Mark Marshall is no snake in the grass, but he could probably help you catch one if you need him to. And he will do it with a smile on his face.
In fact, if you are ever lucky enough to run into Gqeberha’s own Steve Irwin, chances are he will be smiling from ear to ear.
Because Marshall absolutely loves his job, and therefore a lot of what he does is on a voluntary basis.
“I am fortunate that I have been able to combine my hobby and my job.
“I get to work with some amazing animals and teach people about them on a daily basis,” he said.
Born in Zimbabwe, Marshall moved to Nelson Mandela Bay at a young age and started his journey in conservation as a junior snake handler at the Port Elizabeth Snake Park.
In 2007, Marshall launched his company Sandula Conservation, through which he acts as an environmental consultant, specialising in reptiles and a range of other animals.
However, his involvement with all manner of scaly creatures and critters goes back more than two decades, and has earned him a reputation as one of Nelson Mandela Bay’s foremost experts on snakes and reptiles.
From pythons to puff adders, Cape cobras to corn snakes, he has identified, captured, rehabilitated and relocated all of them.
Beyond snakes, his reptile repertoire includes rock monitors, bearded dragons, leopard tortoises and even the occasional crocodile.
And if you are skittish about snakes, you might want to avoid visiting Marshall at home.
He currently has roughly 250 snakes, 100 tortoises, an assortment of large lizards and “a few other things”.
These creatures form part of his reptile and animal sanctuary, where he rehabilitates the creatures out of his own pocket, before releasing them back into the wild.
“We even find things that shouldn’t even be in SA, like a couple of tarantulas.
And many people keep illegal pets, like hedgehogs.
“We’ve seen some strange things over the years.”
Besides his consultancy work, his rehabilitation sanctuary and animal-handling services, Marshall also runs education programmes under the umbrella of Sandula.
“In the past, when I used to work for the snake park and nature conservation, we did a little bit of education in an effort to promote awareness and conservation among the public.
“Unfortunately, we only reached a small amount of people.
“Luckily, now we have a range of platforms and programmes through which we can reach a wide range of people.”
One project in particular Marshall feels has had great results is Sandula Kids.
Since 2014, this initiative has allowed him to speak to young children directly by visiting schools in Nelson Mandela Bay, showing them all kinds of reptiles, insects and other creatures , and raising awareness about nature in general.
“If you break the wall of ignorance and fear, then interest kicks in.
“And when interest kicks in, conservation kicks in.
“These kids in turn go home and educate their parents, which has an amazing knock-on impact on many adults’ approach to conservation,” Marshall said.
And public interest in what he does has steadily increased over the years.
In 2009, Sandula Conservation’s Facebook page went live and started with 16 members.
That same page now has more than 9,000 followers and has become a forum for discussions about “all things nature”.
Marshall said it started with people posting pictures of animals they found in their gardens, asking him to identify them.
Now, whole discussions are taking place, and people are learning from each other just as much as they learn from Marshall.
“Ten years ago it was like: ‘What snake is this? Please come and remove.’
“Now it’s become: ‘Can you please help us identify this snake, because we want to release it properly.’
“And if people are doing that with things they found in their gardens, then we are getting through to them, and that makes me very happy.”
HeraldLIVE
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