Staff at the ‘world’s wildest golf course’ claim they have to hide flags from hungry animals and even spotted an entire pride of lions sunbathing on the course.
Green keeper Jean Rossouw, 29, was completing his early morning tour of the course yesterday when he came face to face with eight lions and was forced to chase them off.
Mr Rossouw covers Skukuza Golf Course’s nine hole green in Kruger National Park, South Africa, each morning in order to assess the damage from their frequent unusual visitors.
Lovingly labelled ‘the wildest golf course in the world’ by Mr Rossouw, the grass of the green attracts mischievous leopards, lions, hyenas, elephants and giraffes – who often eat the equipment for a midnight snack.
Staff at the ‘world’s wildest golf course’ claim they have to hide flags from hungry animals and even spotted an entire pride of lions sunbathing on the course. Pictured is a hyena dragging a baboon carcass across the course for its dinner
Lovingly labelled ‘the wildest golf course in the world’ by green keeper Jean Rossouw, 29, the course attracts many unusual visitors throughout the day and night
Mr Rossouw was completing his early morning tour of the course yesterday when he came face to face with eight lions and was forced to chase them off
Mr Rossouw (pictured), from Skukuza, South Africa, said: ‘The hyenas eat the flags and the elephants damage the trees. We have to take the flags and tee markers in at night so they don’t eat them anymore’
Mr Rossouw, from Skukuza, South Africa, said: ‘I would go as far to say Skukuza is the wildest golf course in the whole world.
‘The hyenas eat the flags and the elephants damage the trees. We have to take the flags and tee markers in at night so they don’t eat them anymore.
‘My job as green keeper is to drive around in the early mornings to see what’s on the golf course.
‘I’m on the course all day and I’m driving up and down to make sure there’s no dangerous animals near the people, so it’s fairly safe.
‘I found lions on the course this morning around 6.30am and chased them off with the vehicle. If you come across them you do get a bit of a fright, but they also get a fright.
‘I turned around and got a vehicle to drive in because you don’t want to face them head to head with a golf cart.
‘I also checked what the elephants damaged the night before because they knock down the trees.
The grass of the green attracts mischievous leopards, lions, hyenas, elephants and giraffes – who often eat the equipment for a midnight snack
Mr Rossouw added: ‘I’m on the course all day and I’m driving up and down to make sure there’s no dangerous animals near the people, so it’s fairly safe’
Giraffes are also known to roam freely around the fenceless course, which is situated in the middle of Kruger National Park – home to hundreds of thousands of wild animals
Herds of elephants are known to knock down trees and flags on the course while they run around and walk through water
‘We’ve also got the whole Big Five and other animals on the course – lions, leopards, hyenas, elephants.’
Mr Rossouw has worked at the course for five years and proudly admits there isn’t any other course ‘with the same amount of dangerous animals’ anywhere in the world.
But while the wildlife descend on the course at night and get up to mischief, they are most often spotted sunbathing lazily under trees by day.
Mr Rossouw said: ‘I think the weirdest thing is we live amongst them. It’s a great feature of them being around.
Mr Rossouw has worked at the course for five years and proudly admits there isn’t any other course ‘with the same amount of dangerous animals’ anywhere in the world
But while the wildlife descend on the course at night and get up to mischief, they are most often spotted sunbathing lazily under trees by day. Pictured are dung beetles in the dirt of the course
One golfer died at the park in 2014, when he was attacked by a crocodile while he tried to retrieve lost golf balls from a dam called Lake Panic
‘It’s incredible seeing them at any time of day.
‘It’s quite nice having them around here and is part of what makes the course unique.
‘I don’t think there’s any other course with the same amount of dangerous animals anywhere in the whole world.
‘People love to encounter them on the course which is why they come to experience that.
Mr Rossouw said: ‘I think the weirdest thing is we live amongst them. It’s a great feature of them being around’
He added: ‘I don’t think there’s any other course with the same amount of dangerous animals anywhere in the whole world. People love to encounter them on the course which is why they come to experience that’
Mr Rossouw and his colleagues are often forced to move fallen trees out of the way after elephants knock them over
Staff at Skukusa Golf Club are forced to take flags and golf tees inside at night because the hyenas eat them
‘We’ve had no near misses. The animals do tend to keep their distance and they’re often scared of people.
‘But we’ve got a card and number so we do give it to the people and tell them if they see anything on the course to please phone and let the pro shop know.
‘We don’t have any fences around here, so the animals can be around whenever they like. They come and go but they tend to keep their distance.
‘We get quite a few of these incursions happening over time, but nothing’s happened with any tourists yet. Whenever they see people they tend to move off.’