My son gave me a book for Christmas, The Comfort Crisis – Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Happy, Healthy Self, by Michael Easter, published in 2021. This is essentially
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I have previously written about the importance of the five Ps – Preparation, Practice, Patience, Persistence and the most important P of all, PUP – Performance Under Pressure. Now I
One of my earliest recollections of my much loved Mom, is of her sitting at the foot of my bed reading to me before I went to sleep. And then
What do I mean by opportunity costs? I mean that, if you choose a particular course of conduct, whether on purpose or by accident, by commission or omission, in all
I have been reading a book by Justin Cartwright, an ex Cape Town boy now living in London, called The Song Before it is Sung, a fictionalized account of one
Lieutenant General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell (1857 to 1941), later first Baron Baden-Powell, collected more honours from his own government and others than many people have had hot breakfasts. He
Disappointment. A simple, 14 letter, polysyllabic word hiding mountain ranges of experiences each one of us has had to deal with many, many times. Not so? The first time disappointment
As we came into land at Harare back in the 1980s I think it was, the stewardess handed out small squares of brown paper without any explanation. On closer examination,
I noticed it for the first time after Derek had shot his old, hard bossed, fully mature, 39 inch Cape buffalo bull. Up until then I had become progressively more
It was 1961. I was 13 years old. We were in Knysna for Christmas and staying at the Beach House Hotel near the Knysna Heads. When the tide came in,
For the last many years, I have tried to limit the ‘If Onlys’ in my life with greater and lesser levels of success but, more’s the pity, never entirely succeeding.
Despite hunting since I was a little boy, apart from one self-enforced absence of ten years as a young man, some things have remained constant. For example, after firing a
Some forty plus years ago, we were hunting on my then partner’s unfenced game ranch, Denstaadt, on the banks of the Limpopo River, out of a very rustic camp –
A few days ago, a good friend emailed me a photograph of an excellent, 12 year old bottle of cabernet we both enjoyed. He had found it in a village
I remember the only ultimatum my wife ever gave me. I was in my 30s, trying to build a legal practice. We had just had our second child and living
I owe Alison Littlejohn a debt of real gratitude. If she had not ordered my book, Hunting the Spiral Horns – Bongo & Nyala – The Elite African Trophies, for
When you’re in it. Up to your neck. Far from home. Turning back’s not an option. But nothing’s happening. The days start to tick by ever faster. And you can
A giraffe is a giraffe is a giraffe so you would think. Well, you may want to think again. Up until recently, there was one species of giraffe and nine
Do you remember your first kiss? I mean a real kiss. Not one of those cheek grazing, lip brushing, air kisses into nothingness and nowhere. Do you remember your first
Last month a friend sent me an email he had received from a United Kingdom visitor in response to the DVD he had sent her entitled, The South African Conservation
The sweat shiny, black face and dull black uniform of the huge Congolese policeman blocked out most of the weak overhead light from the yellowy street bulb barely illuminating the
When I was researching the chapter on bongo conservation in Kenya for the fifth and final book in the spiral horn series, Hunting the Spiral Horns – Bongo & Nyala
I like hunting roan, especially in West Africa. I think they are harder to hunt than Lord Derby’s eland, for example, because the big, lone roan bulls seem never to
It is sad but true. We have had a few hunters – or should I say "so-called" hunters – who visited us on our game ranch who had no love
It was my second visit to the 10,000 hectare game and cattle farm near Ellisras in the old Transvaal. The four of us hunters stood with our backs to the
As told to Peter Flack by Ryan Cliffe I was 27. Been a PH for exactly three years and an appy for five years before that. Why five years? Firstly,
I am 67 and there are days when I seem to hear the ticking of Father Time’s clock especially loudly. All those things they told me would not be possible
Well over 30 years ago, I was invited by a friend to acquire a minority stake in a Botswana safari outfitter. We flew up to inspect the main concession in
If you are a passionate eland hunter, then October in Northern Mozambique’s massive Niassa Reserve is where to be. It is the time and place when the huge – and
I think most hunters would agree that, the more they know about the animal they intend to hunt, the better are their chances of success. For years, however, when it
A good friend of mine, Peter Kennedy, the king of plus 60 inch kudu hunters, advises that whenever you seek permission to hunt kudu from a landowner, you should always
There are only three things you need to know as an amateur hunter about hunting in countries to the north of us – preparation, preparation and preparation. Preparation of your
I have often been asked, which do I think is the most special of all the spiral horns. Well, the first question to be asked is probably what constitutes a
There are four basic ways to hunt lions and, at one time or another, I have used them all, and more than once. By far the most popular way today
Who shot the Donkey? It reminded me of the nursery rhyme song – "Who shot Cock Robin? I said the sparrow, with my bow and arrow, I shot Cock Robin.
This story takes me back many, many years. To about 1984 as I remember it. The time of a devastating drought that tortured our South African Lowveld for months on
Johannesburg to Addis Ababa – seven hours on the efficient Ethiopian Airlines. From there, two hours in a Cessna Caravan to the landing strip at Murulle Camp on the eastern
Growing up in Cape Town in a strictly non-hunting, non-shooting family, my interest in wildlife and hunting began with a trip to what was then called the Cape Town Museum
Chad, Tchad or Tjad. A name to conjure with. I knew it was a poor country, torn by civil war, somewhere in the Sahara Desert. But where was it situated
When I awoke to the first ominous signs at midnight, I knew immediately it was something I had eaten or drunk at supper. I also knew it was going to
Early morning. The grey of early dawn is lifting over the two and a half kilometre long glade on either side of the Batou River in the north central region
It all started many, many years ago. There were four of us. Amongst other things, we hunted together and, because I was the anally retentive one, I got the logistics
Last week I was reading the book of the earliest recreational hunter to visit South Africa, Captain (later Sir) William Cornwallis Harris, originally called, Narrative of an expedition into Southern
The late Dr. Lucas Potgieter read and commented on many of my articles before they went off to editors or publishers. He was often my litmus test as to whether
Written by Marinda Groenewald as told to her by Dewald Joubert and translated by Peter Flack with permission of the author If a person wakes in the middle of the
Have you ever had a premonition? I have. The strongest one was on the way to catch a plane to Tanzania – the plane was going to crash! The feeling
I came to elephant hunting quite late as, for about ten years or so, I was stuck in a rut. Buffalo were my passion – some said obsession – and,
Many years ago I accompanied a man that was to become my boss on his first buffalo hunt. He was not as fit as he should have been nor as
I met Geoff Smith, for the first time, when I returned from Wall Street to take up my position as the youngest and most junior partner at Bowman Gilfillan &
Is there an animal that you dream about hunting? Can you see yourself in the dream? There you are, exhausted, sweat stained, unshaven and burnt a rough, raw, reddish brown
I am not a fundi on hunting rifles. I did not have a grandfather, father or older brother to teach me so, on the one hand, most of what I
There are no rules, or so it may appear. That’s right, when it comes to establishing whether an animal is a new species or subspecies, there are no comprehensive, hard
We had been on the tracks for over two hours. Only Martin and I. The rest of the hunting team remained at the salt lick. It hadn’t rained for three
I and four of my friends have hunted with French professional hunter, Christophe Morio, on a number of occasions in both Benin and CAR. In our opinion, he is not
I stood as still as a statue in the deep, dappled shade of the miombo woodland scarcely daring to breathe. Exactly 174 metres away, through a latticework of thin, brachystegia,
October. Suicide month in Tanzania. Especially this year. No rain to speak of last year. No rain at all this year. The big Kigosi River, which joins the Gombe, which
Almost everyone knows that a region of KwaZulu/Natal is called The Valley of a Thousand Hills. Some of these hills are so steep even the baboons use walking sticks to
I resigned this month after five years as chairman of Rowland Ward. There are many reasons for my resignation and one of them comes from the first book on management
Soon after buying our game ranch 20 years ago, I knew I wanted, no needed, a horse. Although it had been many, many years – 29 to be exact –
There are at least six separate skills involved in hunting. The fours – shooting, spotting, stalking, survival – flora and fauna knowledge and, finally, game and trophy handling. All of
Rowland Ward’s Records of Big Game contains the following reference to Island Sitatunga (Tragelaphus spekii sylvestris), "Distribution – the Sesse Islands of Lake Victoria (Uganda). The validity of this sub-species
I stood in the dining room of our farmhouse, with my arm around the shoulders of my wife as the tears streamed down her face. Our house had been wrecked.
I looked at the magnificent, old – no, ancient – animal as it lay stretched out at my feet. I could not speak. I had a huge lump in my
