https://www.news24.com/fin24/e...in-zimbabwe-20230307



07 Mar

Rich Russians hit by travel curbs go hunting in Zimbabwe

For more financial news, go to the News24 Business front page.

Increasing numbers of wealthy Russians are booking game viewing and hunting safaris in Zimbabwe as sanctions stemming from President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine limit their travel options.

Safari operators have seen a surge in business from outside its traditional markets, “especially from Russia,” Emmanuel Fundira, president of the Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe, said in an interview.


High-end tourists to Zimbabwe have mainly emanated from the US and Europe, but the imposition of separate sanctions on a number of the southern African nation’s top leaders who’ve been implicated in human-rights abuses and electoral fraud have strained its relations with Western powers.

Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s administration has responded by seeking to forge closer ties with China, Russia and its ally Belarus, whose leader visited the southern African country last month.



Curbs imposed on a number of rich Russians in response to the war in Ukraine have “limited their access to certain destinations,” with Zimbabwe keen to leverage its friendly ties with Russia to exploit the gap, according to Fundira. One Russian visitor spent $500 000 (R9 million) on a recent two-week safari in Zimbabwe, he said. He declined to provide further details.

Zimbabwe has about 100 000 elephants, Africa’s second-largest population, and sells permits to hunt them for $10 000 (R185 000) each. It also has rhino, lion, leopard and buffalo populations.

A Russia-Africa summit scheduled for July this year will provide a key opportunity for Zimbabwe’s safari industry to market the country to Russia’s ultra-wealthy, Fundira said.

Travel curbs only affect certain, hypocritical, Western countries.

The rest of the world is open for business!

And Russian will ruin hunting in Zim

Zim can have them, and Zim can worry about, and should worry about, and will suffer from, having them.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
Zim can have them, and Zim can worry about, and should worry about, and will suffer from, having them.

Zim won’t worry about them as a country. Their leaders are so deep in Russian and Chinese pockets that they couldn’t climb out- nor do they want to. Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas.

quote:

Their leaders are so deep in Russian and Chinese pockets that they couldn’t climb out- nor do they want to. Lay down with dogs, wake up with fleas.

Hahahaha!

So you think Zim leaders are in US pockets?? Really??

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
So you think Zim leaders are in US pockets?? Really??

I wonder why Trump thinks Putin is a genius!

Because Trump is a narcissistic egomaniac just like Putin.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Because Trump is a narcissistic egomaniac just like Putin.

And he is not Russian!

Read Kleptopia by Tom Burgess!

Yea, I know it’s by a writer who might have an agenda.

I was not aware that Russians are diabolical rule breaking killing fiends. I’m sure Zim operators have a different opinion.

Ordinary Russians are being penalized for their country’s actions.

Imagine if that was applied to Americans every time America invades another country??

quote:

Originally posted by tomahawker:
I was not aware that Russians are diabolical rule breaking killing fiends. I’m sure Zim operators have a different opinion.

Then you haven’t been watching the evening news, re. the ongoing rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure and apartment blocks….

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:

quote:

Originally posted by tomahawker:
I was not aware that Russians are diabolical rule breaking killing fiends. I’m sure Zim operators have a different opinion.

Then you haven’t been watching the evening news, re. the ongoing rocket attacks on civilian infrastructure and apartment blocks….

Agent Orange anyone?

Schools?

Whole villages obliterated?

Hospital?

Bridges?

Every crime Russia is being accused of has been committed by America!

Multiple times!

While this topic probably belongs in the political section I am quite sure it is not the ordinary( in our way of thinking) Russian that is going to Zimbabwe hunting.

But I do agree with Saeed’s last statement. The USA is not innocent.

funny how some have short ideas about a country related to their politicians ...

on a funny note i ve seen and witnessed rich american clients having their guides shooting and killing their animals ... and not to mention the frozen leopards ...

im glad that some hunters wherever they are coming from are helping the economy of a country ...

mocking also the chinese is hilarious thinking how the last year us china broke the record of business despite sanctions against china for taiwan.

so the money has no smell when it fits only ...

I have never met a Russian that I liked.

Small sample, perhaps.

Never met Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn or Gorbachev.

Just uncivil, drunken louts in a few African hunting camps.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I have never met a Russian that I liked.

Small sample, perhaps.

Never met Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn or Gorbachev.

Just uncivil, drunken louts in a few African hunting camps.[/QUOTE

Obviously you have seen all the ones on our beaches!

Challenge: Ask your next PH how much they like hunting with Russians and their "interpreters". Some funny stories and almost tragic stories there.

quote:

Originally posted by lavaca:
Challenge: Ask your next PH how much they like hunting with Russians and their "interpreters". Some funny stories and almost tragic stories there.

lol so you re telling that money has a smell now ...
interpreter has always been a thing in safari industry and do i remember some in CAR when PHs did not speak english nor the client french ....

15 or so years ago, I hunted leopard in Zim. My PH’s previous client was a Russian, also on a leopard hunt. He arrived with 2 large suitcases, one of which was completely filled with nothing but vodka bottles. He left with that suitcase empty. Started witha new bottle every morning and drank all day but never seemed to be impaired.Takes practice I guess…

I have heard all sorts of stories about Russian hunters.

From some who are extremely good shots, and love hunting, to others out there just for fun with a few bimbos.

Their money, their time.

I have not heard of any outfitter or PH refusing to serve them!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have heard all sorts of stories about Russian hunters.

From some who are extremely good shots, and love hunting, to others out there just for fun with a few bimbos.

Their money, their time.

I have not heard of any outfitter or PH refusing to serve them!

Often the PH gets to actually do all the shooting. I’m sure they definitely enjoy that.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have heard all sorts of stories about Russian hunters.

From some who are extremely good shots, and love hunting, to others out there just for fun with a few bimbos.

Their money, their time.

I have not heard of any outfitter or PH refusing to serve them!

Money talks….

quote:

Originally posted by DCS Member:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
I have heard all sorts of stories about Russian hunters.

From some who are extremely good shots, and love hunting, to others out there just for fun with a few bimbos.

Their money, their time.

I have not heard of any outfitter or PH refusing to serve them!

Often the PH gets to actually do all the shooting. I’m sure they definitely enjoy that.

Where is Mark Sullivan?

He is very good at shooting his stupid client’s animals!

I pieced a totally hilarious story together over a period of years by talking to various Ph's and outfitters. No names. I was hunting with a PH who said that his last client was a Russian, who brought an "interpreter." She was a shapely young thing who stayed in camp while they were hunting and wandered around camp half naked when the boss was away. The PH figured out that not much work got accomplished while he was out hunting with the bwana and eventually figured out why.

So to get things done, he charged the oldest guy on the team to take the "interpreter" to a rock on the edge of the river where she could sunbathe sans clothes about a mile or two up the river. Where she wouldn't disrupt the camp. Things returned to normal in their camp.

Years later, I spoke to the outfitter who had the camp on the other side of the river. He'd noticed that productivity in camp had suddenly gone down significantly while he was out hunting with his client, but didn't know why.

One day, he was hunting with his client and as sometimes happens, they found themselves in proximity with camp around lunch time and decided to stop in for a hot lunch. The camp was deserted. When the clients went to their tents, they thought they had been robbed. But the only things missing were optics -- binoculars, rifle scopes, etc.

Turns out the "interpreter" was sunbathing on a rock across from their camp and the whole staff was checking her out with every magnifying thing they could find.

Problem solved in one camp created a problem in another.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by Michael Robinson:
I have never met a Russian that I liked.

Small sample, perhaps.

Never met Pasternak, Solzhenitsyn or Gorbachev.

Just uncivil, drunken louts in a few African hunting camps.

Obviously you have seen all the ones on our beaches!

Yes. With their huge pot bellies bulging out of their tiny Speedos.

Not really an image you want to remember!

Although they do tend to have attractive young girlfriends.

Money is the best deodorant.

I had 2 sets of Russian clients hunt in Burkina. The first was a group, the leader was an obnoxious character who thought he knew best and would not listen to the local guides who had a hard time controlling him! He even fired and shot an immature roan from the car when they had stopped and were just glassing a herd!

The second was a single hunter. A young man. It was brutally hot and I was worried how he would handle the heat, the first thing he did was turn off the AC and said he liked the heat. He was a super guy and shot a nice lion as well.

I know there are some pretty serious hunters in Russia, but a bigger proportion are probably looking for more than just a hunt and whatever that involves! It's the culture!



Arjun Reddy
Hunters Networks LLC
www.huntersnetworks.com
30 Ivy Hill Road
Brewster, NY 10509
Tel: +1 845 259 3628

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