Award-winning wild adventures
Conservationist Kim Wolhuter ‘shoots’ animals to save them
GETTING up close and personal with animals in their natural habitat to shoot documentary films is all in a day’s work for maverick nature conservationist Kim Wolhuter.
Frolicking with hyenas, enjoying affection from a cheetah, petting leopards or hot footing away from charging elephants, lions and rhinos, have been run-of-the-mill stuff in Wolhuter’s myriad “bush” experiences.
His choice of work may not be the trail our thousands of recent matriculants take to, but Wolhuter lives for being “in the wild” and enjoying intimate experiences with his “friends”.
So the former UKZN Pietermaritzburg graduate has made the camp he set up in the Mashatu Nature Reserve of Botswana two years ago his permanent home.
Wolhuter, 58, is a renowned documentary producer.
Three Emmy awards and a stack of other film, photography and appreciation awards bear testament to his nearly 30 years of working with wildlife.
Two of his Emmys came from his production of Predators at War, which was top rated when aired on the National Geographic Channel in 2005.
Stalking Leopards was another documentary that earned him an Emmy, in 2002.
Wolhuter’s “wild” adventures are usually snapped up for leading TV nature channels such as Animal Planet, Discovery Channel, and the BBC.
He is now “having fun” with a pack of hyenas while working from his Mashatu base camp.
He hopes to produce a doccie that will ultimately improve their plight.
“People perceive hyenas as ruthless predators. The Lion King movie wrecked their reputation,” he said.
He said the scary thing about this negative perception was that people were “killing hyenas for the hides”.
“I’ve gone into making this movie with the intention of dispelling myths about hyenas.
“Hyena hides are more popular than leopard skin and nobody will care about them until they become extinct,” he warned.
Wolhuter has already spent nearly two years with a pack of Mashatu hyenas which have taken to him.
“When I’m with them, they never want to kill and eat me. They are playful, intelligent animals with a lot of humour and their packs are usually female-dominated.”
He said getting closely acquainted with hyenas or any other wild animal was a “process”.
“I didn’t just get out of my car and walk into their pack. I looked to bond with them. And when I approach the animals, I do so with full confidence and no hang-ups.
“It is important because animals can pick up on subtleties in your behaviour. You can’t say from your brain, ‘I’m confident’. It must come from your heart. The animals know whether you are genuine.”
Wolhuter said people usually skipped channels when hyena documentaries popped onto their screens.
“But when they see me sitting with hyenas and my insane interactions, I get their attention.”
Such has been his bond with animals that the hyenas he worked with were not fazed when his cameras flashed at them. Even when on a feeding frenzy, tearing into prey, Wolhuter was tolerated.
“Some scientists who have seen me with the animals, especially hyenas, say what I get up to is ridiculous. I want to use that opportunity to educate people about hyenas.”
Referring to American primatologist Dian Fossey, he said: “Through her book and the movie Gorillas in the Mist, showing her social interaction with gorillas in the mountains of Rwanda, Fossey highlighted the gorillas’ plight.
“The hyena needs a voice. I want to be their voice.”
Hyenas are not the only animals that have developed a fondness for Wolhuter. He had amazing interactions with a leopard while filming the movie Dawn to Dusk for the BBC. He also had a close bond with a cheetah.
“You don’t plan for these bonds to happen; they just happen.
“The highlight of all my interactions with animals has to be with a cheetah in Zimbabwe.
“It took me two years to film Man Cheetah Wild for the Discovery Channel in Zimbabwe. I went back to the animal’s habitat a year later and tried to approach her, but she didn’t want to look at me
“I sat on the ground a few metres from the animal, and she still refused to acknowledge me. I eventually said to her, ‘Chicken, don’t you recognise me?’”
The response Wolhuter got was priceless.
“The cheetah came over to me, licked my forehead and I responded by rubbing her chest.
“We spent about three hours together before I had to leave.”
Wolhuter said growing up near the Kruger National Park influenced his love for nature.
His grandfather, Harry, was the Park’s first game ranger and his father, Henry, was also a ranger. They both died when he was 5.
After matriculating, a shy Wolhuter was reluctant to study, but his mother, Joan, convinced him to pursue a degree in agriculture, which benefited him in his work.
After qualifying, he worked with Ted Reilly, who eventually took charge of Swaziland’s conservation.
Wolhuter said he learned a lot from Reilly. “I never wanted to get into film-making, but when I picked up a camera, everything changed.
“I was drawn to it by film-maker Richard Goss. My first film was on the hyenas of the Okavango desert in Botswana in the 1980s.”
Wolhuter has made 10 documentaries and had a hand in numerous other wildlife productions.