The walking encyclopedia of African wildlife
Reviewed February 25, 2019
Samuel guided us (the Steinhorst Family from Germany) during our christmas vacation at the Liwonde lodge in December 2018. After our first tour with Samuel we quickly chose to have Samuel as our personal guide throughout our entire stay at Liwonde. We were heavily impressed by Samuel's inexhaustable knowledge of the wildlife and the ecosystems present in the park. He told us stories of dung beatle marriages, of temperature dependent sex differention of krokodile eggs and of the hammerkob bird, who likes to build nests with colorful stolen underwear. Samuel not only taught us facts about a plethora of plants and animals, but he also emphasised lots of interspecies releationships and explained to us in staggering detail the clockwork of Liwonde's ecosystem. Every now and then he paused to study animal tracks in the sand, which he interpreted with forensic precsion to reconstruct the wildlife interactions that had taken place just hours earlier. Besides being educational, Samuel's humor made for tours being highly entertaining. During unexpected events, for instance when our boat got stuck in the middle of the Liwonde River once, Samuel maintained his composure and patiently solved the problem by enscribing our help in maneuvering the boat from the sandbank using sticks and bamboo poles. Being out there in the park with Samuel was like going on an adventure with a friend. And just like a friend, Samuel came to collect us at the poolside one day, excited to share with us that lions had been spotted in the park, to which he hurriedly organized a spontaneous trip. An anecdote that Samuel shared with us best illustrates his passion for wildlife. One day, as he was repairing a fence, he dug out a rare type of frog that had nestled itself in the earth adjacent to the fence post. After mending the fence post, he gently placed the frog back inside the hole and covered it back up. We believe that people like Samuel are key players in the maintainance of national parks and in the protection of wildlife. We also hope that many more people will get the opportunity to learn from Samuel's safaris as we did. We wish Samuel all the best for the future and that many future guides, guests, animals and plants will profit from his expertise and his enthusiasm for nature and wildlife.