Both my parents emigrated to then Rhodesia from Mauritius. My father was only 20 years old in 1964 when he left Mauritius to come and work in the sugar industry in a place called Hippo Valley, in south-eastern Rhodesia. He started as an assistant section manager, then manager, until he was able to buy his own sugar farm in the early seventies. My mother was only 16 years old when she moved to Rhodesia with her parents. My parents married when she was 19. Three children and 52 years later they are still married. Unfortunately, events that happened in Zimbabwe in the early 2000s forced them back to Mauritius where they are today.I was born on 19 Feb 1979 in a small town called Triangle in the south-east of Rhodesia now Zimbabwe.
My father was a very keen hunter and he would take me hunting from a very young age. Without doubt he was my biggest influence and taught me so much about hunting, gun safety, etc. To this day when I’m faced with decisions in the field, I often ask myself, “What would the Old Man do?”
I did my apprenticeship under Roger Whittall. Roger is definitely one of the legends and pioneers of the safari industry in Zimbabwe and am so privileged to have been mentored by him. Working for Roger Whittall at the time as a PH was a local man called Magara. He was truly an amazing hunter/tracker. He too taught me very valuable lessons indeed.
It’s hard to pick any one particular lesson learnt during my early years as an apprentice because there were many but one of the things that I will never forget was the point Magara made to me once when we were on an elephant bull hunt. We caught
