Newsletter 60
Dear Hunting Friends
Happy new year to you all, may you have a healthy and happy 2017 filled with time outdoors.
Attached to this newsletter is a link to my 2017 brochure, please download and save your copy to your computer for reading at your convenience, the brochure has maps of our hunting areas, an explanation of the hunting areas, camp photos, hunting pricelists and some of our 2016 trophy photos. Please forward the brochure to your hunting friends and please feel free to email me for booking enquiries. Thank you.
Since my last newsletter on the 25th of November we have had some very good hunts including some superb elephant hunts as mentioned in my last email plus this 45 inch hard boss buffalo and some really fantastic crocodiles, in fact I would go as far as to say that the quality of these crocodile trophies have stolen the late season lime light.
As you read on you will see photos that could be disturbing to sensitive readers. Since this is a hunters newsletter written by a hunter to hunters (no children) I have decided after discussion with friends and clients to send these photos out, to show you what really happens in wild Africa. I have explained to you before that our areas are real hunting areas for hard men, these concessions are not zoos.
Here is an explanation of the photos: Many people incorrectly believe that hippos kill more people than any other African animal, this could not be further from the truth. Hippos eat no meat and would have no reason to hunt or kill humans, of course in a chance encounter a hippo can/will kill humans.
The biggest killer of humans (mostly rural people) in Africa is the crocodile that hunts/stalks/kills and eats humans daily in Africa. To be clear I don’t believe that crocodiles see humans as natural prey, the main reason crocodiles are killing humans is due to the fact that humans have poached/killed 95% of the natural prey animals available to the crocodiles in the form of fish and game animals that would otherwise drink at the water where the crocodile live and be hunted there by these now man-eater crocodiles. This is the vicious circle of life that exists here in Africa.
This example is unique to where humans and animals co-exist, crocodiles under normal circumstances would not hunt humans if their natural prey was available. Poaching is responsible for the decline in the crocodiles natural prey animals, not sustainable hunting.
Early December 2016 Steve Meyer got a call from Binga (Lake Kariba: Zimbabwe) Communal leaders informing him that there is a massive crocodile hunting and eating local people that are collecting water & fishing on the banks of Lake Kariba, they asked Steve to kill this problem animal, now to be honest these calls come in all the time this is not new or unique at all as mentioned above. This time it just so happens that Steve was in Binga fishing with a friend from Bulawayo, they decided to go and hunt this man eater crocodile in service of the local community.
This crocodile must have been responsible for a great many human deaths over the last 70 years or so of its adult life, this crocodile was not accurately measured but my own estimate puts this crocodile at 5.2 meters if we consider that Steve who is in the photo is 1.76 meters tall. Regardless of the exact length this crocodile is massive, they don’t get any bigger than this in the wild.
After the crocodile was killed and the stomach contents removed this is what was found. The human remains were returned to the community for funeral and burial ceremonies.
On another more traditional hunt, this time in the Gonarezhou a client of ours from Spain managed to hunt this 45 inch hard boss buffalo with PH Nixon Dzingai (pictured in the photo) during December 2016.
On another November/December hunt also guided by Nixon clients from Europe managed to shoot these two very good crocodiles In the Gonarezhou area with the larger one measuring 14 foot, a massive crocodile for a river system. The hunters also hunted this 45 pounder elephant bull with Nixon and this giraffe plus two waterbuck and some other plains game.
On a recent Matetsi hunt another client from Spain hunted this 40 pounder elephant with Steve Meyer.
On another Binga hunt, this time with PH Talmage Alexander a client from South Africa shot this 50 pounder elephant:
On a recent Save Valley hunt a client from Europe hunted this buffalo with PH Lloyd Yeatman:
On a recent hunt in South Africa a client from South Africa who has now booked 3 hunts with Take Aim Safaris shot this elephant bull in the 35 pound class, his teenage daughter shot a buffalo cow. Thanks to PH Philip Oosthuizen JNR for guiding another one of my clients on a great hunt.
Closing off our 2016 season a client of ours from Europe that hunted with Nixon Dzingai in the Gonarezhou Safari areas managed to hunt these 3 hard boss buffalos:
Please visit me in Dortmund at the Jagd and Hund expo in Hall 7 stand D28.
You can also visit me in Salzburg in the Mistral booth, centre of the main hall.
As always thanks for taking the time to read my newsletters and pass them on to your hunting friends. Clients, PH’s, Outfitters and Agents please contact me for all your big game hunt bookings in Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Hunters best wishes.
Carl Knight
Contact Number: 0027-82-749-1747
Email: carl@takeaimsafaris.com
Web: www.takeaimsafaris.com