PH/Outfitters/experienced hunters- Cape Buffalo 2026

[Dewald]

I read a lot of emotional hearsay regarding South Africans hunting in Zimbabwe being impossible and illegal.

Perhaps some clarity is needed:

1. A person with residency of 5 years may hunt legally in Zim.

2. Zimbabwean citizenship can legally be obtained through multiple channals. As an example I can be a Zim citizen through birthright, as both my parents were.

3. Numerous Zim PHs like John Sharp or Kevin Robertson were RSA born.

4. I see on their website Adri Kittshof, the ex CEO of wildlife ranching SA, and the colour variation pyramid is a member of the ZPGA. And to quote them directly off their website:

It is not compulsory as a Zimbabwean Professional Guide or Professional Hunter to be a member of the Z.P.G.A. and in fact it is restricted to individuals who comply with our strict criteria for consideration before membership is granted. But aligning oneself, if one qualifies, with an organisation like the Z.P.G.A., with a strong legacy of maintaining industry integrity and standards provides Agents with a standard to sell and Guests a superior quality product to buy into.

Simply put, individuals with an affiliation to the Z.P.G.A. are automatically synonymous with the toughest Guiding standards and – more importantly – principles, in Africa.

 

[rookhawk]

I read a lot of emotional hearsay regarding South Africans hunting in Zimbabwe being impossible and illegal.

Perhaps some clarity is needed:

1. A person with residency of 5 years may hunt legally in Zim.

2. Zimbabwean citizenship can legally be obtained through multiple channals. As an example I can be a Zim citizen through birthright, as both my parents were.

3. Numerous Zim PHs like John Sharp or Kevin Robertson were RSA born.

4. I see on their website Adri Kittshof, the ex CEO of wildlife ranching SA, and the colour variation pyramid is a member of the ZPGA. And to quote them directly off their website:

It is not compulsory as a Zimbabwean Professional Guide or Professional Hunter to be a member of the Z.P.G.A. and in fact it is restricted to individuals who comply with our strict criteria for consideration before membership is granted. But aligning oneself, if one qualifies, with an organisation like the Z.P.G.A., with a strong legacy of maintaining industry integrity and standards provides Agents with a standard to sell and Guests a superior quality product to buy into.

Simply put, individuals with an affiliation to the Z.P.G.A. are automatically synonymous with the toughest Guiding standards and – more importantly – principles, in Africa.

That’s fair, there are many long-time citizens and residents of Zim that were born in RSA and elsewhere. In fact, Tokoloshe Safaris on this site is American born but a legal Zim national and resident PH. All of the positive examples have Zim domiciles, they have valid PH licenses, and they are known to ZPGA without reams of complaints.

But these are not the normative cases, they are the extraordinary ones.

The more common scenario that I hope is still uncommon, is this one: An RSA operator wants to do hunts in Zim. They find the poorest, most unscrupulous junior PH in Zim and pay them a pittance to claim they are the official PH for the hunt. The RSA operator conducts the hunt themselves, then attempts to use the shill PH to get the trophies out of the country afterwards. The worse version of this story has been discussed on this forum wherein the RSA operator skips town and the trophies never leave Zim and the clients can’t figure out who has the trophies since the PH of record they never even met.

Word of mouth and successful hunt reports on this site are the ultimate evidence of quality and propriety. Everyone should do their homework!

 

[rookhawk]

Postscript: there was an infamous, larger than life American that made dozens of safari movies that all had “death” in their titles. A few years back he advertised a hunt where you could lavish in the royalty of his own persona and be personally guided on your Zim hunt by this international man of mystery. Only one problem…he wasn’t licensed.

The amount of chatter about the above filled dozens of pages on “the other safari forum” which I shall not utter.

 

[375Fox]

I read a lot of emotional hearsay regarding South Africans hunting in Zimbabwe being impossible and illegal.

Perhaps some clarity is needed:

1. A person with residency of 5 years may hunt legally in Zim.

2. Zimbabwean citizenship can legally be obtained through multiple channals. As an example I can be a Zim citizen through birthright, as both my parents were.

3. Numerous Zim PHs like John Sharp or Kevin Robertson were RSA born.

4. I see on their website Adri Kittshof, the ex CEO of wildlife ranching SA, and the colour variation pyramid is a member of the ZPGA. And to quote them directly off their website:

It is not compulsory as a Zimbabwean Professional Guide or Professional Hunter to be a member of the Z.P.G.A. and in fact it is restricted to individuals who comply with our strict criteria for consideration before membership is granted. But aligning oneself, if one qualifies, with an organisation like the Z.P.G.A., with a strong legacy of maintaining industry integrity and standards provides Agents with a standard to sell and Guests a superior quality product to buy into.

Simply put, individuals with an affiliation to the Z.P.G.A. are automatically synonymous with the toughest Guiding standards and – more importantly – principles, in Africa.

I have no reason to doubt the facts you put forward but I don’t think it adds any clarity. If a South African becomes a zim resident and zim PH and hunts there full time then he’s a Zimbabwe PH that simple. However, that is the exception today. What is common is full time South African outfitters offer occasional hunts in Zimbabwe and present themselves as the outfitter there when they are not. I wouldn’t object so strongly if South African outfitters made clear they are hunting through a Zimbabwe PH/outfitter and simply acting as an accompanying booking agent, but I find it dishonest advertising in many cases.
There are two examples I see on AH now. There is a member heading to Zimbabwe soon through a South African PH. The member knows the area (a top area) and who the Zimbabwe outfitter is and that the South African outfitter is working in conjunction with that Zimbabwe outfitter. I see no problem with that. There is another South African outfitter advertising hunts in a private land area as their area implying they are the outfitter instead of a booking agent for the unknown Zimbabwe PHs. If a South African outfitter wants to say areas in Zimbabwe are theirs I’d like to know what long term investment they put into it and their direct involvement in managing the area. However in these cases I suspect their only involvement is marking up the price to that of more well known reputable zim PHs. I strongly object to this type of hunt even if client thinks he had a good experience at the end of it.

 

[Dewald]

That’s fair, there are many long-time citizens and residents of Zim that were born in RSA and elsewhere. In fact, Tokoloshe Safaris on this site is American born but a legal Zim national and resident PH. All of the positive examples have Zim domiciles, they have valid PH licenses, and they are known to ZPGA without reams of complaints.

But these are not the normative cases, they are the extraordinary ones.

The more common scenario that I hope is still uncommon, is this one: An RSA operator wants to do hunts in Zim. They find the poorest, most unscrupulous junior PH in Zim and pay them a pittance to claim they are the official PH for the hunt. The RSA operator conducts the hunt themselves, then attempts to use the shill PH to get the trophies out of the country afterwards. The worse version of this story has been discussed on this forum wherein the RSA operator skips town and the trophies never leave Zim and the clients can’t figure out who has the trophies since the PH of record they never even met.

Word of mouth and successful hunt reports on this site are the ultimate evidence of quality and propriety. Everyone should do their homework!

I think we are in agreement on almost all that is said Rookhawk. I to dislike the fact that Saffers hunt zim as their backyard illegally.

I just wanted to clear up the notion that many new members to the forum are led to believe, namely that South Africans can not hunt legally in Zim, and that you have to be Zim born to be a PH there.

Should I ever hunt Zimbabwe as a client I will 100% choose a reputable Zim PH.