Kalahari Diaries

Hello Everyone! We're thrilled to announce that our podcast the "Kalahari Diaries" is making a comeback after a break of over a year. Due to various commitments and priorities, the podcast took a backseat, but we're now back! In this episode, which you're getting a sneak peek of before its public release, we delve into the world of the Sirgas reserve. - What's Inside This Episode? - The inspiration and thought process that led to the creation of Sirgas reserve. - A detailed look at the diverse wildlife that calls the reserve home. - Insights into how predators such as leopards, cheetahs, hyenas, and others cross fence lines and why Sirga doesn’t In this episode, our primary objective is to offer you a comprehensive understanding of several key aspects. Firstly, we'll delve into the reasons why a fenced reserve is absolutely crucial for Sirga. We'll also explore the vastness and impressive scale of the Sirgas reserve. Lastly, we'll shed light on the harsh realities that lions face in the wild and articulate why we firmly believe that Sirga deserves a life that's better and more secure. Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy the Podcast? Great! You can help us tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favourite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and Sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.modisawildlifeproject.com or follow us on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.instagram.com/sirgathelioness/ https://www.tiktok.com/@sirgathelioness You can visit us here in the Kalahari via the Modisa Wildlife Project. Find out how to [plan your visit here](https://www.modisawildlifeproject.com). I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

Sorry for the long break, we are finally back in track with the Kalahari Diaries! In this episode I talk to the three Co-founders of the Gazelle, an award-winning team behind a new app, that accommodates carbon offset in the Kalahari Desert. Find out where your carbon tax goes and how it can help preserve our ecosystem. Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and Sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.sirgathelioness.com or follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.facebook.com/valentin.gruener I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

Sirga and I have been roaming the Kalahari since she was a small cub. Now, ten years later, she's a grown lioness. In this episode, I'll take you with me on a walk. I have been lucky enough to witness how she hunts and observe her behavior close up. If you ever wanted to know how an apex predator like Sirga finds her way through the bush and finds her prey. Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.sirgathelioness.com or follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.facebook.com/valentin.gruener I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

We recently had some of the worst bushfires in my time here in Botswana. Millions of hectars of Kalahari burnt down in the last months. Although we were working relentlessly to keep the fires out of our reserve, one fateful night it jumped our firebreaks and steamrolled through our place. In this episode I have invited Dr. Thoralf Meyer. He's not only a long time friend of mine but also a professor at the University of Texas. Nobody knows more about bush fires in Botswana than he does, so naturally, I had a ton of questions for him. Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.sirgathelioness.com or follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.facebook.com/valentin.gruener I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

Today I am answering your questions. Recently I asked our followers on social media and our patrons on patreon.com to send in their questions concerning Sirga, my life or anything else I could have an answer to. Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.sirgathelioness.com or follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.facebook.com/valentin.gruener I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

+++ Want to be part of the podcast episode? Send your questions as a voice message to info@modisa.org +++ Tracking wild animals in the bush is a skillset that I have been training intensively for the last 10 years. I never thought that interpretating tracks, marks and little hints nature leaves for us can be so exciting. In my daily life tracking plays a vital task. Let me introduce you to the art of tracking in the bush - you'll be as surprised as I was when I first started to learn about it. Ressources: https://www.cybertracker.org (Tracking field training in South Africa) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_people (San people of the Kalahari) +++ Want to be part of the podcast episode? Send your questions as a voice message to info@modisa.org +++ Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.sirgathelioness.com or follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.facebook.com/valentin.gruener I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

We all know the shocking images of smiling trophy hunters posing with dead African wildlife. The images spark outrages all over the world on a regular basis. The solution to this seems easy enough: Ban trophy hunting. What are the alternatives? What are the facts out there? Let's dive deep into this uncomfortable matter. Let me share my opinion on this topic. Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it! If you want to know more about me and sirga go ahead and checkout https://www.sirgathelioness.com or follow me on social media: https://www.instagram.com/valgruener/ https://www.facebook.com/valentin.gruener I am Val, and you’ve been listening to the Kalahari Diaries.

Our 75km2 area is dwarfed by the neighboring Kalahari Transfrontier Park, it's a tiny speck of land that we call home. From a different perspective it's breathtakingly huge. Come and take a look "behind the scenes" and find out what it takes to manage a wildlife area in africa!

Hey friends, we had a little bit of break. Nevertheless, let's kick off 2021 with a brand-new episode. This time I am telling the story of how I became a bush pilot. We're starting way back in my childhood and the fascination for aeroplanes, learning how to paraglide with YouTube tutorials and google in my twenties and finally becoming a licensed pilot in 2018!

Today, I am telling the story of how we moved Sirga 850km across the country to her new reserve in the south western part of Botswana

In this episode, we’re looking at the Kalahari Ecosystem. Botswana is a country that named its currency „Pula“ - the Setswana word for „rain“. Rain dictates life. Massive thunderstorms cross the vast open plains of the Kalahari and create heavy local downpours. The mighty Kwango river floods the Okavango Delta in the north, turning the dry sand into the worlds largest inland delta. Thousands of animals make their annual migration to grazing grounds - and in their shadows, predators like Lions follow. Let’s have a closer look at the seasons of Botswana! Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga

2020 was supposed to be the year when we would reopen our camp for tourists. We had it all planned out, excited to open our gates in June. Well, as we all know it all came different. The corona virus claims lives all over the world and lockdown measures are being implemented. International travel has become virtually impossible. Although Botswana might be one of the least populated countries in the world, we make no exception. In this episode I am taking you through 6 months of lockdown. Ups and Downs and how we improvise to get through these challenging times. Stay healthy, stay safe everyone! Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga

This episode centers around a sad fact: Botswana used to be home to Africa's second largest Wildebeest migration, only second in size to the Masai Mara/Serengeti Migration. This migration disappeared decades ago. Hundreds of thousands of antelope died off. Why it happened, and what we could do to bring these numbers back - in this episode of the Kalahari Diaires! Become a supporter today and gain access to exclusive content like bonus podcast episodes, video and audio material as well as regular Q&As: https://www.patreon.com/sirga Mentioned Links: Arithmetic, Population and Energy - a talk by Al Bartlett https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O133ppiVnWY The Effects of Veterinary Fences on Wildlife Populations in Okavango Delta, Botswana https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/3f1f/b052941d5993c9c151c9015f434815f5e823.pdf?_ga=2.95927070.383089270.1596375735-797873679.1596375735 Vet Fences in Botswana http://www.botswana.co.za/Wildlife_Conservation-travel/vet-fences.html Thank you for listening to this episode of the Kalahari Diaries. Did you enjoy this Podcast? Great! You can help me tremendously by subscribing and rating the Podcast in your favorite Podcast App. Leave a review and tell friends and family about it if you feel like it!

In this episode, we're going way back! I often get asked how Sirga, a tiny lion cub, came into my life, how I raised her and how we formed a unique bond. In this episode I read from my diary in which I documented Sirgas first 60 days with me - the last time I had a look at it, was at the time I wrote it. 8 years ago. I am also telling the story of the very first kill she made when she was just 16 months old. Many "Lion experts" told me, that after her first kill, everything in our relationship would change. Well, I was also worried. But it all turned out very differently than anyone could have imagined. Enjoy listening to the Kalahari diaries!

Many people dream of being close to African wildlife. Being close to lions, cheetahs and leopards is not a question of "how" than rather a matter of "how much". All over the world, there are facilities which meet the demand of animal lovers wanting to pet lions and other wildlife. But do these facilities fulfil the claims they make to draw in well-meaning tourists? Does the "orphaned" lion cub get raised and released back into the wild? Is there even space for more lions in the wild? Does the facility use the funding to support the conservation of wild animals?

My name is Valentin Grüner. I live in one of Africa’s most remote Wilderness areas. The Kalahari in Botswana. Nature and Wildlife is my biggest passion. I hand-raised Sirga the Lioness and walked the Kalahari to join her on her hunts. I work in tourism and nature conservation. How I got here? Well - it’s kind of a long story! Join me for my very first podcast episode! See you next time on the Kalahari Diaries!