(click on pics for enlargements)

ITS IMPORTANT TO KNOW THIS........THE SECRET GENIUS IN SANPARKS....

Despite the big mess of the situation here in Cape Town there is a greatness in sanparks too. There are truly some magic people hidden in sanparks with massive talent, genius and greatness! 

Our nature and wilderness is our best, crown jewel  public amenity. 

Who are the people iun SANPARKS that have designed the unfenced bush camps of the Kalagadi and the remote little camps of the Kruger. And you can see their love of nature out there and their care.

 You see this manifest in a profound love of nature and nature conservation and the most awesome Camps in some of the parks. Unfortunately these camps are few and very far between and with minimal roads to access the bush and also most of the time booked full....

but they are there and THEY DO EXIST for those that take the time and effort to get there.

Anyone who has visited KALAGADI or the KRUGER NATIONAL PARK andf other SANPARKS reserves can only stand in awe at the unbelievable beauty and there and just t know that this is being protected is a very cool thing. And some of the really rustic bush camps are to beautiful for words and unpretentious and 100 % down to earth!

The parks of south Africa are our true national GEMS.... OUR DIAMONDS AND MINERALS ARE THE GLITTER...

THIS IS THE TRUE GOLD!

While private reserves are charging between R1000- R4000 per person per day - SANPARKS is our national ASSERT.

Many will argue but SANPARKS are selling off bush camps to private companies....So the average South African will never get out into the bush sooner or later and we wiull be destined to drift around in shopping malls and sentenced to rampant consumerism and products... 

Anyway you will see the down to earth beauty of the many camps in the parks are absolutely brilliant and the genius of the individuals who have been instrumental in the design of the unfenced camps in Kalagadi and basic camps like Shimuwini and Balule in Kruger is riveting!

The Raw, natural beauty that is being cleverly preserved in context of basic, beautiful affordable rest camps is put in arms reach to most people! The fact that these places are national & international amenities to the world and are providing rare and unpretentious honest and basic access to wilderness is precious beyond words. 

Many parks camps and certainly private reserves have become so schmaltzy, radically expensive and obscenely cheezy and in some, the prices are touching R5000 per day per person! Totally elitist. And yes to stay in very basic camps ..and unfenced, - there is some risk ....but its the raw truth of the wilderness and the gift is that you can touch it..almost affordably! Its totally honest and basic wilderness ...where you really feel it. One should stand in awe and even a sprinkling of fear when faced with the real Eden. Its not animals in a cage....Most peoples experience of wild animals are in Zoos and to look at an elephant rocking backwards and forwards, driven psychotic in a cage or a big cat pacing backwards and forwards is not seeing the true spirit of the animal ....its seeing a tortured being, fractured ..Brocken and  ...driven mad by a caged miserable life. When you see the real thing ...the real animal ...in its world...your heart should miss a beat! You should look VERTICALLY UP AT IT......& NOT DOWN! .....Think about it!

In the Kruger park or kalagadi or any of our other great reserves you can touch the truth of the animals and wilderness and you earn it by looking all the time. The trees are not crawling with leopards ....its patience and reward.....scanning and searching ....the secrets of a bird in a tree ...a snake...the yellow eyes of a lion in the long grass are revealed by attentive focus....you cannot just arrive at a cage and there is this animal all presented for you in a frame.....and its maddenned & depressed and a broken spirit ....this is the case in most of the Zoos. In the bush ....sightings are rewards...like gambles..little prizes for your looking like jackpots off a lottery!

There are people in SANPARKS and rangers and decision makers that I know are absolute gifts to this country (and the world). They are the genius of SANPARKS and you see the results of their decisions in the parks...who these people are and where they are ....I don't know! I have met a few here and there and they are humble, warm, knowledgeable and devote their lives to saving the bush!

But the bottom line is that the more and moe of the GENERAL PUBLIC of SA and the world need to fall in love with the wilderness TO WANT TO PROTECT IT. Elitist game lodges are not going to do this. Ordinary people need to find their own sort of magic and very private love affair with it.....and then want to fight for its protection...(And there is so little left).  Sanparks is still somewhat affordable...(thats if yoiu can get a booking) while the privatising of many areas of the wilderness and concessions are making the bush elitist and trendy...when it not. Its the earth and the ground and should not be out of reach to most people. Bush prices have gone into the stratosphere...Private lodges are now charging thousands of Rands a night and hunting lodges who encourage the worst attitude of all are popping up everywhere.

Sanparks is the only antidote to this! If the bulk of the nation don't love and want to protect our wilderness we will certainly see it coming under pressure.

Did you know that the rivers that feed into the Kruger are drying up ? Yes...they are.

It is tragic...why ? Not the green house affect but industry up river. This needs to be tackled. Industry up rivers of the Kruger should get their water elsewhere....this water is feeding our NUMBER 1 DIAMOND OF THE NATION ...the KRUGER! If the rivers dry up in the park, as they are slowly becoming dry sand beds now, many animals will suffer as well as the biology of the park and different riverine forests and other very delicate life sustaining ecosystems in the park will dry up too.!

SO why all the fall out with SANPARKS in Cape Town?

Because there is no balance here and we have been lied to with false public processes....This park,- the Table Mountain National Park is not in the wilderness....its a very powerful aspect of the city of Cape Town and who-ever are/were the decision making team for the mountain here have been like arrogant, conceited, closed ears and  bulls in a china shop! Its unbelievable the mess they have made and this rubs off on SANPARKS nationally! Its a shame!

At the end of the day, nature conservation should be as part of every South African as brushing your teeth! And private reserves who don't cater for anyone but the ultra elite of elite and are only glued to the buck in the pocket are doing a disservice! Perhaps they too could do their bit to encourage nature conservation by putting a few basic, simple and  rustic camps in their parks and encourage people to visit and experience the bush and to love it and want to protect it....(even if they aren't zillionaires)

Think of the French revolution and the laws of critical mass.....when enough people don't give a damn ....the scale will tip! Many people care more about their new Ipod or Cell phones than the real world and this is certainly true of young people and new generations emerging !

Explore the site. This is my personal view.