South Africa revisited! |
| |||||||||||||||||||
So I’ve been a bit hard on the South African PH’s lately and as one of my subscribers put it, “do you have no shame!, your name is Swanepoel and you live in Cape Town?” In fact there has been such a hubbub recently over the issue of “canned” and “put and take” hunting that the industry stands on the verge of a tough legislative mountain. While I advocate that not enough dialogue was entered into between the Nature Conservation authorities and the well established hunting industry before the draft legislation was drawn up, I also firmly believe there was not enough self regulation on the part of the hunting industry. | ||||||||||||||||||||
here's a true story.... | ||||||||||||||||||||
We hunt Lion in | ||||||||||||||||||||
how the king of beasts was bagged.... | ||||||||||||||||||||
I’m standing in the darkness of the Kalahari dawn outside my clients chalet door. I’ve just come from seeing the ranch owner and have confirmed all is set, we are on track, the cat is ready for us. I confirmed again, as we had done the night before, this was the big male and that it was a black maned beast. The owner had looked at me wearily as he stirred sugar into his coffee, he had driven through the night to get here and now his look told me not to push any further on this issue, he had found the cat, it was ready what more did I want. | ||||||||||||||||||||
the whole truth .... | ||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||
In South Africa cats are bred, or should I say allowed to live and reach maturity for a purpose. They never know the true wild and their whole life has been controlled from birth by humans. We are their source of survival through our own greed and materialism. This is the power we exert over nature and its inhabitants for our own ends. The above story is true and I expect some will not agree with what I have said. However it is an undeniable fact! This does happen in South Africa, Namibia and to an extent Zimbabwe. I'm not judging anyone who has participated in such a hunt, I just believe that people should know what does happen! Pete Swanepoel jnr | ||||||||||||||||||||
"I speak of Africa and golden joys" ; the joy of wandering through lonely lands; the joy of hunting the mighty lords of the wilderness, the cunning, the wary, and the grim." Theodore Roosevelt - 1908 | ||||||||||||||||||||
site launched 1 June 2000 - updated weekly | ||||||||||||||||||||
Friday, June 4, 2010
Past Article on Lion Hunting in South Africa
Since I wrote this article, and after having done one of these hunts with Sandhurst Safaris out of the Northwest Province, the son of the owner, Clayton Fletcher was arrested for being part of a massive Rhino horn poaching and smuggling ring!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
South African Hunting Information
South Africa is not a country for the classical "Hemmingway Safari", there are no vast untrammeled hunting concessions where civilisation is kept at bay by tsetse fly and deep gushing crocodile infested rivers. In South Africa there are very few places not touched by the influences and presence of mankind, or more to the point, of western civilisation as we are used to back home.
If you're expecting to forage into Tarzans deep dark jungles where savage natives and ferocious beasts lie in wait then you'll be disappointed. Most South African hunting safaris take place on private game ranches that have been fenced for decades yet have also been refuges for some of the continents most incredible species.
In South Africa you'll find the widest variation of huntable game species in all of the continent, including some highly endangered animals which a have been more or less saved from extinction by these game ranches.
Don't get the wrong impression from the term "ranch hunting", forget illusions of hand reared family pets and caged zoo animals being offered up for the chase. There are no feeding pens where game is carefully propagated with feed mixtures and steriods so their horns grow bigger. You are getting the real deal, there are cats that can bite you, snakes that chase and buffalo that gore, the presence of a fence is merely how the hunting in South Africa is set up and does not delude from the hunting experience.
Most game species are elusive and wary, providing days of excitement and challenge. Perhaps here more than anywhere else in Africa, is the hunter able to dictate the method and manner of the hunt to suit their personal hunting ethics.
Some of these ranches or conservation areas are huge, sometimes upwards of 200,000 acres, vast areas of wilderness which support naturally sustaining herds in a more or less truly wild setting. Howere most will be in the 5000 to 20,000 acre range, still offering a great hunt.
Today over 33 million acres are dedicated to game ranching and private reserves, almost twice the combined area of government parks and reserves. Land once used for farming now plays host to the majority of South Africa's varied game population and results in an unchallenged variety of trophies for the visiting hunter.
The term safari is no more or no less fulfilled here than in other countries, it remains as it always has, a personal experience to each individual seeking adventure.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)