May 20th Kragga Kamma Game Park

The animals have arrived! Kragga Kamma Game Park did not disappoint in the slightest!

Before our first game drive, we began our day at NMMU with an incredibly fascinating lecture on social development in South Africa from Natalie Mansvelt. She spoke a lot about the work being done in the townships of South Africa and about new approaches to humanitarian work. Her talk was eye opening for a lot of us. Natalie spoke about what we would know as the Savior complex, the idea of higher class people going into lower income communities, doing one short term thing, such as giving away food or money or building something and then leaving. She told us about new approaches that counter this form of relief work. Her talk pushed for the idea that when entering underserved communities, we should first ask what the community needs and what skills they already have. The idea is that you foster newfound dignity in the community which carries over into creating actual sustainable relief. There was also a lot of talk comparing the poor of South Africa to the poor in the United States. It gave us a lot to think about.

Next was a lecture on the environmental impact of the South African coast which was brought to us by Karien Bezuidenhout who did a fabulous job with the time allotted and materials she had. This was the first time the conservation group began filming.

And they continued filming when we reached Kragga! Our first game drive of the trip began in an open vehicle around Kragga Kamma game park where we met cheetahs, rhinos, and some very photogenic giraffes.

One of the things that the conservation group is covering in their documentary is the African Rhino and the different conservation techniques that are used to protect the rhinos in places like the game reserves we'll be visiting. Something interesting about Kragga that we discovered is that they de-horn the white rhinos that they keep in their reserve. While it doesn't hurt the rhino, its controversial in the sense that rhinos need their horn for mating as well as just general survival if it is living in the wild. As one of the members of the conservation group put it, it's similar to the way declawing cats in controversial. Yes they need their claws in the wild, but what if they're being attended to in captivity> Is the need still there? I didn't get the best picture, but here is a shot of Kragga's family of white rhinos.

It was a perfect day for a game drive. We're excited to move on to even more safaris at Gorah tomorrow!