so adorable. But this is true, as they are at such an adorable stage in their lives.
But then there are also the small animals, such as the mongoose and squirrels. Even I just want to pick them up and cuddle them for some reason! They also look so adorable, even though we know that if we pick them up they will for sure give us a nasty bite.
Postscriptum, or The Beauty of Wildlife
In these moments when we travel to these game reserves, I am always struck by the beauty of the wildlife. I love to photograph them, even if they are behind a cage. I really do not want this for them, and I wish the world would be different. But these animals up close make for stunning photography. Even just the bucks and antelopes that roam the grasslands are stunning animals to see up close, even if only in a car.
I hope that you enjoyed this virtual journey with me, and that you enjoyed the wild Africa in our backyard.
For now, happy and safe travels!
All of the writing in this post is my own, albeit inspired by the beautiful wildlife. The photographs are also my own, taken with my Nikon D300.
Hi @fermentedphil, I know what you're saying about the wildlife not really being wild if they're being fed. Is it all about money, attracting tourists?
The animals do look magnificent though, especially that white lion, stunning!
It is strange though that animals that aren't indigenous land up in a centre that cares for injured animals?
We went to Askari Game Reserve many years ago, a small reserve, and the attraction was the elephants that come to the pond every day very close to the rooms. I actually won an amazing trip that year through the Getaway magazine, it was 12 nights in total at 6 Guvon Hotels, included meals, an awesome surprise prize! I shared it with our sons as we were working at the time. That particular prize included a game drive and elephant interaction experience. I was nursing a fractured ankle so did not go for the latter, but I remember being shocked when the game ranger took us so close to the lions. They had just been fed, and were lazing in the sun. I was still nervous though!
Are they 'domesticating' wild animals?
Askari's accommodation was beautiful though, and what also impressed us, was the museum which is the largest private collection of oxwagons and other animal-drawn carts. That was a long time ago, hopefully it's still being maintained as it was back then; Covid killed many in the tourism industry as well!
I share your sentiments, but do not believe interacting closely with wildlife is good.
There was an incident in a luxury KZN Game Reserve in 2022 where a Giraffe trampled and killed a 16-month old baby, with the Mom in a critical condition. It seems she was a staff member, they said it's most unusual for Giraffes, but one cannot take a chance with any wild animal.
I discourage our guests to feed the vervet monkeys as they will approach humans once they see them regularly putting food out for them. I do throw fruit peels etc down a grassbank in our garden, but not when they're around.
It's a massive problem at some KZN North Coast resorts, they even jumped into our car when we opened the doors at a local supermarket. Even though we stayed high up in one of the apartments, they came in though the kitchen window which I thought was safe to leave open, but they must have climbed up the drain pipe!
Oh dear, I've almost written a whole blog here in my response!
Your photos are stunning! Enjoy the last day of the Easter weekend.
First of all, thank you so much for the long comment! I will take some care to reply it.
I am not 100% what they are running there, and why there are so many non-indigenous animals. Maybe they do take care of injured animals, but then again, why 10,000 km away from their natural habitat? Maybe some elements of money are present, there were a lot of cars that day and so many people. But at least the animals look healthy as you said.
I guess when the belly is full, even a fresh piece of meat does not look appetising! What a wonderful prize you won, that is amazing though. My family always tells me to submit my photographs to these magazines, people win incredible prizes. Maybe I should just submit something for once! I would love a 12 day game drive experience!
By the looks of things, these animals are domesticated. We made a joke (in hindsight a bit depressing) about them having a clock on their wrists because they knew exactly when the people fed them.
For sure! I agree 100% with you. I am always so saddened by the fact that there are no real "wild" spaces left, places without roads, without humans interacting with nature in any way shape or form. I always think about what I would do if I were a billionaire, I would buy property and "re-wild" them. What I meant in the post was a bit selfish in some sense. I love to photograph these animals and I love to get really close (in a car, even though I know it is still not 100% safe). But this is only a selfish thing from my side as a photographer. Deep down inside of my, there is always this strange sadness when I drive through, for example, the kruger national. I always think of how it would have been if we did not interfered. But I also know that our (neo-) capitalism and current mindset is that if it does not make money, we should destroy it and build a mall over it so that it can be profitable. Such a sad era to live in. Everything should and must make money, should and must be commodified...
Anyways, thank you so much for the lovely comment and somewhat depressing theme. But you in KZN is lucky with all the wildlife. Even if sometimes a nuisance (especially when you want to grow something).
You really should enter your photographs, they are stunning!
That Giraffe attack was shocking though, and very rare. I don't think there's anything wrong with getting close to the animals as long as we stay in our cars.
It was so sad when the magazines disappeared during and after Covid. I see more and more are re-appearing on the shelves again. Of course, there are always online contests as well.
That prize was at 6 different destinations from the Guvon Group, 2 nights in each, only some offered game drives. I checked now to see if the group survived Covid lockdowns, and yes they still are there except Askari no longer is part of their hotels.
These contests of course are just marketing, but the prizes are not shabby at all.
I do believe our game reserves play a vital role in preserving wildlife, and really did not mean to turn it into a depressing subject.
One often hears of bored wealthy people who keep exotic animals. but what do they do when they tire of them? Likely that's how they end up in centres like that.
Those pesky monkeys are a problem though, so fruit and veggies get taken often before it's ripe, but that's life in KZN!
Have a great day further @fermentedphil.
Most things today are kind of depressing when you think too long about them, but I guess that is just part of the society we are living in. Capitalism and all its progress rely on some really shady things. But we should not ponder it too much. But I guess, in the same breath, that there has never been a truly "utopian" period in human history, if we think about it. That alone should make our current predicament a little bit better? haha.
So true, I did not think about that. They cannot send these animals back to their natural habitat probably out of fear for diseases and due to the animals' being domesticated. Rather than euthanise them, put them in animal centres.
So true, so much has changed after lockdowns. It is such a shame, and it makes one furious. I almost opened a bakery just before lockdowns, and I would have definitely lost the business/money if I opened it. Luckily, I did not.
Thanks so much! I really need to check it out. The old camera is also on the edge of dying. So, I need to make a plan to replace it, but it is so expensive these days.
Keep well, thank you so much for the insightful comments!
Thank you so much @ackhoo! I really appreciate the effort and time. Keep well.
Moreover, going through your post was like watching a documentary on a profile channel, yours amazing photos managed to bring your post to another level, yes I really like it.
Thank you so much! I really appreciate you taking the time to go on this virtual journey with me. Keep well, my friend!
You're welcome my friend!
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