I have never hunted where cell phones had reception, nor, have I ever hunted with trackers that had phones.

Ar members that have been on here for several years can recall a huge change in communication while hunting. At the start of every hunting season there was always the questions of what sat-com phone is the best service or cheapest or etc., In 2006 I posted I was going to leave my phone at home because I was wanting to get away from the phone and as what is usual here, some members jumped on me and threw rocks at me like I was a leper. My commitment as a father, husband , friend were in question and some said they would never hunt with somebody like me that didn't want to communicate with home while on safari. I was made to feel like I had thrown eggs at the Pope!

I am a firm believer now that cell phones are just about everywhere and if they are not there,,, they will be soon. Ten years ago here in the US they became a nuisance while at dinner, at a movie, etc.,Now in the bush veldt?? yuk..!

How many of us would of thought several years ago we would have to include talking to the PH about the use of cell phones in the bush while hunting? We accept the use of radios when hunting with dogs for leopards, etc. will cell phones be common to us in a few years and accepted?

Will we see outfitters advertise, "no cell phones work in our camp?" Like they used to advertise, satalite phone in camp ? Gee whiz,, sometimes I really hate progress and technology,,, then the next minute it saves my bacon.....

August 2008 driving 8 hours across Namibia,, there were cell phone towers everywhere,,, and cell phone reception. Every village or group of people we went by almost everyone had cell phones. I was really surprised the change in a few years,,I am scared to say I won't hunt where the Ph or trackers have phones because I may have to eat those words,,,,what do they say,, never say never?

In my recent trip to Namibia, I visited a Himba Village. I took lots of pictures. Look what I found in my one picture.

I hate cell phones. I own one, but it stays in the car and only comes out when I am deer hunting alone, and then only as a way of calling for help in the unlikely event I fall out of my tree stand and need to call for help. One of the reasons I go hunting and fishing is to be off radar. My wife is a very capable person and if something happened at home that really needed my attention she would figure out a way of getting hold of me.
I too have been on African hunts where cell phones were in frequent use while driving around (definitely not while hunting, however) and while it was mildly annoying to me, I understand that a guy running a one-horse show has to do some business during non-hunting time so I haven't objected.

My client thought this where very funny, and took this picture.
We where hunting elephant in the Ruacana conservancy, and camped next to the Kunene river, and obviously had reception from the close-by Ruacana.
The humor in it is that the one tracker had his traditional clothes on, but where chatting on his phone...!