A Last-Minute Switch on a Namibian Elephant Safari

Subscriber Tom Koerwitz (Report 8678) would like an explanation from Vaughan Fulton of Classic Safaris as to why his safari to Namibia was canceled at the last minute. Koerwitz had booked a safari for elephant, crocodile and hippo with Fulton through Wendell Reich of Hunter's Quest, but says it was canceled only five days before he was to leave. "I lost a lot of money on air fees and went to Zimbabwe instead," he writes. "I spent a year checking out and planning for this hunt with my companion. What a major disappointment and last-minute turmoil. I would have lost all my money and airfare had I not taken a hunt in Zim instead. I would never let Vaughan in this country to sell hunts again, if I had it my way." We tried reaching Fulton, but he never responded to our request for his side of the story. We did, however, receive a very detailed response from Reich. While his letter is too long to publish in full here, we will summarize it and make the entire file available by email to any subscriber interested in reading it. Reich explains that this hunt was to take place in the Salambala area and was for a non-exportable elephant on a special quota for local community consumption. He says he had booked a number of these with Fulton in the past and that all his clients had shot an elephant on the first or second day of their hunts for the reasonable price of approximately $12,000. About a week before Koerwitz's hunt, Reich says he received a "very disturbing" report from a returning client who managed to shoot his elephant but was hunting a different area and with a completely different company than he had booked. Concerned, Reich immediately tried to contact Fulton for an explanation and was unable to reach him. "I did not waste any time in contacting Tom and seeing what we could do about salvaging his hunt," he says, adding that he was on a family vacation when this all happened. After discussing the situation with Koerwitz, Reich says they decided to cancel the........(continued)