This will be a rather lengthy report. So grab a drink and sit back. I will attempt to present both the pleasant and unpleasant as farily as possible.

This hunt began taking shape during turkey season with my good friends and hunting partners Skip Graeber and Jody Bishop. After much discussion back and forth we finally decided to book a buffalo and plains game hunt
throught Adventures Unlimted and John Barth. Information provide to us initally showed that bushbuck and waterbuck were not allowed on a ten day hunt, so we had this added into our contract, as it turns out the information given to us in camp indicated that they were allowed on a ten day hunt. This was to be a one on one hunt in Zambia, with Nyampala Safaris. The hunt was to initially take place in the Rufunsa area, but was changed to the Mukugule Area. While this was a more expensive are to hunt Adventures Unlimited and Nyampala honored the price quoted for the Rufunsa area, although the charter into this area was a bit more expensive. Boetie Bothma was to be our main PH. Contracts were signed in mid April of 2006, with the hunt to take place in July/August 2007. All three of us were experienced hunters, with a wide ragne of hunting experiences. Our combined hunting experience ranged from Alaska, Africa, Canada, South America, the Western States and of course the Mississippi Delta where we all reside.

We attended the 2007 SCI convention in Reno, where we met with John Barth with Adventues Unlimted as well as Boetie Bothma, who was one of our PH's, as well as Hartley Conbrink who was to be one of our remaining 2 PH's, the other was to be either Johann Potgierter or Ahmed Patel.

Our new 375's arrive and we get down to work and start preparing for this hunt. All is well until the morning of July 9, 2007, we were scheduled to depart for Zambia 10 days later on July 19, 2007. Early that morning I received a phone call from one of my hunting patners, Skip, telling me that the other hunter in our group had died unexpectly. I immediately contacted John with Adventures Unlimited and informed him of the situation. We tried in vain to find someone to jump in and take our friends slot. Unfortunately on such short notice this was not possible. Had we been able to find someone, John was going to be able to get Jody's liscense transfered over to the other person. Needless to say it was with heavy heart that we boarded that plane in Memphis for Zambia on July 19, 2007. Travel arrangements were through Gracey, Susan Hill handled our tickets.

Other than a long trip, we had no problems along the way. We utilized the services of the Afton Guest house in Johannesburg and were quite glad we did. Even with the services of Afton Guest house it took us around 2 hours to gather our gear and make it out of the airport. The following morning we departed Jo-berg for Lusaka, what an experince getting through the Jo-berg airport. You can not take enough one dollar bills, everyone has their hand out. In any event we made it to Lusada on July 21, where we overnighted at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel. This is a very nice hotel. Dinner for two that night with wine was less than $50.00. We were up at 4:15 A.M. to be picked up and take to the bush plane at 5:00 A.M. Our driver showed up about 45 minutes late. After a two hour flight to camp with one stop for fuel we arrived at the bush strip where we were met by Boetie Bothma. The drive to camp took about 1 hour. I set foot in camp approximately 66 hours after our plane departed Memphis, Tn.

The camp consisted of thatch huts on a concrete floor with hot water and flush toilet. A generator provided lighting at night. It was situated on a river. The dinning area was of the same construction with a firepit and lounge area over looking the river, it was a beautiful set up. It was at this point where we ran into a little difficult.

Upon getting settled, Boetie introduced us to the other PH. I was expecting Hartley Conbrink. Instead we were introduced to Leslie Long. At first I thought Boetie said his name was Lazy Long. This would have been more appropriate, more on this later. We never were really given a reason as to why we were not notified of the PH change. Boetie said he had notified John that Hartley would not be available, John says he never got the em so who know. I guess the em is running around in cyber space. At this point I thought I would have a drink but there was no bourbon in camp. John had suggested that if I wanted bourbon I should bring it along, but since someone, I later found out it was Leslie, had called and talked with us when we were in Lusaka asking us about our preference in beverages, I assumed that he was picking up some Jack Daniels, at any rate this is really no big deal, I just sipped on sotch in the evening. A little later we got a real shocker. Prior to departing Lusaka I was given an envelope containing our liscenses, I looked them over but really did not pay any attention to the dates on the liscenses, this proved to be grave error. Upon arriving in camp I turned the liscenses over to Boetie. The next thing we learned at dinner that night was that our hunt was not to begin the next day as scheduled, but rather the day after that. The liscenses were dated incorrectly. No amount of pleading with the government game scout could get him to allow our hunt to begin the next day. We had also hoped that Jody's liscense could have been issued to Skip so that if the opportunity presented itself he could have shot another buffallo. This did not work ourt. We were informed that a hunter could not possess two liscenses for the same period of time. So on what was to be our first day of hunting we spend it riding around viewing game and taking pot shots at guinea fowl. On a positive note it was nice to sleep in and get rested up.


07-24-2007 The big day comes and we are up at 5 A.M. and gone by 5:30 A.M. Fairly soon I saw diker, baboons and elelphant. We finally cut some buffalo spoor about 10:30 and caught up with them in a couple of hours. The area they were in was too thick so we returned to camp for lunch and a nap. Unfortunately my hunting partner was unable to hunt after lunch. It seems that the men doing some much needed work on interior roads had managed to damage the disk they were using on the roads, so it was loaded on the back of the truck he was using and taken to the repair shot. Skip became my personal photogropher for the afternoon. During the afternnon hunt I took a nice puku at about 175 yds. After pictures and congratulations we were back on the trail looking for buffalo. We found some too late in the afternoon to hunt so it was back to camp for a shower, drink and dinner. We got to listen to Boetie rant and rave about the the men coming back to camp without getting the disk repaired, the lack of support he gets from the Patels, and his problems with SCI.
After dinner, we are all off to bed, Skip is going to get up the next morning at 4:30 so He and Boetie can get in a little hunting before they take off to get the disk repaired.

07/25/2007 I was up about 4:45 and left camp around 5:30. We found buffalo very quickly. We dismounted from the vehicle and started to follow them. The buffalo split into two groups. At this point Leslie tell me that he thinks the buffalo are being followed by lions. At this point I am beginning to wonder just what the heck I am doing over here. We continue to persue them to no avail. After a quick snack we continue on. We spot puku, impala, bush buck and more baboons. About 45 minutes from camp we spot 4 water bucks and a few minutes later I have collected a beautiful waterbuck. It was an old animal, split ears and battle scared. Besides buffalo this was Jody's main interest on this hunt. Jody, this one was for you. Skip and Boetie had no luck this morning, but they did manage to get the disk fixed. Dinner was at 7:30 and thank goodness Boetie was in a better mood. Now maybe he would settle down a bit.

07/26/2007 We were up and out of camp by 5:15. We returned early to camp for lunch, and a short nap. Leslie liked to take naps. We were back out around 1 P.M. and returned to camp atour 6:30. Skip and Boetie came in a little later. Skip was a bit low. He shot and wounded a kudu. Hopefully they will be able to find it tomorrow. We did not see much game today, but I did get a few more guinea fowl for the pot.

07/27/2007 up at 5 again and gone shortly thereafter. Went in to the area where we had found buffalo on Tuesday and Wednesday. The trackers finally found tracks crossin a road about 11 A. M. . We followed them in the truck. We finally caught up with a herd of around 200. They kept milling around. Several times I suggested to the PH that we get down and try to approach them on foot. He would not hear of that. He kept insisting that they would see us. I finally gave up arguing with Leslie and shot the buffallo from the back of the truck. I would be lying if I told you it did not matter. Ultimately it was my decision to pull the trigger. Skip's mother was in ICU of a Memphis, Tn. hospital and I would not have been suprised if we had to cut our trip short and head home, so I went ahead and shot the buffalo. The buffalo ran a short distance and fell over from a solid frontal lung shot. Another shot to the vitals and it was down for good. After pictures and a beer it was back to camp for lunch and another nap. Afte lunch we were back on the trail, I was still looking for a reed buck, warthog and a bush buck. Later in the day I missed a reed buck. Upon arrival back in camp we had guest from another hunting area. The hunter was from N.Y. City and the facilitator of his hunt was Soren Lindstrom. Soren is a true African legend. Meeting and visiting with Soren was one of the high lights of the trip. Skip and Boetie returned to camp exhausted after a hard day of tracking the kudu that Skip wounded the day before. They did not find the kudu, however Boetie was sure he would be able to find it the next day. So that Skip would not loose another day hunting buffalo, it was decided that Skip would hunt buffalo with Leslie the following day and that Boetie would go back and look for the kudu.

07/28/2007 Up and off early again. We saw first buffalo about 7:15. We followed them up on foot until about 11:00 A.M. We decided to let them settle down. After a short break we were back on them. Leslie tried to get up on the buffalo using the truck. This did not work. So it was back to camp with no buffallo for Skip. Boetie returned later that day with the bad news that he hav not been able to find the wounded kudu.

07/29/2007 to 07/31/2007 These days were all pretty much the same up early and riding and looking. Along the way Skip managed to take a nice impala and a really nice puku. Late on the 30th Skip shot a buffalo. It was late in the day so they went back the following morning but they found only on speck of blood. They game scout and Boetie graciously agreeded that this was definitely not a mortal wound and let Skip keep hunting. Along the way on the 31st I took a nice warthog, along with several more birds for the pot.

08-01-2007 This was to be our last day to hunt. I am still chasing the elusive bush buck. Skip and Boetie are still chasing buffalo. They returned to camp this afternoon still with no buffalo. They will hunt again briefly tomorrow morning before we head out to catch the bush plane back to Lusaka.

08-02-2007 I wish I could say that this trip had a happy ending for my hunting buddy Skip, but he did not get a buffalo on this trip.

All in all this was a difficult trip. First dealing with the death of our dear friend and then with some of the issues we faced. We were probably in the area a couple of weeks early. My understanding is that it was a wetter than normal year, therefore not much burning had taken place before we arrived. When we left we had the place roaring like a forest fire. I was of course disappointed that I did not hunt with Hartley. I do not know if this would have made any difference as far as what animals managed to shoot. The camp staff were very efficient and friendly. The quantity of food was more than amble. I found breakfast and lunch for the most part to be the better meals of the day. The dinner meal was definitely not what you think of when you think of safari food. Most of it was straight out of the can. The only wild game we had were puku one night (excellent) and impala (not as good) on another. We also had guinea fowl one night. I settled up with my PH and his tracker on the last evening in camp. He left early the next morning driving to Lusaka. Skip and I settled up with the remaining staff prior to departing for the bush strip and the trip back to Lusaka.

We arrived in Lusaka around 5 P.M. on 08/02/2007 and were taken back to the hotel. We asked the ladies who transferred us from the airport to the Hotel to have Rashid Patel contact us the next morning. While at breakfast the next morning Mr Yusuf Patel came and met with us. We discussed with him some of our concerns, especially the loss of the first day we were to be hunting. He really offered no real explanation as to why the liscenses were issued with the wrong date. We did ask that he ha least pay our dip and pack fee to compensate us for our lost hunting day. Upon our arrival back in the states they did agree to only charge us 1/2 of the dip and pack fee. This came to $325.00 a piece. The daily fee on this hunt was just a tad over $1,000.00 per day. We asked what happened to our friends money. We understood that it could not be refunded, but we did ask if we could carry it over to another hunt and he gave us some story about how he had to use that money to purchase additional liscenses for Skip and I so we could hunt the full ten days, and even had the audacity to try and charge Skip for another liscense. This part was pure elephant dung. It was quite obvious Mr. Patel was meeting with us as a courtesy and that he really was not too concerned about our grievences, so we bid him good day. Later that day, after a short shopping trip we were taken back to the airport where we flew back to Jo-berg. We overnighted again at the Afton Guest House and had a great meal at the Ocean Basket. The Ocean Basket is probably the only seafood resturant in the world that has a belly dancer. The next day we slept late, hung out at the Afton House, had lunch at the Italian Restuarant next door to the Ocean Basket and then took off for the airport and the flight back to Memphis, Tn. The trip home was thankfully very uneventful.


Skip and I had both but up deposits with Adventures Unlimted to cover trophie fees, air charters, dip and pack fees, etc. After returning to the states we discussed our problem with John. As I said earlier he was able to get our dip and pack fee cut in 1/2. When we finally settled up everthing went pretty much according to plan except that we were charged for alcohol. My orginal contract and Skips specifically said alcohol was included. When I got out my copy of the contract that had been signed by John Barth and returned to me, my contract had been altered. Patel did drop his request that Skip pay the additional liscense fee.

One additional thing that was confusing was what was allowed on a ten day liscense. Information furnished by Adventures Unlimited said one thing and information provided us in camp said another, with the info in camp offering more of a selection.

Some of the problems we experienced could have seemingly been avoided if better communications had existed between Adventures Unlimited, the safari company and the PH in the field Neither my partner nor myself are so naive as to believe that there will never be problems on a hunt. Trucks break down, trucks get stuck, horses go lame, tents leak, the weather can be fickle and we miss shots we should have made or unexpected guest arrive in camp. It is all of these experiences, along with many more that make a trip memorable. What was most disturbing was the lack of concern from Patel. In summary this was my sencond safari and believe me I learned a lot. In making arrangements for this hunt I made several critical mistakes, that I will not make again. Hopefully I have presented the facts of this hunt as fairly as possible.

Thanks to all who have given me advice on my past Safaris and hopefully in the not too distant future I will be seeking advice on another.

H Kittle

A contract is a contract and I think Mr patle has not been very even on you. If you do not hunt a day because of their error you should not pay for that day. If they tell you woun´t get charged for alcohol you should never get charged for alcohol. I know this expenses are peanuts but they are your peanuts and they should not eat your peanuts. The "no interest" shown by Mr Patel makes me mark it on my NO list for booking in Zambia. I have made 10 safaris so long and have never seen such attitude on the person in charge. 4 eles,
4 buff,plenty of plainsgame. Never a contract been changed and while no serious risk involved i like to decide WITH the PH how we are gonna hunt. If buffalos run it is my problem while there is not a serious thread for our life. They see us,they run, I don´t shoot, my fault, my safari, me cooming back to spain with no buffalo, me very happy because i tried my best with the PH to prosecute my dream one more day of hunting as I have been thought by my grandfather,my father, and many people from which I learn everyday. .
Sorry for your friend and hope you enjoied your trip. Africa is marvelous even in the worst case

Hartley,
Sorry to hear of the problems with your hunt. I agree that you should have never been charged for the full day of hunting you both missed due to the license screw-up. I was also suprised to learn that at least half a day was missed, and charged for, as a hunting rig was used to take a disk in for repair instead of an auxillary vehicle. The alcohol is the most minor of issues, but if Skip's contact showed it was included, there should have been no charge. As diego said, they are your peanuts.

As to the buffalo hunting, you should have never been pressured to shoot from the vehicle. As a matter of fact, you should have been strongly discouraged to do so. When it comes to finding buffalo, hunting is hunting, but after having killed 4 of them, I find it hard to believe that they were so scarce you only had two total opportunities.

That is not the Zambia I hunted, nor how I was treated with a hunt booked through John.

i think i know how you feel my 1st trip to zambia was a similar one only worse. my 2nd with john duploy was the flip side being excellent. I learned from the 1st one to never do business with the east indians there. they have nothing in their thoughts but money

Its expensive school fees but the wheel turns and someday something will happen to mister Patel and he will wonder why it is normaly double and tell mister Patel that you enjoyed your 2 hunts( the first and last) with him and the dayfees and the booze money that you were over charged with he must keep it because he needs it more than you for his early out of business retirement.

Sorry to hear about your friend and good luck in the future not all the outfitts is crookes

I set this trip up for Hartley, and it did not live up to our expectations in certain aspects- like the hunting license only starting the day after the hunt. I have tried to get a better answer on this and have been told it was a ZAWA mistake- which actually could have been the problem. Boetie was also quite upset with this and tried to do everything possible on the ground right then and there to fix it, but could not get it done.

Hartley's report is very accurate, and we have spoken about it on several occasions. I think he knows I have tried to do best I could to resolve it for him, and he has even stated he would hunt with Boetie again in the future- so we could not have been as horrible as some commentors would make it appear.

I would like to stress a few points though. I told Hartley, and he knows this, that alcohol was not included on the trip- and he acknowledges this- I sent it to him before the trip in both writing and even called him to make sure he was aware of this. There was no funny business- the contract originally went out stating alcohol was included, and I informed him it was a mistake- and followed it up with a phone call just to make sure.

Secondly, we did upgrade the group at our expense to the new area. We called Hartley when we learned of this opportunity, and I told him we would cover the difference in price which was significant.

Third, we had a horrible situation arise right before the hunt with the death of the 3rd hunter which started the whole trip out on a depressing note- all parties agree on this. Both myself, Boetie and the outfitter tried our best to make plans to allow another hunter to come in place of Jody- the offer was even made to some on this forum who could not make it at such short notice. Guys- a week before the hunt the hunting permits, licenses, etc. have already been done, monies have been paid, and you are pretty much locked into things. Unfortunately the trip cancellation insurance policy was voided by one of the conditions of the passing of the 3rd hunter, but I think I did everything humanly possible to try and come up with another plan. I think Hartley agrees with me here also.

I would also like to emphasize that some extra concessions were made here- a buffalo was wounded, and Boetie made a plan for that to not be charged and still allow the client to go after another. I thought that was a pretty generous statement and should have been taken into account for a little give and take at the end. Boetie also allowed the extra day hunting at the end of the trip for Skip to try and get him the buffalo.

In the end, I did make an offer to Hartley for compensation on a future trip that I hope he will take me up on. I was very sorry for the fact that no other plans could be made for another hunter to come along, but I think Hartley and I are on the same page here. Sometimes everything clicks and it works out great. Rarely, mistakes are made with permits, vehicles breaking, etc. and we try our best to resolve them the best we can.

In the end I do agree with Hartley's report (with the exception of the alcohol which we have spoken about). Trying to see things from both sides I did express to Hartley that not charging for the wounded buffalo, and allowing his friend to go after another was a gesture that needed to be taken into account.

The end result was a client that was less than fully satisfied and I am sorry about that. We never want an uphappy client, and we do what we can to try and make it up to them. I think Hartley agrees I have tried to do what I can to make it up to him.

Best regards,
John Barth

Thanks for the clarification on this. There are no secrets if the internet is involved. This is a better way to lay this out than the issues a couple of years ago with a trip to Tanzania that went south.

quote:

Originally posted by jcbarth:

I would also like to emphasize that some extra concessions were made here- a buffalo was wounded, and Boetie made a plan for that to not be charged and still allow the client to go after another. John Barth

1.Why was a wounded buffalo left in the velt is it not a danger to hunters that follows? i was taught that if any animal is wounded you hunt it down and get it out of its misery if there is blood its wounded.

2.At $1000 why will they not include the liqour?
one of these days the guys will have to specify toilet paper in their contracts aswell

Rudi,

You can only follow a wounded Buff or any other animal for that matter, for as long as you can follow it. Once you lose the spoor completely, then it's lost whether you like it or not. I've been hunting Buffalo for 28 years now and from my experience the vast majority of Buff that get wounded and lost are shot in that hump of muscle above the shoulders - if it were a horse, you'd call it the withers. That shot usually comes about by the client flinching and pulling the shot. That type of wound leaves very little blood and the animal very often recovers fairly quickly. - When a more serious wound occurs, it's not at all uncommon for the animal to be taken fairly quickly after the wound occurring by lions or other large predators. In all the years I've been hunting Buff, I've lost less than a handful after their being wounded and all but one of them have been lost after a 'withers' shot. - The other one was last year when a French client took a frontal chest shot with a 375. We had the shot on video and on slow mo, you can see the bullet strike on what appears to be a good shot. He was using those bloody useless TBBC SP and I can only assume the bullet failed and ran round the outside of the ribcage. - We tracked that Buff for 3 days before we lost the spoor completely and had to give up. - Swing by the house sometime and I'll show you the video. - It would have been the biggest Buff of the season by a long chalk.

Regarding booze, sometimes it's included and sometimes it's not. Just because you're paying US$1000 a day, doesn't mean someone is making that same amount. Most of it will be spent in Govt fees and running costs and I can promise you the safari industry has some of the lowest profit margins of any business I know. Another reason booze may not be included (and I draw your attention to the name of the area owner here) is religion. Many area owners/leaseholders etc in many parts of Africa are Muslim and they prefer not to deal in liquor. They don't mind you bringing it in and taking it out, but they don't want to supply it for you. Which is why clients often get asked their preferences beforehand in this regard or get told to bring their own chosen poison in with them.

I deliberately haven't commented on anything else as I wasn't there, don't know what happened and it's nothing to do with me. I don't know the PHs etc involved but I do know John by reputation and have spoken on the phone to him a time or two, and have never heard anything bad about him and do know he has the reputation in the industry of being one of the 'good guys'

Hope that helps.

Thanks Steve

it clears up that area. try and sell baked beans then you will see what is low margins

I found the initial hunt report depressing. Wounded kudu, wounded buffalo, buffalo shot from a truck, followed by bitch, bitch, bitch.

Anyone can hunt Africa, but some people don't deserve to.

I have booked numerous trips through John. He is the most honest person I have met in this business.

John tried to get me to go on this trip but I couldn't on such short notice.

I have gone on safari 13 times and I have never seen liquor included. At times, I have seen absolutely no liquor in camp for the exact reasons specified above. Religion. No matter, it is a minor thing.

Finally, I have know Boetie a very long time. I have hunted with him and would hunt with him again. I am currently trying to arrange a trip with him in January to the CAR. His hunting skills are second to none. However he is not Mr Personality. I can appreciate how his personality comes off about bitching about everything. None of this stops him from giving 100% even in adverse circumstances.

I have been out of the office for a few days and thankfully away from a computer. I am glad that John pretty much agrees with me on most counts. I really do not disagree with much of anything John says. He is correct that we were upgraded to a different area at their expenses, however we were coming in between two lion hunts. Had we hunted our orginal area it would have been terribly difficult as well as very expensive for the Patels to have relocated the entire staff for our buffallo hunt. I concur that concessions were made regarding the ever so slightly wounded buffallo. I realized that before we ever concluded the hunt. Everone that knows Boetie is aware that Mr. Personality he ain't, but all in all he is one fine hunter and a very interesting person to be around.

The disagreement over the booze will be something John and I can look forward to having a friendly disagreement over until one of us crosses over the the happy hunting ground. Until that time I will let John buy all of drinks in Reno or wherever I might bump into him.

As to Kensco's comments about bitchin, I was merely stating the facts.

Thank goodness turkey season opens in two weeks.


H Kittle

If the location you hunted was an "upgrade" I would hate to hunt where you were origionally scheduled.
At least thats the way I see it from down here on the banks of the Pearl.