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Who is My P.H. and What
Camp am I In?
You
have booked your safari with Chifuti Safaris, the
dates are on the schedule and your quota is assigned.
Great! You are no doubt excited, and we are looking
forward to having you in camp hunting with us.
But
what camp and with who will you be hunting? Two important
questions worth asking. Here is our attempt to answer
them.
CAMPS
Chifuti
Safaris operates in a huge area comprising some 2,300
square miles of the best country in the lower Zambezi
Valley.
In
order to spread our hunters out without putting pressure
on one particular area, Chifuti runs numerous camps
of various size and designs throughout our hunting
area.
Some
of our camps are on the Zambezi River, while others
are far inland. Some are considered main camps, while
some of our more remote areas have smaller, but equally
comfortable ‘fly camps.’
The
most important element of the safari, in our opinion,
is assuring that you have the best chance at the
game you came to hunt.
If
croc or hippo are a primary focus of your safari,
then you will undoubtedly camp on or near the river.
But if, for instance, you were hunting leopard or
lion, you might be booked into a camp up in the hills.
The
point is the Chifuti management team tries to maintain
a large degree of flexibility as to where various
parties are based.
We
know from experience that booking a particular camp
for a client one or two years in advance can be a
big mistake.
What
if you requested a camp, let’s ay up in the
Chewore hills because maybe you saw it on a DVD or
TV show. You’re after buffalo for instance,
and booked for late August, which is a terrific time
to take a big bull. But what if it’s a dry
year and the springs have quit running up in the
hills? Buffalo are mobile animals and they will go
to the water, wherever it is. So you end up in the
camp you demanded with few buffalo to track.
Flexibility
is the key! Our team knows the area, it’s game,
and is better suited to assess the weather, bush
conditions, and game movements than you are at the
SCI convention.
Trust
them to make the right decision as to where you will
be camped. Of course party size must be taken into
consideration. If a big group comes and wants to
hunt together, but that is the exception to the rule.
Our
office receives hundreds of calls from booked clients,
(sometimes three years in advance of their safari)
with the desire to know ‘exactly’ which
camp they will be hunting out of.
Our
standard answer is, and will continue to be, “that
decision will most likely not be put into concrete
until your safari is close to starting. In fact,
depending on your bag and game movement you may move
around to a new area dictating a change to a new
camp.
A
final word on camps - Chifuti Safaris will put you
into comfortable safari camp that will give you the
very best chance to enjoy a successful big game adventure.
Who
Will My Professional Hunter Be?
This
is perhaps the most common question answered by our
office, and until the start of the season, one nearly
impossible on our end to answer.
Certainly
many clients have seen TV shows or the Boddington
DVD series and are familiar with some of the Chifuti
professional hunters on staff, and tell us at the
SCI shows “I would like Ivan or Mark or instance,
as my professional hunter.”
Much
like camp selection, the selection of the finest
professional hunters in Zimbabwe, and in fact, in
the whole of Africa,
The
qualifying process necessary to obtain a full license
in Zimbabwe is without question the most arduous
and difficult one in the entire hunting world. No
other African country requires more apprenticeship,
testing and on the job training for its professional
hunters as does Zimbabwe. This assures that your
safari, regardless of who your PH is, will be run
by an extremely qualified professional who knows
our area, our game, and how to conduct our hunt in
a professional manner with the goal of giving you
a fun, and successful safari adventure.
All
of our PH’s use top equipment, have their own
trackers, and are experienced on the game you will
be going after. No company in Zimbabwe has better
team of professionals in their stable than Chifuti
Safaris.
The
matrix for assigning professional hunters to 200
hunting clients is an unbelievably challenging one.
As we have acknowledged, the safari business is by
necessity one which requires the ability to adjust
and remain fluid as the safari season approaches.
Schedules must afford off days and travel days between
safaris for the PH, take into account dates already
booked with staggered start dates, and sometimes
sickness or other unforeseen circumstances,
The
Chifuti management team are experts at pairing our
clients with professional hunters, and game sought,
and length of safari all play a part in that selection
process.
The
bottom line is, unfortunately no matter how badly
the client wants to know who his professional hunter
in advance, we will not know the answer to that question
as the Chifuti management cannot provide it before
they prepare their master client/Professional Hunter
matrix.
But,
please be assured, you will be in the care of a top
PH, ready to assist you in your safari experience.
