SOUTH AFRICA: Leopard Valley Safaris aka Dave Davenport

[K-man]

Do you think @Royal27 really deserves that?

Maybe there will be an auction coming up in just about 5 weeks where you can ban someone......

 

[BRICKBURN]

I'll take an EFT today - Pick your target, I'll let you know the price.

 

[daved]

I started reading with an open mind, and through a clients eyes. OP made many claims but provided no evidence, even when repeatedly requested. Dave and others were able to provide a plethora of contrary evidence even so much as proof that their financial interests are not aligned.

If OP had come out with full disclosure, the original contract and the final bill, even this many years later, maybe his report would hold some weight. ........ But with 0 evidence other ........ we are going to have to give Dave the benefit of the doubt.

This reeks of the Kavanaugh character assassination that Dr Blasey Ford and the dems just tried here. I can’t believe he thought it would work.

Full disclosure, I have hunted with neither Dave nor huntershill and have never met anyone involved.

Sir I have provided AH @BRICKBURN with copies of the original in booth handwritten contract. Email follow up contract
Proof of email correspondence , proof he had a price list ahead of time as he acknowledges it in email.
Copy of contract that was Amended in camp and initialed by myself .

Proof he had an a hunt of a life time
Proof we had a post hunt relationship as late as 2018
I have no idea why this has happened

Hunting regards
Dave Davenport
Leopards Valley Safaris

 

[VonJager]

Dave I was just saying if HE had provided the contract. I mentioned you provided evidence in your defense, but it was shocking he made claims about contracts but provided no documentation. Sorry you are having to go through this.

 

[daved]

...... it was shocking he made claims about contracts but provided no documentation. Sorry you are having to go through this.

I feel so violated . Like I’ve been accused of rape !! Now I have to clear MY name !!
Thank you for your support

 

[One Day...]

Update from Greg Harvey & Huntershill

@One Day... I look forward to your tenure on AH being a representative for HHS. I just found out about the background on this just now.
As I expected Greg's reaction would not be positive. I appreciate you jumping in.
This OP is purportedly hunting at HHS this year. I hope that he will be told to cease and desist from selling anything for HHS.

@One Day... ,
Congrats on the pending "new job." O know you'll enjoy it. Sorry you had to announce the way you did..... Part of the job though I guess!

You say that Greg is entirely disconnected from @Michaelh but that's not really true (not saying by choice, so please don't take that wrong). The website run by Michael is clearly tagged with HHS and there is a reference of "We" on the site. The implication of course is that there is a quite a deep connection, not a lack of one .
So my question is, since Greg is viscerally opposed to anyone using the HHS name in a poor manner how will this gentleman's actions be addressed? At this point, and it may be in action, the root cause here does not seem to have yet been addressed, at least publicly.
Sincerely,
Royal

Yep, all in a day's work, Brick and Royal. I think that by the stage many of us in this thread have reached in life, we all know how it goes: we play the cards, good or bad, as they pop out of the deck. In this case, they are ugly...

Just for objective quoting Royal, I did not say that Greg is entirely disconnected from the OP, I said that Greg is entirely disconnected "from any action the Original Poster has taken, or statements he has made, or will make, regarding Leopard Valley Safaris and/or Dave Davenport."

It would not have been genuine on my part to state that there has been no connection between the OP and Greg, because Greg has at one time trusted the OP, and the OP indeed has been acting as an independent agent, offering Huntershill hunts and using their logo and identity. What I can assure you of, and re-state, is that Greg has no connection whatsoever with the character attack on Leopards Valley Safaris and Dave Davenport. I know you well enough from your postings Royal, to know that you appreciate the difference.

But, as you correctly inferred, Royal, "how will this gentleman's actions be addressed" has indeed been precisely "at this point, in action" pretty much all day, and "the root cause" is very much "being addressed."

Greg has asked me to reiterate to the africahunting.com community his complete disownment of Jared Habel’s attacks on Leopards Valley Safaris and Dave Davenport, and to inform you that he has demanded that Jared apologize immediately and completely to Dave Davenport, to the africahunting.com management, and to the community, for his inexcusable behavior.

Greg is a fair man and he believes in giving people a second chance, but he is very upset with all this nonsense, and he will consider the future of his business relationship with Affordable African Hunts and Jared Habel, up to and including cease and desist, based on whether Mr. Habel comes clean or not.

Thanks
Pascal

 

[Royal27]

Thanks for the update @One Day...

And I do appreciate the difference.

I probably didn't make my point very well. My point was simply that by being an agent of HHS his actions would end up being a reflection on HHS if not addressed. I was not implyung that HHS was directly involved in the scheme to start this thread .

This may have been before your time, but there was a sponsor here in the past (no longer a sponsor) where the representative for the sponsor consistently made controversial statements and then said "this has nothing to do with outfitter X." Well yeah it did.... I wouldn't have ever booked with outfitter X because of the way his employee acted without being addressed by the sponsor. The outfitter allowed the employees actions to become a reflection upon him.

That was my point. Hope that clears up my thoughts for you .

 

[Philip Glass]

agreed, but being the first time we ever went in a foreign country I don't know what choice we had.

So this was your first safari and you’ve been on 6 more since this one? You said you had been on 7.
Was this a donated Safari or purchased cash?
Philip

 

[Royal27]

Oh and it does appear that @Michaelh has visited the thread since he's been asked to apologize.

The silence is deafening.

 

[Philip Glass]

As a new member this is a bit different, this is how I remember it. He knew we weren't happy, yet it appears he didn't care. With going on other Safaris with several outfitters Dave's service was definitely different from the rest, I felt I came home with friends for life, this is not the case with Dave and Niki.

I think this is part of the problem that it’s been so long ago and details are a bit fuzzy. AH takes all Hunt reports seriously including negative ones. What everyone needs to understand is if you are going to post a negative report it must have specific details. You will always be treated well on AH but rants with few details will get you hammered here.
Philip

 

[Royal27]

I think this is part of the problem that it’s been so long ago and details are a bit fuzzy. AH takes all Hunt reports seriously including negative ones. What everyone needs to understand is if you are going to post a negative report it must have specific details. You will always be treated well on AH but rants with few details will get you hammered here.
Philip

Keep reading @Philip Glass ... Your opinion may change even more .

 

[Michaelh]

Africa Hunting Community and Leopard Valley Safaris, I am very sorry for what I posted on this site. It was out of line and very unprofessional of me to have addressed it this way. I will reach out to Dave personally and apologize to him directly. Without being able to provide proof on my end, I should never have posted my rant. I am sure if I had talked to Dave directly he would have addressed my concerns and this misunderstanding would not have happened in the first place. Thank you for pointing out the error of my actions. I truly am sorry for the problems this has caused for all parties involved.

 

[GA Hunter]

Africa Hunting Community and Leopard Valley Safaris, I am very sorry for what I posted on this site. It was out of line and very unprofessional of me to have addressed it this way. I will reach out to Dave personally and apologize to him directly. Without being able to provide proof on my end, I should never have posted my rant. I am sure if I had talked to Dave directly he would have addressed my concerns and this misunderstanding would not have happened in the first place. Thank you for pointing out the error of my actions. I truly am sorry for the problems this has caused for all parties involved.

Quite a bit left unsaid in this. I don’t think it’s gonna get you off the hook..........

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Africa Hunting Community and Leopard Valley Safaris, I am very sorry for what I posted on this site. It was out of line and very unprofessional of me to have addressed it this way. I will reach out to Dave personally and apologize to him directly. Without being able to provide proof on my end, I should never have posted my rant. I am sure if I had talked to Dave directly he would have addressed my concerns and this misunderstanding would not have happened in the first place. Thank you for pointing out the error of my actions. I truly am sorry for the problems this has caused for all parties involved.

Michael or Jared, I can't seem to keep it straight who you are. I have stayed out of this thread mostly. I have learned to not express an opinion in these types of threads without hearing the other side of the story. But now I feel inclined to reply. Before I go further, I want to clarify where I'm coming from in expressing my opinion.

A couple/few years back there was an issue at PHASA, a number of members who were on the Executive Committee were sued by other members who felt that the EXCOM had acted inappropriately. The EXCOM lost that law suit in short order. A result of this was that a number of members packed up and left PHASA, Mr. Davenport being one of them. I did not and still do not care for what happened in that situation. The gentleman that I rep for was one of those who sued the EXCOM. As such you may be inclined to assume I would be quick to jump to your side in this situation. I'm not, one issue has nothing to do with the other.

Next, because I do rep for another RSA outfitter, you might be inclined to assume I'd be happy to see a competitor (particularly one that I've taken issue with) getting bashed. Presumably in the hope that prospective clients would avoid Dave and come to JKO Safaris. You'd have made another incorrect assumption if so. My concern when a hunting outfit in RSA does a client wrong is that it will take away clients as a whole from wanting to hunt in RSA. And this is the greater effect. It is one reason why organizations like PHASA exist.

So in that light, regarding this apology of yours. Far too little and far too late is my first reaction. Furthermore, I'm not sure it's much of an apology. You seem to acknowledge you did something wrong when you said:

Without being able to provide proof on my end, I should never have posted my rant.

I can only speak for myself, but I'd be a bit surprised if I'm the only one thinking you're sorry for having been caught lying versus being sorry for lying. Only you and Dave really know the truth here, so I can't say you're lying. But this is how it's coming across at least to me. The hole you've dug for yourself and then leapt into by starting this thread, it doesn't seem to be getting less deep.

 

[jeff]

Maybe I missed something but why did the contract have to be amended at camp? Was the booking agent for LVS selling hunts for LVS with out their approval or knowledge of what they were selling?

 

[Royal27]

Without being able to provide proof on my end, I should never have posted my rant.

I can only speak for myself, but I'd be a bit surprised if I'm the only one thinking you're sorry for having been caught lying versus being sorry for lying. Only you and Dave really know the truth here, so I can't say you're lying. But this is how it's coming across at least to me. The hole you've dug for yourself and then leapt into by starting this thread, it doesn't seem to be getting less deep.

There are at least two of us Phil.

The last post made by the OP has done nothing to change my opinion here. And as I said in a previous post my opinion of employees goes uphill when not appropriately addressed.

I will just leave it at that for now.

 

[IdaRam]

There are at least two of us Phil.

The last post made by the OP has done nothing to change my opinion here. And as I said in a previous post my opinion of employees goes uphill when not appropriately addressed.

I will just leave it at that for now.

Make that at least 3.
I have contemplated replies to this thread on multiple occasions, but have ultimately kept my mouth shut and moved on. Figured I would see where this all went and make an assessment when the facts were in. It now seems that they are.
When it comes to people’s behavior and actions, they can usually be assesed by asking a couple of questions.
Constructive or Destructive?
Honorable or Dishonorable?
I believe we have our answers.

My best wishes to @daved (Leopards Valley Safaris), Hunters Hill Safaris and @One Day... I empathize with the difficult position you have found yourselves in and wish you nothing but the best.

 

[Wheels]

There are some meme's that are great, just not always appropriate in most instances, so never used.

Perhaps the instigation of this thread renders this meme appropriate.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Maybe I missed something but why did the contract have to be amended at camp? Was the booking agent for LVS selling hunts for LVS with out their approval or knowledge of what they were selling?

I have a copy of the Agents Deposit slip outlining the agreement with the OP. Daves Email to the OP reiterating the same details of the agreement and the prices.

I'll help out a a little bit here.
Think PACKAGE, then the Hunter wants to add a different species to his list. Hence the change.

Example of the type of situation in many offers:

The OP's package in question was: KUDU OR GEMSBOK

(The hunter main reason for going to Africa was Gemsbok, as noted in the quoted noted from FB.)

Then a few days before arrival wants to take a Kudu as well. (Detailed in Emails from the OP to LVS)
The Kudu is not included, the OP knows it and wants to "Swop" (his spelling) a Kudu for other species in the package. Apparently, that was not agreed to.
The OP took a Gemsbok AND Kudu.
What does that do to the final invoice balance?
Along with adding other items.


Choosing to blame the Outfitter for:

1. Not changing the agreement to do your swap?
2. for you taking another animal?
3. for you Choosing an expensive animal?
4. for you changing your package?
5. for you adding people to your trip?

 

[BRICKBURN]

............ I truly am sorry for the problems this has caused for all parties involved.

If you were a child I would accept a simple, "I'm sorry". However, you are a 40 year old man, married with children and at least two businesses. How can you not know better?

If you are truly sorry and wish to take responsibility and make restitution for your actions: me for my wasted time. I think I am booking in around 18 hours now. I'll discount my rates to $250 USD/hour for you . $4500.00 and counting.

For my part, post a photo of a receipt for a donation you made to an Anti Poaching / Conservation organization. You choose the beneficiary.

For Dave & Niki: Attack on their business and personal reputations, Stress and Distress to the LVS family.
hmmmm $.

Here's an award by a court.

For your education:

LIBEL in UTAH

• Libel: the written or published communication of a false statement to a third-party resulting in harm to one’s reputation.
• “Challenges a person’s honesty, integrity, virtue, or reputation; exposing them to public hatred, contempt or ridicule.” Mast v. Overson, 971 P2d. 928. (Utah App. 1998), quoting West v. Thomson Newspapers, 872 P.2d 999, 1008 (Utah 1994). Accord Utah Code Ann. Sec. 45-2-2(1) (1993).

https://www.minclaw.com/utah-defamation-law-state-guide/

DSM V - may provide some direction for insight and learning.

1. http://www.psi.uba.ar/academica/carrerasdegrado/psicologia/sitios_catedras/practicas_profesionales/820_clinica_tr_personalidad_psicosis/material/dsm.pdf