Biography


Sasha Siemel was an adventurer, hunter, guide, actor, writer, lecturer, and protector of the Pantanal. He had a wife and four children. He spoke seven languages. The following are some highlights of his life. He had more adventures in one year of his life than most of us have in our entire lifetime.
1890: Born in Riga, Latvia.
1907: Arrives in the United States. (Age 17)
1909-1914: Leaves for Argentina. Works in a printing shop in Buenos Aires.
1914-1923: Arrives in Brazil. Heads to the diamond mines in Mato Grosso. Travels among mining camps and earns a living as a gunsmith and mechanic.
1923: Becomes a Tigrero and is hired by the ranchers in the Pantanal to hunt Jaguars to protect the people and the cattle industry. (Age 33)
1925: Records first Jaguar kill using a Zagya.
1929: Julian Duguid arrives in Brazil and hires Sasha to take him across the entire Pantanal.
1931: Julian Duguid writes "Green Hell" about the Pantanal crossing and names Sasha "Tiger Man". (Age 41)
1931: Travels to England at the request of Duguid and lectures to the explorers club about his hunting experiences and the beauty of the Pantanal. Afterwards, Sasha is invited to lecture by explorer clubs from many countries.
1932: Julian Duguid writes Sasha's biography "Tiger Man"
1937: On one of his lecture trips to America, Sasha meets Edith Bray in Philadelphia. Three years later they would get married and begin to raise a family in the Pantanal. (Age 47)
1938: Stars In "Jungle Menace" as Tiger Van Dorn.
1947: Siemel family leaves the Pantanal and arrives in USA. They purchase a farm in Marlbough Township, PA. Sasha would continue to lead trips into the Pantanal and lecture for the next 20 years. (Age 57)
1953: Writes his autobiography "Tigrero".
1963: Opens the Siemel Museum in Green Lane, PA. (Age 73)
1968: Makes his last trip to the Pantanal guiding a group of geologists.
1970: Dies in Green Lane, PA at the age of 80.

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