Nature loving community waste no time to make bird guide’s dream come true
Bird watching is his passion, but with the theft of his binoculars and dilapidation of his bird book, Mandla Ngomane, could not fully enjoy it, until Carol Thompson roped in some good Samaritans to help.
PAFURI – An avid birdwatcher in the Kruger National Park (KNP), with aspirations to follow in the footsteps of the late legendary bird guide Frank Mabasa, recently received some welcomed help from the nature-lover community.
It took Carol Thompson only one week to get a bird book for Mandla Ngomane after posting a request for donations online. “I was also quite surprised as to how quickly it happened,” she said.
The Sappi Birds of South Africa with Callfinder cost more than R1 000, which would have been difficult for Thompson, but with the help of the good Samaritans on the Africa Wild forum, Ngomane, a bird guide at the KNP, can continue his passion of learning about birds.
Thompson, a nature lover, had met Ngomane many times before as a young schoolboy. He had spent much time with the late Mabasa, also a bird guide at the KNP, and developed a keen passion for birds and had hoped to walk in his predecessor’s shoes in his knowledge of birds, and to mimic their sounds.
Thompson had been visiting the park with her son and noticed that he was battling to see the birds in the distance.
“We found out that his binoculars had been stolen,” she said.
“He was also in possession of a very old bird book, and was battling to identify the birds.”
On her return to Johannesburg, Thompson asked the Africa Wild forum if they could help.
“They opened a topic, and within days donations came and we could buy Mandla the book,” said Thompson.
She and her son were able to hand Ngomane the book on their way to the Hoedspruit Rhino Warrior challenge. “We had the privilege of seeing the biggest and brightest smile from a young man who could not express his thanks enough.”
