Alex Braczkowski

I was quite a naughty young boy.

It was grade eight at De La Salle Holy Cross College.

And I was very naughty.

I got into an altercation with my algebra teacher at that point, and I landed up throwing a ham sandwich.

I got expelled.

And, yeah, while my parents were looking for a new school for me, I decided to volunteer at the Johannesburg Zoo.

I think they were pretty, pretty lousy growing up in terms of sort of my academic background.

I was certainly a late bloomer on the whole science and conservation biology front.

It only happened when I left school.

And I kind of got into an awkward position because of my inability to get good marks, especially in maths.

I wasn't an immediate fit for the zoology program.

So I actually couldn't get into university.

Yeah, it was chimpanzees.

And then also at the reptile section with a guy called Andrew Pringle.

So I was working on snakes, but mostly just chopping up vegetables and fruit for the chimpanzees.

Yeah.

So it was, yeah, but I,

You know, for any youngster, those kinds of imprinting memories of being close to animals, especially large primates, are pretty special.

Yeah, so that was at the Southern African Wildlife College.

It's actually still available to anybody who might be listening and who might be interested.