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Hi John

I take advantage of vacations on the riviera to post a bit as currently I working my arse raw for less incomes.

As You know the last time I and my cousin Luc hunted in Africa Luc got squashed by an elephant. Afterwards he has to have aorta surgery (not linked to jumbo but genetic). It resulted that he was not fit enough to hunt in Africa.
Nonetheless, he can’t be deprived from Africa hunting and booked for a Namibia hunt in a French 20 000ha ranch fenced on 3 sides and open on the last quarter. Along were 3 pals of him.
They were forewarned that season was bad for kudu.
You know that in the French nature booze and eating are up on the list. They brought more booze in weight that rifles and ammos. The first days they managed so well that they drank their whole stock of Ricard (uzo), wines and Mirabelle (first rate plum alcohol made by Luc).
Luc shot gold medals (??????????) trophies only : gemsbock (oryx), blesbock and springbock. As a Frenchmen he was eager to shoot a record boar, but no wart hogs were worth the shooting. He dismissed eland as his Derby eland trophy is towering any in Namibia. He spent a nice vacation with his mischevious pals.
All considered, though tremendously enjoying new terrain, he was disappointed for at least 2 main reasons :
1) No spooring stalking at all. Just roaming with the Toyota, spotting from a kopie and approaching the odd 1 or 2 miles, period.
2) Visiting the town he was shocked with shops offering nazi flags and Mein Kampf. As you know 90% of our family was wiped off during WWI and II. Luc’s grandfather was shot in the belly by Nazis and let sustaining a 3 days lingering death. Luc has no tender spot for Nazis. No flies on Germans, Luc managed a company in Germany during 4 years and took advantage of girlies and beer contests there. I gave him a “hand” but was no match.
Namibia, a clean and well organized country was for him sort of dull and uneventful hunt.
What’s good is that now Luc is pressing me to book for again for an adrenaline packed hunt, as I unintentionally did in the past :
Burkina : I provided him with fending off girls from entering his bungalow at night, having successful Ricard, champagne, wine and beer contests with other hunters, stalking wounded buffs in tall grass, hunting lion in even more tall and dense grass, stealing prey from feeding lion, pestering eles, repelling eles at the waterhole lunch by setting the bush ablaze,
CAR: flying with mother drunk pilots, evading crocs when hunting the swamps, playing hide and tag with mean Sudanese poachers, being stung by anophela, tse tse, microscopic gnats, scorpions, spiders and siafu ants, evading wounded buffs and eles in dense jungle, in Bangui dodging hold ups and aids riden maiden knocking at the hotel doors
Zimbabwe : shadowing eles non stop at 10-20m, and escaping (more or less) their truculent bullying.
In fact we need adventures more than trophies.
Belgian Congo could be perfect. We share the same language and weird animals are present if not aplenty. But anywhere we are doomed against their firepower and so many diseases (lepra, sleeping fever, haemoraggic fevers….) not safe at all, though a real unique experience.
We stick to Zimbabwe with Buzz and Myles in 2012 summer.
More interesting is that our friend Tristan Peacock, master of hounds for leopard hunting, is back on business. As you know in 2009 our excellent American friend and bowhunter, Dan Hunsaker, who has got most of the possible trophies on the 5 continents, included the big 5, didn’t perform with us in Mozambique, though he displayed a tremendous dedication and ethics. Mainly for the fun of being together, we consider hunting whooping leopards with Tristan in Zim, Zam or Bot as a leg to a hunting trip with Buzz and Myles for mainly an ele bull again with bow and arrow. That also can cure Luc’s indigestion of flirting with ill inclined elephants. Marginally we so far haven’t got a sable or kudu trophy.
As a training we have booked a November hunting of Chamois in the Pyrenees mountain and moufflon in the Alps mountains. It presupposes a daily 1500-2000m difference of altitude, loaded with 20 pounds of rifle, ammo, binoc, scope, sandwiches and extra clothes during 5 days.
We better move our asses as we are flirting with 60 years old and time isn’t on our side.
Life is good
Jb

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"I don't want to create an encyclopedic atmosphere here when we might be having a beer instead" P H Capstick in "Safari the last adventure."