I received my last issue, Volume 9 #6, on 3/19/04. That was nearly six months ago. I know that delivery from Zimbabwe can be erratic at best, but has anyone received more recent editions and if so when?

Their website is not up to date as to the current issue and so far they have not responded to my email inquiry that I sent the other day.

Thanks,

RCG

Sorry to say guys, it will never get better with them. I had a subscription for 4 years. I was always late getting an issue or never got it. The worst part about that publication is that the management will not return an e-message or the USA field agent a phone call. After missing 6 of 10 issues and PAYING THEM to Fed EX back issues to me, I had enough. When they got 2 issues behind again, I had them refund my subscription.
It is really a crying shame too, because they really put out a fine product. Maybe, they will learn how or hire someone who is a professional business person and can learn to maximize the opportunity to grow.

I subscribed to African Hunter at this years Dallas Safari Club show in January. Eight months ago. So far I've received two issues. #6 of 2003 and #1 of 2004. I don't thnk I'll be re-subscribing

I only received one issue for 2004 so far (#1 of 2004). I recently got a subscription renewal notice in the mail. I emailed them and told them I would not be renewing as I do not wish to pay for something that I do not receive.



I did get an email back from them apologizing for non-delivery. (I have deleted the email so I can't post it here.) They said they understood why I was canceling my subscription.



I think they seriously need to see about setting up shop in South Africa and getting the hell out of Zimbabwe (if that's possible). It is a good magazine that I enjoyed reading. But Zim is down the toilet and, IMHO, they need to give it up and get out. Zim doesn't exactly have a business friendly environment.



Just last week, I subscribed to Man Magnum magazine via Amazon.com as a replacement to African Hunter.



-Bob F.



Edited to remove my remarks about the magazine being printed in South Africa. According to Alan it's printed in Zimbabwe. See below.

i bougth some but its out of business ill advertise there im a ph but i think zimbawe its out of control.juan

Gentlemen,

I subscribe to the African Hunter magazine, as well as Man Magnum, Hatari and The African Sporting Gazzete.

I enjoy reading them all, especially Hatari and the African Sporting Gazzete.

For anyone interested, here is s link to their website.

African Sporting Gazzete

I subscribed to them in 2001 after my return from africa. Yes I've had delivery problems, but eventually, they show up. I also received an erroneous renewal notice and an email from me to Jaqui (who lives here in the states) fixed it. I have just accepted the problems as I knew that EVERYTHING in that once-efficient country would go "south" after the "locals" took over. It's a great magazine and well worth the wait. jorge

I think it's a great magazine and the staff is always trying to solve the delivery problems. Yes, sometimes they arrived late but what the hell!! they are great magazines!!

Lorenzo

Despite some of the inaccurate comments above, African Hunter is not out of business, nor is it printed in South Africa. It plainly states on the masthead: Printed by Brylee Printers, Gweru, Zimbabwe. If you don't recognize the name, Gweru is a town located south of Harare on the Bulawayo road.



We just got Number 2 of 2004 in the mail to the States after a two month haggle with the Zim postal system who increased the mailing rates 500%. If you haven't received Number 1 of 2004, then it is lost in the mail. Anyone who hasn't received it can e-mail me I will have it resent to you, since it got to the States and Europe in June and July.



It may be hard to comprehend everything that is involved, but creating, printing and mailing a magazine from a third world country run by a crazed communist dictator creates a set of difficulties unthinkable in civilized countries. As Pliny the Elder said, "there is always something new out of Africa", including problems. The rate increase is just the latest thing. There is always getting the paper, getting the ink, getting a part for the press, or whatever. The first month we had the website up with only a fax number for subscriptions, the munts stole the cable off the telephone pole that went to the fax machine. I got a lot of desperate e-mails about that one.



Likewise, dealing with the Internet is fraught with craziness. We haven't been able to update the website since May because the flaky connection from SA made Front Page want to reset the password and user name every time. It has taken four months to just figure that out, as I am caught in the middle of graphic designers who know the quick and dirty fix (uninstall and reinstall) and programmers who think they know more than we do (which they do, but they don't know everything). I had to threaten to pull our web hosting to make them go with the quick fix just to get the update for the hardback version of NYATI up. Being up to date with the current volume of the magazine isn't a priority when you can't update at all.



E-mail isn't 100% reliable either, especially when you get 200 or more pieces of spam a day. I was trying to delete a bunch of it and inadvertantly deleted my entire Inbox, because I got distracted for a nonosecond when doing a shift/delete. A task I have performed thousands of times, but all it takes is one mistake and a bunch of very important e-mails were gone forever. There is nothing like that sick feeling in the pit of your stomach when you realize that you have really screwed up and there is absolutely nothing that you can do about it. I have taken steps to avoid this happening again, but the horse is already out of the cyber barn, and there are going to be several folks who think I have blown them off for no reason. Just sorting out the real e-mails from the bullshit is an art, since opening any spam just makes them send more. I have taken our e-mail addresses off the home page to confound the spiders, so I hope this will subside in time. I have had to become the filter between the Internet and the office in Harare as the flood of e-mails actually crashes their fragile connection.



So, if anyone can not bear to deal with thes issues, I urge you to not subscribe nor order anything from us ever again. We are not a big corporation and don't have the staff to deal with a lot of handholding. All we can say is that we will get your stuff to you the best way we can, even if it includes bringing it back in our luggage, which I have done more than once and so have a lot of our long time subscribers. We have many more hunters who go out of their way to help us with such personal actions rather than sit around complaining about the realities of Africa. Yes, it takes four months to get mail from there; Yes, the magazines go missing occassionally; And yes it is always going to be a struggle and a hassle to produce and deliver the product. Either learn to deal with it or pick up a copy of Outdoor Life at the grocery store and be happy. I personally subscribe to everyone of the African magazines mentioned and buy general hunting magazines off the rack if they have an African related story in them. I suggest that you do the same, as it will give you something to think about until your next safari.



Alan

Hey Jorge,

I just wanted to let you know that Jacqui Williams actually lives in Harare and is our subscription manager. The only Americans who are on the staff are Galen Geer and myself.

Galen also writes for Soldier of Fortune and is the first American to bring back 5.45x39 Soviet ammo from the Russians during the Afghanistan war of the 1980's. US Customs threw him in jail when he came in with it, but "someone" had a get out of jail for free card. Apparently the Russian in question had no further need for the ammo. LOL



Hey Lorenzo,

I'm glad you got the package from me with all those magazines. It just goes to show that I will go to any length to take care of someone who deserves it, no matter where they are.

Alan

Alan, just a question. Percentage-wise, how much of your circulation comes to North America?

African Hunter produces a fine magazine and some other excellent publications. No one is getting rich from the effort, and they are doing the hunting community a great service. In contrast with Outdoor Life, Petersons Hunting, etc., articles in African Hunter are generally the truth as the author observed it in the field rather than sponsored advertisements. Further, African Hunter has some intersting articles that are a bit off the beaten path, such as how to load paper patch bullets in a .303 British, rather than the same old .270 vs. 30-06 (or 300 win mag vs. 300 WSM) articles.

As for delivery problems, it is unfortunate but please be patient and don't get angry. I have had severe delivery problems with Hatari Times as well, and it is coming out of Belgium.