News Archives - Page 27 of 85

Hunting Crocodile in Africa

Feb 11, 2021 | News, Newsletter

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 (Crocodylus niloticus); West African crocodile (Crocodylus suchus), also known as the desert crocodile; the Slender-snouted crocodile (Crocodylus cataphractus), and the Dwarf crocodile (Osteolaemus tetraspis). There are other species, but they aren’t hunted. All four species of African crocodile continue to grow their entire life.

The Nile crocodile is a large, aggressive reptile with a broad snout that is more noticeable on older animals. Coloring runs from dark bronze to deep brownish-black as it ages. If you decide to hunt Nile crocs, anything between 13 and 15 feet would be considered a very good trophy. They are found throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and can live in brackish water, but prefer freshwater habitats. These are the reptiles that come to mind most often when a hunter imagines croc hunting.

The West African crocodile has been shown through recent studies to be a distinct species from the larger Nile crocodile. Its territory stretches from Gambia east along the Atlantic Ocean. It is on the critically-endangered list and cannot be legally hunted.

The Slender-snouted crocodile is found in Central and Western Africa. It’s a medium-sized reptile that feeds mostly on fish and small vertebrates. Weight runs between 275-500 pounds and length can vary in mature adults from 9 to 13 feet. It’s hunted primarily for meat and hides, and usually not considered a trophy.

Last, there is the Dwarf crocodile. Its habitat runs from Angola to Senegal and is the smallest of all living crocs. It’s heavily armored and is uniformly colored black. It lives in tropical forests, and is a very shy nocturnal hunter. During the day, it digs a burrow, sometimes with an underwater entrance, where it can hide.

Most hunters who go on a croc safari plan on hunting the Nile crocodile. They can be hunted in numerous countries. Almost all the large rivers in Africa have a good population of these professional-grade assassins. An awful lot of villagers have had their last bath courtesy of the big Nile crocodile. The crocodile is mostly teeth, tail and appetite. He’s an equal opportunity eater; consuming just about anything he can get into his mouth. He’ll also digest anything he gets down his gullet. If you hunt crocodile, you want to remember that given a chance, you could easily become his next snack.

Nile crocs have been found to have everything in their stomach from warthogs to rocks. The stomach acids are strong enough to dissolve bone – and your shoes, should you happen walk too close to a hungry croc. And don’t think something that prehistoric, that large, and being run by a brain the size of an ear of corn is slow. Crocodiles have been known to come out of the muddy water and catch an impala 30 feet from the bank before the impala could get cocked and locked.

Their teeth are hooked and not suitable for chewing. What they are good at is holding on to some part of their new meal’s anatomy. Then they spin until said part of the anatomy is removed. Open goes the mouth and whatever is there disappears down the gullet. If the animal is too big to eat, the Nile crocodile will take it down to the river bottom and stuff it under a convenient tree root until it decomposes to its liking. Not fussy eaters, the Nile croc.

Actual hunting crocodile can be very exciting. The Nile crocodile is truly a cold blooded reptile and can absorb a tremendous amount of punishment and still live. There’s an old African saying among Professional Hunters that is as valid today as it was 100 years ago: “A croc ain’t dead until the hide’s salted and on the wall.” Even then, it would be prudent to have some sort of large artillery close to hand.

Crocodiles being cold blooded have to regulate their body temperature with the sun. They spend a lot of time working to raise their internal temperature by lying on the river bank soaking up the heat. They are quite difficult to stalk and the usual procedure is to park the safari truck at least a half mile away from the river bank and walk in from there. Quietly, it goes without saying. Because if the croc hears you coming it won’t even leave a ripple in the water as it disappears.

Shots can be anything from 50 yards to 200 yards, or further. This will depend on how well the hunter can approach the crocodile and how good the hunter is with a rifle. If a Nile crocodile is shot, but not killed, it will most likely head for the water, swim to the bottom and die and be lost. Remember, the brain is very small and it’s protected by a boney skull. Shot placement must be right behind the eyes. The most reliable shot is from the side where the target will be two to three inches wide and deep.

Caliber? An accurate .30 caliber rifle with at least a good 180 grain bullet like a Trophy Bonder Tip with ballistics of 2900 feet per second and 3500 foot-pounds of muzzle energy would do the job. The .33 to .35 caliber rifles with a similar 250 grain bullet would be a better choice. However, as you will probably be shooting from a prone position, anything in the .375 range, and up, will smack your shoulder pretty hard, but, if that’s the rifle you’ve got, go with it.

Seven Crocodile Facts

Scientific Name (Nile): Crocodylus niloticus
Adult weight range: 900-1800 lb
Adult length: 13-15 feet – some much larger, up to 19 feet, but very rare
Range: Somalia to South Africa
Speed: Land 8-9 mph, water up to 20 mph
Life span: 60-110 year
Prey: Up to small elephants and Cape buffalo

A range of trophies below, hunted by some of the African Dawn Members

The Rise of the Eco-Greenshirts

Feb 10, 2021 | News, Newsletter, Uncategorized

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 hosted by the Campaign to ban trophy hunting (CBTH) attended by activists, politicians and the media.

The CBTH is not a charity; The Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting Ltd is a private company registered in London. It is a privately owned eco-chugger, raising money “to save animals” but none appear to be saved and its idiotic campaign, although no doubt highly profitable, will do more harm than good. It was set up by one Eduardo Goncalves, who learned to harvest donations some time ago whilst CEO of the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS), and the CBTH Ltd company registration now shows his wife as its only officer. To all intents and purposes, the person of significant control is clearly still him. LACS, you will recall, was instrumental in getting fox hunting with hounds banned in the UK, a spectacular success that destroyed a five thousand year old tradition but saved not a single fox, 400,000 of whom are now killed every year in this country according to the Burns report.

Eduardo Goncalves

Goncalves reportedly owns a cork forest that he bought in Portugal and thus makes an additional living himself out of harvesting nature. He has recently written three “books”, purporting to be exposés of the trophy hunting industry but they are, in fact, a collection of propagandist trash of such magnificent proportions, they would have made Goebbels orgasmic with delight had they been trendy at the time. All three “books” are published by Green Future Books Ltd that, by some amazing coincidence, has only one registered officer, a certain Mr Goncalves.

These books are, in fact, as truthful to the hunting industry as a vuvuzela is to orchestral music and are blatant advertising tracts for the CBTH Ltd worthy of examination by the Trading Standards Department. They proudly state within their worthless covers that “all profits will be donated to the CBTH”, which, noted above, is also the very same Mr Goncalves. How very cosy and generous. Nobody is suggesting that the CBTH is a scam, but its advertising “books”, slogans and headlines are a tissue of subjectivity, lies and deception, so if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck and swims like a duck, the question must be asked, what is this odious little chugger, whose Facebook page has Hunt Saboteurs and Keep the Ban among its relatives, doing holding a meeting in our parliament?

It gets worse. Very ominously worse. The Guardian article also reports that a certain Dr Amy Dickman was asked to leave this meeting, a meeting apparently concerned with wild animal conservation. But not so, my gullible friends. You see, Dr Dickman is extremely well qualified to be there; Kaplan Senior Research Fellow in Felid Conservation, Pembroke College, Oxford, one of the UK’s leading big cat conservation experts, and a member of Oxford’s WildCRU (Wildlife Conservation Research Unit) with twenty five years of award-winning, scientifically-based, top-drawer academic and practical conservation work in Africa – the sort of whom we can be very proud of as a nation. Dr Dickman was asked to leave no doubt because she is intelligent, understands the real problems of wildlife management and conservation in Africa and has published in many scientific journals a truth that is carefully concealed and denied by the Fagin-like messiah of the CBTH Ltd.

Most important of all, if a world-class British expert was outrageously asked to leave the meeting in the Mother of Parliaments, where truth and free speech must surely form the bedrock, why didn’t one of the politicians present make any move to support Dr Dickman’s presence? Could it be that they were all too busy scoffing free publicity at Goncalves’ porcine trough?

The CBTH Ltd lists a formidable array of supporters, including zoo operator Chris Packham, the celebrity truth bender, and also one Peter Egan. According to the Guardian article, Mr Egan has referred to Dr Dickman as “a very limited scientist”. Quite apart from being another outrageous lie, it is a bit rich coming from a gobby thesp who makes a living from pretence, whose own chest of wildlife qualifications contains only navel lint, and whose trademark British voice was actually learned at RADA, perhaps to hide his Irish ancestry. It should also not surprise you that the leader of this detestable cult, the wily Goncalves, has only qualifications on political science, not in wildlife management. No wonder they all love wildlife – these people have more neck than a bloody giraffe.

A visit to the CBTH Ltd website is a further wonder to behold and it should surely form the prime text-book example for every propaganda and hard-sell course taught at university level. From the very start, it displays powerful images. The first, outside 10 Downing Street, features the usual suspects, plus the imposing presence of a Mr Boniface Mpiro dressed in his traditional bright red shuka. He is advertised elsewhere by the CBTH Ltd as “a senior Maasai elder”, although he must do his senior eldering from Waterlooville in Hampshire, where he reportedly lives and must obviously love the local wild lions roaming there.

Below the number 10 photo-op there appears a fascinating array of Africans holding up signs, at least two of which are the same sign held by different people, suggesting that the holders were paid or persuaded to hold them up for the camera. At first glance, it would appear to be concerned village Africans protesting about trophy hunting. But look closely – the good people appear to be Kenyans – trophy hunting has been banned in Kenya since 1977 (and is probably the main reason why Kenya has lost more than 70% of its wildlife outside its reserves, unlike the animals in the southern Africa hunting grounds that have increased five fold). The slogans are therefore meaningless to Kenyan villagers. The slogans, all of which are demonstrable misrepresentations, have been ingeniously devised to appeal to exploitable foreign viewers. It’s actually a propaganda montage!! They have been duped, of course. Misusing Africans dishonestly in order to hide the deceit of your UK money-harvesting machine might be considered a tad distasteful and might even be construed to be more than a little colonialist. So why do it?

The reason for the appearance of this photo-pastiche of Africans is even more fascinating, Dear Readers. You see, the CBTH Ltd campaign is, without doubt, damaging the lives of southern rural Africans and their attempts to conserve and harvest their wildlife sustainably whilst deriving much-needed income and food. Funnily enough, it is similar to Goncalves harvesting cork, by sustainably tearing the skin off his oak trees. Not surprisingly therefore, last year, fifty genuine leaders of millions of rural Africans across Southern Africa, wrote an open letter to organisations like Born Free and CBTH Ltd, asking them to stop their anti-hunting campaigns using UK celebs because the campaigns are hurting rural Africans and wildlife. The open letter represents the voice of real rural Africans, and it was their letter and real voice that the CBTH Ltd tries to obliterate with their own counterfeit trump card – the grubby photo montage of their African pseudo-protesters. You see, there really is no end to the subterfuge of wily Goncalves. Not only does he mis-use Africans to fool UK supporters, he uses them as willing donkeys to stifle the real voice of fellow Africans. Such breathtaking cheek! No wonder Pinocchio Packham is one of his strongest supporters. It’s a wonder the Kenyans were not holding aloft a few dead birds of prey for good measure.

Of course, we are all quite used to our politicians speaking in words of fluent testiculation, and we are prepared to overlook the sadness that some of the cherished celebrity darlings of our nation are, in fact, bottom feeders in the fish tank of human intellect, but when a herd of self-seeking, parasitic eco-chuggers, under the protective wing of DEFRA, can throw an eminent scientist out of a meeting, inside our parliament building, the very home of truth and free speech, there is something very ominous going on that has nothing whatsoever to do with animal welfare.

John Nash grew up in West Cornwall and was a £10 pom to Johannesburg in the early 1960’s. He started well in construction project management, mainly high rise buildings but it wasn’t really Africa, so he went bush, prospecting and trading around the murkier bits of the bottom half of the continent. Now retired back in Cornwall among all the other evil old pirates. His interests are still sustainable resources, wildlife management and the utilitarian needs of rural Africa.

News from Byseewah Safaris

Feb 10, 2021 | News, Newsletter

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 thankful for. We started off the year with some good rains to break the terrible ongoing drought. The grasses came back immediately which was a good surprise for us. This was a very positive thing for us. We really thought that after so many years of drought that we would have lost most of the seed bank. Our dams filled up and Lynda even managed to pump water out of the house dam till mid-October to water her garden!

House waterhole on 5 January 2021

We had lost many animals during the severe drought in 2019, so this last year has given us the quiet time to recover. It is always a joy to see calves feeding on the fresh grasses. We took delivery of a breeding herd of blue wildebeest and waterbuck mid-year and we were really happy to see a new-born little blue wildebeest calf when we did a game drive this last Sunday.

We have had to reduce our staff, and the ladies now only work half day, and the lads have taken a reduction in their salaries. Even though we did not have guests for a year, we still have to maintain things on Byseewah. At least we did not have as much damage from elephant this last year as we had in 2019. The lads spent these last months replacing damaged and old fencing. It takes a lot of work to maintain 100 km of fencing! The girls sanded and varnished any piece of wood furniture that stood still and spring cleaned everything within an inch of its life!

There were 22 baby ostriches running down the road!

We have a new project – to build a camp on top of Griet’s Mountain! First we have to build the road before we can start on the camp itself, as many of you know just how that road looks like that goes over the mountain! Need a decent road to take the supplies over and up the mountain. It’s a project to get excited about as it means another place for our clients to experience.

The rains started last week with a very heavy downpour at the lodge. We got to watch the river come down and actually fill up the house dam, something which brought us a tremendous amount of joy. Went to check on Freedom Dm, and although not full yet, it still had a nice lot of water in it.

2021 will certainly be a different year for us. As many of you know we suffered a great loss with the passing of Naftal. He will always be remembered by his ready smile and happy disposition.

Discover more at Byseewah.com

In memory of Naftal Aebeb

Feb 10, 2021 | News, Newsletter

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, he was a really special person, an example to us all. Naftal did not have any formal education but became one of the first local hunting guides to qualify in Namibia. He spoke five languages and taught himself to read and write. He lost his left arm in a car accident 17 years ago, but never let this get in his way of doing his job, whether it was guiding, changing a tyre or digging a hole! He was part of the Byseewah family for 30 years and he would have turned 45 this month. He leaves behind his three children, Evangelina who is 21 and works in Outjo, Smedley (15) and Heroliena (14) who are both in Grade 8 in a school near Windhoek. Lynda has applied for guardianship of the two younger children and will continue to look after them along with the rest of the Byseewah staff.

Below are some letters written to Naftal by friends who have known him a long time.

Dear Naftal

I think the first time we met was in 1994. Right from the beginning it became clear that the two of us are a good team. I love to work with everybody on Byseewah but we always had a special relationship.

Due to this fact we spent a lot of time together. We learned of each other. We talked about our hopes, fears, philosophies and later the children, which I could watch growing up. We had patience with each other although that was not exactly our strength. Our friendship was growing each time we met. We called us brothers.

You impressed me in many ways. As a hunter, as a father, your way to be honest and straight in your very own way that was far away from mainstream. There is a reason why the name of my son is Raphael-Naftal. I wish he could have met you.

When I got the news of your death it was a heavy blow. Since years I was very aware of the fact that I felt privileged and lucky having you as a friend. Even death can`t take away all the special times and moments we had together. This way of looking at it eased the pain a lot and gave me strength. You leave a big gap but we will go on. You would have done the same. Never give up.

Some years ago we were talking about death. You said you were afraid that people could forget you. I promised you I wouldn`t. Well, keeping this promise is an easy one. How could somebody forget you?

So, farewell my friend. Hope to see you later.

Dirk Seemüller – Germany

My dear Friend Naftal

The first time we met was in 1998 on my first trip to Namibia and Byseewah. Although you were 2 or 3 years my senior, life had bestowed upon you more wisdom and life to your years.

In the following years, we saw each other one or several times per year and you taught me new skills on every occasion. I grew a lot as hunter but also as a human being and this in no small way by being inspired by your spirit.

You fully deserved and defended your place in life. With more support and means during your young childhood, I am convinced that your intelligence and perseverance would have brought you to upper academic and professional levels. This was sadly not the case, but fortunately your talents were not wasted nor neglected. Your intelligence and drive to acquire knowledge was fuelled by self-study, you taught yourself to read, to speak Lanky (imagine what would have happened if Ken spoke Oxford English)…Not only languages were your forte, but what a fine connoisseur of human psychology you were, not to be fooled and knowing how to react in emotional situations that are intertwined with hunting circumstances.

You had a doggedness to achieve your goal and this invariably influenced those you were interacting with. The rare talent you had to read the land and mind of your prey and the anticipation on its next moves were only hindered by the burden of the hunter who gave up and ran out of steam (some out of heart). If it were up to you, you would have persevered and would have followed to hell and back. Never give up.

To never give up was also shown when you recuperated from the loss of your arm. You overcame the mental and physical strain with the support from the whole Byseewah team and by self-determination. I have never heard any complaint about the unfairness and a lesser soul would have found ample reason to wail and sink into self-pity. Not you, my friend, not you.

We spoke a lot about our families. You were so proud of Evangelina, Herolina and Smedly. As parents we had the same hopes for our children, the same worries as well. You brought them up and this mostly as a single parent, no simple feat, considering that you wanted them to aim high and that you gave them all the opportunities and assistance you were deprived of during your childhood. Only future will tell, but I have very strong hopes that you have succeeded and that they will strive in life.

It would be an honour for me to sit with them and to recount what I learned from you and share our mutual hunting achievements and stories. We also knew failures, but let’s say that it might more be due to me and to no fault of your own. There was never any bitterness when such a failure (very seldom) occurred and we set them behind and moved on to do better next time.

You leave a huge void behind. All your Belgian friends remember you very fondly and are devastated by the news. To all of us you were an integral part of Byseewah and it is hard to imagine Byseewah without you. I hope that you will keep an eye out for us from above and that you will keep on guiding us through life. Where you are you will meet friends who preceded you and I am sure you will guide them again.

We feel the deep and indescribable sadness of Ken and Lynda. They looked upon you as a son and your loss cuts deeply into their soul. They also may not give up.

All your friends from Byseewah will wake up to a new world, a life without Naftal, hardly imaginable, but sadly the reality. We also want to offer our condolences to them and share their grief.

Evangelina, Herolina and Smedley, this is the time where you will have to pull together. You are not alone to do this. You will be carried by the base your father laid and supported and cared for by the family of Byseewah. It is however up to you where you will stand in life and how you will approach your future. You have it in you to become as outstanding as Naftal, your father, a name and a legacy to carry proudly.

My dear Friend Naftal, you were an exceptional man and we were all privileged to have come to know you.

Jean and Caroline Vande Vyvere – Belgium

I am deeply saddened by the loss of my friend Naftal.

We lost a great human being, father, and an amazing professional hunter.

I send my deepest condolences to his family and friends.

Some of my fondest memories stem from experiences shared with Naftal.

He and Moses submerged me into the passion of hunting. I was a young boy who nervously handled his rifle when they first took me out into the wild plains of Byseewah. Naftal used to run through the bush – always going too fast as Ken would say – while I usually got stuck in needles and burrows, often scaring that animal which we had been chasing for hours away. As exhausted as we’d be, he never got impatient, never lost his temper. He’d rather smile when seeing my hat hanging in the acacia thorn as That One Oryx fled, never to be seen again. I missed some shots too, some of which I’d still rather not talk about, not that he ever would have… There was always a valuable lesson to be learned from almost every outing.

How much I – and perhaps most of us – have lost that. We tend to keep on going forward, sometimes trampling our way in search of quick satisfaction. With Naftal, I had moments where I felt ashamed of my own frustration when thinking about how he must have felt. Chasing endlessly with a loud and clumsy European tourist behind him. But he never complained.

Then there are those magical moments. It’s a Byseewah trademark apparently. I feel grateful and humbled thinking about the emotions felt in the field in Naftal’s presence. He took me to the best hides. There’s one, and I still rather not reveal its location, as we agreed upon – or rather as I urged him – not to reveal. I kind of suspected he’d known about it for ages, but he made me feel as if we found it. Hiding in that small bush not so far from the Iron Rock water hole – and I’m already revealing a lot here – has often been the highlight of my trips to Byseewah. Eland bulls towering above us just a few meters away, a kudu herd just settling there for ages, just long enough for us to figure out who is who, who has how many stripes, who seems to be misbehaving, etc. And jackals… He could spot them from a mile. I must admit, I’ve told him many times “yes I see them but they are too far”. I actually never saw them until they came up too close and me, once again, startled them, and made them flee so fast that I could never lift my rifle on time. Again, Naftal just smiled.

Those many hours spent in the Uri, I treasure just as much. No point talking about football with Naftal. He just made me feel as if I just quickly read a Wikipedia page about the sport. In music though, I felt we had a connection. I felt bad last year as I forgot to bring him some CDs. I planned on making up for it this May. These unfortunate events decided otherwise. I still hope I can share some of my memories and perhaps some music too with the people whom he cared so much about. My thoughts are with them now. I believe the many hardships which Naftal endured throughout his life are eclipsed by the goodness he brought around him. To me, he is as authentic a man as the positiveness and joy he exuded throughout the 25-odd years I’ve had the immense pleasure of knowing him. May he rest in peace and may his relatives find peace in his memory.

Charles van Marcke – Belgium

Bullets for booze

Jan 15, 2021 | News

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 main professional hunter. This was my second safari with Peter who is now an adopted member of my family.

While our camp was the main camp for the Hunting Block, there was a satellite camp on the same block where a Portuguese Doctor, José Manuel Mendes Furtado, and his uncle Antonio, were bowhunting – specifically for lion and leopard. José was close to my age at the time; Antonio was easily into his 70s, a very experienced African hunter having taken many trophies, most with a bow.

This trip had several setbacks, the first being gun troubles for both camps. There was Tarek, my longtime business partner and friend – his gun did not make the initial flight from London, ultimately arriving seven days late. Our bowhunting neighbors had a gun, mainly used to shoot bait for cats. However, their gun’s scope had been compromised somewhere along their journey.

The satellite camp’s PH, Werner van Noodwyk, visited our main camp daily for satellite/internet access and supplies and the two camps were able to communicate via shortwave radio. The day after I shot my Cape buffalo, Werner radioed over to our camp asking if we had shot anything that could be used for bait. The answer segued to the second subplot of our trip – specifically our miscalculation of booze supply. We had not properly factored in for Yves, Tarek’s childhood friend, who was an observer on this safari. We had actually miscalculated the demand side of the equation – specifically Yves’s demand.

So, to answer the bait question, we said to Werner that we had a hindquarter of my very old buffalo if they would trade for a bottle (or two) of wine. Buffalo for booze seemed a fair balance of trade. The following day Werner radioed again asking if we had any .375 ammo. Apparently José and Uncle Antonio had struggled to put their scope right, thereby using all their ammo in the process. You must know that when you travel to the bush – there is no corner store for ANYTHING. I always overpack on these trips, normally bringing twice the ammo needed – I was not going be caught short of ammo! Given that I was the only one in camp with extra .375 ammo, my answer was, “Yes.”

But what were we going to ask for in exchange? We knew Yves would suggest more booze. However, our satellite camp neighbors had their own wine limitations. If it came to money, I could ask for any amount, but that would not be in good spirit among hunting brethren. My answer was to offer an extra box of .375 ammo and ask José and Uncle Antonio to send me a bottle of good port when they returned to Portugal. They agreed to my bullets-for-booze offer. I sent my ammo via Werner along with my business card, and did not give it another thought. José and Uncle Antonio were back on track – they joined us at our evening fire for cocktails a couple of times, and we did not hear much more from them during the remainder of our safari.

Two weeks after I returned from Tanzania, I received an incredible email at my New York City office. José wrote to me, not only to thank me for the ammo, but more importantly to share his incredible hunting success. José and Uncle Antonio were successful with their bowhunting mission and had time left to hunt their own Cape buffalo – this time using their rifle. José shot his buff, and once his buff was down, a second buff came to nudge his fallen partner – something my son Zach and I personally experienced years later in Zambia. José handed Uncle Antonio his gun, and Uncle Antonio wasted no time shooting the other old buff. Yes, two hunters, two buffs, two meters apart, both with one gun in a span of two minutes – and with my bullets! José went on to tell me that he had not forgotten our deal, and that the port was on the way via a nephew who often travels to New York City.

José and Uncle Antonio are men of their word. A few weeks later a nicely presented package was delivered to my office, not with one bottle, but two bottles of vintage port – very nice port. I waited until Tarek next visited me in my home in Connecticut before I opened the first bottle to enjoy a glass of port together and to recount the story. The second bottle, a 1986 Fonseca, I stored away – I actually forgot about it. Recently I found the 1986 port and decided to give this special bottle of port to my son Jason and his beautiful bride Jess, both who were born in 1986 – yes, a very good year. I told them the origins of their new bottle of port and my daughter-in- law thanked me for making them part of such an incredible story.