Vundu : Monster Catfish “Vundu” for the unfortunate angler that has a hook up with one of these brutes rest assured will be entertained in a battle of a life time, reaching a size of over two hundred pounds (90kg) these steam trains will have the angler busy for hours.

What is a Vundu you might ask?
The Vundu is part of the catfish family.

Where do you find a Vundu?
Lake Kariba and the Middle Zambezi.

Bait used
Anglers’ bait preferences include ox livers, hearts, frogs, kidneys, meat and fish that have been cut down the belly and turned inside out.

Follow these steps to catch and fight the Vundu:

Step 1: Find a decent sized bay to dock your houseboat

Step 2: Wait fir sunset, then kill a Platanna (plattie)
Step 3: Hook the plattie up (through the mouth and shoulder)

Step 4: Cast out as far a you can – into open waters
Step 5: Put rod into rod-holder
Step 6: Throw left over foods into water – let the scents attract fish
Step 7: Drink lots of beer, eat more food
Step 8: Fall asleep – sleep at a close proximity to the rods

Step 9: Wake up at 4am when the line is running furiously
Step 10: Strike like your life depends on it
Step 11: Reel in / fight your catch
Step 12: Enjoy the sensation of exhilaration and adrenalin whilst fighting your catch
Step 13: Get the Vundu onto the boat – grip by mouth or use a hook

Step 14: Weight the fish and get pictures taken
Step 15: Enjoy the moment of having caught the underwater giant of lake Kariba

It took me close to half an hour to reel this beast in. The 34kg Vundu was too heavy for me too lift after the fight, and thanks to Mike helping me lift it, we got this picture taken…

Step 16: Eat your catch; it will be the best fish you have ever devoured

Editing a 1:35 hour audio interview, which is an extremely detailed account of how a guys leg was blown off in Iraq, to make a 8 minute multimedia photo story out of it, proved to be quite a challenge. Not only was the editing process highly time consuming, but the actual content, the detailed explanations, of what was happening over there became haunting figures in my life.

It was however worth all the effort and patience, as it was as always a pleasure and an honour to have been working alongside an amazing photographer like Alon Skuy.

Alon approached me a while back and told me about this story, about a South African chap, Rory Mackenzie, who went to the British army, lost his leg there in a bomb explosion, came back to SA for a break, and wants to go back to Iraq…this meant gaining insight into a topic which has been kept quite distant to the public.

The first step of this lengthy process was to extract the audio, to present it in a logical order, explaining the event. The audio had to be edited about 7 times before coming close to 10 minutes. It was painful having to cut and chop away on an interview which grasps your full attention for the entire 1:35h duration, and where every sentence is an eye-opener…

It was vital for Alon and me to have the same idea and angle about the story, in order to begin the story-boarding process, which happened in correlation to the audio editing process. By looking at the video and photographic footage available, we were able to pinpoint which parts of the interview would be suitable and of course powerful: the aim was to enlighten, also to shock, and of course to make the viewer think critical about the issues.

The most difficult part of finding a way to add visuals where Rory explains the actual account. we had no direct footage of when the incident happened and had to creativley find an alternative. So we used video footage shot by Rory during one of his patrols and added it with some ‘black space’…

After a week of editing, of swapping and changing pictures, videos, and ideas, we finally finished the package, and both of us are happy with the result. The defining moment was adding music to the packaged story, which just added another dimension of effectiveness.

The story, or rather the interview, does entail some foul language, and sensitive viewers might find some of the images disturbing, so be warned, but don’t be put off either, as you won’t often get the chance to hear first hand what it feels like to get a limb blown off your body…