Current Edition

Dear Readers,

2005 has been a rather bad year for us at Hatari Times, with three consecutive trips to Africa been canceled just a few days before scheduled departure. An area in the Central African region that I had wished to visit, experienced an unfortunate invasion of Sudanese refugees from Darfur, which made any hunting in the area highly questionable. Next, I was planing to see some interesting new areas of Ethiopia, only to learn that there wer no left-over permits worthwhile for me to hunt. I simply cannot publish a factual sport-hunting magazine without actually hunting in areas I wish to focus attention – so, Ethiopia was out for 2005. The alternative plan was revisiting Zambia, as the previous Zambian edition did not cover all the hunting options of that classic safari destination. First I was told not to come in the early season, as that would not paint the right picture of the country. As the 2005 Zambian hunting season progressed, I bagan to realize that the Zambian safari industry was so well booked – despite the high price levels – that operators showed very little interest in cooperating with a sporting publication. Just two old friends of mine reacted positively, but that was not enough to cover to fill sixty interest-filled pages. So, we were forced to close the Zambian file as well. Without a minimum cooperation from the local hunting industry we simply could produce a magazine. Throughout the year we had kept an eye on Uganda, but to this day, despite several attempts for a general reopening of tourist hunting, nothing positive has as yet actually happened. But as soon as the picture changes, we will go for it.
This is why we had a considerable time gap between issue Nr. 19 and the current issue Nr 20. As all readers know, it is our strict policy not to produce an armchair magazine utilizing material from commercial outdoor writers. In the interests of publishing a serious and reliable African sport-hunting magazine we believe in personal first-hand experiences only, which means that we do not publish an issue unless I have personally visited the area in focus for an extensive research. We could have done an issue on archive material, but since I strongly believe in quality and not quantity, we refrained from doing so and hope the readers will appreciate our efforts to maintain high standards, even if this means a longer wait for the next edition to come out. We sincerely hope that 2006 will be a better year for everyone.
I had not been to Zimbabwe for a few years and Many subscribers had specifically asked me to publish an up-dated issue on Zimbabwe and since many subscribers had specifically asked me to publish an up-dated issue we felt it was time to revisit Africa’s most popular hunting destination. The other African wilderness countries have raised the cost of safari hunting in recent years to such exhorbitant levels that many sportsmen cannot afford these rates any more. Zimbabwe still makes for an interesting alternative, particularly in regard to elephant, buffalo and leopard-hunting. Although the operational expenses of the Zimbabwean operators increased substantially, they have not as yet passed the bill on to the clients by raising their rates. The popular press continuously publishes extremely negative reports on Zimbabwe, which conflicts with the rosy "no-problems” approach of Zimbabwean safari operators. Prospective hunting clients are torn between reports of these extremes and generally feel more than just a bit uneasy about going there. The truth is that the once flourishing economy of Zimbabwe has virtually collapsed. But yet, Zimbabwe safari operators somehow still manage to provide an excellent and very professional service. The unstable political situation certainly affects all the inhabitants of Zimbabwe, both Blacks and Whites. Yet, the criminal rate is still far lower than in other African countries and foreign visitors are not hassled, or in any personal risk.
And, what of the current wildlife situation? The government and communal big game concessions are still good, but the ever increasing poaching pressures, will doubtless have a negative effect in the long run. Surprisingly enough, there are still a few active wildlife conservancies predominantly owned by white Zimbabweans in the Midlands and in the Southeast Lowveld. Undoubtedly, they have gone through difficult times, but are still operating, probably because they bring badly need hard currency money into the bankrupt economy.

All the Best for the New Year and continue
to enjoy reading Hatari Times.



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