As I promised last month, I checked in with operators in
Botswana regarding openings they may have for 2012. Among them was Jim Van Rensburg of
Kgori Safaris (
info@kgorisafaris.com). You'll remember it was an email from Kgori Safaris that was distributed online announcing that hunting had been banned in Botswana starting in 2013. I corresponded with Van Rensburg about that. "Yes, I believe my e-mail caused a bit of a ripple," he wrote. "It was supposed to go to my clients only. I have a wonderful new lady in my office. Unfortunately she sent it to all my contacts instead of all my clients, and I take the blame for it! I was just not prepared to take deposits from my clients for future seasons anymore, not until there is DEFINITE clarity from the government to the industry. That was something clients needed an explanation on. Anyway, it's done. I didn't mean to hurt anybody; in retrospect, I should have said hunting was being 'phased out' rather than 'banned.'"
Van Rensburg has three elephant hunts still available for this season in NG43. They can be scheduled for selected openings between June and September. We have five reports on this area (
8198,
7771,
7042,
4774,
6627), including the one from subscriber Peter Stein, who killed a 77-pound bull there last year......
