transformation of the myth and the myth of transformation: over 100 years of guiding in south ...

617 Pages·2008·4.83 MB·English

by  Marcelle Paton

TRANSFORMATION OF THE MYTH AND THE
MYTH OF TRANSFORMATION:
OVER 100 YEARS OF GUIDING IN SOUTH
AFRICAN GAME RESERVES

FILE A- INTRODUCTION AND CHAPTERS

signifier

by Anthony James Paton

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Tourism

Johannesburg, 2007

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ABSTRACT

This is both a critical history of the nature guiding industry in South Africa from 1902-
2007 and a subjective critique of the practical components of contemporary nature-
guiding. It focuses particulary on guides operating on foot in “Big Five” (dangerous
game) areas. The early history and the subsequent development of “wilderness” trails
in the Kruger National Park and the histories of KwaZulu-Natal Parks and Madikwe
Game Reserve are examined. The influences of the Field Guides’ Association of
Southern Africa (FGASA) and the Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and
Training Authority (THETA) are discussed. Transformation of the industry (in both
the demographic and in the broader sense) faces language, cultural and ethical challenges
because of prevailing anthropocentric and militaristic norms. Nature guides need
improved communication skills and should balance traditional and progressive skills and
ethics. They should become more critical and proactive in determining the style and
content of their industry.

KEYWORDS:

Keywords or key phrases or search phrases are in bold above. They are:

• “Big Five”
• dangerous game
• Field Guides’ Association of Southern Africa / FGASA
• Kruger National Park
• KwaZulu-Natal Parks / KwaZulu-Natal Wildlife
• Madikwe Game Reserve
• nature guides
• nature-guiding
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KEYWORDS (continued):

• Tourism, Hospitality and Sport Education and Training Authority / THETA
• transformation
• “wilderness” trails
DECLARATION
I declare that all work submitted for this Masters Thesis is original except for quotations
which are clearly indicated as such and referenced to their source throughout the text.
Signed:_______________ A.J.Paton (at Johannesburg, Gauteng) on 14 September, 2007.

DEDICATION- “ALWAYS GIVE THANKS FOR A JOURNEY”

My spatial journey across the eastern half of South Africa occupied only a small portion
of the three years that it took me to complete this Masters thesis, during which time
regrettably my father, Jonathan Paton, died. I am sad that he could not be at the side of
my mother Margaret to see me complete my Masters, but I must declare with thanks that
I was brought up with the assurance of parental love and support.

I must mention my enormous debt of gratitude to my wife, Marcelle, and children, Berick
and Nina, who can vouch for the number of hours they have been without their husband
or father, who was away on research or hidden from view hunched over a computer
keyboard, thinking of things that may be of little or no concern to them. In addition
Marcelle has spent a lot of time in proof-reading this thesis, which has undoubtedly
reduced the number of errors and improved the quality of this thesis. I am deeply and
eternally grateful.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This thesis was constructed from a series of interviews in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga,
North West Province and Limpopo, and also incorporates e-mail input from people in
these provinces as well as in Gauteng. In addition, further input came from as far afield
as Zimbabwe and Botswana. The time and effort of all contributors is greatly appreciated
and heartily acknowledged. My several expressions of views contrary to those of my
subjects should never be read as ingratitude towards them for their time, effort, support
and participation. They are all mentioned by name in the introduction to the interviews,
and are all cited and mentioned in the course of this thesis.

It is indeed difficult to criticize informants who have shown immense charity and support
by giving freely of their precious time to be interviewed, quite often in circumstances of
both time and place that were less than optimal. For example, Warren Bekker met me at
07h00 at a carwash in Pietermaritzburg, whilst Graham Vercueil was still talking to me at
23h00 after a busy day at work and Ignatius Bogatsu gave up his only free time in the
middle of a similarly hectic schedule.

The generous assistance of the Wits Oral History Project which is archived by Michelle
Pickover is gratefully acknowledged, both for taking an interest in and archiving this
research and also for the support by recruiting the services of Cané Lake, who transcribed
five of the interviews. The additional assistance of work colleague Ronika Ramanand in
transcribing one of the interviews is also acknowledged with sincere thanks. (The other
nine interviews were transcribed by Anthony Paton). The continuous encouragement,
input and support of my supervisor Professor David Bunn has been enormously
motivating and is gratefully acknowledged.
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PREFACE

Prior to this thesis the book which focused most strongly on nature guides in southern
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Africa was probably Licensed to Guide by Susie Cazenove . This book is highly
recommended as a coffee table book with superb photographs by the author as well as
high quality charcoal portraits of many of the guides discussed by her daughter Jessica
Hoffman. In her introduction, Cazenove says
…I realized there was one crucial ingredient to any trip I have ever sent anybody
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on- the guide. He made both the safari and its African backdrop unforgettable.

I think it is fair to say that Cazenove’s book is superficial and largely anecdotal, and
although it documents the characters and experiences of guides and their clients very
entertainingly, it does not attempt to probe their attitudes, values and opinions, nor
understand the history of their industry, nor who the key role players are, nor how the
political and demographic dynamics operate, nor what the deeper debates behind the
industry are. Cazenove has none of these intentions from the outset.

The other book that has focused on guides as subject matter is The Guide’s Guide to
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Guiding by Garth Thompson. Although this is presented as a light-hearted book with
delightful cartoons by Dov Fedler, it makes some very good serious points about how
important good guiding is, although (because it is largely satirical) it does this mostly
through concentrating on what good guiding isn’t.

The pupose of this thesis is twofold. On the one hand it is intended to be a critical history
of the nature-guiding industry, which observes correct academic formatting and
conventions as far as is realistically possible. As such it will be read by academics, and I
hope it will inform their understanding of the functioning of this component of the
tourism industry, its challenges and some of the responses which these might elicit. I
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hope this thesis inclines academics and their students towards a more practical
application of academic criticism.

A thesis that is merely a critical history may reinforce the misconception that academics
and historians in particular are merely required to describe and explain history, yet they
don’t have to make recommendations about the situation, and certainly don’t have to
respond to it. I am as qualified as anyone in the nature-guiding fraternity , and more
experienced than many, so this thesis is also intended to serve as a critique of the
practical components of guiding on the ground in present-day (2007) South Africa. It is
hoped that it will stimulate a response from the industry which will elevate the general
level of debate on guiding and guide training from being one notch higher than pub talk,
as it is today, to a serious record of critical and functional discourse. Although academic
theses undoubtedly appear to many readers to be highly abstract and disengaged from
practical reality, senior guides and guide trainers also need to get beyond the point where
three page letters in the FGASA newsletter are their highest form of exchange of ideas.

These contrasting objectives presented a real challenge to this thesis. At times they
complement each other very successfully, but there are instances where the discussion of
practical themes and the flow of historical narrative interfere with each other.

I have confined the discussion in this thesis to nature guides who work in game reserves,
and particularly those who regularly guide on foot. I have only included some discussion
of nature guides beyond game reserves for comparison with those who work within their
boundaries.

Chapter 1 focuses largely on the Kruger National Park as it was the first extant game
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reserve in the country to have been declared. Chapter 2 focuses on the Natal Parks (now
KZN Wildlife) as it was here that the pioneering work in “wilderness trails” took place,
but it also focuses on how religion, philosophy and literature came to influence guiding.
Chapter 3 mainly concentrates on the Kruger National Park again, as it was during the
period under discussion that trails began there, but it also discusses issues around
dangerous animals. Chapter 4 contains a discussion of institutions which have had a
meaningful impact in recent years. Its greatest specific geographic focus is on Madikwe,
but the chapter also focuses on Conscor (CCAfrica) as a core body. This influential
private concern defies identification with a specific location, but has practices and
policies which have had growing national influence. Chapter 5 outlines the conditions
that guides live under and the possibility of them unionizing. It goes on to examine the
current state of transformation as variously interpreted, discussion of what factors may
have restricted transformation and what could be done from the practical perspective to
improve the extent and effectiveness of transformation without compromising standards.
Brief suggestions are made as to how prospective lines of academic enquiry arising from
this area of study might be considered by future students of this topic.

Although the primary source material is exclusively South African, I may reasonably be
accused of over-representing the extent to which the United States of America has
influenced our thinking. America is always the country against whose standard or
achievement we may consider ourselves wonderful or wanting. America, through Aldo
Leopold and the “wilderness myth”, has influenced conservation and guiding in South
Africa far more than any other country. So, although the quality of ideas from Australia
or India may be as good as, or even exceed that of those from America, their ultimate
influence is negligible by comparison. This may change in the future, and I hope it does,
yet right now the United States of America is the main referent to varying degrees for all
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conservation and guiding philosophy (and even strategies) pertaining to conservation,
guiding and allied fields in South Africa, and to a significant extent throughout the world.

Another criticism of this thesis might easily be that it is ultimately a self-portrait of
guides and not “a 360° profile”. Thus, all the interviewees, and most other consultants
are guides or guide trainers. There is no specific attempt to speak to their clients, who
may reflect on their success and failure at providing good or appropriate service. Neither
have their bosses, who may comment on their discipline or their lack thereof, been
consulted. There is no input from people in advertising who are a dominant agent in
determining what clients will expect as a bushveld experience. There is also no sampling
of the opinions of trackers who are subordinates to guides despite often having many
superior skills. This absence of others whose paths intertwine with those of “nature
guides”, some very intimately, some incidentally, is merely an attempt to limit the
perspective presented, and is not intended to place guides above criticism. Although
subsequent scholars may see value in interrogating people in these and other categories, I
feel that the best experts on a career are the professionals from that career themselves.
As I myself am an experienced nature guide, other readers may feel that my prejudices in
this regard deserve to be challenged.

There is also an obvious and deliberate male perspective as the rate of gender
“transformation” has been disappointing. The deliberate gender bias of the text is not
intended to condone the male dominance of nature guiding (especially in dangerous game
areas), but to remind contemporary readers of the reality of this state of affairs. Even the
rate of racial transformation, although significant, may have been overstated by some
informants. Perhaps it is surprising that racial “transformation” seems to have
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outstripped gender “transformation” with respect to that section of nature guides
interviewed.

This thesis aims to convey that “transformation” is not only about superficial differences
between people, such as gender and race, but is ultimately about identifying, promoting
and embracing values and attitudes that are distilled from the best of our traditions.
South African nature guides should be marketing our shared humanity and respect for all
sentient beings, and not celebrating our past arrogance towards (or disregard for) other
species and even other people. With this type of transformation we could attain a shared
future where growth will not require wanton destruction and success will not be
measured in material terms or remain only as a bi-product of greed.

NOTE ON PHOTOGRAPHS
All photographs on chapter title pages are by the author.

______________________________________________________________________________________

i
Cazenove, Suzie, Licensed to Guide, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2005.
ii Cazenove, Suzie, Licensed to Guide, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2005, p.3.
iii Thompson, Garth, The Guide’s Guide to Guiding, Russel Friedman, Halfway House, 2001.

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CONTENTS

FILE A- THESIS

Title Page………………………………………………………………………………….1
Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………2
Key Words or Phrases……………………………………………………………………..2
Declaration………………………………………………………………………………...3
Dedication…………………………………………………………………………………3
Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..4
Preface……………………………………………………………………………………..5
Notes on Photographs / References (Introduction)…….….…....................………………9
Contents- File A………………………………………………………………………….10
Contents- File B………………………………………………………………………….12
List of tables……………………………………………………………………………..13
List of abbreviations and acronyms……………………………………………………...14
Sources and Conventions………………………………………………………………..16

Chapter 1- Parasites And Pioneers In Paradise (1902-1954)………………….………..19
The Myth of Origins and the Origins of the Myth……………………………….20
The First People of the Land: the Last People of the Wilderness……………….23
Paradise and Proclamation (Vectors as Protectors)………………………….…28
Hunting for the Origins of the Guide………………………………………..…..31
Aldo Leopold and the Re-Invention of the Wilderness……………………..…..34
The Rights and Wrongs of Writers and their Writing.……………………..…....40
Into the “New Wilderness” of the Kalahari……………………………..………44
Of Tall Stories and True Stories………………………………………………..48
Game-rangers: Authors and Authorities…………………………………….......52
Opening the Gates……………………………………………………………....56
Early Days in “the Last English Outpost”…………………………………….....57
Sandenberg the Successor: Filling the Boots of a Legend………………….........61
Conclusion (Chapter 1)…………………………………………………..……..65
References (Chapter 1)………………………………………………………....70

Chapter 2- Wondering about the Wilderness (1955-77)………………………………..74
Of Rhinos and Redemption……………………………………………………..75
Modelled on the Military: Skirmishes and Strategies…………………………....81
Archetypes and Essentialism……………………………………………………85
The Prophets of the Wilderness…………………………………………………87
The Dark Shadow of White Men in Africa……………………..…………….…93
“If you kill my rhinos, don’t come back”………………………………………101
Pulling Our Culture Back by the Tail…………………………………………..106
The Exodus of Faith…..………………………………………………………..109
Trying to Find Our Balance…………………………………………………....111
“The Wilderness”: Paradigm or Paradox?...........................................................114
Guides and Game Rangers: Seperation or Symbiosis? ……………………......123
Charactersitics of Wilderness Leadership Guides…………………..……….....132
Conclusion (Chapter 2)…………………………………………………………134
References (Chapter 2)………………………………………………………....136

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