One of the Kruger National Park’s leadwoods has fallen

Retired senior ranger Johan van Graan (80) passed away on March 21 after contracting pneumonia post having an angiogram.

His historic impact on conservation will last forever. Johan began his career as a ranger in 1970 at Mata Mata in the Kgalgadi Transfrontier Park, and in 1974, he went to Golden Gate National Park. In 1976, his path led him to Malalane where he remained for 12 years until 1988. He later moved on to serve as a senior ranger in Skukuza until 1990, when he was seconded to the Ivory Coast as park head of Abokouamekro until 1993. He returned to the Kruger National Park until his retirement in October 2001.

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The Van Graan family story of how three orphaned cubs were raised and then returned into the wild, is arguably one of the highlights of his career, and the story was widely published in the media. Johan attended to an incident in which some rangers had to shoot a wounded lioness in 1981, and found three cubs. The orphaned cubs had to be raised and the Van Graan home became their haven. The family dog, Tessa, played an instrumental role as she allowed the cubs to suckle on her. When the young lions were strong enough to survive back in the wild, Johan successfully reintroduced them into the Kruger.

Johan had a few close calls with nature, too. One of them happened on October 25, 1998, when he almost died when an injured buffalo attacked him. In a Lowvelder article in 2016, Johan said he had sent a few rangers to patrol the Crocodile Bridge area when they came across a buffalo with a snare around its hoof.

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He rushed to the scene and could hear the animal in pain and agony. He and two volunteers slowly moved to where the sound was coming from, and saw that the buffalo had a calf with her. The next minute, the calf was next to him, and seconds later, the buffalo cow followed. He managed to get out of the way of the storming calf, and when the cow was a mere 2m away from him, he managed to shoot once. But it was not a fatal shot, and she started to gaff him with her horns while trampling on his legs.

He shouted to his rangers in Shangaan to take a shot, and the next moment, the buffalo fell on top of him. He was pinned down and could not move. Once the rangers had pulled the animal off him, he called his wife Kotie on the radio channel, after which he burst into tears. He sustained multiple injuries, but could walk again two weeks later.

Johan wrote a series of stories on his life as a ranger, and his family is planning to publish it in the future.

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When Johan retired in Somerset West in the Western Cape, he took to painting and even held an exhibition of his works a few years ago. He loved music and could play the guitar and piano, and sing, but when he took up the concertina, he became one with the music. With his son Japie on the guitar, a small campfire on the side and Johan playing old melodies on the concertina, the family reminisced and relived their years in the Kruger.

A few weeks ago, his daughter Jacolene returned from Taiwan and was able to spend valuable time with him.

The family is thankful for the support and hundreds of messages they had received since his passing. He leaves behind his wife, Kotie, son, Japie, daughters, Jacolene and Marina Louis, son-in-law, Neil, eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.