Dianne Tipping-Woods

Limpopo's Bruce Lawson initially decided to walk 150km to raise money for food parcels — and he hasn't stopped walking since
On April 28, Limpopo wilderness guide Bruce Lawson decided to walk 150km around a 400m track in his garden over three days, to raise money for food parcels. He hasn't stopped walking since. More than two weeks later, he's nearing the 1,000km mark, with over R400,000 raised. That's more than 30,000 meals for families in need...

“You start with a dog that doesn’t know what you want from it and then it ends up saving a rhino.” When Tina de Flamingh arrived in South Africa as a tourist, with two suitcases and a love for dogs and nature, no one would have predicted the contribution she would go on to make to countering rhino poaching in the country’s iconic Kruger National Park. But she is a woman who quietly defies expectations and flips stereotypes on their head, as Dianne Tipping-Woods discovered in a conversation wi...

Eight loosely acquainted women swap Joburg and Cape Town for the Greater Kruger National Park, embarking on an epic journey of discovery about wilderness, self, and the relationship between the two.

“Why have you come here?” guide Brenden Pienaar asked as we gathered under a copse of Jackalberry trees on the banks for the Nhlaralumi River, our departure point for a fully immersive, back-to-basics hike through the wilds of the Greater Kruger National Park.
Our answers were as varied as we were; eight women from different backgrounds, cities and interests. We wanted quiet, we wanted...

The rhino was down. We’d been briefed by veterinarian Dr. Shaun Beverley from Limpopo Wildlife Vets that once the dart takes effect, there is a small window of opportunity to get to the animal, get its horn off, and administer the antidote. In a decade, more than 8 000 African rhinos have been poached. In February 2019 the South African Department of Environmental Affairs, released the 2018 poaching numbers, which indicated 1 028 rhinos were killed for their horns in 2017 in South Africa...

The giraffe pauses frequently making its way towards the waterhole with peculiar grace. From the vantage point of the underground hide, it seems unduly cautious given its size, but wariness and curiosity are two hallmarks of this large mammal. It gets closer. At some stage, all you see are knobbly legs covered in coarse hair and scar tissue. Then it splays one foot at a time, bending to drink. “If you only start taking pictures now, the sound of the shutter might spook it,” says photographic guide Villiers Steyn.

Four young men in Mpumalanga share their fears, frustrations and ambitions as

they document life in lockdown through their photography.

“Taking photos has made me see how powerfully an image can speak the unsaid fears and anger in people’s lives,” says Wisani Ngwenya (20), from Ludlow Village in Mpumalanga. Wisani is part of a group of young photographers who have been spending lockdown longing for freedom, but obeying the rules. He’s been taking photos to pass the time, but also to document the world as he’s experiencing it right now.

At 3 am one October morning in 2018, a wooden canoe slid into the black waters of Lake Itezhi Tezhi, leaving the shore of Kafue National Park and heading toward the unprotected land on the lake’s eastern side. Darkness hid the two men in the hand-carved mokoro. Or so they thought.
“They were leaving the national park,” explains Patricia Mweetwa, a community ranger with Zambia’s Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW). Her unit is tasked with keeping the waters and shores of the lake ...

Forging a life of mutual benefit in Botswana’s Eastern Okavango Panhandle
The elephants move quietly through the gathering darkness, but Tumisi “Shorty” Tlale can hear them. “Listen,” he says, his head cocked to one side as he tries to get a fix on their position. “They’re coming.” A farmer in the eastern panhandle of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, Tlale’s ears are attuned to the elephants’ low rumbles as they move through the bush. If his sensitive ears have given him an initial advantage though...

The sound of sizzling oil has always been the sound of salvation for Belina Maselana. The trainee chef at the Singita Community Culinary School is sautéeing spirals of spinach to be served with the bowl of umngqusho she’s prepared. A creamy, comforting mix of samp, beans, parmesan cheese and onion purée. The dish is part of the tapas menu at Singita Lebom bo Lodge, a modern take on a meal prepared in homes across South Africa and a favourite of Nelson Mandela...

“The animals don’t care if I am a man or a woman; to them I am just a human being.”

This statement Khomotso Mokoena was lingering in the back of my mind as the lioness looked at us, before disappearing into a thicket. She’d been stalking a wildebeest when we surprised her on our morning walk from Lower Sabie. She’d run as we stood frozen behind our guides, savouring the unique and very human thrill of encountering a big cat on foot...

Being in nature involves a good deal more than a travel experience. How about deepening your connection to the natural world at these evocative spots?
A spiritual awakening
Mapungubwe National Park
I find that it is only in the presence of genuine natural beauty that one can truly be at peace. • • • • #mapungubwe #nature #beauty #wilderness
A post shared by Ryan Hopkins (@ryhopkins1) on Jan 4, 2018 at 1:38am PST
To say there’s something mystical and magical about Mapungubwe is an understateme...

The Sabi Sands Game Reserve has a reputation for delivering great leopard sightings. A new study by big-cat conservation and research NGO Panthera looks at the factors that make this reserve one of the world’s last true havens for these spotted cats. Pg 110.

"He was a hint of dappled movement in the thick riverine undergrowth. I felt the adrenaline pulse through my veins as I willed my eyes to penetrate the thick vegetation the large male leopard was navigating. We’d finally found him - the challenge was not to lose him to the shadows on the far bank..."

It’s a familiar ritual to anyone who has camped at Okaukuejo in Etosha National Park in Namibia in June; it takes some effort to hammer your tent pegs securely into the hard, chalky ground, but it’s worth it when the wind blows. Our toddler, Sanne (18 months old), had seen us pitching our tent at the Waterberg Plateau campsite two nights before and she knew the drill, despite the hammer weighing almost as much as her. With each thwack, she kicked up a swirling puff of rose-tinted dust, then l...

"It's as though the wild enters into our voices. These songs are a balm and a weapon and a language that connects us all."

Writing about Kruger's fabulous choir for Wild Magazine, with Joep Stevens' fantastic photos.

The Southern African Wildlife College’s Sboniso Phakathi talks community, conservation and connections.

“When I started working with communities through my role at the Southern African Wildlife College, I assumed the people I’d be interacting with would see my work in the service of conservation as a good and right.”