​After a month of fun-filled evenings with illuminating lights that lit up various walkways at the Joburg Zoo, a senior lighting technician responsible for the show shares intricate details of how the City-owned animal facility was enlivened in December.

Mlungisi Patrick Mbatha from the Joburg Theatre says the municipal entity plays a significant role in constructing the lights used for the month-long festival in December, including installing lighting on the life-size structures.

As a stage lighting technician, Mbatha was tasked with designing the lighting on the festival stage and on the trees around the designated walkways at the zoo in Parkview. He says all technicians who installed the lights during the festival in December are employed on a fulltime basis by Joburg Theatre.

The lights laid out around the zoo and the concert stage during the festival were placed strategically in specific locations to help visitors explore the animal facility at night when nocturnal and other creatures are wide awake. This was also done to avoid bothering animals that sleep at night.

Joburg City Parks and Zoo spokesperson, Jenny Moodley says careful measures of convenience for animals included the use of LED lights to minimise disruptions. The use of LEDs instead of dimmers saved energy consumption.

Moodley notes that lights that lit up festival nights were placed around the bandstand area of the zoo, the main concert stage.

“It was important for us to consider the residents of the zoo – the animals. The lights and noises were far enough away from our larger animals, such as the lions and elephants, who are more sensitive to loud noises,” she explains.

Moodley adds that animals that were closer to festivities and entertainment were the hornbill birds, and primates like the chimpanzees, who were delighted by the buzz and eager to make their own noise.

Mbatha says installing the elaborate lighting system was all in a day’s work. “It took us approximately 8 hours to set up the lighting for the festival. We started at 9 a.m. and ended around 8 p.m,” he says.

The lights used were transported to the zoo with a large-scale Joburg Theatre truck and stored at the zoo once the festival ended.

Given his years of experience, Mbatha says working with stage lighting at the Joburg Theatre has made it fun and exciting to do similar work at an outdoor event such as the Joburg Zoo’s Festival of Lights. He adds that because of their experience at the theatre, the lighting technicians did not have any challenges switching the zoo on.

“Our job was to create a well-lit space for visitors to enjoy the lights, performances, and night market. We, as technicians, have just as much fun bringing the lights to life as the visitors who take selfies next to them,” he adds.

Moodley says the Festival of Lights was an enormous success for both entities involved as well as the visitors who were able to experience it.

“Covid-19 has robbed us of so much. Being able to create an open space for the public to come and spend time with their families has been extremely rewarding. We hope that the festival will continue for many years to come,” she enthuses.

Written by Sascha-Lee Joseph

24/2/2022