I'm making educated guesses here, but let's try. In five days of hunting I must have seen 150 sable, including some amazing males... at least 10 shooters, a zillion waterbuck, impala everywhere, warthogs thicker than I've ever seen before, three great bull roan, maybe 50 elephant, 16 lions, 6 cheetahs, no harte-wildebeest, lots of reedbuck..... no bushpig... let's see...... a couple of great eland bulls.. no poachers or traps and no sign of "war vet" incursion. Grahams land that adjoins Matetsi, however, had been appropriated. All wire fencing had been "disappeared" there, too.



The Selous will always be my first love and nobody does it better than Pierre van Tonder, but I sure did get my money's worth on this hunt.



I think it is important to state that Graham has lost several properties to the current land "re-distribution" crap that is going on. He is not in bed with the Gov't, but knows pretty well how to dodge bullets (at least most of the time). He does have a long term lease on several government owned properties (and some communal lands, but, having been burned there, I wonder???) and the outlook for losing the gov't stuff is not too bad. Go to Dallas and look him in the eye and ask him about it. I only had to pay a very small deposit and took the remainder in travelers checks so my risk was a plane ticke and a nominal deposit. Brent and I traveled about 1200 kilometers on various public roads going to/from Vic Falls/Chete/Matetsi and never saw a single roadblock. Gas was available. A wind storm blew dozens of trees down between Chete and Hwange. All were cut up and cleaned up in 24 hours by gov't workers. We often saw guys with hot asphalt fixing pot holes. I was amazed.



Zimbabwe is probably not for the guy who can't take the hit to his wallet because of the loss of a deposit (even if the outfit doesn't require a biggie) or who can't live with the ups and downs of political whirlwinds, but is any of Africa different? I want to modify that.. It's not for the guy who can't stand the potential threat of a hit to his wallet. That's why one should buy trip insurance! I've never felt the least bit physically threatened there, and actually got back all funds from the Steyn family when an earlier trip went tits up.... While in Zim I talked to several hunters who were as happy as pigs at Po Boy's Buffet.



And just standing in the spray of Vic Falls has merit...



Absolute peace of mind and lots of game... call Ray and go to Tanzania or Botswana.. but you pay some for stability, I guess as John T. Arbuckle almost said. Zim is little more sense of adventure, and I'm obviously not talking about the "wildness" but in the political sense... I'm batting .500 this year in Zim and I'll bet that I'm in the minority who've been screwed. If I'd booked the first time with HHK I'd be 2 for 2... but probably the same if the young Mr. Steyn hadn't wrecked his motorcycle.



Heck, Africa is Africa. There ain't no lions and tigers in South Georgia so I'm gonna keep on going, expecting the occasional hit, getting as educated as possible before I put up a buck... you pays your nickle and you takes your chances.

Skinners name is Rigori (sp).

HI,

That sounds like a good time, nice post,good luck,Kev

Thanks for that Judge! It certainly sounds good that Graham has successfully kept the wolves at bay, and apparently runs a tight ship. Everybody gives him a lot of credit for a well run operation - more so since times are difficult (understatement, there). Still, it is nice to hear the opinion of an "outsider", and get a first hand account from the area itself. Thanks again.

- mike