On reading my post about growing up in the Kruger National Park and chatting to their Grandma who still lives right by one of the main entrances to Kruger,namely Kruger Gate (Phalaborwa) The kids wants to go visit Kruger Park this coming weekend.., I don't. Any of you watched the movie "The Ghost and The Darkness"...? I have a overactive imagination!! I have watched that movie once too often! Just a mere couple of years ago a refugee who had been stalked by a lioness, thought he was safely through the Park and, exhausted, fell asleep behind a shopping mall in the town of Phalaborwa.....only to be pounced on and eaten by that same lioness right there behind the mall!!! She was shot by VERY shocked and shaken policemen....Sound far fetched? Google it...!
We have heard many stories told about lions; lion attacks,man eaters,encounters with lions in the bush, but today my thoughts are channelled specifically along the lines of the Mozambican refugees trying to escape atrocious circumstances by making a run for South Africa. The only way out is through the Kruger National Park and it's ferocious man eating / opportunist, lions... Many of them make it, no-one truly knows how many doesn't...As a child I can remember seeing the police vans filled with Mozambican refugees that were caught in the Park, on their way to the police station in Phalaborwa (which was where we went to school). Never did it cross my mind as to what those refugees must have lived through, as from the very first night they crept under the 3 000 volt electric fence which was the border between RSA and Mozambique.
Occasionally we would overhear something the adults would be talking about, but overall we were protected from the gruesome realities those poor people suffered. During the bloody war in Mozambique it was either starve to death,be killed by militants or cross the border and go to Joni (Johannesburg) ,the land of milk and honey(so they thought). Anyway, I came across this fascinating piece written in 2003, So I ask again..,have you watched "The Ghost and The Darkness?" If you have you should feel a tingling down your spine about now...if you feel brave, read this very interesting article here
I will read it tomorrow, I am off to bed now and don't want to have nightmares LOL. Diane
ReplyDeleteBed time for me too,but I am too scared to go sleep!!!
ReplyDeletewell, i read the whole thing. fascinating, terrifying, unreal and yet real. living among them - or even close to them - would be unnerving at best. yes, i've seen that movie. yes, the idea of it being in my backyard or across a few miles of country would be terrifying.
ReplyDeletewhat the refugees must face to escape horror is so humbling and astounding. i could only compare it to what the Mexicans face to try to cross into America - and yet, the majority of terrors here are caused by intense heat and sun, thirst, getting lost, or worse, being abandoned by their paid guides (the 'coyotes'). But they do not face the African animal predators - mostly just human ones.
thanks for this very interesting, eye-opening post.
Once again, I think I would be too terrified to go outdoors if I lived there!
ReplyDeleteHeartbreaking about the refugees
I would be afraid to go outside if I lived there, as well. I am not familiar with The Ghost and the Darkness.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting post... I also read the whole article, though I ought to be working this morning instead of dreaming of lions in South Africa! I'm telling myself it's in the name of self-educating. :)
ReplyDeleteVery interesting. I feel so sorry for the refugees, and also deeply happy that wild places still exist. It's hard to reconcile the two, yes?
Thanks for this Liesl. A lovely day to you down in SA.
"...how many will team B catch?" that is a chilling question. Liesl this was fascinating and clearly tourism trumps safety most of the time. And like every where else the rangers are under staffed.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great read Liesl, thanks for the link. It's beautifully written. I think it would scare me if I lived in the bush as you do but here in Scotland I'm more likely to win the lottery than be mauled by lions! So I feel pretty safe!
ReplyDeleteGreat read Liesl. We were in Mozambique in 2002, driving through from Zim, down to Beira. Indeed, the state of the country at that time was really something - ravaged by war. What those refugees face..Yes, I have watched the Ghost and the Darkness. I remember my brother was really haunted by it for a long time afterward! I have heard stories too of the Zim refugees attempts to cross the Limpopo into SA.
ReplyDeleteAnd what about those interesting white lions. Are there any in Kruger?
Only read a little and that was enough for me! I haven't seen that movie.....and probably won't. What a 'wild' place Liesl. Amazing that you speak so matter of fact about it....
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