RICK HOPCRAFT & PARMOIS OLE KERITO (TINEA)

Dear Friends,
I am afraid that with great sadness, I have some very bad news to report to you.
Our dear friend Rick and his tracker Tinea were both tragically killed by a Buffalo this
last Tuesday evening, the 23rd November, at Rick’s farm at Naivasha in Kenya.
The details are not clear, but what roughly happened is as follows:
Rick and Garry, his son, had seen an injured Buffalo with a badly swollen leg on the
farm and called the Kenya Wildlife Services. Rick had asked for permission to shoot the
Buffalo, and this permission was declined because of the hunting ban in Kenya. They
then asked the Wildlife department to come and shoot it. They turned up too late on
Monday evening and returned again on Tuesday afternoon. What happened next is not
clear, but Rick accompanied the game scouts to show them where the Buffalo was, and
was not carrying a rifle, presumably because he was not allowed to shoot the Buffalo.
Tinea however did have a rifle, as he has a permit as a guard on the farm to carry such
a weapon. The Buffalo charged, the government game scout shot and missed, and the
Buffalo hit Tinea before he could shoot and knocked the gun out of his hand. The
Buffalo then was instantly on Rick, and killed him on the spot having punctured his
chest. Tinea managed to grab hold of the rifle and fired a shot at the Buffalo going
away, but missed. Tinea died 15 minutes later from internal bleeding.
Tony Seth-Smith, who is now in his mid 70's, was called in as he is an honorary Kenyan
game warden. The Buffalo was found on Wednesday morning after a two hour search
and Tony shot it without any further problem. Under the circumstances, a superb effort
by Tony. I must be clear that some reports relayed to me said that Rick was hit by the
Buffalo first, and others say that Tinea was hit first. Either way, both were tragically
killed.
Bette, Ricks wife , is surrounded by friends and family, and I have talked to her several
times and also to Garry. She is still in shock, and has not really come to terms with
what has happened, and as she said to me, it is like a bad dream. Rick and Bette's
daughter, Cara had to be flown out from Switzerland and arrived back in Nairobi on
Thursday , and is now back on the farm with her family.
Rick's funeral , a private family service will take place on Thursday. Tinea’s family will
be having a traditional Masai tribal burial for him at Tinea’s 'shamba' on Tuesday. A
celebration of Rick and Tinea's life , and send off , will take place at the Hocraft farm ,
Loldia, Naivasha, on Friday, 3rd December at 11.30 am.
Rick will of course be sadly missed by all of us and as you know, everyone in our
organisation had the greatest respect for him, not only as a man of integrity and a
gentleman, but also as an extremely fine and ethical hunter. Rick has been a lifelong
friend to me, having gone to the same school and growing up in the same region of
Naivasha, and hunting together on more safaris than I can remember. Doubly upsetting
was the fact that Tinea was my first gun bearer, and he and I grew up on our ranch in
Naivasha, and did all our early hunting together. He was the bravest of trackers, and
will be much missed. So, Tinea knew my family for something like 20 years and for the
last 40 years, worked for Rick. Tinea was 65 years old, and Rick was 63. None of us
can believe what has happened.
Robin Hurt

Very sad news indeed. My prayers go out to the family and friends.

My condolences to both families... a sad commentary indeed on what Kenya has become when an accomplished hunter, unarmed, has to go out with an inexperienced game scout to rid the countryside of an injured buff and two innocent lives are lost because of the misguided policies of the Kenyan government.

May both gentlemen rest in peace.

My condolences to the family and what a needless tradgedy. Just another example of the Kenya no hunting scenerio.

Larry Sellers
SCI Life Member

Kenya has it all wrong, and now it's cost two fine people their lives.

Condolences to all and R.I.P.

Tragic. My heart and prayers go out to the family. Because of their policy aginst hunting, Kenya is complicent in these two deaths.

quote:

but Rick accompanied the game scouts to show them where the Buffalo was, and
was not carrying a rifle, presumably because he was not allowed to shoot the Buffalo.
Tinea however did have a rifle, as he has a permit as a guard on the farm to carry such
a weapon

Ah, the do-gooders strike again.

quote:

Originally posted by reddy375:
...called the Kenya Wildlife Services. Rick had asked for permission to shoot the
Buffalo, and this permission was declined because of the hunting ban in Kenya. They
then asked the Wildlife department to come and shoot it. They turned up too late on
Monday evening and returned again on Tuesday afternoon. ...

What a crying shame...and typical of the KWS from what I have experienced. It's high time for Africa to selectively import the SSS strategy so popular in Idaho and Wyoming these days.

If the circumstances warrant....shoot, shovel, and shut up. More than likely these two would still be alive under those circumstances rather than relying on KWS to get off their duffs and deal with it.

JMHO

RIP

Tragic and unnecessary loss!

Thoughts and prayers to the families of the fallen.

W

We are diminished...

Rich

Deep sympathy to both families in their time of loss.

my condolences ......but he must never let his rifle away.....sorry but this my firm feeling.

I am sorry about the death of this PH and his tracker, my condolences for his relatives and friends.

A hug,

Oscar.

A real shame and tragedy.