SOUTH AFRICA: The Adventure Begins!

[shootist~]

Pretty much a ditto on this aspect Doug (your post 79). At least for my primary animal.

 

[Dakota Hunter]

Awesome trophies !

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on a great sable and eland!

 

[Hunt anything]

Looks like a great trip! Love the mop on the eland and the shape of the nyala. The bushpig isn’t too bad either and the sable always speak for themselves, just beautiful!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Jeff and I also scored on bushpig. All the baiting that AJ and Jack did paid off.

View attachment 541912View attachment 541913

Those are real hogs!

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Now I need to address an aspect of the hunt that did not go as planned. You’ll notice that we only hunted Kwalata’s Waterberg Reserve one day. The rest of our hunts were done on other properties.

The main allure of hunting with Kwalata was experiencing a safari on a 70 thousand acre concession that hadn’t been hunted in 30 years. That was the hunt we bought. What we got instead was a more typical Limpopo safari….a good one to be sure….just not what we were promised.

We were told that the reason was that the ecologist employed by the owner set tiny quotas this year. So by the time we arrived, the quota had already been taken for most species.

I do think that Kwalata owed it to us to tell us when we booked (if the quotas were known then) or at least before we arrived. Had they, we would likely postponed or asked for our deposits to be refunded.

AJ busted his butt to get us onto other properties to get our target animals. If the bag was the only thing that mattered, we had an excellent hunt. However, I think the overall experience was diminished by this.

I think you have good reason to be unhappy with this situation, you began on the correct property, you were housed there, but you then had to hit the road to elsewhere. That is not on and I would be interested to hear what Jaco has to say.

 

[Hunt anything]

I would be a little pissed as well, not getting the hunt you paid for. It still being somewhat early in the safari season they should have held quota for you. I ran into a similar situation in NW province but only had to go to a neighboring property 5 minutes away. Both properties were +-20,000 acres so it wasn’t an issue with me. I don’t like spending a lot of valuable time traveling to other areas even though you get to see more country. I’ve done it but only to travel for specific animals.

 

[375Fox]

Now I need to address an aspect of the hunt that did not go as planned. You’ll notice that we only hunted Kwalata’s Waterberg Reserve one day. The rest of our hunts were done on other properties.

The main allure of hunting with Kwalata was experiencing a safari on a 70 thousand acre concession that hadn’t been hunted in 30 years. That was the hunt we bought. What we got instead was a more typical Limpopo safari….a good one to be sure….just not what we were promised.

We were told that the reason was that the ecologist employed by the owner set tiny quotas this year. So by the time we arrived, the quota had already been taken for most species.

I do think that Kwalata owed it to us to tell us when we booked (if the quotas were known then) or at least before we arrived. Had they, we would likely postponed or asked for our deposits to be refunded.

AJ busted his butt to get us onto other properties to get our target animals. If the bag was the only thing that mattered, we had an excellent hunt. However, I think the overall experience was diminished by this.

I was excited to see your report. This big reserve has been one of the few South African offers to really catch my interest. It’s something few can offer, essentially a wilderness experience in a big 5 area. That’s really disappointing to read. I didn’t catch you had left the reserve permanently until the eland. I would not have let it ruin my hunt either, but it would be hard to ignore you didn’t get what you booked. It’s not good they are out of quota in June. June is still early in season. If it’s not the hunt you booked they needed to discuss it with you upfront before the trip. The quota should have been held for you. On the positives at least you had a very hardworking PH and got some very nice trophies. Thanks for the report.

 

[PARA45]

Oh man, sorry to hear about this unexpected "change" of plans. I hope you guys were able to work this out to a favorable outcome. Please elaborate if there is more to this.

 

[Rickmt]

Not good ! My son and have august dates next year.

 

[AZDAVE]

Well I know that it is very disappointing when plans get changed. Jaco is in Mozambique rebuilding the camp that the cyclone destroyed along with most all the other MOZ outfitters. So let's be patience and see what he has to say once he gets back to somewhere he has internet service.

 

[375Fox]

Well I know that it is very disappointing when plans get changed. Jaco is in Mozambique rebuilding the camp that the cyclone destroyed along with most all the other MOZ outfitters. So let's be patience and see what he has to say once he gets back to somewhere he has internet service.

I’ll be interested to hear their explanation, but I hope they change their advertising here in future. The way it’s been marketed gives the impression the vast majority of hunts will be conducted on this waterberg wilderness concession not just based there and hunting surrounding farms. It doesn’t look good when the first hunt report doesn’t match the advertising. If quota is this low it needs marketed as a more exclusive distinct hunt from their other offerings.

 

[fourfive8]

I’ll be interested to hear their explanation, but I hope they change their advertising here in future. The way it’s been marketed gives the impression the vast majority of hunts will be conducted on this waterberg wilderness concession not just based there and hunting surrounding farms. It doesn’t look good when the first hunt report doesn’t match the advertising. If quota is this low it needs marketed as a more exclusive distinct hunt from their other offerings.

Yep,
Without knowing details can’t add much to this other than… oops! I made the mistake of suggesting to another poster in another thread about considering other options reference large properties in countries other than in RSA or Namibia…. a poster then used this property and hunt as an example of why there is no need to explore or even consider all options…. Okie dokie

But, all in all sounded like the hunt turned out ok just not exactly as advertised as a hunt on a large, un-hunted for years property that hinted at some level of exclusivity for hunting the species listed in the promotion. I remember well the original sales pitch. Also, doing the $math, not an inexpensive adventure either.

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

Hi Doug,
Thanks for the posts. Unfortunately we have had difficulties with the quotas originally set.
We were provided with a quota and had marketed according to that.
On May 15th I was notified that our quota was cut by 65% this came as a massive shock to all of us. I had tried to balance it out as much as possible but this turned into a cluster all the way round.

In the interim I was dealing with the camp flooding in Mozambique.

I appreciate that you are upset and can offer a partial refund, or future remedy on either Waterberg wilderness, or on L9 in the Niassa Reserve.

Please know that after 23 years in hunting/outfitting that I have not built up a reputation of providing disappointing safaris.
While I can appreciate that you feel that there where several things I could have done differently in the run up to the safari, I can assure you that I did what I thought was best, and while it did deliver the quality game, I am terribly sorry that you did not enjoy the overall experience.

In short all I can do is try to remedy your disappointment at a future date.
My best always.
Jaco.

Now I need to address an aspect of the hunt that did not go as planned. You’ll notice that we only hunted Kwalata’s Waterberg Reserve one day. The rest of our hunts were done on other properties.

The main allure of hunting with Kwalata was experiencing a safari on a 70 thousand acre concession that hadn’t been hunted in 30 years. That was the hunt we bought. What we got instead was a more typical Limpopo safari….a good one to be sure….just not what we were promised.

We were told that the reason was that the ecologist employed by the owner set tiny quotas this year. So by the time we arrived, the quota had already been taken for most species.

I do think that Kwalata owed it to us to tell us when we booked (if the quotas were known then) or at least before we arrived. Had they, we would likely postponed or asked for our deposits to be refunded.

AJ busted his butt to get us onto other properties to get our target animals. If the bag was the only thing that mattered, we had an excellent hunt. However, I think the overall experience was diminished by this.

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

So someone let down Jaco and consequently you Doug and Jeff. A 65% cut is huge, either this is emotional greenie turf or the game management has been slack and they were caught with their pants down. Having seen a little of this place and the good game density it smells of the former.
To continue to feed these owners hunting revenue when they pull a stunt like this is wrong. Let them see how cameras pay the bills.

 

[CBH Australia]

I hope you wore the Pithy's hunting. That was a nice gesture from Kevin along with going along to meet up.

@KWALATA SAFARIS apologised in open forum and offered to try compensate you in some way.

Congratulations on the Bushpig, a challenging hunt no doubt.

 

[AZDAVE]

@KWALATA SAFARIS your are a gentleman. So sorry everyone got cut short by the landowner.
Look forward to hunting with you in Niassa next year.

 

[Doug3006]

Thanks for the explanation Jaco, and your willingness to make it right. That’s all I can ask.

Certainly the owner understands what a 65% reduction in quotas does to your business. Especially a reduction after the season already started! Hopefully you were able to renegotiate your deal based on the new, lower quota. Just the extra fuel required to shuttle between properties is a margin killer! Not to mention the difference in trophy fee allocation when hunting other outfit’s properties. This was a d!#k move on his part and not indicative of a long term partnership.

Best of luck to you in dealing with this challenge and getting your camp in Niassa up and running.

Take care.

 

[Hunt anything]

It was good of Jaco to explain his predicament. The only thing he may have done differently was to notify all of this years clients of his quota reduction. Unfortunately living on the gulf coast we are familiar with sudden quota reductions with our gulf red snapper allocations by the feds.

 

[Graham Hunter]

I would most certainly have wanted to know ahead of time what had changed. Especially as you had booked because of the Waterberg area and that was what you were expecting.