Page 36 – AHG

On safari with Steph Marais

Feb 11, 2021 | News, Newsletter

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 owner of a construction company and moving from one site to the next. My mother was a full -time teacher, so instead of going to a day care, my father took me with him to work.

When I was three years old my father bought the ranch, which today is the heart of the Safari Operation. My father had a lot of ex-military personnel working on the ranch and for the construction company, which helped me gain a lot of first-hand experience in tracking and general knowledge of nature survival as I grew up.

At times while we were on the ranch my parents had a hard time keeping me in the house, therefore my father took one of his trusted trackers and gave him the duty of looking after me. He had to go where I went.

Steph Marais is a PH with Keibeb Safaris

My father and grandfather that loved hunting. We always hunted for meat, which was also the first rule about hunting when I started with a slingshot shooting birds. “You eat what you kill.”

At the age of four, my father started the tradition where every year on my birthday, I was allowed to hunt one animal that I really wanted. So on my fourth birthday, with the assistance of my father, I shot my first animal, which was a steenbok, with a .22 Long Rifle. That was the day I remember I told my father I wanted to hunt for a living.

Steenbok Taken by Bjarne Mikkelsen November 2013

I learned almost everything I know about hunting from my father and grandfather. My grandfather always told me the stories about the “Good Old Days” when he grew up hunting in Africa. During that time animals were everywhere to be seen and not afraid of humans. They hunted elephants for ivory and hippos for their fat, which if cured correctly could last years in the salt-chests under their beds.

I would say the most important thing I had learned from my grandfather and father about hunting is to respect the animal you hunt, and never shoot at an animal if you are not absolutely sure you can make a quick and clean kill shot.

I started my hunting career on Keibeb Game Ranch, in the northern part of Namibia. After finishing primary school in Namibia, I went to South Africa to attend High School in Upington, Northern Cape. Because I loved hunting so much I got my professional hunter certificate in South Africa after High School and started hunting for one of my friend’s father in the Northern Cape Province. I quickly learned that bullet construction made a much bigger difference in the penetration on the African animals then the caliber.

After hunting in South Africa, I returned to Namibia, where I got my Namibian Professional Hunters Certificate in 2007, started my own safari company, Keibeb Safaris, and continued my hunting career in Namibia. I also conducted some hunts in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe. I always wanted to experience Africa like in my grandfather’s stories, so when I got clients wanting to hunt in different countries across Southern Africa, I jumped at the opportunity.

If I could return to any time and place in Africa, I would return to the late 1800s and early 1900s when the ivory hunters was going into the Dark Continent to look for elephants to hunt, and where a hunting safari could be as long as a couple of years at a time. Hunting for meat for the camp, moving around Southern Africa, hunting as you move along and just seeing the untamed beauty of Africa before civilization, would have been my dream.

The southern greater kudu is my favorite animal to hunt in Africa. When I was eight years old I made a promise to myself that the day I shot a 60’’+ kudu bull I would never shoot another big kudu again. Over the years I guided a lot of excellent kudu trophies of which the biggest was 63’’, but I never shot a bigger bull than 59⅞ “myself.

The best trophies my clients took over the years were a Cape eland bull measuring 42.5’’ and a waterbuck bull measuring 33’’ in length. It was just a wonderful feeling knowing those animals were really mature and way past their prime. The thickness of the horn bases and the battle scars proved they had had a long and successful life.

One of the two most memorable hunts I had was when I shot my first eland at the age of eight, a couple of days after my eighth birthday. We were driving around the ranch checking the rain gauges when we saw a track of a lone eland bull. The dewlap that was bigger than both of my shoes together was dragging between the tracks. It was early in the morning around 7a.m. when my father asked if I wanted to hunt an eland. I immediately said, “Yes”, and within five minutes I was ready to start following the spoor.

Eland Taken by David Lang 2017

I was armed with my father’s .30-06 and the tracker followed the spoor, I followed the tracker, and my father was right on my heels. It only took about 10 minutes before we could hear the clicking sound of the eland bull as he was slowly walking around. Another 15 minutes passed, which felt like a couple of hours, and there we had the big eland bull standing broadside 50 yards in front of us browsing on the leaves of a bush. It took me forever to get ready and steady enough to make the shot which hit him right in the heart, and the eland ran off. We followed the blood trail and soon found the eland where he had collapsed.

The second memorable hunt was when one of my clients was hunting with a longbow, and we decided to do a walk and stalk with the bow on a big giraffe bull that was always fighting with the younger bulls. We stalked for four hours and twenty-eight minutes before we finally got to the preferred shooting distance of between twelve and eighteen yards. It was a full frontal shot. The arrow hit home, and the giraffe almost looked as if it were going to start stomping at us before it just silently collapsed a mere nine yards from where it was shot.

Once I had a couple in camp where the husband was hunting and the wife was an observer. She had Alzheimer’s which I only became aware of by the third day of the safari when she got lost after deciding to follow her husband and me. We were stalking a group of zebra that we had seen earlier. When we left the truck and started out following the zebra, she stayed in the truck, but as soon as we left she told the trackers that she wanted to go with us. They could still see us so they let her follow, and while she was following us she wandered off and somehow got lost after a couple of hours in the bush, and forgot where she was or where she was going.

It had started raining soon after we left the truck and we had a very hard time tracking the old lady down. Luckily I had some really good trackers that had experience in tracking humans. The rain made it very difficult to follow her tracks, but in about three hours or so she was found unharmed and brought back to camp. For the rest of the nine days we started every morning with the same stories about her life and had to reintroduce ourselves to her every time she saw us. That became a very long week of hunting.

In 2017 I had an accident with my one trucks and broke my left leg really badly. I had to undergo surgery, where the doctor had to remove 11 small bone fragments and then attach the remaining bones with a metal plate and screws. At first the doctors wanted to amputate my left leg, but luckily I found a doctor willing to operate and save my leg. After the surgery, while still in recovery I had clients coming to hunt, and getting a replacement guide at such short notice was quite difficult. So it was a very big challenge at the time to hunt, because I was not as mobile as I used to be, but I pulled through and guided a few hunts with crutches, and later on in a boot. That was probably my toughest year throughout my entire hunting career.

When clients ask me about what type of rifle they can hunt with when on an African safari, I always say that a smaller caliber like .308 Winchester or .270 Winchester with which a hunter can shoot very accurately is a better choice of rifle for the first-time hunter in Africa. You can use a lighter bullet of good construction with a precise placement of the shot on plains game rather than a bad shot placement of a bigger, heavier recoil bullet or rifle. If you are to bring a bigger caliber, be sure to practice with it beforehand. No guide wants to have a hunter wound and not find an animal.

Another recommendation would be to practice shooting off shooting sticks before you get to Africa, as most of your shots will be off shooting sticks under 200 yards. For your safari you can only bring your rifle and ammo, binoculars and camera. There is no need for a rangefinder as your guide will give you the range. Clothing for an African safari can be two to three pairs of hunting clothes, light khaki or natural colors like olive, brown and grey, with good, well broken-in hunting boots, two sets of casual clothing and shoes for the evenings. Washing will be done on a regular basis normally every day.

For a backup rifle I use a Ruger M77 in .458 Lott with a 550-gr bullet when hunting dangerous game as well as for any wounded plains game. The pure reason for this is that it has more than enough stopping power if you need to stop a charging elephant, buffalo or lion, and for plains game you do not really have to worry too much about branches or bushes that are in the way. It will pass right through it and keep travelling in a straight line to the target.

The only time that I really had a close encounter with death was when I had a wounded leopard which we followed into a really thick acacia scrub area. The leopard charged at us after it killed one dog, while the young hunting dog in training ran away towards us. From the moment we heard the dogs getting mauled till the moment we saw the leopard was in a blink of an eye. I took a full frontal shot on the leopard with my .458 Lott, hitting it just above the left eye and dropping the leopard seven yards from us.

The hunting industry had changed quite a bit over the past decade, with the media and a lot of uneducated people trying to put hunting off as a barbaric way of just killing animals for their horns. This is not true by the way, because everything from a hunted animal gets used in Africa, nothing goes to waste. In the last couple of years it seems to me that more young people are getting into hunting again, but we have a generation gap within the middle-aged hunter. It has also become more of a unisex sport rather than a mainly male sport as it used to be in the past.

When booking a safari always make sure what is included and excluded from a safari package. A lot of people compare prices and just take the cheapest price they can find, which might not be the cheapest at the end of the hunt. Make sure to read the fine print and also make sure to book with an outfitter in an area where you want to hunt and that they have the animals that you are looking to hunt. If you have physical disabilities or are not so young and fit as you used to be, do not book a mountain area hunt as it will be very hard on you, and at the end you might not be able to get the trophies you are looking for. Rather book a hunt in an area that has a flat and even terrain that would make it easier for you to walk and stalk. Always tell your outfitter about any and all handicaps or disabilities you might have so that they can prepare for that beforehand.

The only way conservation of African wildlife will work in the long run, is if hunting is used as a form of conservation. Wildlife in Africa has a value and that is only measured by the meat and food it provides and the money it puts on the table of hundreds of locals, directly or indirectly involved in the hunting industry. The moment you take the value away, nobody will care about it and it will be destroyed and killed to give domestic livestock better grazing opportunities. Also, predators will be killed to avoid human wildlife conflict as well as to protect livestock. As long as people are generating money or food from themelves, everybody will help protect the wildlife which then has a value for them.

Lastly, my ideal safari would be if I could have a month or two to go on safari to hunt the African Big Five like in the old days. Tracking a big, black-maned lion and leopard on foot in the Kalahari from the first day you see the track until you track them down and maybe get a shot at them, or hunting the Cape buffalo in the Caprivi and Luangwa Valley. Taking very old, well representative trophies of a species, and not necessarily going for the biggest trophy even if it means it is a younger animal.

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.

José and Uncle Tony – two hunters, two buffs, two meters apart, both with one gun in a span of two minutes

Bullets for Booze – .375ammo for vintage Portuguese Port

On safari with Drikus Swanepoel

Jan 15, 2021 | News

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 did you train, apprentice and learn from?
When I was in primary school, our cattle ranch was converted into a game ranch where various well-known professional hunters came to hunt on the ranch. Throughout my school career I made use of every opportunity to accompany these hunts and built up a vast amount of experience.

What was the most important thing you learned during those early years?
To be patient and always treat all the clients the same, whether it’s an elephant hunt or a normal plains game safari.

Any specific client experiences that stood out?
My first years of professional hunting were hunting plains game in central Namibia.
I had a Spanish-speaking client who tried to explain something to me for 30 minutes and I didn’t understand a word. All of a sudden, he started shouting and stopped the Land Cruiser. He jumped off and took a dump right next to the vehicle. Only then I realized what he was trying to explain the whole time.
As a professional hunter, each client brings a special experience with him. Whether it’s the excitement of hunting Africa for the first time or a collector getting that specific species that he’s after.

Anything you learned about what not to do?
Always try to avoid talking politics in the hunting camp.

Which countries/areas have you hunted since then?
Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia.

If you could return to any time or place in Africa, where would it be?
To the time where politics and uninformed keyboard warriors didn’t have a say in the hunting industry.

Which is your favourite trophy animal to hunt? And why?
Elephant. There’s nothing more thrilling than getting in the personal space of a big old elephant bull.

Tell us about two of your most memorable hunts.
Hunting my first 60-plus inch Kudu bull with a client in the first few years of my hunting career. In later years, taking two extraordinary elephants just a few days apart on a 21-day safari.

What are your recommendations on guns, ammo, or equipment for the first-time hunter to Africa?
Make sure that whatever gun you shoot, you are comfortable with and not afraid of the recoil. Always practice off shooting sticks.

Which guns and ammo are you using to back-up on dangerous or wounded game and tell us why?
500 Nitro-express as it has awesome stopping power.

How has the hunting industry changed in your opinion over the past number of years?
Social media and the internet have given people the right to have an opinion on Africa and how the hunting industry should be managed. Most of these people are true keyboard warriors and should not even had an opinion as they are ill informed and have no idea on what’s going on in Africa.

If you should suggest one thing to your hunting clients to improve their safari experience, with you, or with anyone else for that matter, what would it be?
Take time and effort to complete your questionnaire in as much detail as possible as a lot of hunting camps are remote.

What can the industry do to contribute to the long-term conservation of Africa’s wildlife?
Any animal must always have a value. The more valuable a specific species is, the longer it would be preserved.

What would be your ideal safari if you have one last safari?
Hunting all of the Big 5 with one client on one safari in what is left of wild Africa.

On safari with Johan Calitz

Jan 15, 2021 | News

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 around the campfire when my father told me about the great hunters of old. Or during the early morning mountain reedbuck hunts, where my shoes broke the frost in the mountains of the Free State, daydreaming about showing people from faraway countries how to hunt African animals, instead of being a doctor, lawyer or whatever my father ‘s dream was for me. I am not exactly sure . . .

Learn more about Johan Calitz Safaris

My dangerous-game hunting experience started early in my life. I accompanied my father on many a hunting trip to the then Northern and Southern Rhodesia, where I could do the back-up shots on elephant and buffalo. My father’s friend and professional hunter, Hendrik Coetzee, was my biggest mentor. He was probably one of the last people who sold ivory for an income from which he later started his own business. It was he who encouraged my first tentative steps into dangerous-game hunting as a career.

I was 14 when I shot my first elephant and buffalo in the Zambezi Valley under the supervision of my father, Dr FJW Calitz and Uncle Hendrik, as he was known. It was a sweltering hot day in the Zambezi Valley. We found the tracks of a smallish cow herd early in the morning. By midday the heat was starting to wear us down. My shirt clung to my shoulders and my hair and forehead were drenched with sweat. The nervousness and anticipation took a heavy toll on me, and I was losing my concentration. Suddenly the huge, broad-shouldered frame in front of me came to halt. His right hand went up indicating that we should stop. The sound of breaking trees and heart-stopping vocal rumbling could be heard in the distance. We were very close. The reassuring voices of my father and Uncle Hendrik told me that everything would be fine. Days before this moment, I was taught different shot placements on elephant, and I knew that the position of the elephant and the surrounding environment would dictate the shot. We moved in for the final approach. I still remember my thoughts at that very moment: How is it possible for a man of 230 lbs (Uncle Hendrik) to move like a ballerina?

I could hear my father’s breathing behind me, and the knowledge that he was there calmed my nerves. The bush was thick – everybody called it jesse bush. I could see how Uncle Hendrik calculated each careful step to avoid unnecessary noise. Dad and I followed in his footsteps. Thinking back today, those were huge footprints to follow . . . literally and figuratively.

Then I saw grey figures in the bush ahead of me and knew that the time of reckoning had come. Uncle Hendrik stopped, motioned me in, grabbed me by the shoulders, like a Great Dane would grab a Jack Russell, and moved me into position.

An old cow loomed in front of us, presenting for a side brain shot. A whisper in my ear . . . I shouldered the rifle without a second thought and felt the recoil of the 9.3 x 64 Brenneke. The hind legs of the old lady collapsed, the trunk came up and whipped down, and she hit the ground, stone dead. At that moment I knew that I would like to become a Hendrik Coetzee!

Before I reached the age of 21, I had hunted most dangerous African game animals, including all of the Big Five. But I mostly hunted elephant as a young man. Somehow, these gigantic animals intrigued me more than any other species on the planet.

In the years that followed, people such as Ronnie van Heerden, who hunted with us from Robinson’s Camp in the Hwange National Park, Uncle Bruce Austin, who was one of the directors of Austin Braybrooke and McCloud Safaris, Barry Duckworth, Uncle Willie de Beer, Harry Selby and others, made such an indelible impression on me that I was determined to become a professional hunter and nothing else.

Years of apprenticeship under the hawk eye of Uncle Hendrik taught me the art of tracking, hunting and bushcraft. The hours I spent with the people mentioned above in the University of the Bush, watching, learning and listening, laid the foundations of my career as a PH.

: Hendrik Coetzee (left) and Johan

: Johan (left) and Hendrik Coetzee

: Johan with gemsbuck taken with 9mm Browning

In the seventies, there was no government control over professional hunting in South Africa, so hunting for a reward was quite easy in those early days. I guess my first client was my father. I started to outfit and conduct safaris for a reward during my student days. With my father, the reward most of the time was that I could hunt a buffalo, elephant, lion or leopard myself. Later I started guiding friends of my father’s from abroad and South Africa for a reward.

So I guess my career as PH started in the mid-70s. Up until 1985, most of my dangerous-game hunts for myself and/or clients were done in Zimbabwe. In the late 1980s, my dream came true when I started hunting with Guides and Outfitters Botswana. I later worked with Micheletti Bates Safaris and Vira Safaris. Johan Calitz Hunting Safaris has featured as my own entity right from the early years up until now.

All of God’s animals are my favourite. To watch the silliness of a warthog, the agility of a leopard, the brutal speed and force of a lion, the tenacity of a buffalo and the grandeur of an elephant bull is an absolute privilege.

I have hunted and guided many of the dangerous Big Five animals over the last four decades. Many a night I would lie in a camp bed, listening to the distant roar of a male lion, overpowering the more subtle sounds of the African night. With first light I would be ready to track the biggest cat in Africa with my trusted Bushman trackers.

Seeing the disturbance the big cat’s body caused to the dewdrops on the leaves and tall grass, looking at a track the size of a small plate in the Kalahari sand, following the king of the African bush from the freshness of the morning, through the sweltering heat of the day and finally finding him fast asleep in the shade of a smallish bush or tree, is hunting at its best!

You get into position, sometimes as close as 15 yards, heart pounding in your ears, weighing up your options and shot placements . . . To triumph over the king of beasts with just one bullet must be the most exhilarating experience!

Waiting in a blind during the late afternoon or early morning, alone with your thoughts, when suddenly a big male leopard appears on a branch, is electrifying. Following buffalo tracks into the famous date palm (Tsaro palm) and having a big black brutal explosion a few yards in front of you is as exciting as it gets.

Years ago I followed a wounded buffalo with a PH in Tanzania. The tracks of the lone bull disappeared into the dense brush in front of us. The trackers at our side tried to pick up the wounded buffalo’s tracks, when suddenly there was a stampede in front of us. The Tanzanian PH and I ran in the direction of the noise when the buffalo turned and brought the fight to us.

He was in full charge. Shots went off beside me as the buffalo came for us. Everything happened at once. I heard shots but it had absolutely no effect on the buffalo. I jumped in front of the PH while lifting the .500 Nitro Searcy, to my shoulder. I underestimated the quickness and tenacity of the buffalo that reached me before I could blink an eye. I fired from the hip but missed its brain. By then the buffalo was on top of me – it gored me, flung me into the air and then pushed me around on the ground for several minutes.

I heard a shot. The animal towering over me lifted its head from my chest. For a brief moment I saw the anger and pain in the beast’s eyes as his full weight crashed down on me, forcing the air from my lungs and crushing the bones in my body.

The PH and trackers rolled the dead weight off me. After a few hours on the back of a pick-up, I was flown to Dar es Salaam and then to Nairobi where I was operated on and later flown to the Garden City clinic in Johannesburg. Several operations and long weeks of slow and painful recovery followed. Yes, I have experienced buffalo hunting at its best . . . and its worst . . .

Rhino hunting does not particularly intrigue me, but I have been privileged to hunt these prehistoric beasts in some of the most rugged and most beautiful hunting areas in Southern Africa.

For me the greatest game animal in Africa to hunt is the elephant, particularly the elephant of Botswana, because of the massive size of their bodies and tusks. No other experience has brought me so much joy and satisfaction while at the same time causing so much emotional turmoil and pain, as hunting the big Botswana tuskers.

From the age of 14, I have hunted elephant in various countries. For the past 14 years my professional hunters and I have hunted over 700 of these magnificent animals in Botswana alone. We live, sleep, eat and dream big tuskers. This is what we do; this is all we want to do! It is physically and emotionally taxing, yet there is no greater life-altering experience than hunting the biggest land mammal on earth! It is hard work finding the right tuskers. You work under pressure; you operate within the secret folds of nature and against high expectations of your clients and peers. You see many elephant, some with broken tusks, small tusks or no tusks, but then you see the elephant that both you and your client know is the one! It is those moments that produce the firewood of your old age, of having lived a life worth remembering!

One of the reasons for Botswana’s healthy elephant population is the country’s vegetation, security, water, and little interference from mankind, but mostly because of the authorities’ sensible approach to wildlife management. The Government, together with the hunting industry, realises that cooperative and scientific management of the country’s wildlife resources will secure the co-existence of man and beast to the benefit of both. It is of the utmost importance that Government and the hunting industry join hands to ensure the survival of this magnificent species and to conserve the natural habitat it shares with other creatures.

The quality of the hunt and the quality of the trophies taken undoubtedly makes Botswana the best elephant hunting destination in Africa today. Interestingly, statistics prove that the quality of trophies has not only stabilized, but has steadily improved since the reopening of elephant hunting in 1996.

: Johan and his son, with his first springbuck

: Cobus Calitz with his first elephant

With careful planning, monitoring the movement of elephant throughout the year and assessing the hunt day by day, your PH will narrow down the odds for you and with a little bit of luck you will get your elephant in the right place at the right time. The combination of your PH’s knowledge and skills and your good shooting will turn your dream into reality.

It is said that the days of hundred-pounders are basically gone. Ninety-pounders, eighty-pounders, yes – it happens! Seventy pounders, yes – that happens more often. Sixty pounders happen a lot. The men that pursue big tuskers spend days, year after year, looking for that big one. You get despondent, you think of giving up, and then it happens – around the corner, your bull is suddenly there! The one you have always dreamt of . . . The year 2010 was such a year for us when one of our clients was blessed with a magnificent 104lbs tusker.

I have no regrets for having chosen professional hunting as a career. The opportunity to meet and guide clients is very rewarding. Each friend I have made over the years, who started off as a client, has a special place in my heart. The bond between people formed by life-and-death situations is unforgettable and unbreakable.

The financial rewards of being a PH aren’t great but one can make a decent living out of it if you put body and soul into it. The actual reward is being with your mistress, the bush, where you can live a life not unlike that of your forefathers and pioneers of old.

To wake up in the morning to the call of francolin on the other side of the canvas; to hear the chatter of monkeys and barking of baboons; to see buffalo in a herd counting hundreds; to see elephant in northern Botswana coming together from all directions to form a herd of a hundred individuals or more; to encourter 500 or more elephant in a single day from a makoro (dug-out canoe) on the river; to have the privilege of following sitatunga in a makoro that silently makes its way through the papyrus; to view the abundance of plans game around you; to encounter leopard and lion on a regular basis; to see the day end in all its splendor, watching the animals relax for a brief moment before sensing the dangers that might lurk in the night ahead; the deep roar of a big lion male making his presence known – all of this is priceless! Money can never pay for what we experience on a daily basis.

My only regret is probably the sacrifice one has to make, not being there for my family when they need me, and missing out on so much happening in their lives…

In a career that spreads over many years, it is difficult to highlight a single moment. What I do for a living is a highlight in itself. There are so many highlights, each with its own charm and reward. Is the taking of a 100 lbs elephant a bigger career highlight than a 66” kudu or a 48” buffalo? Is hunting with a king a greater honor that hunting with my dear friend, Abe, the plumber from Lena, Illinois, who shot all of his Big Five with me using the same rifle? For me, it is a highlight every time I see clients and friends taking a worthy trophy. Each moment is different, each reaction and smile unique, each happy moment a highlight.

Being able to guide my father and my son on the same safari during which each hunted a buffalo was very special. To watch the emotions on a 13-year-old boy’s face when he pulls the trigger on his first buffalo and to experience the emotions of a 65-year-old man shooting his last buffalo and last animal of his hunting life, is something one cannot put into words.

: Johan guiding his father in the Zambezi Valley

: Johan with his son, Cobus and Trackers

Being able to guide my son Cobus on his first elephant safari and to witness his happiness years later when his client shot a 94 lbs elephant, was very special to me. To have been with my friend, Jose Luis Dias, when he took his 94 lbs trophy was a highlight.

To have been chosen in the 90s to conduct one of the first professional hunting schools in South Africa was an honor. Standing next to people of the caliber of Kobus Schoeman and Ronnie Rowland in front of a class of bright-eyed want-to-be professional hunters left an indelible impression on me. I learned something new on each occasion, watching these two dear friends sharing their infinite knowledge and wisdom with the students. Playing a small part in shaping apprenticeships is a feather in my cap. Today, many of them are world-renowned professional hunters and very successful outfitters.

To have served on the executive committee of PHASA and BWMA is certainly a highlight. Having had the honor to feature on many podiums, videos and outdoor television channels, and especially Tony Makris’s very popular Under Wild Skies series is a great privilege. I can never thank then enough for the wonderful exposure this has given me. Being asked to write a foreword to Graig Boddington’s book on elephant is another highlight.

These are just examples, of course, less career highlights I experience as a PH.

The biggest highlight of all is being to be able to work and live so close with Creation and to be blessed with so many special friends and colleagues each enriching my life in so many ways and making me a more complete human being.

Botswana is an artist’s pallet and every hunter’s lifelong dream. The diversity of its fauna and flora, the sunsets, the people, the sheer abundance of animals and trophy quality, make it a great destination. I have hunted many other areas in my career, but the ease of getting to and from the hunting area, the true wildness and abundance of wildlife in different areas of Botswana, makes this country one of my favorite hunting areas.

The Okavango Delta with its extreme beauty, its rivers, streams, islands and palm groves was, and still is, a great place to hunt elephant, buffalo and other animals. Cat hunting is no longer allowed in Botswana, but the lion and leopard hunting in the Delta was an experience of ten lifetimes! The Delta is one of the most beautiful spots in Africa and my favorite hunting area.

: Hendrik Coetzee, Frikkie and Johan Calitz and field staff carrying elephant meat back to camp

: Johan, Hendrik Coetzee and field staff removing buffalo carcass

Thousands of elephant roam the drier Chobe regions of Botswana and hunting these big beasts is an awe-inspiring experience. Nothing beats the sight of so many elephant each day and being spoilt for choice. The quality of the trophies taken each year in these drier areas easily puts them on par with a hunt in the Delta.

I agree that I am prejudiced. I have hunted Mozambique, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and other parts of the world, but the country that I chose to call home, namely Botswana, remains closest to my heart.

Thinking about the difference between an agreeable and a difficult client, I guess that it is all about expectations. A client may become difficult if you are not meeting his expectations, for instance by refusing to do things which are beyond the boundaries of legal and ethical practices.

A client can become difficult if his pre-hunt expectations differ vastly from the reality of the hunt. He may feel cheated if things are different from what has been promised. Prior to, and during a hunt, it is vital to play open cards with clients, create realistic expectations, address all possible grey areas and stick to the contractual agreement. That way you minimize, if not prevent, nasty disagreements and unhappy clients.

A difficult client can also be one that is disappointed with his PH’s call. A client that sets the end result as a marker and not the overall experience as his goal is often difficult to deal with. A person without respect for God’s creation and the laws of nature and the land he is hunting on is almost always difficult to deal with.

On the other hand, it is a pleasure to hunt with a person who is in pursuit of a holistic experience and enjoys the wonder and lessons of life and nature every day! This is a person who notices a beautiful bird, a female kudu with her young; a person who watches in awe as the dust and thunder rise from underneath the hooves of a buffalo herd; a person whose heart melts at the sight of lion cubs playing with their mother’s tail . . .

An agreeable client is a person who works hard, has realistic expectations, respects the environment and uses the full impact of his hunting experience and being close to nature as firewood for his old age. An agreeable client is also one that respects the decisions of his PH and trackers, and trusts them to come up with the best possible trophy available at the time without overstepping the boundaries of the law. An agreeable client is one that realizes and respects the fact that his PH will always try and act in his best interest without jeopardizing his or his companion’s safety. He is also one who is man enough to acknowledge the fact that nature has won if he does not get his trophy, and who then walks away with dignity, humbleness and respect.

To be able to hunt may be a God-given right, but to give it true meaning one has to realize that this right is a huge privilege that also comes with huge responsibilities. The quality of a hunt can be defined as that moment when man and animal become one, and man executes his right to take life in an honorable way with dignity and respect.

The quality of a hunt is when a PH and his client respect the laws of nature and wildlife, when they pursue an animal that is old and near the end of its life, and only take it if it meets the expectations of the client. The in-between, from start to end, is what matters. The true reward lies in the knowledge and satisfaction that both the PH and client practiced fair chase and hunted in a humane manner.

For me, the quality of a hunt is defined as a cocktail of emotions, of fear, anticipation, euphoria and of sadness. I regard each hunt that contained this mix of emotions as one that added quality to my life.

Gorongoza in Mozambique – Rising and Rising

Jan 14, 2021 | News

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. This commitment is the fundamental key to success. Protected areas cannot survive without the support of their neighbours – the people who live outside its borders. Understanding this is fundamental to successful management of any park, and Mozambique has been blessed by having the support of Dr Greg Carr, a philanthropist who understands that human development and conservation go hand in hand. This remarkable American has pledged to invest US$40 million into the development of Gorongoza over a period of 30 years.

The late 1960s saw the first comprehensive scientific studies of the Park, led by Kenneth Tinley, a South African ecologist. In the first-ever aerial survey, Tinley and his team counted about 200 lions, 2,200 elephants, 14,000 buffalo, 5,500 wildebeest, 3,000 zebra, 3,500 waterbuck, 2,000 impala, 3,500 hippos, and large herds of eland, sable and hartebeest numbering more than 500. Tinley also discovered that many people, and most of the wildlife, living in and around the Park depended on one river, the Vunduzi, which originates on the slopes of nearby Mount Gorongosa.

Because the mountain was outside of the Park’s boundaries, Tinley proposed expanding the Park to include the mountain as a key element in a ‘Greater Gorongosa’ ecosystem of about 8,200 square kilometers. In 1977 Tinley published his D.Sc. thesis, ‘Framework of the Gorongosa Ecosystem’ and in 2020 the Gorongosa Project made it available to all in a beautiful book format entitled Montane to Mangrove.

But in that same year of 1977, a civil war broke out in Mozambique that was to last for 15 years. The country was devastated, a million people lost their lives, and 95% of the large animals in Gorongoza were slaughtered. The wildlife paradise was reduced to ruins, a vast killing field littered with the bones of thousands and thousands of animals.

Greg Carr first visited Mozambique in 2002 and was impressed by the amazing landscapes, from mountains, forests, plains, swamps, lakes and wetlands, stretching all the way down to the mangroves of the Indian Ocean. In 2004 he signed agreements with the government, and started implementing his dream of restoring Gorongosa to its former glory.

Gorongosa has just published its annual report for 2020, and it makes for inspiring reading. You are encouraged to take look yourself; click here to view it.

The 60^th birthday of Mozambique’s flagship national park was celebrated on 23 July 2020. The official ceremony featured just 20 guests due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and one of them was the President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi. At the function the President was told that the Park’s restoration efforts had increased the number of large mammal survivors of the civil war from a few to over 100,000. They share the Park with over 6,300 other species of smaller animals and plants recorded so far and which continues to rise. As a birthday present, Greg Carr pledged that he and other donor partners (including USAID) will build 40 primary schools in communities surrounding Gorongosa. The Gorongosa Project already works directly with 50 primary schools and six secondary schools with youth clubs, and plans to increase the number of after-school clubs established in these schools.

Some highlights from the 2020 Annual Report include the following:

African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus) are the second-most endangered carnivore on the continent. In collaboration with the Endangered Wildlife Trust, a pack of 14 animals was introduced into Gorongoza in 2018 and then 15 more in 2019. With the addition of more than 50 pups born in 2020, Gorongosa Park’s wild dog population has grown to 85.

During November 2020 an aerial wildlife count of the Park recorded nearly 90,000 animals in the survey area that covered 60% of the Park. This included the highest number of elephant (781), blue wildebeest (815), hippo (766) and buffalo (1,221) ever counted since the restoration of the Park began.
Park Warden Pedro Muagura received the IUCN’s Kenton Miller award for taking bold steps to help preserve protected areas and natural treasures like Gorongosa National Park. According to the IUCN news release, Mr. Muagura represents “… a beacon of hope in regions which have had a turbulent history, affecting both humans and nature in profound ways over the past decades.”
From novataxa.blogspot.com (photograph by Piotr Naskrecki)
A new bat species (Miniopterus wilsoni) named for the renowned biologist and ardent supporter of biodiversity conservation, Professor Edward O Wilson, was discovered on Mount Gorongosa and in the mountains of central and northern Mozambique, and southern Malawi.
Gorongosa established the nation’s first pangolin rescue facility and pioneered veterinary care and rehabilitation of the species in Mozambique. To date, 40 pangolins have been rescued and returned to the wild.
The elephant population in Gorongosa crashed from around 2,500 to less than 250 individuals as a result of Mozambique’s civil war. Since the inception of the Gorongosa Project, increased protection of the Park has led to a remarkably fast recovery. The Park’s elephant population now numbers about 800 individual animals. This conservation achievement is complicated by the fact that 200,000 people live around the Park, and agricultural areas have expanded. Human-elephant conflict (HEC) has therefore intensified, resulting in crop destruction by elephants. The Elephant Ecology Project is doing research to help resolve these conflicts. Fifty trail cameras monitor elephant population size, structure and habitat use. ‘Beehive fences’ capitalize on elephants’ fear of African honeybees, and hives distributed along fence lines are a natural deterrent. Beehive fences and elephant-proof silos are key to the Park’s elephant and human coexistence initiative.

The achievements in the restoration of Gorongoza are both amazing and inspiring. You can learn more by visiting their Facebook page. There is also interesting background about the remarkable Dr Greg Carr that you can read here.

There are also many ways in which you can support the work of the Gorongosa team. Please contact them if you are willing to contribute in any way. contact@gorongosa.net

Dr John Ledger is a past Director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, now a consultant, writer and teacher on the environment, energy and wildlife; he is a columnist for the African Hunting Gazette. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa. John.Ledger@wol.co.za