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Who else saw this in today's Wild Card newsletter? Talk about an amazing sighting. This probably beats seeing a pangolin riding bareback on a sable being chased by a pride of caracals!

http://www.wildcard.co.za/blog.htm?action=view-post&id=3406

PS. There is also the full account of TheunsH and Elzet's close encounter with a lioness that opened their car door (http://www.wildcard.co.za/blog.htm?action=view-post&id=3407)

Zambezi's are known to swim inland in rivers (hence the name), so I guess it's completely possible to see them in Kruger...count yourself lucky if you do though. I'd imagine it's quite an unusual sighting.

They have been spotted in the area where the present Kariba dam is, before Cahora Bassa dam was built. So I will not seriously doubt their observation.

I always remember as a boy, obsessed with Kruger, reading in Wilf Nussey's Kruger: Portrait of a National Park that a zambezi shark had been spotted in the Park in the eighties and feeling a combined sense of utter incredulity and cold shivers.

Reading that story of the shark kill near Pafuri gives me the same feeling.

Just looking at the list of the fifty fish species found in Kruger and see that the Zambezi shark (or bull shark) is listed.

Apparently one was even caught in 1950 at the confluence of the Limpopo and Luvuvhu rivers, but I am can't find any official verification of that.

Interestingly, this is not the only saltwater fish to find its way into the Park. A saltwater bream was caught in 1970 near Croc Bridge!

Dear All,

The only official record of a Zambezi Shark in the Kruger National Park is indeed the one caught at the confluence of the Luvuvhu and Limpopo Rivers (Crooks Corner) on 4 July 1950. It was caught by Harold Mockford the recruitment officer for TEBA (The Employment Bureau of Africa), previously WNLA (Witwatersrand Native Labour Association) stationed at Pafuri. The specimen weighed 21,8kg and measured 1,47metres. Interestingly Zambezi Sharks have been recorded well upstream of many of the larger rivers on the eastern seaboard of Southern Africa, amongst others, Zambezi River, at Tete in 1852, Lower Shire River and the Usutu River where it is joined by the Pongola at Ndumu in northern KwaZulu Natal.

Indeed an interesting story!

Thank you.

JOEP (joep.stevens@sanparks.org)

Nice story, didn't know they were recorded in KNP.
I've watched a few films on bull sharks.Very interesting.

Thank you for your excellent historical input, Joep. I suppose that if someone has actually physically *caught* a shark in the Park, there must be quite a few instances where they have just been spotted visually over the years. Without photos though, I should think you'd have a hard time convincing your friends of the sighting!

With sharks swimming up the Limpopo it got me thinking who would win in a head to head if a big enough Zambezi shark came across a hippo. Turns out I wasn't the only one to think it, and Animal Planet produced a (somewhat nonsensical) analysis of what the outcome would be.

So before you watch this clip on Youtube, have a think about which would win: shark or hippo and then see if you agree with their final analysis...

[url]
http://youtu.be/20EHzZeiThk[/url]

The only Sharks in the Kruger park I know of is "Shark" rugby supporters!!

I saw a shark in Mata Mata, Kgalagadi on new year's eve, 2011.

In the pool of course!

are talking rugby fan or plastic
When in Kruger is see sharks all over the place

Not a fan, and definitely not plastic.
A real shark.

BB?