Author: johannekekroesbergen

I am an anthropologist of religion and photographer, currently living in Pretoria, South Africa. I wrote my PhD-thesis on narratives about Satanism in Zambia. Currently I am preparing a new research project that uses photography as an ethnographic method. In my free time, I love hiking, safaris and enjoying nature through photography.

Drakensberg hike

A beautiful hike in the Garden Castle section of the Drakensberg Mountains. The hike goes up to a cave called Pillar Cave. Although we didn’t make it all the way to the cave (still struggling with my back…) the scenery was amazing. The smoke in the background is from controlled burning of the grasslands to create firebreaks, protecting the World Heritage Site of the Drakensberg.

A moment of tenderness

A brief tender moment between two female lions in the National Zoological Garden in Pretoria. One of the lions is a white lion, a rare color mutation also knows as leucism. There are tales from over 400 years ago about white lions in South Africa. Today, because they were a favorite hunting trophy, there are only a few of these white lions in the wild – one famous example lives in South Luangwa National Park in Zambia.

White tiger at the zoo

I love the Pretstap zoo walk in the National Zoological Garden in Pretoria that is organized every months by the Friends of the Zoo. It starts early, before the normal opening times. On Saturday we were able to watch the sun rise in a splendid orange sky. The early light makes photography so much more interesting than the flat, harsh light of the mid day. Also, the predators are usually quite active during this time. This white tiger had just finished drinking and was now starting at his neighbor in the next enclosure. What a magnificent animal!