Reading post such as the canned lion hunt in RSA, etc. got me thinking a bit ( yes it hurts). we"ve been bless to make several trips to more than a handful of counties in africa (my wife and me) and there exists more than trophies, experience, truth and lies, about that part of life. Now I've never actually lived in africa, so i cannot say that i've walked a mile in their moccasins. But we have spent enough time living the dream of africa to at least comment on it. The hunting in africa is unique. If not because of the different kinds of animals and livestyles, to the numbers of them. The trees are different, the people and different, the insects are different, the weather itself is even different than most are used to. TO know those things is to appreciate them.
For some they hunt for just the trophy. They have my sympathy.
For some they hunt for just the experience, and they too have my sympathy.
For some they hunt for the camera, for money for a living. They join the rest.
For africa is more than those things. You don't know everything after just a hunt or even two in RSA, Namibia, Zim or any other one place. You still won't have 5 trips, 10 trips, 20 trips. For it is a land of amazing qualities. One that you must learn about, study, experience and then love.
To have gone to come home and tell everyone about what you did, what you saw, what you shot, truth or not, is not the experience that she represents. It is not loving of the lands.

I'm sorry that i am not very good with words, I wish that having hunted africa for over 30 years that i could be. But, i do feel sorry for those people who have gone there, and not experience a love for the land, the animals, and the people. For it is a small world we live in, and just to skim the surface is indeed sad. For those who believe it is an experience in life to just live off the top of africa, you have not lived her, you just robbed her. But i ramble on. Africa is in the mind, in the heart, respect her, lover her.

What he said.

me too

I have a large library of books dealing with the countries that I have hunted in Africa. I have read all of them, most of them before going to those countries. The books deal with the history, politics, cultures and geography of those countries. It is a damn shame to go to a country in Africa "just to hunt" without knowing about her peoples, history, cultures, politics, geography, etc. We also tour and see historical, geographical, cultural and other sites while we are there. Going with that knowledge makes the trips that we have been on so much more enjoyable, interesting and insightful.

The difference and joy generated by the attitude of some clients. The Joy of having a client who wants to be shown the "news," the events that have recently taken place. Like where a caracal attempted to catch a grey duiker ram as he was urinating, or where a kudu bull knocked down Cussonia leaves and two cows joined him to eat what they could not reach. The shuddering fascination of a golden orb spider [ Nephila spp }, being shown her tiny little mate. The "damn," said with such feeling after watching and listening to the dying throws of an elephant shrew [ Macroscelides proboscideus }, envenomated by a five foot Cape cobra [ Naja nivea.} The cobra keeping track of his meal, the whole event unfolding less than two paces away in amongst Valley Bushveld scrub.
Then a client who is down at the mouth because he has not squeezed the trigger since breakfast although it is only 10 o'clock in the morning.

Wow, I guess I agree with all that has been said. Yes to me it is more than the hunt, I enjoyed a 13 hr drive from Beitbridge to the Omay, seeing the empty market shelves, people try to find meal maze unsucessfully. This tells the real world of Zim. I also enjoyed driveing from the Cape to Zululand and seeing the villages and towns and stopping at a local restaurant for a bite of lunch, different from camp lunch. Walking thru a grocery market to purchase camp supplies and see locals shop for family needs. It is different and I don't know if I could live there but it sure is fun to visit.

I can't count the days in the field where a shot was never fired, but those days were no less wonderful.

Oh yea 40 days and counting. Oh yea +5 days in transit.

Butchloc:

I agree and I can see a few others do too. Some of the best hunts I've had there didn't even involve pulling a trigger. One was a half day stalk on a huge mountain zebra stallion. We worked our butts off to get within my person limit of 100yds or less. Just as we worked around a kopje and I was slowly getting settled on the scope, we got busted by an gemsbok that we didn't see. Sure I'm disappointed I didn't get the shot off in time. My "trophy" for that stalk is a huge camel thorn I drove deep into my leg while crawling into position - still have that thorn.

For my wife and I, it really is the totality of the entire experience (exception are the flights there and back - LOL) that we love and remember. It reminds me of that saying that is something like life being about the journey and not the destination.

If others are happy doing it a different way and that floats their boat I am just as happy for them too.