I have done 9 "safaris" now. Of those, 7 have been professionally filmed. One I tried to self-film and will never do that again if I have a choice. I will be doing that for Greenland next month as I cannot bring a camera person. The only other one was having my daughter film and won't do that again either.
My first time was when I went on my elephant hunt in Zimbabwe and then followed up with a plainsgame hunt in Namibia. Both of those were filmed by iGala Productions and my cameraman was Henco Du Toit. He was absolutely awesome. I later had him film my lion hunt and had an issue where the landowner didn't want to let me use my cameraman as they were very concerned about filming so soon after the Cecil uproar. During our bit of an argument, he learned who my cameraman was and all objections were gone. It turns out the land owner and PH knew Henco.
I still do not have my elephant or lions here and will never be able to get my lions into the USA (but can get them to Canada or Mexico). I do have my videos, however.
My next safari was Abu Dhabi for Arabian oryx and gazelles. The owner's wife (or co-owner, I suppose) Janine told me she wanted to film that hunt, so I brought her over to the Dubai and then we were driven out to Abu Dhabi. Great hunt and wonderful video.
My next hunt was sables in the Kalahari and I had my daughter film. I have raw footage but she never put it into a video and the gear I had was not up to par with what iGala had.
The next hunt, I went to Thabazimbi and was supposed to have a camera girl named Nadine. I was very excited as she was also a PH. Unfortunately, her father fell ill and I got a replacement girl named Anoushka. She was tough as nails and I liked her. When I booked this hunt, I was told they already had assigned out the schedule and wouldn't have 4k equipment available. I told them to send me a list of what they use. One big order to BH PhotoVideo fixed that problem and now I have my own professional kit - drone, camera, mics, tripods, monopod, you name it. Since it was what they used, no learning curve for iGala's people.
Following hunt was back in Thabazimbi and I got Nadine this time. She was 6 months pregnant. And she did not complain one single time. Didn't slow me up at all. I hunted day and night. Wore my PH out with night hunts 4 of the 7 days I was there, plus day hunts and game drives early in the morning looking for Duikers. 6 months pregnant and Nadine was a trooper. As a licensed PH, she had all the skills you hope a camera person would have. (That said, I must say Henco could probably pass for a PH with his knowledge. Also, I never once had a stalk busted by anybody from iGala. Not once!). This was Nadine's last hunt and now that she has a child, I don't see her on the rotation schedule at iGala. I was bummed. She was my favorite. Was.
Last hunt was in Australia. I got a new girl, Charlize. Young and petite little thing. 23 and probably weighs less than 55 kilos, maybe only 50 kg. Don't judge a leopard by its size. Or this girl. At just 23, she is a licensed PH. Dangerous game certified. Worked anti-poaching at Kruger. And when not filming safaris, she has worked filming for Naked and Afraid. She can track too, and I put her to the test on it and was able to find one of my arrows that passed through one of the buffaloes.
I am already working on getting her to come to the USA to film my hunts here. Too bad there is no room for her in the chopper for Greenland or I would have taken her there. I will also be booking her for two hunts in Europe. There may be some jealousy this causes over in South Africa as she is the first one to get a trip to Australia and I will be taking her to other places as well, but that isn't my problem. She rocks.
In short - 7 safaris filmed. 5 different camera people. I have happy with all 5 of them. Henco spun off and does his own thing now but occasionally freelances for iGala. If you can get him, that is a great score for you. If you cannot, I have not been disappointed with anybody from iGala and have 3 more hunts I will be conducting with them in the next year - so far. Nothing has been decided on my elephant hunt next (have to redo because I didn't get to use my bow on my hunt in 2017 and want all these animals with a bow) but I am trying to get that worked in as well. Likely will be Zambia and you can bet that I will have iGala out at that one as well.
