May 2025

Royal Game – Regal Stature

Growing up in the then Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the roan antelope was referred to as "royal game." A term the country used to mean they were protected, and certainly not allowed to be hunted. Today, there is a small quota, tightly managed and a prized species to be hunted, along with many other countries offering the opportunity. The subspecies, or variants up north, as in Cameroon and Chad, are major ticks for the mega collectors.

I’ll never forget how incredible it was seeing this animal up close for the first time. Ken Bailey, my buddy and our magazine’s Field Editor had just hunted it. We were in northwest South Africa, Kalahari area, on the Botswana border. I was the observer, as I treasure our annual time in the field. This magnificent property had an abundance of buffalo, sable and roan – I kid you not. Sure, the buffalo had tags in their ears, which was why Ken did not want to hunt those. The roan, along with a stunning sable was just perfect for Ken. We explained why not the buffalo, when advising him on his marketing, which was what I was there – it was in vain. The property owner knew better. Who was I to explain to him what hunters want, when he ran his own global mining business. Plus, he was successfully breeding them up in vast numbers, so much so that he was having to cull. Small victories were convincing him to use a more effective name, which is what it is now; designing, published his first brochure, developing their website and getting him into the major shows. We don’t work together anymore.  

The story of their vast roan and sable game numbers – was a stark reality check, compared with Zimbabwe. How these two magnificent species, in two neighboring countries, Zimbabwe and South Africa, can work out so differently, depending on the Government, their wildlife management policies and policy to respecting private game farming ownership.

Secondly, despite it being the fanciest lodge that I had been to in South Africa with abundant game, and with Ken writing an article about his successful sable and roan hunt, it was not till a year later that we got the disappointing news was about the lack of care taken of the Ken’s trophies.

The skins had not been looked after in the field and during the time they got it to the taxidermist. A sable’s ear had some damage but was reparable and was able to be pedestal mounted. The roan was a write-off with the skin destroyed. Complete after-hunt incompetence. Ken’s sable mount and the roan skull are both on display at Afton. And this is just one of many incidents I have witnessed firsthand where hunters have been so poorly treated. So, a few years later I set up TTS, my A-Z Taxidermy & Trophy Solutions service.

If you have not subscribed to the African Hunting Gazette, can I suggest you have a look at the options. Aside from the magazine itself, there is an automatic draw for the bontebok safari (closing end June) and you are eligible to purchase Game Animals of Africa for $25, shipped to your door ($55 off the cover price). 

My next message, assuming the plane lands safely in England – will be a personal report from Rigby’s 250^th Anniversary bash, that I was invited to. What a treat. Till then, May in southern Africa is magnificent. The rain has subsided, the veld is incredible, the weather is out of this world, and if you are on your way, perhaps think about hunting the roan. Sure the sable is referred to a regal in stature, but I was so impressed with what was referred to back then in Rhodesia, clearly for a reason, as Royal game.

Regards

Richard Lendrum

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Reader Letter - Leopards & Namibian Hunt

I truly enjoyed my time with Philip and his crew at Khomas Highlands: so much so that I have booked again for November. He and his people were so good to this 80-year-old.

I heard from Birgit and will renew my print subscription. Having something in my hand while I relax just feels so much better. I enjoy the advertisements for high-end guns, they do not have the same appeal on my aging iPad. If you can survive the current environment and associated costs, you may be one of only a few to offer advertisers a re-invigorated environment.

I could not agree more with your editorial on leopards, and I speak from personal experience. I have a personal rule to hunt only animals bred and born on the property. Few farmers or ranchers, once I got to know them, did not say to me “if you see a leopard, shoot it, I’ll take care of the rest.” Their losses of young are high. A friend moved his cattle and goats to a new farm about 18 months ago. His calf losses alone are high. He has shot five leopards so far, which are now underground. The solution is obvious, monetize the deaths, expand and improve the farm, hire more people…….. you know the story.

An often overlooked, perhaps unintended, effect of the CITES regulations is that scarcity has seen the cost of leopard hunting soar.

The current cost is several multiples of what I paid in Zim in the early 2000s. CITES and import restrictions both tend to push true hunting into a sport only for the very rich. Much of the high-volume hunting, with hunters who have a lack of knowledge, thinks he has booked a real hunt. There is a place for such operations, but I wish for more transparency.

“A second consequence, and most surely unintended, is that the natural effect of regulation is to increase the number of leopards killed. It’s a simple calculation: with no revenue, the costs of leopard predation eat profits and minimize funds available to support other species, the solution is to eliminate them; On the other hand, if the revenue from leopard hunting exceeds the cost of the damage they do, the farmer will tend to become a leopard rancher, his attitude toward them will be protective. Straight market economics at play. CITES and trophy import restrictions distort the natural forces.

I greatly admire leopards. I like to know they are around and I dislike their being treated as vermin even if through necessity, but I value the species more than the individual.”

Douglas Halliday

Fun & Games or a Lifetime Calling?

By Terry Wieland

One thing about hunting brown bears in the fall in coastal Alaska: You have lots of time to think. At first, you think about the big brownie that may step out of the thick alders at any moment, onto the tidal flat across the way. If you ignored your guide’s advice about rain gear, you may soon start reflecting on the relentless rain that is seeping through to soak you.

Bulletproof: Chapter 15

By Ken Moody

An uneasy feeling tugged at my gut as we made our final approach on the wounded buffalo. We had pushed the old boy for hours and now, it seemed, the pushing was over. I knew he was there, just in the distance holed up in a tangle of sickle bush, but I also knew that he was tired and ornery and all those things a buffalo can become when they’ve decided to make a stand. As we crept closer, I also knew a decision point would be reached and that all hell was likely to come thundering towards us. I knew all of this, but onward we pressed, as this, you see, is the essence of hunting buffalo.



Bob had come to me the previous year, seeking out our booth at a trade show closest to his state of residence, hoping to discuss a possible buffalo hunt.

A Birthday in Bangweulu

By Brandon Justus

Some men turning 40 consider a birthday trip to Vegas or a golf trip with the guys. I, on the other hand, wanted to travel to one of the most remote hunting destinations in Africa, the Bangweulu Swamps.

It all started in late 2023 when I began planning my birthday blowout with a good friend and fantastic PH, Dave Freeburn from Dave Freeburn Safaris, who researched suitable hunts.

The Lost Lion of Western Zambia

By Fergus Flynn

Zambia has always been a spectacular hunting and wildlife destination. It devotes some 30% of its land area to National Parks and GMAs (Game management areas), the equivalent of 225,000 km². The largest is West Zambezi GMA, an area of some 38,000 km². Fifty years ago, the area was rich in wildlife from top to bottom, but the slow and relentless settling of people and the pressure on the fish and game stocks has led to much of the area losing significant numbers in its game population and fish stocks. This has been particularly devastating for the cats, most notably the lion. This, of course, is not unique to this area. Population losses across the Continent are staggering.

Chapter Three

Matobo

Like so many others, I always believed that these amazing formations were the result of bubbling oozing lava that had been squeezed out of the hot bowels of the earth millions of years ago.

But that assumption is wrong. The whole of southern Africa is a single block, a single mass of granite, the stuff which formed the earth’s crust two thousand million years ago.

In many places, like the Matobo hills, other rock ended up on top of the granite mass, and this other rock was prone to weathering.

For two thousand million years nature gradually removed this rock cover, exposing the granite. But nature does not rest.

Who are the African Dawn Outfitters?

The African Dawn Program is about promoting hunting in Africa, not just through what we publish, but with the outfitters’ cooperation in this program… and it is for your peace of mind.

International travel consumes two precious commodities – personal time and money. And when you are a hunter, things can get tricky when there are further considerations like rules, regulations, details and differences between each country and their species. It is important to have a good outfitter, and whether it is your next hunting safari, or your first one, there are many outfitters to choose from. In fact, there are over 500, so how do you find a reliable one, the one that is right for you?

To help you, we decided to promote and work with approximately 10% of this continent-wide group of outfitters. We have listed a limited number of an esteemed group of established and reputable African outfitters and they can be found in this Catalogue. To familiarize yourself with this list, we also offer monthly publications, and monthly trophy gallery posts (Trophies Fresh from the Veld). To ensure you receive these updates, sign up www.africanhuntinggazette.com.

If you are an agent looking for an outfitter to represent, you’ll be safe contacting one of these outfitters.

If you are researching for your next safari, be sure to contact any one of listed outfitters directly. It will support them and save you money by booking with them. Please tell them that it was by them being an African Dawn Member that contributed to the decision.

Our website www.africanhuntinggazette.com has a detailed overview of them all, and you know where to contact me if you need to know anything more.

For now, just enjoy the read.

Richard Lendrum - Publisher African Hunting Gazette

richard@africanhuntinggazette.com

2025 African Dawn Members