Last night I thought I would call a mate in Harare just to see how he was going.
His daughter said he was out playing Golf.
F#$%^ing Golf???

Well...he was making a plan? Those Zim boys are something else.

Some other friends from Bulawayo are going on a fishing holiday to the Moz coast.
Probably a good place to be for a wile?

Most of the Zim PHs I know were out hunting when the vote took place. Can't fault that.

We flew into Zim on Friday to drop a hunter off in the Sengwe Hunting Corridor at Mabaluatu airstrip, things there are quite but the tensions seem to be building rapidly.

We now fly armed to the teeth, at least the Zim Military cant throw rocks as high as we can fly...

I can only hope that something happens as I would hate to see another civil war in a Southern African country because nobody wanted to get involved to stop the crisis.... It has already gone way too far.

quote:

Originally posted by sevenmagltd.:
David Hulme, how is Roger and family doing in the Save? I hope Humani is not being invaded!!!!

sevenmagltd

All is well on Humani, thanks for your concern. We are all just in limbo right now, waiting to see what happens.

Dave

Not to worry! all is under control, the UN has stepped in and the president of RSA is negociating with Magabe, and the USA is sitting and taking another wait and see approach!

Based on that, Zimbabwe is DOOMED !

I am considering booking a PAC hunt or tuskless hunt in Zim next year

don't know what to think about doing it now?
I hunted in Zim two years ago--- and want to go back
hope the problems get resolved without the bloodsheld that usually happpens when a country implodes--
god bless those in Zim----they will need all the support we can give them

QS, who are you thinking about going with? I would visit with them about the situation. If you do put a deposit down, be sure to have your concerns addressed first and preferably in the contract.

My own personal situation was exactly the same. The PH didn't want to take a deposit yet and then I added a 2nd hunter, further complicating things. In the end, we ended up booking a non-export bull ele in Caprivi and adding a plains game hunt to the back end.

It's hard to tell someone else what to do in these situations. A number of guys on AR are trying to figure out what to do with their hunts that are booked in the next few months. It depends on your personal comfort level with what is going on.

Ganyana recommends chartering from the city instead of driving now. That brings a whole host of other questions...cost, availability, fuel shortages, etc.

Yukon,
I was going to book with Buzz of Charlton McCallum Safaris. I haven't put up a deposit as yet. I will be contacting them shortly to get their take on the situation.

I hope that the "good" guys can arm themselves and protect their families.

Good to hear you are thinking about booking with CMS. They are top notch and very experienced with the tuskless. Just tell Buzz or Myles your concerns and see what they say. It's not like the questions will surprise them.

Yukon,

Why would a bull be non importable from the Caprivi?

Jeff

good luck to all the good people in Zim. They have suffered too long. I pray the situation is resolved without bloodshed.

It's for the traditional tribal feast. They get 2 ele, a buff and a hippo each year for the party (heck of a party!) and none of it is exportable. That's just the way they set it up. Of course, the price reflects that.

I just heard back from John and Debbie Hunt who are located near Gwanda. They report that all is quiet there and that John and a client are sitting tonight in the blind on a very big leopard. Debbie indicated that she drove up to the camp today from Bulawayo and had no problems. This is the latest report that I have received on the situation there. Gwanda is near West Nicholson for those of you that are unfamiliar with Zimbabwe.

UEG, I'm heading there in June if.....

David --

When are you going? I'm scheduled to arrive in Bulwayo June 9.

Les

i wouldnt get all knotted up yet, while it does seem bleek and Bob's crew is tossing out Morgans ballots, invading the token white guy's last farms, in other words going down swinging. He aint gonna go down gracfully but there is a slight he might go down,


There might be some light at the end of the tunnel, I believe with in 3 more weeks alot of questions will be clear. It took George and brother Jeb in Flordia a few weeks to stuff the ballot boxes in 02 in Florida, So lets give Bob some time. I hope to God he isnt successful, but the scary thing about that is what is he going to do to retailate if he gets booted from his 28 years post??? That could neam big short term problems and a long term solution, If he wins then just more long term problems.

Back to hunting as long as the PH is Zim based and not a SA sublease I would listen to the PH or his company. They wont risk any client's well being for 1 hunt, people in Zim are stand up folks. So in a ntshell sit tight for a few weeks and then we'll all know alot more. Trying to guess right now is just a circulr discussion, Hell Bob dosent have a plan-how could we?

my prayers for everyone in Zim and to their familys abroad.

JAG open letter forum - No. 527 - Dated 4 April 2008

Email: jag@mango.zw; justiceforagriculture@zol.co.zw

Please send any material for publication in the Open Letter Forum to
jag@mango.zw with "For Open Letter Forum" in the subject line.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. John and Joy from Chidza

Dear JAG

Looks like the terror and farm invasions are back ...............

"Well, never thought I would have to do this email do not know if it may
be my last from Chidza. At 3.30pm today a lorry load of war vets arrived
at our gate to take over our land, equipment and cattle. It is now 6pm
and they have been singing their war songs at our gate and more and more
of them have arrived.

We managed to get Alison and the Little John to town and for now it is
just John and myself and dogs in the house now on the farm.

They have said that our labour will not work tomorrow and that they want
us to kill them a sheep which John refuses to do so no doubt they will
kill one for themselves. They have said that no labour will come to work
tomorrow either!

Graham Richards was under siege at the same time as us so it has to be
orchestrated. Goddards and Deidricks are in the same boat.

They have already taken over PaNyanda Lodge, Graham and Callie are in
town. Alison is at Lorna in town and Carl is expected back from Bulawayo
tonight and will go to Lorna.

Lorna's no. is 039-******; Ali is on 011-******. Our phone landline is
039-******. Cell Phone Nos. 011-******; 023-******;

Please pass this email on to as many folk as you would like to. If you
know of anyone in the Media all the better. We have to let the world know
what is happening.

Well done to ZESA (Zimbabwe Electricity Supply Authority). As they load
shedded us and I phoned my friend in the ZESA Faults and he phoned Harare
and they have switched us back on.

So for now please keep all of us in your prayers and we will send a follow
up tomorrow if we are able.

Our love to you all.

John and Joy from Chidza."

quote:

Originally posted by LV Eric:
Back to hunting as long as the PH is Zim based and not a SA sublease I would listen to the PH or his company. They wont risk any client's well being for 1 hunt, people in Zim are stand up folks. So in a ntshell sit tight for a few weeks and then we'll all know alot more. Trying to guess right now is just a circulr discussion, Hell Bob dosent have a plan-how could we?
.

That's about how I feel as well. The Zim boys are good folks. They have kept everything together for this long. Let's see what they recommend...like Ganyana's recent recommendations.

Now they are arresting the polling officials under the claim that they altered the results to take votes away from Mugabe. The officials are being held by the CIO.
http://www.zimonline.co.za/Article.aspx?ArticleId=3006

Les,
We leave here on the 21st. I have alternate plans if Zim gets too hairy. Too bad someone isn't raising an all American Volunteer Group. Flying Tigers to the rescue?
David

(Image by Max Haynes - MaxAir2Air.com.)

Anybody heard from Maranatha?

quote:

There might be some light at the end of the tunnel, I believe with in 3 more weeks alot of questions will be clear. It took George and brother Jeb in Flordia a few weeks to stuff the ballot boxes in 02 in Florida, So lets give Bob some time.

The election was held in 2000 you moron! If they were doing it in 02 they were too late!

Damn, doesn't history become a moving target. The original returns in Florida had Bush winning and were the ones finally certified.

The controversy was whether or not to count ballots that had "hanging chads", etc. The Democrats wanted more ballots counted, claiming that voters were confused, didn't punch out chads, were discouraged because State Patrolmen were parked near polling places, etc.

Now, Bush and Bush were stuffing? Where did that come from? Maybe they were guilty of not counting valid votes, if you are a Democrat... or ... not counting invalid ones if you're a Republican... but hardly stuffing.

I love you Eric and hope you get your strength back and are soon pain free. I broke my back and pelvis about 12 years ago and still hurt like heck every day, so I can, albeit not nearly as buggered up, a tiny bit understand your disability. I was lucky when good physicians and rehab folks got me walking again after 18 months, and I pray for the same for you... but, being the prick that I am, I got to set the facts straight. Hope you still love me back! Keep the faith and get you butt well and kill a couple of elephants for me!

Here come the Judge...

I have got to say, as usual Judge, you are right on.

quote:

Originally posted by LV Eric:

It took George and brother Jeb in Flordia a few weeks to stuff the ballot boxes in 02 in Florida,

Comments like this are a sign of weak intellect.

LV Eric:
It appears that you missed more than the spelling class in school.
Staying on subject would be nice. The heading for this thread was "Zim Warning." What in hell does that have to do with the USA election in 02?
You did however receive an "A" in Kool Aid drinking.
"It took George and brother Jeb a few weeks to stuff the ballots boxes in 02 in Florida."
The Political forum would be the appropriate place for this statement. I'm betting the folks in Zim could give a shit less about the election in the USA in 02.
Keep drinking the Kool Aid buddy, Hitlery and Hussein need your help.

God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob, PLEASE help the good people of ZIM. AMEN

quote:

It took George and brother Jeb in Flordia a few weeks to stuff the ballot boxes in 02 in Florida,

Uh.......aren't you off by a couple of years??????


David -- Yes, there's a plan B forming up also.

For all of those making a plan for Zim (be it plan A, B or C), I would be curious to hear how it all turns out for you. This is an off year for me and I'm quite glad for it but I'm very interested in all of your trips, this year especially.

quote:

Originally posted by TJ:
LV Eric:
It appears that you missed more than the spelling class in school.
Staying on subject would be nice. The heading for this thread was "Zim Warning." What in hell does that have to do with the USA election in 02?
You did however receive an "A" in Kool Aid drinking.
"It took George and brother Jeb a few weeks to stuff the ballots boxes in 02 in Florida."
The Political forum would be the appropriate place for this statement. I'm betting the folks in Zim could give a shit less about the election in the USA in 02.
Keep drinking the Kool Aid buddy, Hitlery and Hussein need your help.

It's unfortunate you spent so much time in spelling class instead of home with your parents learning a little courtesy TJ.

LV Eric:

The election officials in Florida in the counties in question were democrats.

Several of us are arriving in Bulawayo on 26 May so I am more than a little interested in the present situation. After our hunt for Leopard and sable and other plains game, the plan is(was) to spend a few days in vic falls then return thru SA. We love Zim and her people and what a gorgeous country geographically. We're hunting with Rhody Tourle @ Turk mine dollar block which is privately owned so we'll see. In the interim our thoughts are with Sharon and the kids since Rhody is already in the bush most of the time. As far as the dems being apprehensive due to police near the polls, most of them probably had outstanding warrants. I understand that.

I share the concerns of the AR community for Ganyana and others Zimbabweans I've come to know via this forum; I want to add my best wishes for each of them and their families.

RANT (I can't stop myself)

As I read these posts and the news, one thing that always pops into my mind is Robert Ruark's novel(s) about the MauMau biz in Kenya. I hope I still have my copy of Uhuru etc. tucked away somewhere as they have probably been banned by the PC'ers...I recall the main character explaining, in what can be seen as a crude racial insult, "...how can you expect them to govern, they've only been down from the trees a hundred years", BUT more importantly it was/is a CULTURAL commentary. And it seems to have been borne out by the last 40-50 years of history. If we are to believe Peter Flack's commentary published on this forum, there must be quite a few generations yet to go before the culture changes and anything resembling stable, open, governance for and by the people will be possible.

Purely as an observer, while there are rays of hope (I think??), for example Namibia and Botswana, it seems devolution into pure chaos is the most likely outcome for Zimbabwe. Worse yet, to add to the "Gordian knot", can you imagine the outcry if the "western" nations were to intervene in any way other than "humanitarian" operations. Which, by the way, seem to do nothing but enrich dictators and sell Land Rovers for the do gooders to tour about in.

It seems to me the only rational actions we can take, are to help, aid and support individual Africans, go ahead and enjoy the hunting while we can, and try to steer clear of the utter hopelessness that follows serious thought about Africa.

David,
I used to fly for a "politically incorrect" named AF. Have time in P-40, P-51, F4F, F4U, and several trainers. Maybe we could conduct an air strike?

Any of those planes would be perfectly adequate for the task. P51...ahhh.

Up til now I have been of the opinion that on balance, it's a good thing to hunt in Zim. Despite what people say, I think Mugabe did win the last election perhaps not overwhelmingly but still I think he had an honest majority. So while he is not my kind of guy, he is the choice of the people. I also understood, although did not agree with, the program to redistribute land. Of course, I did not like the fact that many of the best farms were given to the inner circle, people who could afford to buy farms but chose to steal them instead. But this negative has been outweighed by the fact that hunting helps the wildlife and also supports the many good people directly and indirectly involved, who otherwise would fall into the crevasse.

The balance has now tipped for me. If Mugabe steals this election, then I no longer think it's right to endorse that government by spending money in that country. The fact is that every dollar deposited into an official FOREX account in a bank in Zim (and you can't get your trophies out unless the outfitter deposits the money into such an account), 70c is effectively confiscated by the govt (well they convert it to local Zim $ at the official rate so it's effectively confiscated). This is how the inner circle get their grubby hands on forex, to pay for their cars, overseas travel, imported goods, medical care at the best clinics, kids' schooling (at private schools of course), and a little in the Swiss retirement fund.

If Mugabe does steal this election, as he seems to be planning to do, then my conscience prevents me from donating to his cause. Perhaps we can take the money we would have spent on trophies (which, when viewed against the larger scheme of things, are rather trivial tokens of our vanity), and find a way to bypass Bob and his henchmen. There are several ways to do this, that I can think of.

1. Insist on non-exportable hunts only, for the next two years. That way, we can enjoy the hunting, allow the locals to earn a living, supply the local communities with meat, and more importantly give the locals an incentive to preserve habitat and wildlife. The "non-trophy" fee should be paid in cash directly to the local chief at a ceremony at the end of each hunt, in presence of his elders and wives so he can't hide it, and/or to a nonprofit agency outside the country that dispenses the money to Parks and the local community either in cash or in kind. (Yes, I know Bob refuses aid but there has to be a way to channel this money back). In this case, there is no way for the Reserve Bank to enforce their 70% tax. This will also be a good way for the safari companies to manage the resource better for a couple of years, by taking young bull elephant and letting fewer bulls live longer; taking very old buffalo with crappy horns instead of the barely mature bulls that so many hunters take today; and so on. For their part, the safari companies need to adjust their pricing to make this "non trophy" hunt a little more palatable to hunters. The problem with this approach is that it still leaves safari co's vulnerable to legal sanction (although if the money is donated directly to the chiefs and does not pass through their hands I think they are clean). The risk, of course, is that the Reserve bank will come up with some other enforcement mechanism. Input from Don Heath, Ganyana and co. would be helpful.

2. Impose a voluntary moratorium on hunting for a year or two. It will be quite hard to get Americans to abide by this unless the Safari companies also go on "strike". Europeans probably won't heed it, no offense but some of our Euro friends seem more comfortable with dictators. So the industry in Zim would have to shut down and police their own ranks. To allow the Safari cos to pull this off, in lieu of a few of us spending $15K on a hunt, we would ask all of us Zimphile hunters to donate $1K or more to a fund and this money would be distributed equally to all licenced PHs in Zim to allow them to weather the strike. We may be able to get a credit card co to issue prepaid cash cards to them, so they can withdraw cash via ATMs in RSA. We would then entrust the PHs to take care of their staffs with the proceeds for the year. Obviously, this only works if we get a lot of donations. Donations can be done via paypal, mail, a booth at SCI and Dallas SCI, or ? Need a suggestion from the lawyers on the board as well as the Zim locals as to how to make this work.

3? Your suggestions are welcome.

Let's send this guy a message. He laughs at us every time he scoops up his 70% of our hunt money.

Hunting report email:

It's difficult at this juncture to weigh in with an update on the situation in Zimbabwe, as events there are so fluid they could change by the time you read this later today. With scores of you about to board planes headed in that direction, however, and with irresponsible babble taking place on the Africa Big Game Forum hosted by Accurate Reloading, I felt it was necessary to provide as much guidance as possible. So, here goes….

The political process in Zimbabwe has come to a standstill as this is written, with the Electoral Commission refusing to release results of the recent presidential election. The High Court has become involved and promised to weigh in with a decision on how to proceed. Meanwhile, there have been some troubling demonstrations at a few white-owned farms. All of that is known by anyone who is following readily available international news reports.

Clouding the picture is a posting on Accurate Reloading this past Sunday by a Zimbabwe PH using the pseudonym Ganyana. The poster says he is taking the precaution of moving his family out of Zimbabwe and is delaying a lion hunt because there are no air strips near his camp, which would allow his client to fly directly into camp. Ganyana goes on to raise the specter of black-on-white violence and "possible victims traveling on the open roads through turbulent areas."

I am not about to green-light the situation in Zimbabwe at this point, but I can tell you that calls I made around Zimbabwe this morning created a completely different picture of the on-the-ground situation. The airport in Harare is open as usual and clients are coming and going. No one at this writing has reported any problems. I have alerted the Zimbabwe hunting community to the Ganyana posting, and individuals there have promised me an update on who Ganyana is and what his motivation was in creating such an alarmist view of the current situation.

Here is how Sally Bown, Administrative Officer of SOAZ (Safari Operators Association of Zimbabwe), described the situation this morning from her perspective: "I am 62 years old. I am a widow. I drive to and from work alone every day, and I can tell you there is no reason for alarm. None."

Bown went on to urge worried clients to call their safari operators for an update on their hunts. She noted SOAZ can be reached at: 011-263-4-702-402 - dialed from the US. E-mail: enquiries@soaz.net.

The other thing worried clients can do is register with the US Embassy in Harare on arrival; or via the internet ahead of time. The web address is: https://travelregistration.state.gov. The phone number is: 011-263-4-250-593/4/5. That number is reachable by satellite phone, by the way. After-hours callers should ask to be transferred to the Duty Officer. We rent sat phones here at The Hunting Report, and use FedEx for delivery anywhere in the US in as little as 24 hours.

As if the Ganyana posting was not creating enough problems, it appears The Hunting Report has been manipulated by someone seeking to do harm to the 2008 season in Zimbabwe. Seems a decades-old article from our database about an impending tax increase in Zimbabwe is being e-mailed around as if it were a contemporary document. Rest assured, there is no impending tax increase in Zimbabwe that would affect the cost of 2008 safaris. If you receive a news bulletin to that effect, please ignore it, and tell your hunting friends to ignore it.

The bottom line here is, Zimbabwe is in turmoil and near-term developments are hard to predict. But the country is open for business. Hunts are being conducted. - Don Causey.

------------------------------------------------------
Ganyana ..you keep posting your reports.You are on the ground there in ZIM!! Don Causey has always been negative when it comes to Zim. Matter of fact in 2004 he was sounding the alarms and my trip went smooth. I believe he is out of touch!!..stay safe

quote:

with irresponsible babble taking place on the Africa Big Game Forum hosted by Accurate Reloading, I felt it was necessary to provide as much guidance as possible.

[Of course, without some babbling we would soon run out of things to say. ]