Ranger Raymond Simmons guides out of Riverdene and is fantastic with kids. He is a friendly, enthusiastic and passionate member of the team and has loved every minute of guiding at Shamwari thus far.
Name: Raymond Simmons
Title: Game Ranger
Started at Shamwari: 10 December 2018
Hometown: Durban
Previous roles: I’ve worked at Mabula Game Reserve, Nambiti Private Game Reserve and Manyoni Private Game Reserve.
Qualification:
FGASA Field Guide
Lodge Management
Hobbies:
Golf, fitness, birding and public speaking.
Passion:
Being a field guide, I can combine my passion of nature with impacting people in a positive way.
Favourite part of the job:
Creating long life memories with guests and educating them about Shamwari’s vanishing way of life.
Quote:
“When you are good at something you will tell everyone but when you are great at something, they will tell you.” – Jay Shetty
Favourite animal:
Lion.
Simply because of the trill and the adrenaline rush they give me when I look into their eyes.
Favourite animal in a sighting:
Leopard.
It is elusive and I have the utmost respect for this specie.
Most exciting encounter while on game drive:
I was guiding out of Riverdene on an early morning safari. We headed out in search of a pride of lions. As the sun broke the horizon, we managed to locate two males accompanied by two females but no sign of the newborn cubs.
We had waited for approximately ten minutes when the lionesses started to contact call, looking for something. To our surprise, eight tiny cubs revealed themselves from the thicket. At first, they were very wary of our presence but after a little while they became curious and slowly approached my vehicle.
The guests were ecstatic, and a lot of emotion was shown in their faces at the sight of the cubs. The cubs continued to walk up to the vehicle and were making cute sounds. After they had thoroughly inspected the vehicle they ran towards their dads and jumped all over them. The males got up and walked away, showing signs of irritation towards the cubs. The cubs then ran to their moms.
This was the most beautiful sighting and what made it even better was to be able to see the emotion in my guests’ at the sight of lion cubs interacting with the pride members.