Page 32 - Blue Valley News June/July 2021

NATURE

WILD ANIMALS

HOW CLOSE CAN ONE GET?

By James Clarke, Photography by Mary Broadley

It's amazing how close one can get to
animals in Kruger Park these days.

The flight distance is the killed in the Kruger Park last month though establish villages and towns and invade the
distance at which a wild I’ve heard nothing of the circumstances. habitats of other large species – some bigger
and toothier than we are – and so a conflict
animal decides whether The problem is that, these days, ‘normal situation arises.
to flee or take aggressive circumstances’ do not prevail over much Many overseas tourists have a perception of
of Africa. We have to sow crops and so we
action. attract herbivores; we have to have livestock wild Africa that has been heavily influenced
and so we attract carnivores; and, as Africa’s by television programmes. Remember the
human population grows, we have to programme, Mad Mike and Mark not long ago?
recently wrote about how close we were
able to approach zebra when driving in
K
I ruger Park once the park was fully re-
opened after the initial COVID-19 lockdown.
This brought a response from somebody who
had noticed that lions at Crocodile Bridge
were unfazed when he drove within a few
metres of them.
Has there been a change since the lockdown
started – or are we imagining it?

It is interesting how, under normal conditions,
wild animals do not become overly alarmed
– cautious, yes – when they are approached
by vehicles. If we are on foot, they invariably
move away as soon as they see us. Lions,
elephants, buffaloes – even crocodiles when
encountered on dry land – move away at our
approach. Most, including lions, will even flee.

This doesn’t say much for humans.
Significantly, such animals do not shy away
from other species – buck will graze quite
close to resting lions. The hypothesis that
animals in the wild will flee at our approach is
not, however, an immutable rule and it could
be fatal to assume so. In fact, a ranger was
How close would you venture, on foot, to this little family? By car, 50 metres would be about
the limit.
30 • Issue 3 2021 • BLUE VALLEY NEWS