Ever wondered what a giraffe was thinking about when it stood and stared at your vehicle when you stopped on your game drive to admire it? And what animals really think about the human interlopers in the bush? Rod Bechus's newly published book, the Game Reverse, takes a light-hearted look at what might be going through the minds of wild animals when they encounter people.
Filled with quirky sayings, delightful illustrations and interesting facts about anything you might encounter in a game reserve, the book is intended to present a light-hearted look at the people and the bush from an animal's point of view. After buying a farm in the Umbabat Private Nature Reserve right on the border of the Kruger National Park, Rod Bechus and his wife Lynn began to wonder more and more about what the animals thought about the people.
Together they began making up puns and funny sayings, but Rod had no intention of writing a book until a friend bet him R20 that he couldn't. Being a betting kind of man, writing as a tipster for the horse racing industry's Computaform publication, Rod began to write down his quips. He started enjoying the process so much that he relates how he would wake up in the middle of the night with another joke running through his mind.
Eventually he began sleeping with a pen and paper beside his bed to ensure that his thoughts were still there when he woke up in the morning. He then searched for an artist to illustrate some of his jokes, finally finding Shannen Taylor through a friend of a friend, He felt that Shannen Taylor perfectly captured the spirit of his humour and "made the joke happen".
Working in her spare time, it took Shannen Taylor almost a year to complete the illustrations. Rod then compiled his jokes and her illustrations, and after laying out everything himself, he created the Game Reverse. The book has just been released on the shelves of many of the country's major book retailers, and Rod is now in search of his friend to claim his winnings from the R20 bet.
This comprehensive Kruger Park wildlife guide provides a detailed compendium of the animals, birds and reptiles that form the basis for ever...