I'm just your average Rhodesian born guy. We were privileged to have been born in the immediate aftermath of WW2 - I guess of that generation who in the US were called 'baby boomers'! Growing up during the 1950s/1960s in what was still colonial British Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) was something special. With a father who was in the conservation field we lived in the then remote Sabi (now Save) Valley. It was wild and my introduction to hunting started at a young age. By age 8 I was a pretty dab hand with an old hand me down .22 Remington, keeping monkeys at bay from my mum's vegetable patch. I also shot a lot of doves, guinea fowl and francolin - all of which we used as table fare.
By age 11 I also had an old side by side 12ga and I'd graduated to using a .22 Hornet. It was about then when I shot my first antelope, a duiker, soon followed by impala. Having spent most of my boyhood in such a remote area, hunting, fishing and riding miles on horseback, it wasn't hard for me to decide on a career as a game ranger. In 1968, at age 17 I joined the then Rhodesian Department of National Parks & Wildlife Management, under their cadet game ranger scheme. It was an excellent in-house 2 year training scheme, big on practical, including a lot of game work by way of PAC. At that time too, it was probably the best career choice anywhere in southern & central Africa to gain dangerous game hunting exposure.
- Birthday
-
Nov 3, 1950
(Age: 74)
- Website
-
https://www.kevindthomas.com
- Location
-
Wiltshire - UK
- Country of residence
- United Kingdom
- State/Province of residence
- Wiltshire, UK
- How did you find AfricaHunting.com?
- Web ad
- I am a
- Hunter
- Hunting outfitter
- PH / guide
- Other (hunting industry)
- Other
- Member of
- Previously ZPHGA, PHASA, SCI, ECGMA - all now lapsed since I'm no longer active in the industry but still support it fully.
- Gender
- Male
- Have you hunted in Africa?
- Yes
- Number of times I have hunted in Africa
- Retired safari operator and PH
- My favorite African country
- Zimbabwe
- Hunted
- South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique.
- Species I have hunted in Africa
- I have guided on virtually everything southern Africa has to offer.
- My best African Trophy
- Buffalo cow - 54 1/4" - I shot her in the Zambezi Valley in 1971 while I was still a game ranger in the Rhodesia of old. There was no big deal to the hunt, she was stuck in a mud hole on the edge of the floodplain. No doubt herd weight behind her had forced her out into the mud where she'd floundered. I had the head mounted and it hung in my trophy room, irrespective of where we lived, until October 2015 when we emigrated to the UK.
- My favorite African trophies
- Buffalo
- My preferred weapon(s)
- .458 Lott, .375 H&H, 7x57mm Mauser, Pump Action 12ga 3" Magnum
- What weapon(s) do you hunt with?
- Rifle
- My preferred optic(s)
- Zeiss
- Occupation
- Retired PH now a writer
- Gear I cannot live without
- Camera
- My best hunting tip
- Stay alert & listen to your PH.
- My other interests
- Fishing (freshwater & sea), wildlife art, photography, writing books and feature stories.