Same group that was trying to book hunts in Hwange as I recall. There they invoked the defense of, if you cannot beat them, join them.

Maple Freight I presume? I do not believe that Clinton Rogers is not the bad guy in this cluster, Clinton handles the hunting side and his father Dudley and sister handle the shipping details. RJ

Maple Freight were the shippers. They said that Tshabezi were the packers as did Tshabezi. It is irrelevant to me that Clinton is a good guy.
The fact is Tshabezi did the packing which was poorly done thus exposing the trophies to damage. It has nothing to do with who is a good guy & everything to do with the damage occuring due to poor packing. Even if it was handeled roughly by the shippers it never stood a chance the way it was packed.

Hey, Gents:
I'd like to throw in my 2 cents worth as my last shipment really pissed me off. From Matebeleland Taxidemy in Bulawayo. Three skulls only. I don't keep capes anymore. Buffalo, waterbuck, kudu. In a wood box. Absolutely nothing in the box but three skulls. Not a shred of packing material. No fasteners to hold the skulls in place. They made the trip and rattled around the box was full of bone fragments. Everything was pieced together with glue later on.

I complained to my PH and he contacted the company. They lied and told me all was packed and secured to the crate's interior when the box left the company. It was someone down the line who unpacked and removed the packing material and took out the fasteners. There were no marks in the crate's interior for screws, staples, or whatever type of fasteners they could have been used. And, not a single square inch of packing material. (Perhaps the unpacker vacuumed the box?). No tape residue on the skulls or horns, either.

The years prior my South African taxidermy began to split on the ears and lips that I vowed never to have taxidermy done in Africa again and, now, I pass on it altogether.

Of course my PH got a cut of the bill!

Just my 2 cents.
Cheers, all.
Cal

PS. I wish PHs did the paperwork and dip and pack. Then there would be some accountability as they would have good reason to do a good job.

If you can, insist on Andy Hunter and Chipitani, then go for it. Finest packing and delivery from Zimbabwe that we've had. Shipped 10+ trophies in addition to tanned tuskless and ele ears. Great service and prompt delivery!

ah, Dudley Rogers and company. met a poster here when leaving Bulawayo several years ago who had just completed an ele hunt with Dudley. he thought he had booked a standard management bull elephant hunt. what he got was a night hunt for crop raiders. wasn't exactly overjoyed with his booking agent. don't know what Dudley told the agent about his ele hunts but miscommunication/ problems seem to follow his operation. as an aside, it should be really easy to tell if an item has been properly anchored to a crate- there will be at least a few staples remaining. and i do NOT consider cardboard and wooden braces as proper packing for something as valuable as elephant ivory- or anything else for that matter. CORNERS WERE CUT AND THE END RESULT SPEAKES FOR ITSELF!

Outcome as follows: After my last post I recieved an email from Clinton Rogers of Tshabezi Safaris inferring that something may be worked out. He asked what the estimate of damage was and I got two estimates from taxidermists. Both stated that they could pretty much do the bushbuck right but both doubted that the elephant tusks would come out well as I wanted them mounted to my wall and it had been planned to use the base as a weight bearing attachment point. The damaged area may have to be cut off & most likely will be. I took the lower of the two estimates, replied by email LONG AGO and have recieved no reply. I guess I know now where I stand. Hope others can learn from my problem. Ask lots of questions and find out exactly how your trophies will be handled. Too bad that he memories of such a nice hunt were marred by this preventable trophy damage.

really makes you want to rush out and buy his discount hunt on offer elsewhere here.

Bloody amazing, a new set of lectures coming to a "book-keepers/ accounting school" near you soon.
"HOW TO CRAP ON YOUR BOTTOM LINE," by Tshabezi Safaris.

I can also vouch for Andy Hunter. He is currently handling some trophies for me from my hunt in the Bubye. Andy is good and you can count on him to do things right.