Hank2211
AH legend
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- Canada, United States, Zimbabwe, South Africa (Eastern Cape; Northern Cape; North West Province, Natal, Mpumalanga, Limpopo), Namibia, Cameroon, Benin, Ethiopia, Liberia, Mozambique, Argentina
I was thinking the other day about the BIG changes I've seen in African hunting since I started going over in the early 2000's. I'd put these three at the top of the list:
1. Power. It used to be that camps (and this is mostly outside of South Africa) relied upon generators for all power in the camp. The generator ran for a few hours a day and if you weren't plugged in while it was running, you were out of luck. And once it shut down at night, you were literally in the dark.
Today, most camps I've stayed in in the last few years have solar power, so that you have lights 24/7, and can charge up electronics overnight. Fridges stay colder, and fans can run at night, allowing you to sleep, or at least to sleep more comfortably. Even in the most remote temporary camps, without permanent solar arrays, solar powered appliances and lights have changed these camps for the better.
Solar power is also used to pump water for animals (which used to be diesel run, if they existed at all).
Solar power has been a game changer for remote camps.
2. Communications. Again, most remote camps and even some South African ones had difficult communications with the outside world. Some hunters may not care about this, but those of us who need to stay in communication with home were often out of luck.
Now, there's no excuse not to have a Starlink satellite dish in camp, and I'm seeing them more and more, even where they're technically "illegal." Combined with solar power, you have reliable internet and mail access anywhere. No need to rent a satellite phone any longer.
Starlink has been a game changer for communications in Africa.
3. Bullets. When I started, the accepted wisdom when hunting buffalo was a solid up and softs down. It took some time, but eventually I think just about every African PH came to understand that with modern premium bullets, especially monolithic bullets like Barnes, there's no need to use solids anymore for anything other than perhaps Elephant or Rhino.
Premium modern bullets penetrate deeply and expand reliably - something which used to be a contradiction in terms.
Premium expanding bullets have been a game changer for hunting in Africa.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone - especially PHs - agrees or disagrees with my three choices, or has others.
1. Power. It used to be that camps (and this is mostly outside of South Africa) relied upon generators for all power in the camp. The generator ran for a few hours a day and if you weren't plugged in while it was running, you were out of luck. And once it shut down at night, you were literally in the dark.
Today, most camps I've stayed in in the last few years have solar power, so that you have lights 24/7, and can charge up electronics overnight. Fridges stay colder, and fans can run at night, allowing you to sleep, or at least to sleep more comfortably. Even in the most remote temporary camps, without permanent solar arrays, solar powered appliances and lights have changed these camps for the better.
Solar power is also used to pump water for animals (which used to be diesel run, if they existed at all).
Solar power has been a game changer for remote camps.
2. Communications. Again, most remote camps and even some South African ones had difficult communications with the outside world. Some hunters may not care about this, but those of us who need to stay in communication with home were often out of luck.
Now, there's no excuse not to have a Starlink satellite dish in camp, and I'm seeing them more and more, even where they're technically "illegal." Combined with solar power, you have reliable internet and mail access anywhere. No need to rent a satellite phone any longer.
Starlink has been a game changer for communications in Africa.
3. Bullets. When I started, the accepted wisdom when hunting buffalo was a solid up and softs down. It took some time, but eventually I think just about every African PH came to understand that with modern premium bullets, especially monolithic bullets like Barnes, there's no need to use solids anymore for anything other than perhaps Elephant or Rhino.
Premium modern bullets penetrate deeply and expand reliably - something which used to be a contradiction in terms.
Premium expanding bullets have been a game changer for hunting in Africa.
I'd be curious to hear if anyone - especially PHs - agrees or disagrees with my three choices, or has others.
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