A Close Encounter With A Lion
This account of a close encounter with a lion near the Limpopo River in 1845, appears to have been written by William Oswell, a former big-game hunter, three years before his death. _________________________________________________________________________________...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 14
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 15. Geoff’s Lion and Baboon A good friend of mine has always had a yearning to shoot a lion. When I was involved with problem animal control, Geoff kept asking me to call him if there was an opportunity to join me and...
Jason Stone: Inch By Inch, A Trophy Hunter of 25 Years
A 67-inch kudu bull from Limpopo, South Africa.Written by Richard Lendrum Since record books started and inches measured, some believe this has been a curse on the hunting industry. For many, it is their way of distinguishing themselves, to prove something, be...
Leopard Hunt – Podcast
Caption: Rudolph Stephan, Tim and Mary Sylvester.By Richard Lendrum I was talking with Tim and Mary Sylvester when they were out on their safari and somehow the conversation turned to recalling a previous hunt they had done - a leopard in Zimbabwe almost 7...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Africa's Most Dangerous Kevin Robertson (Safari Press, 2007, 244 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey Much of African hunting literature is of the “Me and Joe” variety, books chock-full of tales describing the hunting adventures of the author. On occasion, however,...
The Baobab Buffalo
Written by Kevin Cunningham It is almost a cliché to say that hunting Cape Buffalo is special. For me it began, curiously enough, many years ago hunting whitewing dove in Mexico with Ralf. Ralf was a successful, greying guy who loved the hunting and fishing life,...
Hunting Lord Derby Eland in Cameroon with Mayo Oldiri
On the fourth day hunting LD eland we picked up the tracks of two bulls at around 7am and followed them for about 2 hours. The droppings were shiny and moist, and we knew we were close. As we moved over a slight hill, I spotted the two bulls moving in front of us,...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 13
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 14. 'The Hat’ - A Dirty, Smelly Old Friend When it comes to ‘outdoors men’ (sorry, ladies, this is a man thing!), have you ever wondered what it is that sets us apart from one another? I am particularly referring to...
Hunting the Big Little Buck
Mountain reedbuck afford a challenge hunt in the wild.By Daryl Crimp “He’s an absolute monster,” said PH Pete matter-of-factly, “and he lives on this big plateau.” ‘Big’ was an understatement. Even ‘huge’ didn’t cut it. The landscape in Eastern Cape is steroid-...
United Nations Biodiversity Conference Reaches Landmark Agreement
The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was opened for signature in 1992 at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro and entered into force in December 1993. The CBD is an international treaty for the conservation of biodiversity, the sustainable use of the components...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Hunter J.A. Hunter (Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1952, 264 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey At times we have a tendency to ignore or belittle the common in favor of whatever shiny new penny comes along; judging by all the love given the new 6.5, .27 and .28...
Giant Sable Conservation in Angola
Written by Pedro Vaz Pinto This past year finally allowed us to move forward with routine activities and reach a quasi-normality state after two years of facing all sorts of constraints derived from Covid-19 related restrictions. And on the ground, the year of 2022...
Bongo Hunting
Written by Frank Zits After the Big Five (lion, leopard, rhino, elephant, and Cape buffalo), hunting forest bongo possibly rates next, or at least high, on the list of dream safaris for most African game hunters. There are two types of African bongos, the western or...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 11
ritten by Neil Harmse Chapter 12. Wilderness Trails My life in the bush had its moments of excitement when dealing with problem animals and I have mentioned incidents on hunts and while guiding clients on safaris. However, when I think back, one of the...
Black Death with a Crossbow
Written by Jon FossilThirty yards in front of me, two huge Cape buffalo were repeatedly goring each other in a battle to the death. We had been following these two Dagga Boys for several hours and were now only 30 yards from the two combatants with nothing but a...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Strange Tales from the African Bush Hannes Wessels (Safari Press, 2009, 234 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey As is suggested by its title, Hannes Wessels’ Strange Tales from the African Bush is not your typical book that describing someone’s African hunting...
A Little Namibian Adventure
Written by Alan Tuck In September 2022, I hunted at Okarumuti Game Lodge, 70km outside Windhoek, Namibia. The Italian-owned and -run lodge, located almost exactly in the center of the country, has a working cattle ranch that sells hunts. On my trip, I...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 10
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 11. An Expedition into Mozambique The 1980s were a busy time for conducting walking trails and I also got involved with game control operations. By way of something different, I was asked by my good friend Loot...
Elephants and Mega Wildlife
Written by Richard Lendrum It was just over 20 years since I last sat down and had dinner with Johan after his life-altering buffalo attack. Much has changed in Johan Calitz’s life since then; and what a treat to catch up and spend five whole days with this...
Hunting Mozambique with Mashambanzou
Written by Randy Pretzer I am not much of an author, but my wife and I hunted the Zambezi River area of Mozambique in 2022 and I wanted to share our story. This trip was purchased at an SCI auction as a crocodile hunt with Mashambanzou Safaris, although I was able...
Grey? It’s actually Black and White – Anti-Poaching in Cameroon
Written by Grey, head of anti-poaching at Mayo Oldiri Safaris I was hired to go to Cameroon to work for Mayo Oldiri Safaris to train people in anti-poaching. However, the biggest challenge for me was that I had basically no experience as an anti-poaching guy....
Sango Wildlife Lodge & Camp
As I write this - John Ledger is fighting for his life in an ICU at a leading hospital in Joburg. He is either about to – or has had some big heart operation to try unclogging his arteries. It will be a tough ask for any surgeon as John, by his own admission has done...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Facing Down Fear John Sharp (Ex Montibus Media, 2021, 336 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey That bigger-than-life professional hunters are not relegated to a bygone era becomes quickly evident when reading John Sharp’s Facing Down Fear (Ex Montibus Media, 2021,...
Wato – The Book
By Brian Watson Wato - The Book is a beautiful 324 page hard cover compilation of some of Wato's hunting adventures in wild Africa and other wilderness places. The book can be purchased here: https://watosbook.square.site/ To give you a taste of what's in store...
African Conservation Awards 2022
Winners at the Game Rangers Association of Africa 2022 African Conservation Awards © GRAAAfrica’s conservation heroes were celebrated at the prestigious awards ceremony at the African Rangers Congress in Botswana on 17 September. The awards are an annual celebration...
My Hunting Journey
By Valerio Ventriglia My hunting life began in in Zambia, at a very young age. I used to go for my school holidays to Zambia, spending three months at a time. I used to pester my father to let me go with him when he went hunting, but as I was too small, I used...
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Part 9
Written by Neil Harmse Chapter 10. Bad Luck Safari There are times when, no matter how carefully things are planned, nothing seems to work out as one hoped. I remember one safari to Botswana years ago which seemed to go wrong from the very...
Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature
Land of the Black Buffalo Paul Smiles (Faber and Faber Limited, 1961, 184 pages.) Reviewed by Ken Bailey On a comparative basis, there is very little in the way of classic hunting literature focussed on what is today’s Botswana; professional hunting wasn’t...
Ian Wilmot’s Monster Eastern Cape Kudu
By Ian Wilmot The biggest kudu we ever shot in the Eastern Cape was a 63-inch kudu, shot 3 or 4 years back. Still the biggest kudu to come out of the Eastern Cape. And it was an interesting hunt, an enjoyable hunt. The terrain is challenging. And this kudu had...
Young and Dumb, but Alive!
By Ryan Phelan of Hotfire Safaris In the early 2000s, I was running a private game reserve in the Tuli Block in Botswana. We had one particular elephant bull that was becoming a nuisance, as he was destroying our solar pumps and panels and threatening my fencing...