Buffalo gores 2 Kenyans to death
2010-11-24 16:49




Naivasha - A wounded buffalo gored a white Kenyan farmer and his guard to death on the shores of Lake Naivasha in the Rift Valley region, local wildlife officials said on Wednesday.

Rick Hopcraft, a third generation Kenyan farmer, was killed when the pair were hunting down the wounded buffalo alongside Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) rangers on his ranch late on Tuesday.

His guard, Paramoise Tinia, who tried to save him was also attacked by the animal and later died of injuries.

A manager on Hopcroft's farm, John Kariuki, said that Hopcraft had also been wounded in a buffalo attack last year just outside his house.

Naivasha is a freshwater lake in the Rift Valley northwest of Nairobi. The area was settled in the 1930s by the notorious British 'Happy Valley' set who bought all the neighbouring farmland, much of which is still owned by white Kenyans.



- AFP

A PH Rick Hopcraft is also guiding for Robin Hurt Safaris and he lives near Lake Naivasha. Is he the same ?! Mayby somebody know more.

Those evil white Kenyans.............

Unfortunate news.

I believe that this is the same Rick Hopcraft that has worked for RHS for many years now.

quote:

Originally posted by Kathi:
...Rick Hopcraft, a third generation Kenyan farmer,
...The area was settled in the 1930s by the notorious British 'Happy Valley' set who bought all the neighbouring farmland, much of which is still owned by white Kenyans.

Terribly sad news. The above though as has been hashed out here before begs the question of when, if ever one becomes merely a Kenyan (South African, Namibian, etc.) instead of a "white Kenyan"? You'll never see everyday reference made to a "black Kenyan" or explaination of how his tribe displaced another to take up residence.
Saeed, I apologize for posting this here. It's not about hunting but the double standard of the press makes my blood boil and I needed to blow off some steam.

Oupa, you will always be a white what-ever so that you can blamed for what-ever!

This is very sad, indeed.

Several years ago, one of the RHS hunters (I don't think it was Rick) who lives near Lake Naivasha was injured in his driveway by a buffalo while walking his dinner guests out to their car.

I've hunted quite a few times with RHS, but not with Rick. I only heard good things about him. Very sad indeed.

This leads me to believe they have a Buff problem in Kenya that is not being properly managed. Go figure?

Gunslinger,
the only buffalo populations in Kenya are in game parks and privately owned and managed land(Ranches/farms)Delamer,Kat Coombes,Robinson,and a few others and amazingly there all white Kenyan.
Before he was murdered Campbell Bridges was trying to get a game conservancy set up and meet nothing but resistance from the Kenyan government!!Poaching is big business around Tsavo

quote:

Poaching is big business around Tsavo

Poaching is big business in Kenya

jetdrvr,
Your right I stand dewly corrected, I was thinking of a small village called Mukuki just outside of Tsavo. in is noted for being the center or Ivory poaching for Kenya.

quote:

Poaching is big business in Kenya

Poaching is Big Business everywhere!

From APHA Homepage: http://www.africanpha.org/pdfs/rick-tinea.pdf

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

Damn. Terrible enough to get it, but to get it while not even being allowed to be armed because of idiotic laws makes one ill.

Ironic that Rick was probably the only person on the scene who was competent to sort things out and he was the one barred from having a gun.

I guess the U.S. doesn't have the market cornered on idiots.

Tragic news.

My condolences to their families and friends.

God bless their souls.

this is a sad day.

We are diminished...


Rich

A true tragedy and just plain unnecessary for reasons I posted on the other thread. That said, anyone who has ever been to Lake Naivasha will probably agree with me that there are much worse places to meet one's maker. Far too soon, to be sure...but it beats the hell out of going out in a hospital bed!

tendrams,
you are right about that. I have a friend who has a house on the side of the escarpment over looking the lake and it is a wonderful view