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The Namibian "Joof Lamprecht" they have a good reputation. If they say the guy mentioned is good I would imagine the PH can do the job well.

As for the students mentioned:
"For starters, eight of these 10 students are black, like Johnny and Patches. Second, few have any experience hunting or have even spent much time in Africa’s rural areas. "

I don't think this is picking the best people rather than an affirmative action campaign.

I believe I read the South African government has a campaign to "transform" the "colour" of the industry and I think choosing good people experienced in the bush would be better than unemployed youths from urban ghettos.

The role of the PH is more than merely being a guide, they need to have an element of authority and able to make decisions well, many clients are first timers and very inexperienced. Personally I prefer an experienced PH rather than some social adjustment scheme person. Also someone with the same or similar cultural values in terms of hunting if paying hefty PH fees and safari costs.

"“But here in Africa, safari hunting is considered an old-boys network by most of our majority black population. You have white Afrikaans PHs who got their jobs because their white Afrikaans fathers were PHs. It’s one segment of our society that hasn’t changed since the end of apartheid.”"

"“Maybe he can’t write, but he knows animals,” says Vermaak. “He knows people. He knows the bush. This is the thing about black hunters. The best are the total package. They hunt like Bushmen, but they also know how to take care of people from other places and make them feel special.”"

Can't write and probably can't read either. Even if they are the best "bush" man, how do they acclimatise to the modern sporting hunting culture, with all its history and traditions?

"Sowry isn’t nearly so acquiescent. She worries that unless the majority of Africans understand and appreciate the economic and ecological value of sport hunting, an increasingly vocal movement to end safari hunting will gain traction. So, too, will calls for the sort of land reform that has transformed neighboring Zimbabwe from a wildlife-rich Eden to a bleak rural wasteland that swarms with poachers.

“When hunting is taken away from communities, then they don’t value wildlife,” says Sowry, who adds a sort of couplet to finish her thought. “If it pays, it stays. We need to prove to the non-hunting majority of Africa that wildlife pays everywhere it is legally and sustainably hunted.”"

True enough. But as long as the allocation of licences and concessions and land seizures of the future is not corruptly done.

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John aka NitroX

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Govt get out of our lives NOW!
"I love the smell of cordite in the morning."
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