ALL LIFE IS HERE
In the cool pre-dawn stillness – when thereʼs just enough light to render the sky a dusty shade of mercury – the Lebombo Mountains emerge from the night. Against their rolling backdrop, Egyptian geese, herons and egrets quietly take flight; a hippo returning to the water generates ripples that break the lakeʼs surface.
Where the water becomes calm again, a man is standing on the bow of a small motorboat. Itʼs tucked against a bed of weeds and, overhead – as the manʼs arm glides backwards, forwards, backwards, forwards – a silver line carves graceful arcs into the lightening sky.
He is on the water for only one reason: tigerfish.
Pongolapoort Dam – or Lake Jozini, as the 49-year-old dam is also known – is the southernmost home of Hydrocynus vittatus, an apex predator known for its aggressive hunting skills. Tigers are exceptionally fast fish; they often hunt in packs and usually charge their prey, disembowelling their victims with sharp, interlocking teeth before returning to swallow whatʼs left of the shredded remains.
Joziniʼs tigerfish – averaging 900 grams and 40cm long, more or
