Tintswalo Safari Lodge launches free virtual safaris
Tintswalo Safari Lodge has launched free virtual safaris that are available on its social media channels to all its followers. Says Lisa Goosen, CEO of Tintswalo: “The national lock-down in South Africa has been very challenging for humans, but in the bush, nature...
Africa’s Darkness Will Pass
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Letter to AHG
Richard, I hope this email finds you well. I just finished reading your editorial in the Winter 2019 issue called “The Safari...Experience It.” Thank you for such a thought-provoking description of the safari experience. I found myself getting wonderfully lost in your...
Francolins – A Rose by Any Other Name
You’d think with birds this ubiquitous, the “experts” could come to an agreement. That doesn’t seem to be the case. By Ken Bailey Sitting on my desk are five of the most universally accepted and highly regarded books describing the birds of southern Africa. I’ve...
CITES Frustrates Southern African States – Again!
By John Ledger The triennial World Wildlife Conference, known formally as CoP18 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), concluded in Geneva, Switzerland on 28 August 2019. In a press release the organizers...
African trackers – the last of a vanishing breed
By Kyle Ball M.D. Robin Hurt. Coenrard Vermaack. Gary Kelly. Gordon Mace. Paul Ferreira. Carl Stormanns - professional hunters all, and well-known operators in their respective countries. In any gathering of safari hunters, many men will have either hunted with one or...
Volker Grellmann of Namibia: Giant of a Gentleman, Giant of a Hunter
By Brooke ChilversLubin When I first started attending the SCI Convention in Las Vegas the 1980s, we all lived and exhibited together under the same roof, at the old Hilton Hotel near the airport. Its sizable half-moon bar, which PHs called “the office,” recalls the...
The Safari… Experience It
There is a certain magic this continent offers the visiting hunter. Our challenge is to understand exactly what that is, package it, and spread the word. But what exactly is this ‘experience’ and how does one describe it? As the sun sets on another year in Africa, I’d...
A THOUSAND DAYS
By Jeffery Belongia I love waking up on safari. Of course, there’s no place like Africa, and even after 52 hunts in seven countries, I have never spent a day there - or even an hour - wishing I were somewhere else. Africa is our ancestral home. I vividly remember...
The Charge of the White Brigade!
South Africa: 2016 By Darrell Sterling Irwin Tam and his sons Stephen and Peter are avid conservationists and lifetime members of SCI, raising and donating tens of thousands of dollars to support wildlife conservation. Like hunting legends Jim Shockey, Scott Haugen,...
Mozambican Monster
Mozambique: 2017 By Darby Wright “We must go into the jesse and search for our buffalo," said our PH Ian Rutledge. If you've never been to Mozambique, you'd be amazed. It’s a hunter's paradise! Villagers live in mud and grass-thatch huts, solely in subsistence mode,...
Many Hunts and a Mercy Mission
By Kim Stuart Zimbabwe: 1996 - 2018 It was 1996 when I was with hunting buddy Jim Gefroh. Being novices, we had booked our first tuskless hunt in Zimbabwe in November. The weather was hot and beyond humid. The jesse was thick - in places like a rainforest. We...
Hunter Father, Hunter Son
By Lavon Winkler We only get one “first trip” and this was Scott’s. After five years of him listening to me talk for hours on end about Africa, he finally conceded and agreed to join me on my third adventure. Every hunter knows that each time we trek through the bush...
MOZAMBIQUE’S SWAMP BUFFALO…
Into the big herds! By Craig Boddington The buffaloes we could see were starting to lie down on the far side of a short-grass savanna. Egrets swooping over sawgrass beyond indicated it was a large herd, only a portion in view…but how many buffaloes do you need? We ran...
The Mysterious Case of the Vanishing Elephants
Tourism is a tough sector. Competing global markets with a smorgasbord of products makes for stiff competition. It is also a fickle business; the slight hint of civil unrest can sink that country’s prospects overnight. Intensive marketing is the name of the game and...
Richards Editorial
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]“He can track a butterfly...” Reading Terry Weiland’s back page gave me the nudge I needed - I am actually ashamed that it’s taken me all this time to get down to writing this. Thirty-five years ago, a family friend in Bulawayo, now...
Bowhunting a Tsessebe Bull
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]By Frank Berbuir What is a tsessebe, some guys in my home country asked when I told them about my bowhunting adventure on this African antelope… . It is the end of August and I am lucky to be back again in South Africa to...
Terry Wieland On Ammo
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]FATHER OF THEM ALL Thanks to Zulu, the classic 1964 movie starring Michael Caine, the Martini-Henry rifle enjoys a celebrity among citizens at large that is rare among military weapons. Tens of millions of people have seen...
African Wingshooting Popularity Reaching New Levels
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Ken Bailey There’s an emerging trend in African hunting circles that is seeing dedicated wingshooting safaris rising in popularity. As all who’ve hunted or visited Africa know, it is home to an astounding variety of bird life,...
One for the Road
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] “Hurry, Hurry! Shoot! SHOOT! (And other helpful comments.) Towards the end of his career in Africa, Robert Ruark had one particular tracker named Metheke without whom, he wrote, “I feel naked in the bush.” He does not make it...
Artist Profile: Debra Cooper
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]An innate knack for drawing, an encouraging art teacher, and a passion for wildlife have inspired and motivated Debra to take her art to legendary levels. Debra was born in Manistee Michigan, a little tourist getaway on the coastline...
Loxodonta Africana
Loxodonta Africana What a powerful name for the world’s greatest land animal. Today, the landlocked, small southern African country of Botswana, with a little over a million people took arguably the biggest decision in living memory (or mine anyway) regarding how it...
Royal Antelope
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Royal Antelope Based on Chris and Mathilde Stuart’s book, "Game Animals of the World," published by African Hunting Gazette, here’s everything hunters need to know about the Royal Antelope English: Royal Antelope Latin: Neotragus...
Politics and Hunting in Botswana
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Politics and Hunting in Botswana By Dr John Ledger In 2014 the then President of Botswana, Ian Khama, unexpectedly announced the banning of all hunting in his country. This caused consternation in the hunting community and brought...
A Matter of Trust…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] A Matter of Trust… Trust - firm belief in the reliability, truth, or ability of someone or something When you’re buying something – particularly the higher it is in value - this underlying element of trust is becoming all too...
Of Demons and Dragons
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Of Demons and Dragons. The preservationist, anti-sustainable use doctrine is a formidable global force. Selling the creed to the Western world is both simple and lucrative. A 24/7 stream of cuddly Disney movies, TV...
Always trust Your PH…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Always trust Your PH… By Lucas Paugh “Nothing captures your heart like Africa,” was the mantra of my friend and mentor Craig Boddington. And as a young hunter I had always dreamed of hunting Africa to experience what...
Bow, arrow and a Common Reedbuck!
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Bow, arrow and a Common Reedbuck! By Frank Berbuir Previously, we were lucky and happy to finally take a nice mountain reedbuck after four days of intense hunting. Now the next challenge awaited us - a common reedbuck. ...
ARCHERY AND BOWHUNTING – why I like it…
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] ARCHERY AND BOWHUNTING – why I like it… By Dr Adrian de Villiers The reason archery and hunting with a bow is so special is because you are only as good as your last shot. With archery there is no such thing as sighting in your bow...
One for the Road
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] One for the Road Maydon is not a name that is commonly grouped with Baker, Selous, Bell, and Taylor, although it should be. In 1935, Major H.C. Maydon published a book on African hunting that was completely outside the norm. It was...