Preface
The alarming threat of ecocide [1], driven by habitat loss worldwide, is the main reason for preparing this blog. Through a camera lens, the Greens have endeavoured to capture the beauty and fragility of some of South Africa’s wildlife, reminding the reader why it’s worth fighting for.
Like millions of people around the globe, walks in the bush and in nature with a camera in hand are often inspirational and delightful, with the thrill of spotting and identifying static, moving, flying, or swimming creatures—mindful moments and works of art captured in photographs for digital albums.
The images are accompanied by stories about the Green family’s encounters with the veld’s wildlife and the rock art of the San Indigenous people. The photographs and associated stories come from a recent trip to the Western Cape, the Cederberg, and Limpopo, as well as previous trips to Botswana, Tanzania and Uganda.
‘Image’ Green is a pseudonym for the blog creator James ‘Jim’ Green—who narrates the stories behind the Green family’s (the Greens’) photos: ‘mindful’ stories that revolve around the images of animals, birds, plants in their natural habitats, and the rock art of indigenous people, which tell the stories of their animal, bird and insect icons.
The Green family members are Jim, Dedrie, Peter, Hilda, Chris, Bruna, Linda (Thorne) and Dylan (Thorne).
Grammarly corrected the spelling and grammar for an octogenarian (Jim Green). Instead of using a public library or a hardcopy encyclopaedia, Wikipedia and Google has been used to identify animals, insects, and plants, and to research indigenous rock art and animal behaviour. References and citations are included as endnotes in the Bibliography and References section at the end of the blog.
Linda and Dylan Thorne, Chris, and Bruna shared their veld knowledge with us on many game drives in the Hoedspruit area.
A reference in the text will look like this: for example, if ‘ecocide [1]’ appears in the text, it means that if you want more information about ecocide, you can look for [1] in the Bibliography and References section at the end of the blog. In this case, [1] would be listed as follows: [1 Wikipedia contributors. (2025, April 11). Ecocide. Wikipedia.
This format helps you easily find and check the sources used in the text.
Foreign words are written in italics, such as Ahimsa, a Sanskrit word frequently used in the text.