Ngala Private Game Reserve
Ngala Private Game Reserve
FAVOURITE ANIMAL
African wild dog
I was introduced to safari by my grandmother, but Cape Town was far away and my friends and other family members had little interest in it, so trips were rare while growing up. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I really spent time in the bush for the first time. And I fell completely in love.
To rewind… I did an MA Sign Language Linguistics at Stellenbosch University (which I adored) but COVID held me in limbo and unsure of where to go next. One day, an email from a guiding school landed in my inbox. Years ago I had looked at guiding options and wondered if it was for me but the idea had slipped away. This email said, “Lockdown discount. South Africans only.” I jumped at the opportunity. Then I joined &BEYOND and was posted to Ngala Private Game Reserve.
I fell in love with Ngala very quickly – a place with such a sense of wildness to it. It is a place of challenge, a dear friend, is full of secrets and is explosively exciting. Ngala is where I became a fan of lions, where I learned to follow wild dogs, where my heart has sunk in despair and beat with joy in pursuit of wildlife encounters, where adrenaline has pumped through my veins like fire and frustration, like ice. It is where I have taken my first steps as the person I have always wanted to become. I can’t wait for every new day and the adventures it holds.
To explore a place, capture it’s essence with my camera and learn about the wildlife there in every way I can… that’s what inspires me.
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