On Friday the 1st of June 2012, Hwange and the greater ornithological world in Zimbabwe lost a real treasure. Elias "the bird man" Banda was a man of unequalled passion for the birds of Hwange and a familiar face to many people that visited the park.
He was taken away from us far to young and at 52 years old had many years of "birding" left in him.
He was a Ranger with the Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife management Authority and was assigned to the Research department. As lion researchers we were always out in the field with him and came to know and love the man a great deal. The image of him above was taken at a lion capture and believe me those ever present binoculars around his neck were for birds and not to to keep his eyes out for the rest of the pride!!!
One of the best stories that we will remember about Elias is that he was very good at stuffing birds that he had found dead in the park. One day an injured European Bee-eater that i had found and handed to my wife died and so she gave it to Elias to stuff for the museum. A couple of days later he presented it to her with a belly full of his wife's hair extensions as he had run out of cotton wool!!!
As perhaps a final tribute to him, when we were laying him to rest on his little plot in the mabale communal lands on Saturday, an African Harrier Hawk flew low and slowly over the crowd and into a nearby tree.
Fambai zvakanaka Baba!
The Hwange Birder
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