I issued two E-Mail Extra bulletins on this matter last month, and I have now posted those bulletins to our web site, www.huntingreport.com. For the sake of those who have been out of the loop on this, I think it's important to reiterate here that a hard look into the issue of banned individuals left me comfortable giving the green light to carefully selected 2006 safaris to Zimbabwe. I also think it's important to reiterate that the internet chatter about HHK Safaris turned out to be simply wrong. It was the kind of chatter that turns up on loosely moderated forums, creating completely unfounded panics and proving the old bromide that the internet has left us all both more informed and misinformed than ever. The problem is knowing which state one is in.
Turning to HHK Safaris first, the misinformation about HHK centers on the fact that HHK has indeed been promoting hunts on Chirisa Safari Area through a company called Famba Safaris, which has historical links back to a recently banned individual by the name of Webster Shamu, Mugabe's Minister of Policy Implementation. The links are historical only, however, according to HHK's Graham Hingeston. Here is how he explained the situation in an e-mail last week:
"In 1999, HHK Safaris wanted to purchase the hunting rights for Chirisa off Ingwe Safaris, which had purchased the lease on auction in 1994. In order for Ingwe to be allowed to........(continued)
