Who owns Big Five?

Hi TNJOHN:
Old age has dulled my name memory so can't give you the owner's name. He is a white man. He is also had the Hyundi distribution in Zim, and also owned a very large trucking company and very definitely in bed with Mugabe....He is wanted in South Africa for some nefarious dealings, largely in the Congo during the Zimbabwe participation....and aside from that I can't think of anything negative.

The positive side of the Big Five operation is that they operate in one of the best areas in Zim (Chewore-South), run a great camp with topnotch amenities....and all this right on the banks of the Zambezi....Great fishing also.

You can make up your own mind on this one.
As ever - Petrosaf

Muller Conrad (Billy) Rautenbach

At last report he still had problems in South Africa. The UN has linked Rautenbach to Emmerson Mnangagwa who is linked to the blood diamond trade. They are reported to be "personal friends". Mnangagwa may be the one replacing Mugabe, whenever he steps down.

Its not mud its fact.

Regardless of how wonderful and great an operation they have, regardless of them not being on the banned list, regardless ...

How close are you willing to come to Mugabe and those that support him and human rights violations that occur each day in that country. Why support directly or indirectly Mugabe and his supporters?

Do you see what is happening in Zimbabwe?

There are plenty of outfits in Zimbabwe that do not have any ties to Mugabe or those on the banned list. Why not support them? Why not support those that do not condem the United States?

I hunted 21 days with HHK in June of this year. I have a friend who has hunted with them several times and he introduced me to Graham Hingston and recommended HHK to me.
In all of my dealings with Graham setting up my Safari I found his advise and his info on the area and camp I was to hunt to be 100% accurate. I did not have any "long contract" of specific details etc. [I feel if you need all that you might be with the wrong company]. He knew this was my first time to Africa and I was depending upon his judgement and experience to make my hunt a good one.
I have been extremely well pleased with all of my dealings with Graham and all personal with HHK. Graham, Lou Hallamore, and Ivan Carter spent a great deal of time helping me with the details of my Safari. My PH Wayne Edwards was a great hunter and a fun guy to be around. The trackers, camp and staff could not have been better. I met several other HHK PH's while in Africa and all were fine fellows. I have been contacted by my PH since my return and by the HHK "front office" 3 times regarding my trophies. When the "getting your trophies out of Zim" hit AR after my return I was not worried as I knew HHK was taking care of them. I will hunt with HHK again [as long as going to Zim is legal and safe, I felt much safer in Zim than I did in South Africa]. If my wife would win the lottery I would not be afraid to "book" a trip with HHK via E-Mail with nothing signed. I could not have been more pleased.


As to the politics of Africa, or any where else for that matter. If the Safari companies want to continue to operate in Zim they must go by the "rules". If all the companies pulled out it would just be another country lost to us hunters. Several of the HHK staff have lost their farms too, at least they have stayed and tried to make a go of it, when others have fled. The bottom line is if HHK and the other companies pull out of ZIM, hunting in that country will be lost for many years, maybe several generations.
Hopefully the Zim Safari Industry will have enough enfluence with "Gumby's" replacement to keep hunting open, and affordable.

Gentleman: My partner and I just returned from Hunting in Zimbabawe a week ago. I will be posting exact locations and a few pictures of the game we took while in Zimbabawe. I have no desire to get into the political infractions currently going on in the country, but I must state a lot is going down that is not effident from the outside looking in. Farms have been taken, lives have been lost! The people who have been through the wars and everything else seem to have a good attitude to their credit. We had an awesome hunt in the Omay district and a fine plains game hunt in the Sentenial area. But you must realize you have to deal with the so called war veterans and see what they have taken over and what they have depleted. My prayers go out to the people of Zimbabawe that continue to move ahead and are constanly reminded of the country's desecration of the humanities and the African game in general. As stated I will post a report on my hunt conducted at the Bishopstone Safari area.

Regards,

Rick L. Webb

"The fundamental question is whether safari hunting in ZIM can survive. If we boycott Zim, then we will be bankrupting the safari operators and assigning a zero economic value to the wildlife. The blacks will respond by killing and eating all the of the game, which will be a long term catastrophe "

500grains I agree with you 100%. Even though I think Mugabe runs an "evil empire" as hunters & conservationists we cannot let the above happen to the wildlife there or to the remaining Zim outfitters. To think that Zim is the only place which has any type of corruption in its game department is ludicrus. One only needs to look towards Tanzania or the past events in Zambia as prime examples of corruption and having black politicians in an outfitters pocket. Here's an interesting link regarding Tanzania:

http://www.leat.or.tz/publications/hunting.blocks/

I have two hunts booked for Zim - 2005 with Roger Whittall on his Humani Ranch, and an Elephant hunt with HHK in Matetsi Unit 1 in 2006. These will be my 3rd & 4th safaris to Zim and I will continue to hunt there as long as there are quality operators like Roger & Graham to hunt with.

Ray, if you choose not to do business in Zimbabwe because of moral objections to the Mugabe government, I will not fault you for that. Nor would I find fault if someone refuses to purchase products made in China because China denies its citizen basic human rights and religious freedom.

However, I think that Mr. Hingtson was wrongly accused in this thread.

I will hunt in ZIM because I think it is the right thing to do. And I would not hesitate to book a hunt with HHK.