South African Ranger! Incredible (pics)

this is very kool...i wouldnt go near animals like that.

there are tricks to doing that kinda thing though.

for example...lions only kill food to eat..never for fun...and they only eat when they are hungry...people have showcased in the past that you can walk through a group of lions after they have had dinner and they wont even bat an eyelid.

i dont know about hyenas or cougars im sure he only goes near them under certain very strict circumstances when he knows they wouldnt hurt him. but that guy is kool none the less i wish i could kiss a fully grown male lion on the nose without losing my face.


maybe he has just grown up with them since birth i dno

My worry is that foreigners seeing these photo's will think they can do the same. Every now and again we read of Americans or Japanese who get out of their cars and try stand next to a lion so they can pose for a pic.
They look cuddly and cute. They aren't.

These lions killed a human intruder a couple of years ago.
Link

Beautiful pictures! I've seen this guy in a doco and i loved him. Clearly he has the best interest of the animals at heart, as i've found animals to be better judges of character then most humans and they are lying on their backs with their bellys open, which is quite a vulnerable position for them to be in! S&F for the gorgeous pics - bookmarked as well

I seem to have this affect with Dogs and Cats, I can be walking down the street and Cats/Dogs sometimes come over to say hello. Not so sure I would try it out with Lions though, although I did see a Tiger at a zoo and it was really drawn to me and became very excited in it's compound.

I would love the opportunity to to work with animals though....

S&F for a magnificent topic.

[edit on 9-3-2010 by NotAgain]

Yes, it's all very amazing, cute, beautiful, whatever. While these animals are used to people being in close proximity they are still wild aniimals and if he continues this behavior he will come to a sad, violent end as a meal for one of these animals.
I think these kinds of stunts are truly bad in the end, they encourage other people to engage in this type of stupid (YES, STUPID!) behavior.
The man has no special gift, anyone can do this given the time with the animals. This is his way of drawing attention to his park to generate funds to keep it going. I hope his life insurance covers being mauled by leopards.

reply to post by Asktheanimals


The only wild animals I see is Humanity, I don't see Lions killing each-other on a huge scale. Or implementing years of suffering on one another, you sound like a hunter or something.....

i really hope this guy doesn't get Eaten some day

One of the Best Stories ever on ATS

I wish I could give it more Flags.

Awesome!!!

[edit on 9-3-2010 by Realtruth]

reply to post by silo13


so why don't you do what's NATURAL and go climb a tree, instead of trolling?

[edit on 9-3-2010 by Ionut]

Lol,
He will be the next poor guy we here about found eaten. Just like the guy who played with the bears in north America haha.

Simply amazing. Thanks for sharing. This is one of the coolest stories I've ever read. The pictures are something else!

That guy has the "knack!" Whatever the knack is. I am amazed at how he gets right in there without his face being bit off. Absolutely fantatsic pictures! There was a Kudu (antelope) at Tshukudu that appeared totally tame, but one day a visitor walked up to it, got too close and it took out his eye when it charged him. Animals can turn in a heartbeat...

I've done a lot of wildlife photography in South Africa in Kruger Park and Tshukudu (near Hoedspruit AFB) and Onder Vaal (near 93AD) in the open without fences, but I would never get that close. Closest I have been to Rhinos and Elephants is about 10 feet, and lions around 6 feet but I always had a ranger and we were both armed as well. There are a few pictures here, animals and scenery, but I blew about 1000 rolls down there over 4 years. And sorry, I don't have a separate site for my photographs, so ignore everything else, unless you are interested in government sanctioned killings, arms deals and commercial airplane explosions.

Cheers - Dave

[edit on 3/9.2010 by bobs_uruncle]

reply to post by solarstorm


On the 6th of Feb i created this thread entitled 'wildlife & us' www.abovetopsecret.com... although i didn't gain as many responses to it as you seem to have gained... maybe because i didn't have any photos to prove my point... don't know if you got your idea for this thread from my thread but hey, it's fine... i can live with it... you are just proving my point for me....

Wildlife & Us

Hey there,

Yes, i am a firm believer that if Man hadn't hunted and killed Animals for their skins we would be living with them... they wouldn't be afraid of us as they are and they wouldn't attack us if we happened to walk into their territory.... i believe that we would be able to walk up to a lion and stroke it (after the initial surprise), walk upto a bear and play with it (after the initial surprise), that Birds of Prey would fly to us and land on our hands (as they do in some cases.... Falconry for example), I also believe that Foxes wouldn't be so scared of us as they are (due to hunting and us taking their habitat).....

I'm willing to lay a bet that if we knocked down most of these buildings that are clogging up the World and bought back Nature & Wildlife that this could be achieved.

You must agree that when you look out your window or go for a walk (In City areas) that all that Concrete facing you everywhere isn't the best of sights....

The Corporate World has destroyed our friendship with Nature & Wildlife.... we need to get this Friendship back!!

WOW! Those pics were truly amazing. I am afraid it keeps making me think of the grizzly man but it is just so great to see that kind of interaction with such wild and dangerous animals. Thanks, s + f for bringing this to ATS for us to see.

reply to post by NotAgain


You're kidding right? These animals kill each other all the time. If you're a male, when was the last time you killed another woman's mate or child just so you could send her into estrous? When was the last time you killed a neighbor over a territory dispute? Chimps, one of our closest animal relatives, are among the most violent creatures in the animal kingdom, they even wage war on each other.

www.neatorama.com...

I love animals as much as the next animal lover, but we shouldn't be naive about our relationship with these creatures. If people tried to establish these kinds of bonds outside of the confines of a zoo, the results would be disastrous for both sides.

These aren't lions living in the wild, they are well fed and protected. It seems this guy has manged to develop a relationship with the lions, but the odds are against him.

Remember the guy with the Vegas act who eventually got mauled by one of his own lions. Cats in general are known to be very unpredictable.

To approach an animal like this which lives in the wild and hunts for sustenance would be suicide. Maybe if the animal had just eaten, you might be able to survive, but the odds would be very slim.

They don't see life and death the way we do.

reply to post by solarstorm


I don't know if he so much has balls of steel as much as he has infinite amounts of love for the animals. And the animals can feel and sense this love coming from him, therefore, they react accordingly.

Star & Flag
It's truly amazing that they interact this way with him, they must understand in some form that he is protecting them. We must not forget that this is their planet also. Thank you for this great post..

Originally posted by vance
Lol,
He will be the next poor guy we here about found eaten. Just like the guy who played with the bears in north America haha.

You're laughing about that? Does that somehow amuse you? A guy wants to interact with animals and loves them, then gets eaten, and its somehow funny?

Originally posted by _Phoenix_

Originally posted by DomhainGràdh
Very impressive - this guy must have a couple of cannon balls weighing um down!

All the same he may want to remind himself of old Steve Irwin every now and again! Fair play to him though, you certainly wouldn't catch my ass doing that, they'd smell the mess in my pants long before I got within breakfast table range!

I'd say he knows he could die, and he accepts that.

Lets compare it to humans, there are plenty of dangerous humans out there, we interact with them everyday, and any one of them could hurt us. It's a risk we take everyday in our lives. I think his relatiosnship with lions is similar.

Peace.

Very true mate, I know a few folks that could be deemed hazardous to the general population and themselves in equal proportion. Leave them to it I say.

The guy's defo got danglers of titanium though - got ta hand it to him, acceptance or stupidity, I wouldn't be caught any where near the beasts. And as for a pet Hyena - think I may stick with my Jack Russell for the time being.