About FISH:
How did he become a ranger?
Fish started his career at Mashatu 23 years ago as part of the Anti-poaching team. It is here that he learned how to track not only people but also all the different animals on the reserve - both large and small. Two years later he was transferred to the lodge as a tracker. In 1986 Fish got his guide’s license and assisted Pete Le Roux (Operations Director of Mashatu) with the tracking and capturing of leopards as part of Pete’s leopard project. Currently Fish is one of the senior rangers at the Mashatu Main Camp. Fish’s speciality is still tracking and his favourite animal is the leopard. If there is a leopard out there Fish will find it!
His most memorable sightings:
Two of Fish’s most memorable sightings are:
“One morning we observed two lions fighting with a young leopard and eventually killing the leopard. It was hard to watch and the whole time we felt like intervening but this is part of nature and we are only spectators in this”.
On another occasion Fish and his guests spotted a Tawny Eagle catching a python. The snake was far too heavy for the poor eagle and after struggling for sometime to fly off with it, the eagle eventually gave up. Fish also witnessed a black breasted snake eagle fighting in mid air with a snake it caught. It would drop the snake and just before it hit the ground catch it again. It continued doing this until at last the snake was dead.
Conservation message
Encourage photo shooting rather than rifle shooting of Africa’s wildlife. |