Africa,Here I Come ! ( I hope )

[mchughcb]

Any effort is worth to learn the local lingo is appreciated. Like please, thank you. Other important ones to learn when driven into an African shanty town by a clueless driver as the natives are running towards you with star pickets to rob you are. Go Fast Now. lol

[on_one_wheel]

And remember, that guy at the airport holding up a placard with your name on it is more likely to lure you into a van, hold you at gunpoint, take your cash and jewellery than take tou on safari.

Be careful BP

[Oldbloke]

Since 4am I've been trying to learn Swahili using Duolingo.
Verdict.....I suck lol

Stick at it for a while. You might yourself.
I found Italian fairly easy. Just focus on a dozen words or phrases.

[bigpete]

Funny buggers lol.

Its only the first day. I've got 2 years lol

[mchughcb]

And remember, that guy at the airport holding up a placard with your name on it is more likely to lure you into a van, hold you at gunpoint, take your cash and jewellery than take tou on safari.

Be careful BP

First thing they told me on my security training.

[No1Mk3]

Since 4am I've been trying to learn Swahili using Duolingo.
Verdict.....I suck lol

Only thing you need to know, 'Nitapata Castle Lager, tafadhali" then they hand you a nice cold beer, then you say "asante". but if you are in South Africa they may look at you funny because very few people speak Swahili, better to learn to order beer in siSwati or isiZulu, but everyone speaks Afrikaans "Ek sal assablief 'n Castle Lager he."

[Maxjon]

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The 58 hawken will be firing .570 prb over 110gn of 2f. Its a little high at 100m so I'll have to order a new front sight and get it shooting lower, but its quite accurate. I may possibly look at getting either Lee REAL bullets or Maxi Balls for it just to bump up the kinetic energy and for ease of reloading,but I'm sure the round ball will work pretty well,and flattens out nicely

I like those Rocky Mountain Hawkens...There is a .54 cal one at a local dealer, that looks like new...I'm tempted....How accurate is yours at 50m?

[bigpete]

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The 58 hawken will be firing .570 prb over 110gn of 2f. Its a little high at 100m so I'll have to order a new front sight and get it shooting lower, but its quite accurate. I may possibly look at getting either Lee REAL bullets or Maxi Balls for it just to bump up the kinetic energy and for ease of reloading,but I'm sure the round ball will work pretty well,and flattens out nicely

I like those Rocky Mountain Hawkens...There is a .54 cal one at a local dealer, that looks like new...I'm tempted....How accurate is yours at 50m?

Mine was VERY accurate at 50m.....

Well,slight change of circumstances means I will now be hunting with archery tackle,and I'll be going with Phumba safaris. Mainly because the Aussie consultant was the only one out of 4 potential mobs to actually get back to me,plus all the prices are in Australian dollars and VAT is included where applicable.
I'll potentially be taking 3 ( ! ) bows. First, and main hunting bow will be a custom 2 piece longbow, 70lb @29", made by Nick Lintern of Norseman bows.
2nd main hunting bow is a PSE carbon air, 70lb and 30.5" draw. I only really want to take this in case my shooting goes crap,or there isn't any room in the blinds for a longbow.
Third will be a cheap Chinese black widow copy takedown recurve with 2 sets of limbs, 68lb @ 29.5".
My package includes blesbok,bushpig,impala,springbok, warthog,blue wildebeest, and zebra. My targets of opportunity ( these being animals I'm willing to take and pay for separately if they pop up at 20m ) are kudu,gemsbok,sable,and eland.

Trying to sort everything out is doing my head in but atm I'm tentatively booked in and the end of July next year.

[bigpete]

Leave the guns behind and take a camera. Even though the animals are farmed and people are making a living out of the hunt. The thought of killing one of the majestic animals that leave you in awe as a kid is just wrong in my mind. If it is not the right thing to do killing a snake in youre backyard then killing a lion, tiger or elephant in Africa is next level bad.

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Pay attention to this paragraph from Cries of the Savannah, then go get f***ed, get f***ed some more,f*** off till you can f*** off no further,then live the impossible dream and keep f***ing off. Numpty

[Wapiti]

You told that bloke mate.
Farmed? Farmed and "managed" are two completely different things.
Why is there no facepalm imogi?

[No1Mk3]

Leave the guns behind and take a camera. Even though the animals are farmed and people are making a living out of the hunt. The thought of killing one of the majestic animals that leave you in awe as a kid is just wrong in my mind. If it is not the right thing to do killing a snake in youre backyard then killing a lion, tiger or elephant in Africa is next level bad.

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Pay attention to this paragraph from Cries of the Savannah, then go get f***ed, get f***ed some more,f*** off till you can f*** off no further,then live the impossible dream and keep f***ing off. Numpty

It's not just the money, the massive impact on the infrastructure and environment to cater for 1600 tourists compared to 1 hunter that needs to be looked at, sure, 1600 people create more employment but the cost is also higher and disposible income per capita is to be considered. All in all many areas do much better, financially and environmetally from low impact hunting than photo safari tourism. The alternatives are Lodges that restrict numbers and charge much more per person but not everyone can afford those. There is also a great deal of evidence to show game animals and endagered animals do much better on game reserves than the open bush, for many reasons a bit long winded to go into here but are easy to find.
PS: Canned hunting is not that common really, most is open Veldt with Game Concessions. Enjoy the trip bigpete, wish I could go with you.

[bigpete]

Leave the guns behind and take a camera. Even though the animals are farmed and people are making a living out of the hunt. The thought of killing one of the majestic animals that leave you in awe as a kid is just wrong in my mind. If it is not the right thing to do killing a snake in youre backyard then killing a lion, tiger or elephant in Africa is next level bad.

20261023_180901.jpg

Pay attention to this paragraph from Cries of the Savannah, then go get f***ed, get f***ed some more,f*** off till you can f*** off no further,then live the impossible dream and keep f***ing off. Numpty

It's not just the money, the massive impact on the infrastructure and environment to cater for 1600 tourists compared to 1 hunter that needs to be looked at, sure, 1600 people create more employment but the cost is also higher and disposible income per capita is to be considered. All in all many areas do much better, financially and environmetally from low impact hunting than photo safari tourism. The alternatives are Lodges that restrict numbers and charge much more per person but not everyone can afford those. There is also a great deal of evidence to show game animals and endagered animals do much better on game reserves than the open bush, for many reasons a bit long winded to go into here but are easy to find.
PS: Canned hunting is not that common really, most is open Veldt with Game Concessions. Enjoy the trip bigpete, wish I could go with you.

The whole book is a continual discussion about such stuff. There are a lot of things that are incredibly positive about hunting for Africa, some of which are pretty obvious and some that are not. I do recommend the book

[Wapiti]

It's not just the game animals can do better either. That is a great point - animals can be managed during bad times as well as good by controlling numbers to food availability, nutrition and breeding programs
Look at the massive poaching industry that without protection, would almost certainly have those targeted species wiped out.
This costs big money in manpower and equipment, and the hunting industry is the only thing keeping many species from extinction.
Are the screaming greenies funding this? Or do lovely sunny sunrises and butterflies in people's heads pay for this all by magic?

I see this all the time in the deer management game - supposedly "managed" by complete BS-artists in the Brisbane valley with hunting income funds are basically destroying the genetics of the herd there, to the point where people write magazine articles on a 4/5 red trophy that cost them a bomb, or the hunter up there with private access that feels he MUST kill the 4/5 of the 5/5 because if he doesn't, it will jump the cattle fence and be shot by someone next door.
Or the 6/6 that survives somehow to that point, but even though it might become a double-8 in 3 years of patience AND get to spread his genes for 3 more ruts to actually improve the overall herd - it gets shot early before it has had a chance to breed early in the rut by a "deermaster" with a wad of cash who pretends he doesn't ever pay for his hunts and judges others.

If it wasn't for that management of those African game animals using the money from selective hunting bringing in the money to do this, I reckon many species of these great animals would be extinct. You never see the squealers reaching into their own pockets.

[bigpete]

Those are all 100% true points regarding Africa Wapiti. One of the interesting things I read is that a lot of hunting reserves are adjoining national parks. Reason being that it helps to buffer the influx of poachers, who, to be fair, are mostly extremely poor people just trying to survive. But the hunting outfitters run them off or try to apprehend them every time they see them. Therefore the national parks get protected in a very real way by hunters.
Also,hunting give value to wilderness areas where standard tourism and tourists just don't have any interest in. Regular tourist Joe isn't interested in living in a bush camp,battling tsetse flies,seeing low thorn bush,all for a fleeting glimpse at a kudu. They want mod cons, scenic views,and lots of animals parading around. So a lot of the land has no tourist value,and if it has no value,then it gets turned into farmland or some such thing,which isn't necessarily good for the land or the wildlife.

Stupid comments like Larry's irk me. There's a huge difference between sustainable hunting that benefits everyone and everything in a country,and blowing away defenceless, protected species just because you're s**t scared of them....