quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Save me some reading: Is this thread gay?

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Manion:
Wow.

I left a long post on this thread and it was deleted.

Does AR treat all newcomers this way?

Jim

I think your long post is on the "10 reasons to leave your wife..." thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Lhook7:

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Manion:
Wow.

I left a long post on this thread and it was deleted.

Does AR treat all newcomers this way?

Jim

I think your long post is on the "10 reasons to leave your wife..." thread.

You beat me to it Lhook. I believe this is the post you are referring to Jim Manion.... here.

Maybe the question should be..do all newcomers jump to such hasty conclusions?

Cheers,
Canuck

I think it's a matter of getting "confirmation" about a previous decision that you have made. You want others to select your college, or to cheer for your favorite team. It is a deep-seeded need for someone to confirm that you had made a good decision those years ago.
You now want others to choose "your" PH, again confirming that you made a good selection when you were in their shoes. As a result, you sing the praises of "your" guy, and feel a sense of pride if by chance someone does.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:
"falling in love with your PH" ?????

Yes very very gay unless you hunt with this beautiful PH:



A pretty Nordic blonde, who hunts, shoots, PHs, and has her own access to African safari concessions.

I am already in 'love'.

NitroX,
Could you please give details on how to book with her? Maybe some tea on the blue sofa around the campfire at night? I will forego Castle and biltong for that. Of course my wife may come too if she wishes. Blue Sofa!

Seriously - Who is this PH - What country, what company?? The way she carries the rifle gets my business.

The PH is Natasha Illum Berg and the safari company she hunts with was named on AR some time ago. A search will bring up a fair number of "drooling" threads to research. Somewhere in Tanzania.

She has written a couple of books, "Tea on the Blue Sofa" which is loosely her feelings about loosing her murdered boyfriend in Kenya, and "River of Red Earth" not yet translated into English (I think?) about her getting started in the safari business.

I feel iked we've hijacked the thread, but Natasha appears to have the attention of many of us!

Here are some of her thoughts on how she conducts her hunts in Tanzania:

By Professional Hunter Natasha Illum Berg



Exploring/hunting safari in Tanzania with P.H. Natasha Illum Berg



It is my intention to offer a "new" concept in hunting in Tanzania.

Any person who has hunted in Africa in the last many decades know that hunting here generally involves driving around for many hours a day looking for animals or tracks.



This can become rather tiresome after a week, especially for the client who is adventurous at heart.



I have hunted Tanzania for ten years.



I came to Africa to fulfil a dream of hunting and exploring and to live an exiting life in the wilds, not to drive around in a Landcruiser from morning till night with clients, only to stop and collect trophies at ease. I am not suggesting that the shooting normally takes place from the car, as this is both against my own principles and that of the law of Tanzania, but I am suggesting that hunting all over Africa has become a bit of a quick fix. The pressure to get so and so many animals of such and such a size, in so and so many days, is killing the fire in the belly of the one who dreams of Africa being a place where a trophy brought home comes with a story. A story of distance covered, sudden challenges and surprising encounters with elephants, hippos, lions and leopards just to mention a few. A story of stopping to wait for a big herd of elephants to pass in their own time, spending the entire day on the tracks of a single bull buffalo, drinking a sundowner by a river full of crocs and sleeping under the stars to the roar of lions. To feel in your own bones many of the same challenges that explorers in times gone by experienced.



Of course I have a satellite telephone in case of emergency and of course I have a GPS…now these are the useful pieces of technology that modern times have brought. And when a certain amount of trophies have been shot, I will send a message for a car to come to a pickup point and collect them, so we can keep moving with out too much luggage and with out worrying about spoiled trophies in the heat. But as far as our own transport is concerned..those two shorts clad sticks that were meant for walking will be the only way forward. For 42 days, a bit more, a bit less. In 42 days we will take out one full licence per client, which will be plenty enough. That will cover anything of hunting interest from Dikdik to lion (hunting of giraffe, rhino, hunting dog, cheetah is prohibited in Tanzania).



This is not the safari for the man or woman who wants to be guaranteed SCI records or to have shot everything on licence as soon as possible, but I can promise that there will be plenty of game shot, both big and small, and adventure for a lifetime.



I will be using some of the absolute best hunting areas in Tanzania. For outfitting and porters I will work with absolute top hunting companies only. Each safari will be tailor made, maps spread out. Routes will be planned, game licences, gun import export licences etc. will all be take care of beforehand, as on a usual hunting safari.



The point of a safari like this is not to go through unnecessary suffering (as they say in the brittish army " any fool can be uncomfortable".), but to experience the essence of African hunting and bush, in a way that will give the clients an experience, truly, of a lifetime.



Safety will be paramount, so I might decide, depending on the area, that two Prof. Hunters are needed. Also 42 days is a long time so we would soon appreciate the company.



Food will be of a simpler version than in permanent hunting camps, as our caravan of porters will be carrying our supplies, but a trained cook will be part of the party at all times. Our camp equipment will also be lightweight, never the less comfortable.



You must be fit mentally and physically. Finally you must have the spirit of a true hunter/adventurer and a good pair of shoes, or this is not for you.

quote:

This is not the safari for the man or woman who wants to be guaranteed SCI records or to have shot everything on licence as soon as possible, but I can promise that there will be plenty of game shot, both big and small, and adventure for a lifetime.

Amen to that!

So she basically does porter safaris and instead of 28 days you get 42 days... Sounds like fun.

She sounds like a hell of a lot of fun. Wish I could afford 42 in Tanzania!

They have beaver in Tanz?

She carries the 458 500 grain bullet that killed her first buffalo in a chain around her neck, and she is Swedish, so go ahead and book a tour or ten with her

My apologies to the members here.

That was a dumbass move on my part.

Spring,

It is refreshing to see a PH that takes one seriously hunting.

The biggest barrier I had to overcome was being guided -- it struck me (and still strikes me) that it COULD have left me with little more to do than shoot. It took me a while to figure out how to bring more of myself to the experience, and to take away more FROM the experience.

When I thought about using muzzleloaders, it struck me that all it would do is make the PH work harder (have to get closer, may not get shots that otherwise could have been taken, etc...). Or -- maybe get out of the truck more -- well, 1st day out, we were doing some hiking around looking for springbuck or mountain reedbuck, walking around between outcroppings and through grass (finger grass and those fine sitcker things that make your legs so uncomforatble if you wear shorts), etc. My luggage was delayed -- only had these pull-on boots with elastic on the tongue - not great for ankle support, so I spent a lot of my time looking down at what little round rock I was going to step on next... After my luggage showed up, I could wear real boots and look around me more. Long story shorter -- I learned a lot about my animals, learned the terrain. My next African hunt will feel very different, I'm sure. But I was impressed with the sense that I *could* have said I wanted to walk more, and we would have walked more -- until Robbie got us on an animal and I got my shot. As it was, we saw a lot -- got out and walked (particularly when scouting), looked at lots of animals... (lots of rain this year -- grass very tall, so all you'd see of warthogs was their tails sticking up out of the grass like wobbly antennas -- an occasional tiny antelope would bounce up out of the grass...). Didn't have lions at night -- just caracals and jackels; didn't have crocs -- just a cobra. Lots of aardwolves, mongooses, etc. But the movement from getting to learn about animals, to participating in scouting, spotting animals, etc, was something I began to grow into. When we found the black wildebeest, it was a smaller group (rather than the large groups usually with young males, this was a small group) with an outstandingly large male. I thought it was 1 male and 4 females -- it was 3 males and 2 females -- that one male was significantly larger than the others. Robbie said he was an excellent trophy. I didn't know why -- just that he was the only one I was interested in... Then we had to figure out how to get on him and take him (and *that* was Robbie's skill, entirely)! THAT is the kind of experience, when one starts to learn how to find animals and how to hunt these species, that feels like hunting.

I love Natasha's description of what she wants to show her clients. It makes it clear that she wants to show you Africa ... It also brought into focus what I enjoyed so much about the PH I hunted with last April/May. HE also wanted to show *me* Africa!! His love of the place, the delight it brings people who hunt there -- it was very infectious. I know he did a good job, because I want to go back - and partly, it feels like home in a way. I suppose it is like that expecially, because the place we hunted was where my PH grew up, and his grandparents before him... it was home to him. His youth is in that land, and the land is in all his memories of his youth. I suspect that is true of many of the PH's whose clients have "fallen in love" with.

Dan

quote:

Originally posted by mr rigby:
... and she is Swedish, so go ahead and book a tour or ten with her

Danish, perhaps?

quote:

Originally posted by NitroX:

quote:

Originally posted by mr rigby:
... and she is Swedish, so go ahead and book a tour or ten with her

Danish, perhaps?

You're both kind of right. As she has lived in both countries.

She has a Danish mother, and a Swedish father.

She grew up around Malmo and Copenhagen?

Dan

I came back from my first safari (I had hunted camps in Western US etc) very impressed with my PH and we became friends and he has stayed with us here in the states. The most impressive thing is after about 1/2 dozen safaris since he still remains the most impressive PH I have hunted with some of the other PH's I have hunted have helped raise that pedistal if you know what I mean. I won't give you a litney of what has followed and after a five year break I am hopefully going to hunt with him again.