6:17
To find out more about this type of tigerfish, I meet up with a man who has years of experience catching them. A fishing guide named Yuri Jansen. People talk a lot about tigerfish being very aggressive. How dangerous do you think they are to people in this river? The potential is there. We're dealing with a species that is without a doubt the most aggressive freshwater species in Africa and possibly worldwide. It's just such an aggressive fish. Particularly during the feeding frenzies associated with the catfish run, when tigers get together and shoal and actually feed as a unit rather than individually.
This sounds like the lead I'm after. A spectacular phenomenon that occurs at one specific time of the year here in the Delta that Yuri believes incites the tigerfish to hunt in packs. It's called the catfish or barbel or run, and this occurs when thousands of catfish prey on millions of bait fish. This hunt in turn attracts packs of tigerfish to feed in a predatory frenzy. Maybe this is what was happening in the reeds. As soon as that noise starts, the tigers are there in seconds. They go into feeding frenzy with that mouth open and they just chomp.
You see bits of fish being thrown up in the air. It's the most brutal thing you'll ever witness um from a freshwater species. Tigers naturally are attracted to any activity, whether it be a struggling animal or a struggling human being. And do you have any Have you heard any specific stories that illustrate that? There is one that stands out. A one particular incident in a river in South Africa. At the height of summer, an off-duty game ranger decided to take a quick dip in the river to cool off.
Risky. even if he thought the area was croc-free. But crocodiles are not the only predators in this water. My search for proof of the tigerfish's deadly potential has led me to the story of a horrific attack. He was brutally mauled all around the groin area. The nature of the wounds suggested it was a large tigerfish. He almost bled to death. [screaming] That just shows the ferocity of the tigerfish, attracted to any kind of movement in water, and um attacking things that may not resemble their prey. So, another example of a tigerfish attacking a human in open water. But it's still hunting alone.
However, these accounts of them feeding in frenzies during the catfish run could be the proof I need that they do work in packs. The next morning, I head deeper into the delta, scanning the water for the bird activity that could be the sign of tigerfish on the prowl. But finding a run is not proving to be that easy. It's a natural phenomenon that can appear and then disappear back into the reeds with no apparent warning. As I'm not finding anything at water level, I decide to search for the predatory fish from above.
Looking down on the maze of the Okavango, I realize that I'm finally beginning to unlock its secrets. What I'm looking for is concentrations of birds because people have told me that is where the predators are going to be. Flocks of birds typically feed on the bait fish that trigger the run. I'm counting on them to lead me to the action. Yes, I can see them. I can see the birds. My hope is that like the birds, packs of tiger fish will be going after the barbel catfish run. This will prove my theory that these toothy killers do hunt together and could be capable of mutilating boatload of people.
Well, here are the birds, but they're not actually doing anything at the moment. It's like they're waiting for something. It's like they can sense something that I can't. Uh it's actually quite spooky. Something's going to happen. It's not happening yet. Then seemingly out of nowhere, the catfish start arriving. An army of them schooling together to herd thousands of bait fish out of the reeds into open water where the catfish can feed on them.
This is the rare freshwater spectacle I've been hearing about. What I've spent so long searching for. Uh hundreds if not thousands of these. This is what the bubble run is all about. Oh. Catfish, lots of them. But, the catfish aren't what I'm after. I've been told that all this commotion will draw in the second wave of predators, the tigerfish. And before long, I'm witnessing a real feeding frenzy. This is just incredible. The amount of activity is just incredible. It looks This is a real phenomenon. Ah. There are fish there just holding their open mouths out of the water, presumably just treading water with their tails.
And they're just waiting, and the bait fish are flying in the air. So, presumably, they're just waiting for the fish to land in their mouths. Absolutely incredible. The water is just so full of fish. And just in your ears as well. You hear the sound, it's like the water doesn't just look like it's boiling, it sounds like I've just never seen anything like this before. To see such a sight in fresh water, it's really incredible. I need to get a bait back in the water, into the middle of this carnage, to finally prove that tigerfish are here hunting in packs.
Fish on. Look at this. I'm after the tigerfish in the Okavango Delta trying to prove that these fish are Africa's oversized version of the pack-hunting piranha. Looks like I'm finally in the eye of the storm. This is not carnage going on behind the reeds or in some sort of marsh where I can't see it. This is right at the river's edge and the predators are just hammering into the bait fish and my lure when it goes in there as well is getting the same treatment.
I'm hooking one tigerfish after another. Well, this is the fish. This is the fish and the evidence is right behind me. It's It's in my ears. I mean, just the sound of the feeding frenzy that is going on as I hold this fish. So, this is not just a solitary hunter. There is a pack of them down there filling the air with the sound of just frenzied predatory activity. People think piranhas are scary. Piranhas are just a few inches, uh you know, maybe a pound, 2 lb. But, fish this size operating in a pack is a pretty monstrous thought.
Fact is, if you get a bait in the right place just these things one after the other will just pile into it. And uh I think without a doubt this is a very likely candidate for what put paid to those people in the ferry. So, we're not just talking a solitary animal down there. We are talking a pack. We're almost talking a superorganism. You know, the biomass of these in a small volume of water is quite frightening.
