Cape Town, My City.

I’m an amateur photographer. Amateur in the sense that I may have an unwieldy Canon with a lens that can take a photo of a gnat on Mars, but damned if I ever get a great picture out of it. I’ve attempted to put my lack-of-talent to good use, but find that it gets squandered on photojournalism and documentation – no payment involved, of course.

But that doesn’t stop me from enjoying it. Recently I took a Cape Town safari trip out to one of the close-by game reserves. Being South African and living in this stunning country, I find that we sometimes forget just how lucky we are to live in such a diverse and conservation-friendly country. Game reserves in South Africa are usually filled with foreigners, hailing from such far-flung places as Germany, Japan, Australia, the UK, and America. It’s a rare thing to find a boer with his kids pointing and laughing at the lions and giraffes. Is it because we’re saturated with these animals? I don’t think so. I don’t think one ever becomes bored of watching a lioness with her cubs or an elephant troop march across the road. I suspect it’s more because Capetonians work and live in this country and forget what it has to offer.

That’s why I take wildlife pictures. If I go anywhere near the indigenous wildlife of South Africa, I make sure to take my Canon Rebel with me. Not that I’m there to show off, of course (although that might be a part of it); I’m there to shoot the lions, elephants, and little duikers for posterity, not for hunting purposes. Although my stance on hunting (canned or otherwise) is well known and violently upheld, I shoot only with my flash and my only bullets are the batteries which never have enough life in them, no matter how long I put them on charge for.

Lions and leopards, elephants and antelope, all are the subjects of my wildlife portfolio. And what is the point of this post, you may ask? It’s certainly not to promote my extremely talentless images. I’m a fan of the Cape Town wildlife, not in the drunken students which crowd my local Rondebosch bar, but the furry kind that cling to the fynbos in the safari parks. I want you all to experience what my fellow South Africans take for granted every single day. When you are on your vacation to this Mother City, take a day (or even a weekend) and drive through the pristine savannah and experience the stunning game reserves in South Africa.