2005 – Northern Namibia Back in 2005, prior to the World Congress of Herpetology in Cape Town, we embarked on a field trip to northern Namibia. I had Paul Moler and Randy Babb with me for most of the trip. We had a bad start - while crossing Botswana… Read More
Kokerboom Biological Station About seventeen years ago we went herping in Namaqualand. It was Paul Moler, the late Gordon Setaro and Rob Deans. It was a very productive trip and me managed to photograph a wide variety of reptiles including Horned Adders, Many-horned Adders, Spotted Rock Snakes, Common… Read More
Herping with Gordon Setaro With the passing of my very good friend Gordon Setaro I have thought that it would be the right thing to share a few photographs of Gordon taken over the years. While many of you got to know Gordon well, others will never have that… Read More
End of an era – a tribute to Gordon Setaro Back in late 1979, while working at FitzSimons Snake Park, two odd-looking guys entered the park but stopped a few paces from the ticket office and were having a bit of a conversation. This was rather odd but they eventually approached me and introduced themselves.… Read More
Fly Fishing in Watamu Yesteryear. In February 2001 about half a dozen of us headed for Watamu in Kenya to fly-fish for sailfish. My good friend Piet Goosen, former discus champion from Potchefstroom led the team, which included a few yuppies from the JSE. It was a bit of… Read More
Kwena Gardens Croc Farm End of an era. Back in 1985 I received a telephone call from Shlomi Ranot, an Israeli whom I had met at a Crocodile Specialist Group (IUCN) meeting in Zimbabwe back in 1982. He worked with a large conglomerate of companies in Israel called CLAL… Read More
Police force days Yesteryear. Straight after school all young men had to do two years compulsory military service. I opted to do my time in the South African Police and as a 17-year old I got onto the train to Pretoria for six months of training. Read More
Gabriel Back in 1976, while living at 231A Langton Road in Montclair, Durban, I acquired a baby crocodile, organised by my good buddy Clive Deacon. It apparently came from the Tugela river and was held briefly by folks on the Bluff. I applied for a permit for… Read More
Remembering Rod Patterson 21 April 2022. It is with great sadness that I have learnt of the passing of Rod Patterson, former owner of Transvaal Snake Park in Halfway House. I met Rod back in 1979 while working for Fritz Muller at Fitzsimons Snake Park in Durban. We… Read More
Oom Johan and Tannie Susan As a kid I had no real mentors other than my father. There were a number of people that I greatly respected and some who taught me a great deal. Later on in life I worked with some great people and in the field of… Read More
Trips to the drive-inn Yesteryear. One of the biggest treats for a Woodlands kid in the 60s was a Friday night trip to the drive-inn with your parents or perhaps with your friends parents. It was mostly Umbilo drive-inn, otherwise Bluff drive-inn and on rare occasions Durban drive-inn. That… Read More
John Visser Yesteryear. The late John Visser with a Free-tailed Bat near Musina. This was back in 1982 and the only trip I ever did with John. He was a successful business and keen herpetologist as well as an accomplished photographer. But not always the easiest person… Read More
Meeting Paul Moler Yesteryear. Back in 1982, while working at the Transvaal Snake Park, I attended a Crocodile Specialist Group meeting in Vic Fall, Zimbabwe. It was well attended with fascinating topics being covered by a variety of speakers from all over the world. I met a bunch… Read More
Time to travel Yesteryear. Back in 1983 I decided that it was time to travel. Funds were limited and I bought an air ticket using my father's credit card. The bank had a scheme called Fly Now Pay Later.vMy first stop was London where I visited some reptile… Read More
Survey of the reptiles and amphibians of Mulanje Mountains Yesteryear. Fifteen years ago I joined the late Bill Branch and Michael Cunningham on a trip to Malawi to do a survey of the reptiles and amphibians of Mulanje Mountains. Read More
Tribute to Mike Jaensch 05 February 2021. Tribute to Mike Jaensch. When I went for my interview with Rod Patterson at Transvaal Snake Park back in 1979, we returned to Durban in my old VW Kombi Camper and it broke down in Edenvale. Alternator trouble. We made it to… Read More
Revision of the Complete Guide to the Snakes of Southern Africa 09 April 2022. A few busy days in the Western Cape. I have spent several years working on a major revision of my best-selling book Complete Guide to Snakes of Southern Africa. The first edition was published in 1995 and the second in 2004 -… Read More
Remembering Wulf Haacke 30 June 2021. It is with a heavy heart that I have learnt of the passing of Wulf Haacke, former herpetologist of the Transvaal Museum. Wulf was born in the old South West Africa (now Namibia) on 15 December 1936 from German parents who had… Read More
Kids’ Snakes of Southern Africa 25 July 2018 - Received the advanced copies of my new book - Kids' Snakes of Southern Africa and I am over the moon! The Struik Natural History Books team did a phenomenal job - my sincere thanks to Pippa Parker, Emily Donaldson, Dom Robson… Read More
Sheba the first King Cobra in South Africa Back in 1982, while I was curator of Transvaal Snake Park, we imported the first King Cobra into South Africa. I cannot remember what we paid but the supplier was Steve Krzystyniak, better known as Gumby Roachclip at the time. He later moved to South… Read More