Once a park people were cautioned about visiting, today The Wilds enjoys a gorgeous reputation; blossoming with community spirit, creativity and hope for Johannesburg. But how did this massive change happen? Well, it all started when James Delaney’s dog Pablo needed to go for a walk:
Johannesburg, South Africa (08 October 2024) — If you visited The Wilds today, it would take some mental gymnastics to fathom that there was once a time when the well-loved park, now brimming with life and community, was actually a neglected space.
It’s hard to consider that over a decade ago, this was a place people would look at you sideways for visiting. In fact, they’d urge you to reconsider. But, if one man hadn’t ignored all the cautionary glares and ventured into the then ‘no-go’ green, The Wilds as we know it today wouldn’t exist. That man is James Delaney.
In a recent Tedx Talk, James shared the story of how he found The Wilds and turned it into the place we know and love today.
It’s a story about taking matters into your own hands. Challenging a narrative through creativity. And uniting a community through the simple idea that things get better when you decide they should.
Pablo the Dog Needs a Walk
View this post on Instagram
James had moved into an apartment that just so happened to overlook The Wilds. While it sounds ideal now, it certainly wasn’t back then.
“I thought, ‘This is crazy. I live next to this big green space and I can’t go there’,” James recalls.
Down but not out, James decided to go exploring anyway. After all, he had a dog (Pablo) to walk!
What he ended up finding in this sworn-off place was something of a wonderland in the rough. A place that just needed someone to care about it. Luckily for The Wilds, James was just the person for that.
A lover of plants, James started taking small steps to manicure the vast space. Some trimming here, some fixing up there. Soon, these actions grew into bigger ones as each weekend passed. If James was lucky, people would brave The Wilds and join him. Soon, a hopeful new chapter for the park began.
Art Starts to Offer Hope
View this post on Instagram
James explains that the more work this small group did, the more it seemed there was to do. And before long, it became clear that they needed more hands on deck.
After adopting the space from City Parks, James realised that to get more people to fall in love with the Wilds like he had, he had to shift their perspectives on its poor reputation.
Using his creative talents, he came up with an idea to make the space more inviting with unique art installations. Fittingly, the first of these installations were 67 colourful owls for Mandela Day.
“I realised art can play a strong role in reimagining public space,” he says, remembering how for the first time he saw the car park full with those curious to see Owl Forest.
But there was a problem. People were coming for the art and not necessarily staying to explore the rest of the wilds. It was then that James realised he could use his creations to act as breadcrumbs—leading people down the rabbit hole of all the Wilds had to offer with more animal sculpture installations.
Help Needed, Please!
View this post on Instagram
Now that word of The Wilds not being a fearsome space was starting to spread, a lot more good work lay ahead of James and those helping him transform it.
It was time to start a Facebook page to recruit volunteers—something James didn’t have much faith in people joining at the time. However, to his surprise, the page began to blossom with thousands of people—each with something unique to offer to the growth of the park.
James credits the volunteers as a huge turning point in The Wilds’ story. What some lacked in ideas, they made up for in labour. What some lacked in labour, they made up for in ideas. It had started to become clear, as James puts it, that people had started to see the Wild not as someone else’s park or the City’s but as their own.
Sometimes Change Requires a Little Rebellion
In a kickass moment for the rebirth of The Wilds, James and a team of builders risked getting arrested for building a universal access path that had gotten the red light. Despite a face-off with police, the team pursued the idea that would help a myriad of more people enjoy the park and continued building the middle of the night.
This would play a massive role not only in the park’s accessibility but in doing what was best for the community, even if it was at great risk.
Little by Little
View this post on Instagram
In between then and now, there have been countless moments of improvement. From restored pathways to indigenous plants flourishing once more and, most importantly, people trusting the space—all of it has taken little action by little action to burgeon impressive change.
View this post on Instagram
One of Joburg’s Best-Loved Parks
View this post on Instagram
After learning about this story, it becomes evident that this isn’t so much a story about a park that got a makeover and called it a day. It’s actually a story about people who chose to believe in something beyond themselves and perhaps found themselves in that process.
All these years later The Wilds is one of Joburg’s top-visited parks. You’ll find it on a host of ‘What to Do in Joburg Guides’ and in a plethora of natural spaces to visit in Gauteng listicles. You’ll be recommended to go there on dates, with your kids or even by yourself for a breath of fresh air in the bustling city.
It’s described as breathtaking, peaceful, soothing, and every other adjective you’d associate with a marvellous outdoor space in all the places it was once described as fearsome. And, all because someone decided to care and then got other people to care too.
A Challenge
To this day, James still spends considerable amounts of time in The Wilds.
“It’s this wonderful space which gives me great hope and great joy,” he says before offering us all a challenge.
I challenge each of you to go into your city, our city. Find a neglected space. And give it your energy and your time and your love. You won’t just transform a space and give community interaction and hope. It will bring you benefits that you never imagined.”
You can watch James’ full talk here:
by 