My Passion for Nature

For as long as I can remember I have always loved nature.  I attribute this love to my late dad. He was a nature lover and every holiday that we took as children always included a visit to a National Park somewhere in South Africa.

He was also the Chairperson of Benoni Wildlife Society for many years so we got to listen to fabulous guest speakers on a wide variety of topics like wild grasses, arachnids, reptiles, mammals etc and went on weekend trips with those specialists to see all their critters for ourselves.

The Kruger Park was his favourite and also mine.  Whenever I get a chance I’m off to the Park to recharge my batteries.  There is nothing like staying in the Kruger Park overnight and listening to the roar of lions, laughing hyenas and baboons protecting their tree for the night’s rest from predators.

My memories are filled with trips to Game Parks like the Kalahari Gemsbok Park (now called Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park).  Because it’s situated in the Kalahari Desert the animals are completely different to those found elsewhere.  I’ll never forget almost standing on a scorpion whilst going to the loo at night…eeeek!

Here is a list of some of the game reserves that were visited and as such I got to see the whole country and experience the joy that is South Africa!

• Karoo National Park,
• Addo National Park,
• Golden Gate,
• Mountain Zebra National Park,
• Bontebok National Park,
• Mapungubwe,
• Hluhluwe,
• Namaqualand.

As an adult it was a natural progression for me to become involved in the tourism industry and that is where I still am after 35 years!