I recently had a chat with a fellow who books hunts in Zimbabwe. Told him I had hunted in Namibia and thought I would like to go back. He said, no, no, you must come to Zim. As a former British colony, the traditions are all English and the PHs have much more fun, unlike those stiff Germans.

Comments?

I have hunted with both and never thought the German Brit thing made any difference at all. I will say though that I have had a couple of those Afrikanz in south africa get a little stale after a while with there wild B.S. stories.

Had a German in Namibia who was not sociable the whole safari. He had something that upset him, but it wasn't us. By the way, I'm first generation American so am used to Germanic attitudes since I was born.

Don't discount the French PHs either. When I hunted Cameroon I had a fellow that was born and raised in Paris. He was one hell of a good PH.

There was a little bit of a language barrier but we overcame that and he ended up helping me get a 31" Western Roan.

Well I certainly had a pleasant time with Johann, my PH with Shona Adventures in Namibia. But I've been to Africa but the one time ...

I don't think colonial heritage means much at all. On 3 trips to Africa I have had 2 good trips and 1 absolutely miserable trip after being paired with a Zim PH going through a mid-life crisis. Knowing something about who you will be hunting with and not getting the bait and switch from an outfitter is a critical part of hunt planning and it really sucks to learn the hard way!!

I had a PH who spent the entire time we were afield talking about the number of clients' wives he had lured into his tent (he was trying for 100) and about the billionaire clients (e.g. Stavros Niarchos) he had hunted with in the past. The fact that I was acquainted with his charming wife and children did not make it any more palatable. However, he ran an excellant camp and produced some outstanding trophies.

I think how you match up with your PH is more a question of personalities. I have never hunted with a German PH in Africa, but I have hunted with a whole party of German hunters in Eastern Europe without an issue. Of course, the fact that I am fairly fluent in German may have made a difference.

I spent a good bit of my hunting experience in Africa with a gunbearer who spoke no English. My Swahili was somewhat sketchy, and is now even more so, but we managed to communicate with no problem, and some of my best memories of African hunting were those that involved Kaoli and me hunting by ourselves.

Have had good and bad of both...my one complaint with the "German" PH's, is that the majority seem to speak Afrikaans around American clients way too much. I know this has been hashed before, but it really does get old listening to hours of conversations around you that you cannot understand when everyone can speak English.

Soooo....are all of you agreeing with Sir Robert that only Blacks are Africans???

quote:

Originally posted by Tom In Tennessee:
Soooo....are all of you agreeing with Sir Robert that only Blacks are Africans???

???

I'm sure you're trying to make a point. I'm just not sure exactly what it is. Maybe you should go troll elsewhere.

Anyone born in Africa is an African of course. But how does that relate to PHs' senses of humor?

Tom,
What's your point? Have you not been to Africa and seen the White Female African Women that would knock your socks off (there are Black Female Women also)? Like most countries, there are all colors of Africans.

I've had PHs that were "Brits", "Germans" and an "Italian". All were enjoyable. But, I agree that long conversations in Afrikaans around the campfire are not necessary nor appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
I recently had a chat with a fellow who books hunts in Zimbabwe. Told him I had hunted in Namibia and thought I would like to go back. He said, no, no, you must come to Zim. As a former British colony, the traditions are all English and the PHs have much more fun, unlike those stiff Germans.

Comments?

This is pretty much true... and I grew up in Germany

One's military experience is about as relevant to hunting as a county coroner's would be in the taxidermy forum.

Just thought I'd point that out.

I am German so I might be biased but for me I had mostly pleasant experiences with a variety of nations. At the end it is a peoples business.

Jaegerfrank: Well I guess we don't want Eric von Stroheim for a PH, but neither do we want Bertie Wooster, eh? A lot of it is stereotyping -- and an effort by a booking agent to steer me away from Namibia to Zim ...

Bill, I don't think Johann is German. I think he's Afrikaaner - more Dutch. Regardless, he's fun.

Chuck you are right I'm Afrikaans. Vera, my wife, is German and Zoë our 7 year old girl speaks Afrikaans, German, and English (with an American accent).
I don’t think that one should distinguish between PH's because of their different nationalities. One has to keep in mind that hunting cultures around the world are different. You cannot make a comparison say against the German hunting traditions and the American traditions. Different outfits cater for different clients and their traditions. In Namibia you will find that most of the Afrikaans owned outfitters are mostly into the US market the German outfits are more into the European market. There is however exceptions, but it seems to be the general trend. This does not mean that they are bad guides or outfits, just different.
At the end of the day you as a client need to select an outfit based on what you would like to get out of the hunt and one that can adapt to your style of hunting. If you prefer sitting in a “Hochsitz” during the day, celebrating “Weidmannsheil und ein Horridor” with a “Schnapps” after a successful hunt or singing “Lovuzdar” and finishing a bottle or two of “Slivovitz”, maybe it’s Hemmingway’s Green Hill and the Grey-Ghost you are after. Find the outfit that best represents what you are looking for.
At the moment the hunting industry has a lot of enemies out there, we don’t need to create friction within our self because of someone’s Nationality. Just come and hunt with an open mind and you will enjoy it.
I’ve seen guys talking 80% their languages in front of client that does not understand a word, in our operation we don’t speak Afrikaans or German except to our tracker and crew, and of course in bed. I personally think it’s very rude and unprofessional to continue a conversation in a language someone in the conversation does not understand, especially if he is a paying client. I’ve walked out of safari camps because PH’s were rude towards their clients in their own languages. In fact I’ve kicked a group of PH’s, with their clients, out of my main lodge once because they did not respect my Danish agent’s wife, being blatantly rude in Afrikaans. All I can say to these PH’s is to wake up or look for something else to do.

Johann: Well said. I didn't mean for this to turn too serious, as the Zim safari booker was just breezy bloke with a funny line of chatter.
And I really had a wonderful time with you, Vera, Zoe and your parents.
Guys, Afrikaaners can have fun, I promise.

Johann:
Did you get my email about next year?
Tom

Johann, thanks, I was pretty sure that was correct. I do remember discussing differing clientele between PHs of different heritage, but it was only in the context of averages, and had nothing to do with good, bad, or indifferent. I do recall with great pleasure the care you and your family took with communication - we all shared a language and you were careful to respect that.

I agree with you, it is rude to use a language your client doesn't speak when everyone speaks that language.

Tell Zoe I eagerly anticipate our next tea party, and she can work on her Spanish next.

Ignore TWL. He will just give you heartburn.

My point was that I was, years ago riding with a fourth generation African who happened to be white and the check point officer wanted to know why he didn't just go back to where he came from....
I have hunted with a "black" PH, a PH whose grandfather was Canadian and grandmother was a Chief's daughter, a fifth generation Boer and Afrikaans speaking 4th generation Frenchman and German among others....
I apologize if some didn't see humor in my Mugabe comment.
BTW, the most humorous comment I can remeber personally, came from John Greeff. We had just seen my first Black Mamba and I asked if one were bitten, what would happen? John said, "Well, Tom, if he were a client, we would rush back to camp and have him sign his travellers cheques."

Slightly off topic, but it concerns a German PH.
A few years back we were hunting in Namibia with Roy (Otjandaue Safaris) and we had this German PH in camp. We called him Oom Paul. The guy was in his 70's and close to retiring although I can categorically tell you that his eyes had retired long before then. He was energetic and very fit for someone his age, but the man couldn't see worth a damn. I remember this one incidence; we were at this waterhole and I saw this eland poke his head out from behind a bush a hundred and thirty five yards away. I asked Oom Paul whether he was a shooter. He kept saying "Vait, Vait.." until a few minutes later the said animal took two quick strides across the open area and as his tail disappeared behind the next bush, Oom Paul says, "Yah, Yah, shoot!" I nearly shot the old man then. Oh, on the second day he got us stuck in the middle of a river-bed and we had to get winched out. The guy would not listen when he was advised to shift to 4-wheel drive, drove the baki into the river and promptly stalled it in the middle. And then all I heard was,"Schizer …" repeated ad nauseum. Gene, one of the other guys with us, usually shot before Oom Paul would give him the okay. He figured that by the time Paul's brain worked out the trophy calculations the animal would be long gone, and if he thought that the animal was of trophy quality he shot it and that usually made the old man jump because there were more than a few instances when he had not even seen the animal. He was a good guy in camp, but loved his whiskey. A bottle of Single malt lasted less than two nights and there were only three people drinking! No wonder they don't see well in the early mornings.

Anyone else know Oom Paul?

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger

Oom Paul!!!!

As I recall, a good chunk of the Best Hunting in Africa were German Colonies. Kenya was at one time German East Africa. And they came up with useful implements like Mauser 98's and 9.3 x 62's. A good PH will make the safari enjoyable a bad one well use your imagination. In the end is a lot of thankless hard work for very little reward. And another thing If a PH likes single Malt, I don't have a problem with that at all, if he can get me on a good Sable or Kudu Bull. And by good I mean very good!! The Single Malt would be the cheap part of it.

quote:

Originally posted by George Semel:
As I recall, a good chunk of the Best Hunting in Africa were German Colonies. Kenya was at one time German East Africa.

Actually German East Africa was composed of Tanganyika, Rwanda and Burundi.(Tanganyika and Zanzibar later merged and became present day Tanzania)

Kenya was British.

And Rwanda later practised Genocide...


maybe we should all beome PC like America and refer to our PH's as British-Africans,German-Africans, Boer-Africans, French-Africans, Portugese-Africans.....