The wilderness. Raw, harsh, untamed, immediate and dangerous. For me, the wilderness is characterised by the unadorned struggle for survival, the daily confrontation between strength and weakness. I wanted to explore this wilderness, and I chose to do so as a ranger in South Africa.
‘Ranger’ is an artificial term and actually consists of three areas: guiding, conservation and protection – i.e. the roles of nature guide, field ranger and anti-poacher (APU).
In chapter 1, I turned my attention to nature guiding and, in order to gain a basic understanding of the wilderness, I attended a school for nature guides in South Africa for several months.
In Chapter 2, I now turn my attention to conservation and protection. My goal was to move from theoretical knowledge to practical action and thus deepen my understanding of the strength of the African wilderness in a more immersive way.
To this end, I accompanied field rangers, reserve managers and anti-poaching units (APU) in the reserves and spent some time participating in their daily routine.
Read about my experiences here:
Great new adventures awaited me, but I knew that Graham would be right: ‘Africa is now in your heart.’ Yes, I will definitely come back! But I wasn’t even gone yet, just somewhere else […]
The best feeling is when you actually chase down a poacher – and catch him. When bullets are flying around your ears, the adrenaline rushes and you just […]
‘The fence is the first barrier. If it’s intact, it makes life harder for poachers. It’s also a good indicator. To get onto the site, you have to climb over the fence – that leaves traces,’ Seni explains, and Bekis nods in agreement while Seni […]
‘152, 153, 154… Done!’ I wiped the sweat from my forehead, tied the end of the white and red barrier tape around the roller and
Slowly, a convoy of seven off-road vehicles moved through the dark yellow grassland, as if on a string, while pattering rain had turned the sandy
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