Quite a lot of people who have never visited South Africa seem to have this idea that the country is one large wilderness area, with Elephants and Lions roaming around between the houses. The truth is that most of the dangerous animals are confined to game reserves and private game farms.

Travelling around in rural South Africa, you are quite likely to see the animals as you pass by these private game farms. On one trip this last month I saw three bull elephant right next to the road (but behind an electric fence of course) and a group of warthog, seven giraffe of various sizes, a herd of Impala buck, and a few Blesbok (also a type of antelope.) On a previous trip I saw rhinoceros and other buck. And all these trips were for work purposes, travelling between towns in Natal, in the North East of South Africa.

The electric fences are reasonably effective, but about a year ago one of the bull elephants at a game farm at Magudu got really angry, flattened the fence and ran a rampage over a number of farms. The owners had to get a helicopter in to find him and dart him, and then truck him back, at great expense.

We very seldom see lion, even in the game farms, as they are extremely dangerous animals and are kept behind huge fences made with steel cables and railway lines. When they have escaped, they’ve usually eaten a few people before they get recaptured. The rural indigenous people in the country areas live in mud and grass huts that offer little protection from large predators, and these people also often walk around at night in the pitch dark, which doesn’t help.

In the towns and cities though, there is virtually no wildlife seen, unless you count squirrels and the occassional snake. When we do spot a small buck or a porcupine, it’s a real event. The cities are well developed, with large shopping malls that stetch for hundreds of metres, some of them four or five levels, with artificial wave houses, adventure golf, cinemas, restaurants and so on. Four lane freeways criss cross the cities, and any wild animal that finds himself there won’t last long.

In our large state owned Game Reserves, like Kruger National Park, Umfolozi Game Reserve and others, you can have the experience of large wild animals roaming through your accomodation area, as once you are inside the fenced reserve, there is no separation from the wildlife. People have got up in the morning and found their route to their car blocked by a rhino or some other large unfriendly member of the big five.

So no, we don’t have lions digging up our petunias in the garden, and we don’t have to shovel elephant droppings off our lawn, but the wildlife is close by when we want to see it.

If you don’t believe me, come over and have a look!

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