Chanced upon South African supermodel and blogger Josie Borain’s blog post, talking about her interaction with Valentin Gruener and here’s a summary of what I read.

Josie Borain went to Maun, Botswana with the intention of visiting a friend, Mike Penman, and going on an expedition in Botswana with him. There, she got exposed to the nature and the wildlife, seeing local lions and wild dogs so close to them. Then, she also visited the De Graff Grassland Bushman Lodge, which was set up by a local cattle farmer, Willam De Graff. This Lodge was also a recent collaboration between Graff and Valentin Gruener.

While Josie was at the lodge, she saw Gruener blend into the wildlife and interact with the animals. She also witness the special and amazing relationship of love between a lioness Sirga and Gruener, who has saved her from death after she was being abandoned by her mother. Sirga will pounced on Gruener, not to eat him but to give him her biggest hug, as a form of saying hello and expressing her gratitude towards this guy for saving his life.

It’s probably the best reward for Gruener to feel appreciated from the animals that he has managed to save and make a difference to their lives.

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Photographer Nicolai Frederik Bonnen Rossen talks about his experience when he travelled to Botswana in 2012 on an assignment for Borsen to photograph and document the story of Valentin Gruener & Mikkel Legarth with their rescued lioness in Botswana.

His blog first give a brief introduction of the Modisa Wildlife Project. It started in 2011 with the vision to conserve and preserve the Kalahari eco-system through the mitigation of existing human wildlife conflicts, scientific research and outreach. More can be found under the “Modisa wildlife project” page.

Then, he talks about the difficulties he faced in the process of shooting, mainly because Sirga the lioness weighed approx. 200 pounds which is pretty huge and thus putting him in fear that she might pounce on him anytime and killed him. Also, she is hyperactive and curious, moving around all the time, making it hard to capture moments of her.

Fortunately, it was a great experience because Sirga wasn’t fierce and brave but surprisingly terrified of humans. “They would run away fast whenever we get near them.”

His thoughts on the Modisa project was meaningful and that the level of engagement and care from Valentin Gruener and his partner Mikkel Legarth was astonishing.

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