African Wildlife & Environment Issue 80

FAUNA, FLORA & WILDLIFE

Something that became very clear was that the ecological processes within the KNP carried on, regardless of the political shake-ups and internal shenanigans within South African National Parks (SANParks). We need to all learn lessons from a well-functioning ecosystem in that things do not always go well, but one must learn to adapt to adversity and help build up the system, rather than be party to breaking it down further, due to personal or selfish misguided motives. As conservationists, we have such a responsibility to ensure we hand over our protected areas in a better condition than when we started, while we are the custodians. Bad decisions in the short term can have a major impact over the long term. Biodiversity is the essence of life, and we need to recognize the critical importance, that these

All this sacrifice eventually paid off when I was one of only two 'Work Integrated Learning' (WIL) students the KNP took in every year. My good friend and colleague who joined me that year in 1987, was Joe Grosel. We had such an amazing year together and it was with great sadness that I learnt that he had lost the fight against Covid-19 this year. He died far too young. Joe was an incredible bird specialist, and he will be missed dearly. As a budding young conservationist, it was such a privilege to be mentored by conservation legends such as Dr Ian Whyte, Dr Gus Mills and Dr Anthony Hall-Martin in the KNP to name a few. When I started Dr Tol Pienaar was still the head of KNP, and then Dr Solomon Joubert, Dr Harold Braack and finally under Prof David Mabunda.

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