I am in Zim now, and have been for a week. We just arrived to Bulywago from Hwange park and Vic falls.
-we are on a 10 day photo safari with Terry Anders, and we are having the BEST TIME OF OUR LIFE!!!!
He is an amazing fellow, with such a positive outlook, considering whatbhas happened to him and the land he actually owns part of!!
The people here are sick about this!! I have spoken to many black business men, and two Black chiefs as well..they even say Mugabe must go!
Well, we are at Terry's house now, leaving for Matopos to track Rhinos
Meeting Nube at Nuanetsi in about 3-4 days to hunt
Our prayers are with all those affected

505gibbs, for Gawd's sake, stay away from the damn sun-lamp. You never seem to listen anymore.

quote:

Originally posted by Blaserguy:
It's been about ten years that Zim started falling apart.
The next ten will probably see its final demise.
When you tip the first dominoes eventually you run out

Hope you won't mind me pointing out that it started falling apart on the day that treacherous bastard Lord Carrington and the rest of the useless politicians of the time first decided to sell the country and it's peoples down the river.

More generally,

Don't expect things to improve when Mad Bob croaks and goes to hell because you can bet your life, he's been not much more than a figurehead for some years.

When he does eventually turn up his toes, the rest of his piratical mob will just continue as before and the only thing that'll change that is if the people of zimbabwe decide to have a Zimbabwean spring and even then, there's no guarantee the new will be any better than the old.

The real blame must all fall on the British Govt of the day for allowing it to happen in the first place.

Don't forget Jimmy Carter & Andrew Young. They did the people of Zim no favors.

I got an e mail from Zim this morning. This development was unexpected. Further, at least one property has not been effected thus far.

Get it all straight by reading "The Great Betrayal" by Ian Smith. Britain to blame in a big way, with the U.S. not too far behind. And South Africa was no friend to Rhodesia during this time either.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Bearing in mind the new stakeholders will pretty much automatically go on the US banned list (if they're not on it already), they've just killed the goose that lays the golden egg & condemned all the game to death.

This is what came to my mind as well. Of course I know the US isn't the only market, but I would guess it is the majority of the market. Maybe not, I don't have that data. Who do they expect will hunt these places after this take over?

I suppose that really isn't the point however. It's really a shell game to continue consolidating power by redistributing to the well connected. The same shell game we are seeing played in the US under Obama.

Folks,

I'm going to Skype with Terry Anders tomorrow morning and post an update following that.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Folks,

I'm going to Skype with Terry Anders tomorrow morning and post an update following that.

Mark

From what I'm told, one of Terry's PH's is John Hunt. I did 2 Leopard hunts with John and I also
hosted John, his wife debbie and their children Paul and Brendon in my home in New York a few years ago and gave them a tour of New York City.

The Hunts are the salt of the earth and haven't caught a break yet...John is a combat vet, lost most of his farm, and was ambushed by "war vet's" and nearly killed. I wish the Hunt's the best and hope that someday they will find peace in their life.

Ironically, John is still a humble, good man, that is not been bittered or hateful for all that has happened to him, his family, friends, and his country.

He is as classy as they come.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Get it all straight by reading "The Great Betrayal" by Ian Smith. Britain to blame in a big way, with the U.S. not too far behind. And South Africa was no friend to Rhodesia during this time either.

To our everlasting shame, Vorster tried to play with the big boys and proved incapable. Kaunda took every hand that Vorster played. Many are the poor buggers who paid with their lives for the polical idiocy. At least there were some in the old SADF who still managed to lend a hand, even for Operation Dingo, a number of Alouettes.
And at the end of the day, South Africa is on the same rotting downhill road to hell.

Scriptus

Don't feel too bad. England could not have destroyed Rhodesia without the United States, explicite OK. Remember this was the Cold war period when the US controlled the West. Had the US said stop, Rhodesia would not be what it is and millions of human beings would not have gone through hell.
Had the US told South Africa in 1976 that we wanted to support the Rhodesians through South Africa, do you believe Mugabe would even be alive today, irregardless of whatever England did?

quote:

The Hunts are the salt of the earth and haven't caught a break yet...John is a combat vet, lost most of his farm, and was ambushed by "war vet's" and nearly killed. I wish the Hunt's the best and hope that someday they will find peace in their life.

Ironically, John is still a humble, good man, that is not been bittered or hateful for all that has happened to him, his family, friends, and his country. He is as classy as they come.

What I find most amazing is how the above statement describes almost every Rhodie / Zimbo I know. By far the most enduring, persevering people I have ever met, God Bless them.
I was just thinking back to the first time I was in the Save, a man I now know as a friend had invited me into his house and I was surprised to see a piece of glass with a quote from an American Indian on it, Chief Seattle to be exact. It was a quote from a speech he gave when he finally surrendered to the fact that he and his were going to give up everything they had. Looking back, it now seems somewhat prescient.
"If all the great beasts were gone, surely man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beast, soon happens to man. All things are connected".

I pray we are not seeing the end of 20+ years of conservation and sacrifice. I personally cannot think of a greater example of the "hunters are conservationist" paradigm than the Save Conservancy in the Lowveld of Zimbabwe. My heart goes out to people like Clive Stockil and Roger Whitall along with all of those who have sacrificed so much just to watch it consumed by corruption and crony "capitalism". I will never hunt the Save Conservancy again, unless it is under the permission of the rightful owners and the care of those that love it.

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:

Had the US told South Africa in 1976 that we wanted to support the Rhodesians through South Africa, do you believe Mugabe would even be alive today, irregardless of whatever England did?

Yup, even pulled the mat out from under SA's feet in Angola.

Amazing, that the leader of the free world supported the marxist endevours in Africa, in fact helping the communist block accomplish its goals.

quote:

Originally posted by Scriptus:

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:

Had the US told South Africa in 1976 that we wanted to support the Rhodesians through South Africa, do you believe Mugabe would even be alive today, irregardless of whatever England did?

Yup, even pulled the mat out from under SA's feet in Angola.

Amazing, that the leader of the free world supported the marxist endevours in Africa, in fact helping the communist block accomplish its goals.

You must remember it was that damn peanut farmer that was afraid of bunnies that did it.

Reagan kicked him out but it was to late by then-

No one single American (Carter) is responsible. It was a national failure of character.
Carter the looser that he is was only president for the last 4 years of Rhodesia. Where were the rest of us?
What about JFK or Nixon or Ford? Nope, it was a failure of all of us, and only when we face it can we hope to not repeat the same type of disgrace.

Folks,

From what I could gather from my recent correspondence with Mokore and Forever African Safaris the SAVE situation now is that the safari operators on the SAVE need to see if they can strike a deal with the hunting permit holders that will allow enough profit for them to continue hunting.

Other than the Savuli situation it seems that no hunting operation on the SAVE is actually seized/occupied but the black "FARMERS" have the hunting permits.

This might all shake out allowing the SAVE to continue but a final resolution is not at hand yet.

Of course this all could change tomorrow but this is what I know at this point.

Mark

Going out with Allistair in half an hour. Things do not sound very good right now for the Save. He hopes by next season to have something in order but for now she is upside down. Headed out to camp tomorrow at noon.

http://www.thezimbabwemail.com...ugabe-s-cronies.html


Hunting licences for Robert Mugabe's cronies

By Peta Thornycroft 4 hours 53 minutes ago

Harare - Zimbabwe’s Zanu-PF-controlled wildlife ministry has handed out a clutch of hunting licences to its cronies to shoot game in several wildlife conservancies.



The move has raised fears among conservationists that the new hunters will decimate the game and also that the take-over by Zanu-PF cronies will deter regular foreign hunters.

The conservancies are mostly owned or managed by groups of foreigners and white and black Zimbabweans who control hunting and subsidise the conservancies from their other businesses to protect the animals. There was no tender procedure for the licences handed out this week and Zanu-PF says the new deal came about because the present conservancy owners and managers refused to “share”.

One of the conservancies, the Save Valley in the lowveld, has now granted hunting licences to 25 senior Zanu-PF officials. Poaching is rife in Save Valley, despite the best efforts by the conservancy owners to combat it.

National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority director general Vitalis Chadenga issued the hunting permits to the new black farmers, as they are called, last week.

Chadenga said the farmers who were issued with hunting permits had been allocated 25-year land leases.

He told the new farmers that his organisation expected orderly hunting to take place. He said measures were under way to bring to book those hunting without permits. He expressed concern over an upsurge in poaching, especially the black rhino.

Wilfried Pabst, the vice chairman of the Save Valley Conservancy, and a German citizen, said the new “partners” in the conservancies have neither capital nor cash for running costs to protect the wildlife and maintain the infrastructure.

“The hunting community will shun Zimbabwe and this will be a grave fallout for tourism,” Pabst said.

He expects there will be immediate travel warnings by the EU and US as many regular hunters will now be seen as hunting without permits. “What visitor will come with the threat of arrest?” - Weekend Argus

I have a bit more info.

Apparently, most but not all of the Save has been effected. A notable exception is Sango. This isn't to say that Sango is fine. That might chance tomorrow.

I have also been told that some of the "partners" forced upon the Save owners are some real bad characters. The people given prime areas have been described to me as "rabid disgusting fellows." One is a brigadier general.

Not looking good my friends.

I KNOW that what I am going to say is a "minefield" but the ONLY reason that these Thugs are doing this is because people like us are spending lot's of money to hunt there.

What would happen if as a WHOLE WE ALL STOPPED HUNTING in Zimbabwe??

I understand the affect that this would have on our friends there as well as on the wildlife, so I am NOT suggesting we do this, but this has got to STOP and we are feeding this trend by spending our money there.

What can we (who are in esscence funding this!)do to stop this???

This has to STOP!

Frank:

It is hard to say. There is a fine line is this case between protecting and killing that which we want to protect.

The unfortunate reality is that there are some that will exploit this for personal gain whether it be dirt cheap hunts or short term profits. This combined with the African mentality of dealing with today and not worrying about tomorrow could be a disaster.

If hunting is stopped there, will wide spread meat poaching start? My guess is that it has already started. What happens to all the PH's, trackers, skinners, cooks, etc that are employed by the legitimate safari companies if the hunting community stops going to Zim? Seems like the legitimate people are punished one way or another.

This is a difficult issue. I am not sure what we can do. I do have to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Zim. I have personally been through places in Zim that last year or two that are barren wastelands. These same places used to be paradise. After they have wiped out everything on private land, how long will it be before the concessions are subjected to the same thing?

Tough questions. I do not know the answers.

I know Larry and you are 110% correct...I just wish that there was something we could all do.

I hope that you are wrong about this being the begining of the end but I sadly think that you are right.

It makes me sick thinking about it.

I suppose I will be called names and have fingers pointed my way, but at the end of the day there is only one thing you can do with cockroaches.....
The pity is that it is almost too late.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I do have to wonder if this is the beginning of the end for Zim.

This is VERY sad indeed

Scriptus,

Killing these roaches would not be a bad thing...

I just recently read in AHG volume 18 Issue 1, that the SVC operations invest $546,000 per year on anti-poaching and employ 186 permanent scouts.

I certainly have no reason to doubt that from what I witnessed last year, as I saw scouts on patrol everyday of my 10 day hunt.

Does anyone think for even a second that this will be maintained? What a cluster!

HBH

I wonder what the trophy fee for a cockroach is............

Do not think of this with a european mentality. Many of those given 'leases' and hunting permits do not really care if the hunting continues or not- they intend to 'asset strip' - sell everything from the water pipes to door frames to the rhino horn and then move on and leave the area to whoever wishes to re-build.

Some want a sustainable 'cash cow' but I don't think most can see thenselves having any part of the area in two years time. They will though demand that the police make better efforts in stopping the poaching- after all the game is one of the assets they intend to strip- and you cannot have poor peasants helping themselves - that totally defeats the purpose of getting a property to strip!

I think if that I was a legitimate long term PH/Operator in the Save right night I would start doing some serious stripping/exporting for whatever I could get asap. It would be a tactic of defeat, illegal and I would also be condemned by a lot of people on this site, but at least I could build up some cash in order start again someplace else and not necessarily in Africa.

If it were me, it would be a Russian retreat. Leave nothing useful or usable behind.

Strip what assets from the Save Conservancy ?

Other than wildlife there is very little else there - land is too barren to subsistence farm

The hunting lodges are not capital intensive like farms

Cant imagine the these new hunting license holders have any great passion or personal desire to hunt if they did they would be holding their hunting camps in the national parks

Bush meat from the save is not going to make anyone rich

My guess/gut is they try and get more rents/payoffs from the operators or bring in new /scummy operators with whom they have cut deals.

hunting revenue even in a badly managed conservancy is worth more than bush meat to these new license holders

I just don't think they have thought thru the impact their current actions will have on mainly US clients who form the core of save conservancy hunters

If the new political license holders cant think/time discount beyond the very present then maybe they value the furniture and empty gunracks more than 20 years of conservation and one of the best private hunting places in the world

just sad and depressing overall

feel really bad for all the safari operators, ph, hunting and camp staff

if this goes south - I am cheering for the local poacher - rather have him get his share than these new political license holders

Actually, there are plenty of assets. Vehicles, generators, pumps, automotive repair equipment, cold storage facilities not to mention the potential dismantling of structures, fences, etc.

They will take every thing they can rest assured.

This just makes me sick. I hunted with the Duckworths on Mokore last year and it was one of the best experiences of my life. Barry and Bertie were building a house while I was there; their first in over twenty years. Dozens of people employed. I saw black rhino on several occasions. Abundant game. The thought of all of that being torn apart is too awful for words!

12 rhino dead (poached of course) since the beginning of the year... The others should update their wills, its horrible.

Conservancy slams ‘criminal’ handover of hunting permits to ZPF
http://www.swradioafrica.com

By Alex Bell
13 August 2012

The Save Valley Conservancy has called the decision to hand over hunting
permits to ZANU PF cronies, under the guise of indigenisation, a purely
‘criminal act’ that threatens the future of tourism in Zimbabwe.

The government last week issued hunting permits to 25 so-called indigenous
‘farmers’ who were given land in the wildlife-rich Save Valley Conservancy
in the Lowveld. National Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, director
general Vitalis Chadenga, said this was part of the government’s ‘wildlife
based land reform’ exercise, saying beneficiaries have been allocated
25-year land leases in conservancies throughout Masvingo province.

Included in the list of beneficiaries are top ZANU PF officials and
loyalists, such as Masvingo Governor Titus Maluleke, former Gutu South
legislator Shuvai Mahofa and Higher and Tertiary Education Minister Stan
Mudenge.

The state media reported last week that the exercise was a result of a
refusal by white safari operators in the areas to ‘coexist’ with the new
farmers, who reportedly were given the leases in 2004.

But Wilfried Pabst, the Vice Chairman of the Save Valley Conservancy, said
the permits are ‘illegal’ and granting them is a “criminal act” that will
ultimately destroy the hunting industry and, in the long run, have a major
impact on tourism.

He dismissed the allegations that there had been a ‘refusal’ by
conservancies to engage, saying a number of proposals on the reform of the
wildlife industry had been made. He said these proposals were never
discussed, and added that ‘wild life land reform’ has not been ratified or
approved by Parliament.

“The people now involved have specifically stated that they don’t care about
wildlife in meetings I have been in. They only care about the cash to be
made,” Pabst said.

He added that this in itself shows the ignorance about the very complex
hunting industry, because of the assumption that easy money can be made.

“This is a slow and low return business and not something that makes you
rich overnight. We have said that need a passion for wildlife and
conservation and an understanding of how it all works and if you don’t, you
shouldn’t get involved,” Pabst said.

He warned that this is “another sector in Zimbabwe that will be destroyed,”
while insisting the plans have nothing to do with indigenisation. He said
this will put current safari operations out of business, meaning more people
will be unemployed.

“The motivation here is purely personal enrichment and has nothing to do
with indigenisation,” Pabst said.

No other name for it but theft by those too useless to generate their own wealth and only obtain wealth by stealing it from those who by the sweat of their brow, brains and endeavours, create wealth.

Just got an update from subsailor74 on his sat phone. He said they have "made do" with the situation. He's taken a tuskless elephant, warthog and a buffalo "ration" cow. With one day left to hunt, they are still waiting for the buff bull permit to be signed. Doesn't look like it's gonna happen. Which is too bad because he said he took the cow at 20 yards and had to pass on a 42-44" hard bossed bull that was in line behind her. Said they are having a wonderful time anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by 505 gibbs:


.....this will be your new PH

What a disgusting shame, I hope everyone remembers our friends in Zim in their prayers.

+1 more

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:
Scriptus

Don't feel too bad. England could not have destroyed Rhodesia without the United States, explicite OK. Remember this was the Cold war period when the US controlled the West. Had the US said stop, Rhodesia would not be what it is and millions of human beings would not have gone through hell.
Had the US told South Africa in 1976 that we wanted to support the Rhodesians through South Africa, do you believe Mugabe would even be alive today, irregardless of whatever England did?

SG,
You are exactly correct. You can thank our current president's role model Jimmy Carter. Had it not have been for Uncle Jimmy...we would all still be flying into Salisbury rather than Harare today.

And...if we don't stop it this fall...we will be worrying about our own ranches here in the states before too long.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:

I'd probably get banned if I posted the two word phrase that springs to mind!

Its probably the same phrase I use all the time about our current administration.

So, is Senuko still a viable destination? What happened to Clive and Glen Stokil?

God, this is bad news!