Modisa means “guardian” in Setswana, the local language in central Botswana where the Modisa Wildlife Project is located, about 30 km from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. The founders of Modisa, Valentin Gruener and Mikkel Legart, met as volunteers on a wildlife farm in 2009 and are committed to the preservation of local wildlife and the ecosystem. The project is multi-pronged, collaborating with universities for research projects, running volunteer programs, and fund-raising, with the goal of connecting people with the wilderness and the long-term survival of the Kalahari ecosystem.
You started your love affair and commitment to African wildlife as a volunteer in 2009. What drew you to Africa in the first place and to the wildlife farm?
I always had a big interest and passion for African wildlife and southern Africa has been a dream destination for me since my early childhood. For different reasons, a visit to Africa never worked out for me until after high school graduation and the wildlife farm was something I found while searching on the internet. I booked the trip, planned to stay a few weeks, ended up staying longer and directly afterwards started planning my big move to Botswana.
What was the seed of your childhood dream to connect people and wildlife?
I always loved animals, especially wild ones. Initially the dream was to become a vet and move to Africa after my studies, but I guess that simply did not work out because Modisa happened. Where that passion comes from I can’t really tell, I was so young that I can’t really remember. My dad has definitely been a big inspiration since he always loved animals and I guess you could say that he somehow pulled me into that whole thing.
You are from Germany and your co-founder Mikkel is from Denmark. What is the climate for wildlife conservation in Europe? Then and now?
Wildlife conservation in Europe is, to my knowledge, fairly good, looking at stories of the wolf coming back into Germany etc. But good is only a term that could be used once you disregard the fact that we have basically destroyed everything that used to live there and the possibility of really bringing that back (brown bears, wolves, lynx etc.) seems rather hopeless looking at the human population that is now occupying most of the space.
But generally I would say that at least in parts of Europe, the wildlife conservation efforts are a good example to other nations to see how desperately people are trying to preserve the little bits of natural ecosystems that are left behind. I can only hope that countries like Botswana will see that and start protecting the much larger and wilder areas here before it has to come to a stage like we find it in Europe today. The treasure of having elephants, rhinos, lions, giraffes, hippos, and many, many more, roaming free through a country cannot be valued high enough and the amount of that treasure that is left here is absolutely amazing.
Your passion is the big cats. What is it about them that is magical?
Big cats are fascinating because of their power, their endurance in tough environments, their ability to hunt large animals without using any weapons apart from the ones given to them at birth, and how all of that is combined in such a beautiful, majestic but also caring and friendly animal. The role they play in those vast ecosystems and how important they are and all of this together simply makes me drawn to these predators in a very strong way.
The fact that humans have managed to destroy most of this magical beauty on our planet makes me feel responsible. Besides, I could not imagine a life better that being inside one of the world’s largest naturally functioning ecosystems like the Kalahari. It makes you feel like you are part of this planet and not some destructive factor which is far removed from what we actually are.
The ecosystem is resilient but also delicate, especially as we change the landscape through deliberate deforestation for farmland, for example. What else is going on that jeopardizes the environment and the wilderness in general and in Botswana?
The factors are the cattle farming industry as well as the mining industry. Human encroachment and our ability access remote areas for their resources are threatening nature here just as much as it does anywhere else in Europe, for example.
What is the vision for Modisa?
Our vision is to create a place which can contribute to science as well as create awareness about the reality of nature conservation and simply to get people interested in something they might have not known much about before. Hopefully through that we will be able to have a positive impact on the preservation of the Kalahari ecosystem and wildlife conservation in general.
How can someone outside of Botswana and Africa help support this vision?
At this stage our foundation is basically up and running and any help in form of donations can make a big difference for us, for the animals we are taking care of, and to help us to get closer to fulfilling our goals. For people who want to get more involved, there is the volunteer program where people can book a stay at the camp and they will see things much clearer and be informed about the ecosystem while they are able to spend time in it. Anybody who wants to come and see things more closely and contribute at the same time but would like to keep a more luxurious lifestyle can book a stay at the Grassland Safari Lodge.
Can you tell us more about this volunteer program?
It is a commercial program. The minimum booking time is two weeks and maximum is three months. Volunteers can visit the camp for a weekly fee and help out as well as learn about the ecosystem here in Botswana. Besides helping with anything necessary around the camp or in the park such as maintaining fire breaks, cutting roads free from branches, fixing fences, and helping with the feeding of the captive predators, volunteers get to join activities such as guided bush walks and game drives, evenings at the watering hole as well as informative lessons about the different animals, how they all function together in this ecosystem, and what humans do to manage it, as well as a detailed explanation of what Modisa will hopefully be able to achieve in the future.
We see big animals hunted by people who pay for the opportunity. They say it is to help fund the conservation efforts. What are your thoughts on this?
Commercial hunting in Botswana has been illegal since the beginning of 2014. We do not support any kind of commercial hunting activities, but people do have to realize that lots of predators and other large mammals are still being shot all over Africa, whether people pay money for it or not. We cannot ignore the fact that hunters from all over the world do have a fair argument in saying why should this not be done in a way that brings money into those areas. If those funds are used responsibly, hunting can be a contributing factor to conservation without a doubt, but it needs strong regulations by the authorities and proper monitoring and enforcement of these rules and regulations.
Ethically we are looking at a different issue. I hope most of us would agree that there is ethically something extremely wrong if a person wants to pay a lot of money to shoot one of our planet’s most beautiful and majestic creatures. Keeping this in mind, we still have to think about the animals and our own ethical values might not apply to a lion, or an elephant and if such an ethically wrong activity can contribute to the conservation of a species we might have to think outside of our points of view and think for the good of the species.
But either way we look at it, there is no real solution right now and instead of hating each other and arguing completely against the one or the other, we should probably start to talk together and try to understand the other side as much as possible and as detailed as we can and then try to find a solution together which will make us (people) happy as well as benefit our wildlife populations. If we cannot find a way to approach this without hate and hot-headed arguments I doubt that there will ever be a solution which can satisfy everybody’s needs (including that of the wildlife).
You are working with universities on research projects on the ecosystem, and not just the big cats. Have you found what is causing the loss of vegetation?
We should not exactly speak about a loss of vegetation but rather a change in the species composition within certain areas. Overutilization of an ecosystem will lead to a situation where the preferred things to eat for our herbivores are being damaged and others, which are not as palatable and healthy for many animals, are getting a chance to take over more of the space. This means less good food and more bad food. In turn you see the herbivore population struggling and disease will become more common and the population will drop. Accordingly we obviously will see a decline in the predator species who are dependent on the herbivores.
Damage to an ecosystem can take decades to recover and some of our wildlife cannot afford situations like this anymore. Since we keep developing more and more farming areas where farmes are facing the same struggles because their areas are overgrazed we leave less space for the wild animals who start to crowd into smaller areas where the same thing happens and we lose more animals again. The cause is human encroachment, growing farming areas as well as the cutting of old migration routes for wildlife by fences and human settlements.
Can you share with us what a typical day is like? If there even is one!
Describing a typical day here is difficult. But it usually starts with an early morning’s work, since a bit later into the morning the heat forces animals as well as humans to rest for some time until temperatures become more cool. Afternoons often end with a nice activity for the volunteers such as an evening at the water hole, where antelope and the occasional cheetah, which have been exhausted from the heat of the day, enjoy a good drink of water and a little bathing to cool down.
This might sound very relaxing but there is lots of work to be done. A typical day will end with a chat and a glass of wine or beer around the campfire before everybody goes to bed.
You and Mikkel rescued Sirga when she was just a cub. What an amazing story! You were very specific about her rescue, including the need to keep her independent.
Sirga’s story has been going all over the web and we were very surprised by that. I guess we never expected an reaction like that.
Sirga was born in one of the lion camps which are owned by Willi De Graaff, who is also the owner of the Grassland Safari Wildlife Farm and the Grassland Safari Lodge. These lions were captured by Mr. W. De Graaff because they entered cattle farms, where they were killing valuable livestock.
Other lions who were sharing the enclosed space while waiting to be relocated killed Sirga’s siblings and after that her mother stopped feeding her. She was getting very sick and dehydrated. Mr. W. De Graaff did not want her to die like that and gave me permission to try to rescue her by taking her away from the enclosed area and raise her by hand.
Mikkel and me did not start Modisa to have any tame wildlife around. Sirga just happened. Mikkel was and still is busy with the administrative side of Modisa and spends a lot of his time in Denmark. This left me with the running of the camp and also the raising of Sirga.
I decided to raise her as much in the wild as possible regarding her circumstances. I slept outside in the bush with her inside a little cage we built for her for about eight months. Then she moved into a bigger enclosure but since she arrived and after she learned to walk properly she has been walking around and exploring the wilderness of the Kalahari outside her enclosure almost every day.
How did you teach her to hunt? How did you know how?
Hunting is a very deep instinct in lions and it does not disappear when you raise them by hand, just like a domestic cat will still catch a bird or a mouse, a lion will catch an antelope if you give them a chance, or at least they will try. Sirga had lots of practice since her early days and I would not really say that I had to teach her how to hunt, more that I gave her opportunity to practice her skills and that both of us learned a lot along the way.
Today Sirga can hunt well. For a single young lioness she makes impressive kills but she can still improve.
How do you know she will be ready to be released into the wild?
Sirga will never be able to join other wild lions in Botswana simply because she is too used to people and a lioness like her in a wilderness area where tourists are driving around and camping in the wild, she would be a big danger to people. If there would be an incident she would have to be put down and that would not be a desirable end of this story.
Our goal for Sirga is to create her own small park – an area big enough for her to hunt and to live a lion’s life, but safe! Mr. W. De Graaff has made the generous offer to give Sirga 500 Ha (2.5x2km) of land here in his park to start off with. The only thing that keeps Sirga from moving into her new area is the fact that we need to put a secure fence around it first. The fence will put us back with about $200,000 US, which at this stage is simply not possible, but we are planning a crowd funding campaign for Sirga. We are hoping to have her new area ready for her to move in by the end of the year. Once she is used to the big space we would like to introduce a wild young male lion to her for companionship.
Sirga can be kept on hormone implants to prevent her from getting pregnant, but if we would find a suitable place for her offspring to be released in, we would be happy to let her have her own offspring. I would not have to interact with her cubs at all and in a 500 ha area with some antelope for her and the other lion to hunt, the cubs could grow up as “wild lions” who would have leanrned to hunt properly. But if we don’t know where they could go when they are big enough Sirga will not be able to breed, simply because her 500 ha area would be getting too small for so many lions and we do not intend to breed any lion for a captive situation.
What has been the most amazing thing about your relationship with Sirga?
I do believe that Sirga’s story and her bond with me has shown many people that a lion is not an evil beast, but also a very affectionate animal who can develop strong loving bonds. Also the fact that she lives in her natural habitat is something beautiful which is not possible to show in a zoo, for example. In that way I think she is doing something special and she is moving many people. The views on her Youtube video are proof of that, I guess.
We are hoping that the new TV documentary/series about Sirga will get the same attention as the video with the hug and that Sirga can always stay an inspiration to people and maybe stand as some sort of a beacon for her own species. Hopefully she will be able to help Modisa through her publicity and her ability to move people’s hearts. If things keep going the way they have so far, this lioness that was close to death three years ago and only 2kg might be able to help the conservation efforts for the other members of her species.
This interview was originally published in It’s All Well + Good Magazine in 2015. I reached out to Modisa after seeing a video of Val and Sirga online. I wanted to share this interview with an update as their efforts need our financial support and to spread the word.
The primary focus now for Modisa is fundraising for a new home to continue their work. As they rely on donations and funds from their volunteer program (temporarily closed due to relocation), a successful fundraiser is important for their future, a safe home for Sirga and her potential mate, and for conservation work in the Kalahari in Botswana. You can donate via Deposit a gift or via GoFundMe. You can find more details for this fundraiser and the goal at these websites.
Their documentary on Sirga Saving Sirga: Journey into the Heart of a Lion is now available to view on Netflix. Modisa is also fundraising to build Sirga a new 20 km2 reserve. You can donate via Deposit a gift or via GoFundMe. You can find more details for this fundraiser and the goal at these websites.
Sirga’s new reserve, also the new home for Modisa to continue its conversation work in the Kalahari in Botswana. Sirga’s enclosure, located in a remote area of the Kalahari, will be fenced where she will be free to roam once she is comfortable in the enclosure and of course Val will be there with her every step of her way. A potential mate has been selected for Sirga and as the size of the enclosure is on the low range of a lion pride’s territory in the wild, this new home will be for just Sirga and her mate and their future pride.
Keep updated on the Modisa website and their Facebook page.
