April 2021 Newsletter
Getting your trophies back home This headline may prompt one of one the following responses: Can’t recall anything about it really. Was seamless and reasonable. Was more expensive than I thought, but I got my trophies and it worked well. Was way more expensive than I...
The Weird World of Parasites
Great fleas have little fleas Upon their backs to bite ‘em, And little fleas have lesser fleas, And so ad infinitum [This little verse is often attributed to Ogden Nash, but other sources say the culprit was one Augustus De Morgan (1806-1871), and the poem appears in...
On safari with Jaco Oosthuizen
African Hunting Gazette: When and where were you born? Jaco Oosterhuizen: I was born in northern Namibia back in 1973, in the town of Tsumeb, though I spent my early years on a cattle ranch just east of Etosha National Park. Later on we lived in town because of the...
Hunting hyena in Africa
Brown Hyena The brown hyena, Hyaena brunnea, is a species found in Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. It is currently the rarest species of hyena. Brown hyenas average 34 to 55 inches in head and body length. They run 28 to 31 inches at the...
Taxidermist Feature: Umlindi Taxidermy
Company Name: Umlindi Taxidermy Contact: (Owner/Manager) Cecil Henning Physical Address: Braemore Farm, Cradock, 5880 Tel + 27 72 335 1358 Contact Email: Bernie@umtaxidermy.co.za Website: www.umlinditaxidermy.co.za Current processes offered Pick up & collect...
Book Review – Drums of the Morning
Drums of the Morning, by respected and highly experienced Zimbabwean professional hunter Wayne Grant, is a must read. In fact, I would go so far as to say that any sport hunter interested in classical fair-chase lion hunting, should consider this book as required...
March newsletter
As the 2021 season kicks off, I thought some insights from someone who understands big game could be interesting. Stretch Ferreira, a professional hunter and now full-time guide, based in arguably one of the most wonderful areas of southern Africa – Mana Pools – has...
News from Eastern Cape Bowhunting
The Hunt Is On With new hunting blinds, record animal births and thriving populations of South Africa’s most prized game, 2021 is poised to be an unforgettable year at Eastern Cape Bowhunting. As the world knows, 2020 was unlike any year ever before experienced—and...
The Real Story Behind the Namibia Elephant Auction
The publication of a tender document for the auction of four groups of elephants in Namibia triggered howls of protest from the animal rights lobby all around the world. As often happens in these cases, the mainstream media published sensational and misleading...
Man in the Middle
This is a cautionary tale for those of you that hunt internationally and wire large sums of money for deposits, trophy fee pre-payments for after safari final payments for extras. In August of 2020 I booked several dangerous-game hunts in Zimbabwe for international...
On safari with Grant Taylor
AHG: When and where were you born? Grant Taylor: I was born in 1980 in Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare. AHG: How did you get into hunting – what was it that influenced you? GT: I was raised on a farm and started hunting at a very young age like most farm kids. My...
Hunting Waterbuck in Africa – the common and the defassa
The waterbuck Kobus ellipsiprymnus is a large antelope found widely in sub-Saharan Africa in Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and other countries. Males are larger than females, weighing between 430 and...
Taxidermist profile: DonClaire Taxidermy
Company Name: DonClaire Taxidermy Contact: Owner, Linus van Heerden Physical Address: Kareeboomlaan, 8752, Orania, Northern Cape, South Africa Tel Office/Mobile: +27 82 796 350 225 Contact Email: donclaire@talkomsa.net Tell us a little about your operation, how it...
Farewell to Brigadier General Chuck Yeager
America Greatest Legend of all times We had the absolute privilege and honour to have the Late Brigadier General Chuck Yeager and his wife Victoria visit us twice in South Africa. During their visit in 2010 they spent two weeks with us hunting and touring. This was...
Rhino horn trade continues at an alarming rate in SA, despite COVID-19
South Africa's Minister for Environment, Forestry and Fisheries, Barbara Creecy, announced at the beginning of February 2021 that rhino poaching during 2020 had declined by 33% compared to the year before. A total of 394 rhino were poached in 2020 compared to 594...
On Safari with Chris Troskie
I was born in 1968 in the small farming community of Bedford in the Eastern Cape where my grandparents farmed apricots and peaches on our family farm, so I was privileged to have been exposed to, and to get to love, the great outdoors from a very young age. Other than...
On safari with Steph Marais
My name is Stephen (Steph) Marais. I was born on 19 January 1989 in the small town of Grootfontein, Namibia, as a third generation Marais in Namibia. From the early age of only fifteen months, I was constantly travelling around Namibia with my father, him being the...
Hunting Crocodile in Africa
African crocodiles are large aquatic reptiles that have been on the planet for more than 150 million years, living in the warmer bodies of water like the Okavango Delta in Botswana. There are four main types of African crocodile: the big one – the Nile crocodile...
The Rise of the Eco-Greenshirts
On the 15th of January, The Guardian, hardly noted for being a hotbed of right wing hubris, ran an article about scientists’ concerns that UK celebrity power is undermining global conservation efforts. In the article, reference is made to a meeting in parliament...
News from Byseewah Safaris
I have been asked several times as to when I was going to send out another newsletter. I did not think this was a good idea under the circumstances, as what was there to report? 2020 was a bad year for most people. Then I got thinking. We still have a lot to be...
In memory of Naftal Aebeb
Naftal Aebeb, hunting guide at Byseewah Safaris, passed away suddenly due to metastatic parotid cancer. Naftal will be remembered by many people around the world, and be in our memory books for his great company and his special skills out in the bush. Always smiling,...
Taxidermist profile: Nyati Wildlife Art
Company Name: Nyati Wildlife Art Contact: (Owner/Manager) Manfred Egerer Physical Address: No. 23 Newcastle Street, Northern Industrial Area, Windhoek-Namibia Tel Office: +264 61 217111 Contact Email: megerer@afol.com.na Tell us a little about your operation I have...
Bullets for booze
By Ricardo Leone Our hunting destination in 2013 was the Kizigo Hunting Block in the Singida Region of the Manyoni District in Tanzania. We were hunting with Palahala Safaris, the Tanzanian arm of Kwalata Safaris of Zambia operated by Peter Chipman who was also our...
On safari with Drikus Swanepoel
When and where were you born? 10 March 1985 in Windhoek, Namibia How did you get into hunting – what was it that influenced you? I was raised on a cattle ranch in central Namibia where hunting was part of growing up. Drikus is a PH with Ekuja Hunting Safaris With whom...
On safari with Johan Calitz
When I think about my professional hunting career, I wonder if my yearning to be a hunter was not perhaps embedded in my DNA from birth, or whether it was a love cultivated from a very young age when my father introduced me to the sport of hunting. Perhaps it was...
Gorongoza in Mozambique – Rising and Rising
The story of Gorongoza National Park in Mozambique is a remarkable epic of hope and of restoration after destruction. It is the story of the resilience of nature and its wild creatures, given the human commitment to nurture and conserve wild places and wild animals....
Sitatunga
This antelope has a relatively long-haired and shaggy coat; both sexes have white chevron between eyes. The bushy tail is brown above and white below, and have longer hooves than any other antelope (to 1 cm/7.0"). The extremely long hooves, capable of splaying widely,...
The gerenuk
The most bizarre looking of the gazelles, the gerenuk gives a first impression of being of an impala with very long legs and neck. Which is why it is sometimes called the giraffe-necked antelope. The ears are quite large, as are the eyes, and the muzzle has a...
Namibia Running Out of Patience with CITES
At the Eighteenth Conference of the Parties (CoP18) to CITES held last year, five southern African countries, Namibia, Angola, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia proposed that the ban on ivory trade be lifted. These countries constitute the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier...
On safari with Thierry Labat
Both my parents immigrated to then Rhodesia from Mauritius. My father was only 20 years old in 1964 when he left Mauritius to come and work in the sugar industry in a place called Hippo Valley, in south-eastern Rhodesia. He started as an assistant section manager,...