A Personal Note From Don Causey
(posted May 25, 2005)

Continuing E-Mail Extra subscribers already know I was involved in a serious accident in Cameroon late last month. Briefly, PH Dougie Stephenson and I were in a machan on the morning of May 6 when a limb from a nearby tree broke and fell across the limb on which our machan was built. Both of us, along with a tracker, fell 35 feet in the dark and lay there in the rain for five hours until help arrived. The damage? Four fractured or broken verterbrae on my part, plus a hairline-fractured pelvis, two rib fractures and an annoying tendon injury to an important typing finger. Dougie did not know it at the time, but he essentially broke his neck - a potentially paralyzing injury. The tracker had massive contusions, but otherwise was unscathed. He was walking by the time I finally got out of Cameroon.

Dougie Stephenson and I are both on the mend, he more quickly than I. This is written from a rehab hospital in Miami, where I am undergoing intensive therapy. There is every indication I am going to be able to go home soon, and then back to the office shortly after that. In the meantime, Managing Editor Barbara Crown has stepped up to the plate in a major way and helped ensure that your next issue is as good as any we have ever produced. Your Hunting Report is in good hands.

If my condition permits, I intend to file a couple of reports for the upcoming issue on my experience in Cameroon. One will deal head-on with the nightmare you can find yourself in overseas if you do not have medical evacuation insurance. Medjet Assist (http://www.medjetassistance.com) is the company that got me home, and I will be forever grateful. I have become so convinced of the importance of this insurance that I urge you not to leave on another hunt outside your home country without it. My second report will focus on a company in Cameroon that is going to try to turn the clock backward and revive the traditional art of bongo hunting without dogs.

I hope this note suggests that I'm back in the saddle because that is the case, even if I'm temporarily lodged there a bit crooked. I can't tell you how much it has meant recently to receive so many notes and well wishes from Hunting Report subscribers. I've had a pretty good idea for some time that I am one of the most fortunate publishers in the world because of the quality of my readers. Now, I'm sure of it.

Warmest personal regards,

Don Causey

Thanks Kathi

DON I wish you a full recovery from that serious incident, thoughts are with you

All the best

Peter - downunder

Don, get well soon!