Frans Bijsterveld

Timot Frans Bijsterveld

(Proceeds of this book are for the Zimbabwe Pensioners' Support Fund, which supports 1500 retired people in Zimbabwe who have very little. They are given food parcels, wheelchairs etc. by the ZPSF, based in South Africa) . . . . Make no mistake, Timot's world was often fraught with hidden dangers where not everyone returned home in one piece. A colleague was killed by a lion, another mauled by a leopard and yet another gored by a buffalo. And then of course, there was the bush war to contend with. Luck, however, was on Timot's side. He was the real deal in the world of National Parks and wildlife conservation in Rhodesia. When only 28 and with a young wife and two small sons, Tim Braybrooke became the youngest warden in the country, in a remote, undeveloped game park on the Mozambique border. It was teeming with aggressive elephant and far away from civilisation, but by the time he left, he and his team had done a great job. They all went on to make their mark in the country's national parks, and some, like Timot, set up their own successful safaris. Timot was born in Salisbury and eventually went to Plumtree School, where he met his friend-for-life, Storm Stenslunde. What they got up to and got away with at such a young age is the stuff of legend.