African Wildlife & Environment Issue 78

ECO HERO

Dr Garth Batchelor (White River, South Africa) - Petri and I started our conservation careers on the same day and for the (then) Transvaal Provincial Administration on 1 February 1972. Petri worked on small mammals and I was in fisheries. It was at our first Professional Officers' Meeting that I first met Petri. At this meeting he gave a presentation on Oribi antelope and I was fascinated by his presentation. It was one of the best reports presented and illustrated with outstanding images of Oribi.

Petri with drone

Photography was another passion of Petri's. I can't recall how many times I thought I had taken, what I thought was a pleasing image of a landscape, bird, mammal, insect or whatever and noticed Petri taking one of the same subjects. I was usually disappointed in mine after checking his. If you take a little time to look at his images on Facebook, I'm sure you will agree with me, he had a really special gift at observing and documenting beauty. Tony Starfield (Texas, USA) - What terribly sad news. Petri and I exchanged e-mails two or three times a week (when he wasn't off on one of his adventures). I used to tease him about living dangerously and he used to tease me with hair-raising descriptions of his adventures. He was indeed so alive, and so busy and so proud (recently) of all the things that he was doing as a 70-year-old, that it is impossible to imagine him not being there. Petri and all of you are part of my best memories of my favorite places and some of the best times in my life - Savuti, Serengeti, and the Lowveld. I haven't been to Africa for nearly eight years now and Petri was my link to the continent. I will mourn him and miss him, so I can imagine how very much more you will miss him. My heart goes out to you. Andy Moore (Botswana) - He was the rarest of the rare, Zanne, as you more than anyone will know and the two of you found a very special closeness and love. But both of you touched many other friends and knowing you has always been a special privilege for me. I flew with Petri once or twice and was so impressed by his meticulous attention to detail. But I guess low-level surveys are always associated with more risk than normal.

Petri was very skilled at flying model aircraft and could read the air like a book. He was always watching clouds and analysing weather systems. His garage in White River bears testimony to his passion for model / RC aircraft. I don't think there is space to hang one more plane, in fact they had started to migrate into his office in the house. He had two favourite gliders. One was called a Libelle which comes from the name of the mandible of a dragonfly and the other an Alula which is the 'thumb' on a bird.They are both small, light-weight and very sensitive gliders and therefore very difficult to fly. Petri had them flying like they were alive. These were his favourites at the beach. What a joy it was to watch him 'controlling' them in the wind. Petri was not only an outstanding pilot but was equally good with designing and making aeroplanes.When he showed me a drone he had built, I could not believe it! It had eight motors and could carry a SLR camera weighing a few kilograms. He purchased the component parts in China and put the electronics together himself, long before there were commercial off-the-shelf drones available. Petri canoeing with Dr Garth Batchelor in Mozambique. Also a hairy tale of them being caught in a sudden rainstorm and had to paddle for their lives to get back to shore.

55 | African Wildlife & Environment | Issue 78 (2021)