News that a Professional Hunter was killed by poachers in Tanzania shocked the safari industry just as this issue of The Hunting Report was going to press. On the afternoon of Friday, February 18, I learned that Andre de Kock of Robin Hurt Safaris was shot to death that morning by what appeared to be a group of professional poachers. He was guiding clients in the Maswa area of Tanzania’s Masailand. I immediately contacted Robin Hurt Safaris to express my deepest sympathies and gather the facts of what happened. E-mail Extra subscribers already know the basics of the incident from a bulletin I distributed that evening. Robin Hurt, who was in Namibia at the time of the incident, later provided me with a more detailed account, which I have posted to our web site under Website Uploads in the center of our homepage at http://www.huntingreport.com/.
In summary, Hurt says that De Kock, one of his most senior Professional Hunters, was killed around 9 o’clock the morning of February 18th by elephant poachers armed with AK47 automatic rifles in the Maswa Game Reserve area of Tanzania. Two trackers and one game scout were also wounded in the shootings. They were hospitalized in Arusha and are in stable condition, with veteran tracker Eliamani Marugwe being shot in his wrist and legs with three bullets, and tracker Isiah Katambi shot in the thigh. Government Game Scout Ngassa Kitela was shot in the arm and foot, but fortunately his wounds were minor. Only one client was in the field, hunting with de Kock. The other had stayed in camp. Luckily the client, his photographer and the vehicle mechanic were unhurt. At least 20 bullets hit the car, and it is miraculous that no one else was killed or injured.
Apparently the hunting group was driving along looking for game when the trackers spotted some movement in the bush. They drove the Land Cruiser over to check what it was, saw a blue bag on the ground, stopped and were immediately fired upon with no warning by the heavily armed poaching gang of eight or nine people.....
