shakari

I remember them well but if you bought it 7 years ago and haven't unpacked it, you're probably never going to get round to it so feel free to just send it over here for me to play with! LOL

Never was a truer word said....... I wonder if it's still on the market?

I've said this before but UK car insurance (esp for youngsters) is a right tuck up but as someone else suggested, you might consider going for a cheap but reliable classic car. I appreciate I'm an old fatr but FWIW, I have a 1982 Jeep Cherokee with a 5.9 litre V8 engine and a fair bit of go faster Edelbrock and other parts on it and here in Portugal I pay the grand total of E45 per YEAR, including glass cover to insure in.

I got my first bike when I was 11 or 12 & here's a few random memories: The old BSA Bantams would sometimes run backwards & I only discovered this when I was about 12 years old (one of my first bikes) & I let the clutch out for a quick pull away & it went haring backwards right through the garage doors! My first bike was a RE 700 Constellation in bits....... My dear old Mum only let me buy it because she thought I'd never get it reassembled, let alone running. It took me less than a week to achieve both. LOL! Favourite bike I've owned was a BSA Rocket Gold Star 650 twin with the RRT2 IoM gearbox & I've regretted selling it from the day I did. Favourite bike I've not owned was the Brough Superior & after that the Vincent Black Shadow I sold a Squariel for someone about 7 years ago for about US$9K & a year later it sold again for more than twice that figure. Biggest bike I ever has was a Honda CB750 Four with the Yoshimura 960 conversion. That WONDERFUL smell of Castrol R. Last bike I owned was a 1982 Honda CB900F that I sold 2 years ago. Next bike is a Chink Sky team Sky Max 125 which is a copy of the old Honda Dax 50cc which I ordered today. Oh & I'm trying to buy an old & really stuffed up Sunbeam that's in a local bike shop here....... Blunderbuss That is a stunner..... I'm quite Jealous!

The moment when you have to step into the thick stuff to root out a wounded big 'n ugly is certainly an unforgettable feeling but that said, I always rather enjoyed it in many ways. It becomes much easier and less of a worry if you have a reliable man beside you to lighten the load. The guy on the left of the pic is my old mate & fellow PH Colin Kirkham and we did that particular follow up together. We work well as a team and can do the job with just hand signals alone and I'll happily work alongside Colin any time he needs me.

That's part of the boss but in it's entirety it could be described as the area that begins in line with the eye & runs from the front to the back of the boss & if any or all of that area is soft then it's a soft bossed bull. Here's what a good quality hard bossed bull looks like & incidentally, IIRC, this one charged & we dropped it at about 6 yards in very thick bush. Oh & before anyone nicks my pic, I reserve all publication rights etc

I saw they had areas in both provinces but there are 9 provinces in RSA and each has it's own set of game laws and each waffles on forever so it's a real PITA to check but I'd expect both would have a prohibition on hunting within about 200 metres of water......... I'm not the internet police so won't go searching through the game acts for those provinces but if anyone wants to check, they can be found at www.phasa.co.za...... but be prepared for the fact that the guys who wrote the various acts almost certainly had English as their second language so some of the grammar is a tad quaint and they often labour the point in an attempt to ensure they get their intentions correct. Most of my South African hunting was done in Zululand/KZN and it's their act I'm most familiar with so am not 110% sure about the two under discussion. Another thing I noticed is they talk about a hard bossed immature animal (or some such phrase) and there's no such thing. A hard boss only develops with maturity and any young bull will, by it's very nature have a soft boss.

I've gotta say that video doesn't come close to doing a proper trophy buffalo hunt justice & depending on which province the hunt was conducted in, may very well raise issues of legality because most provincial game laws forbid shooting most game within around 200 metres of water.

Twitchynik I'm retired now and the only connection I have with this hunt is that it's a good friend of mine who is offering it and will be the PH. I was in the African hunting safari business for 33 years, have guided hunts in 7 African countries, co-wriiten one book, written another that is considered by many of my peers as the PHs handbook, lost count of the number of articles on African hunting I've written and am co-owner of the largest African hunting info site on the net. The site has about 700+ pages in total and can be found at www.shakariconnection.com. I certainly don't consider myself an expert on anything and the para above isn't supposed to be a brag but it is the facts and I have been around the block a few times. LOL. - I'll be more than happy to offer you advice if you need it and feel free to PM me or email me at numzaan@zoho.com if I can be of help. If we do it by email, I can also send you pics and documents etc. If you're thinking about Tanzania in February, you're at the end of the season and I'd suggest you avoid the Selous because (barring drought) the rains will be in by then and they make getting around very difficult. The truck will probably get bogged regularly and river levels will probably be high so fording them can be 'interesting' to say the very least. Masailand however will be drier so would be a better option but you need to be very choosy about the areas up there. Mto Wa Mbu especially has had the shute kicked out of it in recent years......... the other thing with Tanzania is you'll need a 21 day licence if you want elephant and/or the big cats and that can them get expensive.......... but having said that, Tanzania is as you may well know the Mecca of African dangerous game hunting and although expensive, most (but not all) areas and companies are quite simply unbeatable. Paul, Cape buffalo are not at all slow, can turn on a sixpence, have reactions speeds second to none bar the big cats and are definitely very smart when they want to be.They can also get through the most impenetrable of thorn bush without slowing down. I and many/most others would rate them as one of the most challenging and tough species to hunt anywhere in Africa and are nothing like a cow except perhaps in body shape and number of stomachs. Other than that, they're chalk and cheese in comparison. As for use of a 4x4....... you'll almost certainly use one to get around the hunting area to look for recent tracks because the hunting areas are so large but you'll be climbing out and hoofing it as soon as you find spoor and it's not at all uncommon to walk for 8+ hours a day on the spoor before you even see so much as a square inch of buffalo skin........ Shhoting from the truck is illegal in most places in Africa. Oh and once they start a charge they'll ALWAYS but ALWAYS press it home & either the hunter & his PH drop it or the buff drops them. - There are no other options. But hey, good luck with the bunny wabbits....... they can be a lot of fun and a helluva less hard work than a buffalo and sometimes there's something to be said for that.

Believe me, it's absolutely nothing like shooting a cow. A cape buff hunt will challenge your physical ability, hunting skills and shooting skills to the nth degree and I guarantee if you ever get the chance to hunt one, it'll be one of the most exciting experiences of your life and the memories will live with you for a lifetime. I've had something like 33 years of hunting the plains and dangerous game of Africa and even now, if I knew I had one last day on earth and could choose how to spend that day, I'd spend it hunting one last buffalo. Not only are they an incredibly challenging hunt they're also incredibly tough when it comes to the ability to absorb lead and also very often incredibly vindictive......... I've seen several that were hit badly on the first shot and then have taken over 12 more shots, any one of which should have killed it but collectively failed to and all the time that's going on, they just keep getting up and coming for you. And in all of those 33 years, I think I can count on one hand the total number of bulls that have fallen over dead with the first shot. Any hunter who thinks it's easy or not worth the money is talking out of his arze. As for your last question, you get full board accommodation and booze in a luxury bush camp, services of a highly experienced PH, trackers, skinners, chef, waiters, mechanics etc plus licences, permits, dip and pack, laundry, 4x4 vehicle and the most exciting week of your life. Doubt you'll get spam sandwiches though. LOL

Mate, if you think hunting a cape buffalo has anything in common with a domestic cow you've got a shed load to learn about both African hunting in general and cape buffalo in particular........... they're not one of the Big 5 for nothing and if you ever get the chance to hunt one, I'll absolutely guarantee it'll be one of the most exciting and dangerous hunts you'll ever do in your life.

And replied to. - look forward to hearing back from you.........

OK........ I'll look forward to seeing them.

I think they've made the under car flame throwers illegal now but car hijacking and car theft, especially in the big towns is rampant as is other violent crime. Most whites, (including me when I lived there) slept with a handgun close by (mine was in a holster screwed to the underside of my bedside table). Insurance isn't obligatory but as a rule of thumb, most whites do have it but many/most ordinary blacks do not. Neither incidentally is there any kind of annual inspection so you see some real wrecks being driven around. LOL. Yup, car prices are helluva high there but I have to say, not as high as they are here in Portugal. Also lots of drunk driving and bad accidents, especially involving the native taxis which are usually Toyota vans. For example, it's not that unusual for them to remove the steering wheel and replace it with a pair of mole grips so they can squeeze an extra passenger into the front. Anyway, sorry for getting off topic for a moment there!

I've just spoken to a couple of Yanks and in the States they seem to pay something in the region of US$300 or UKP200 a year for cover on their trucks (both are Jeeps). As for the UK having a lot of claims, I'd have thought no more than anywhere else in the world and certainly considerably less than in South Africa which is the car theft & hijacking capital of the world and I was only paying about UKP100 a year there. As for paying UKP5000 a year I find that utterly unimaginable. I'd want to be sleeping with the Chairman's twin daughter's twice a week for that! LOL

I've said this before but I simply fail to understand how UK insurance companies can get away with such iniquitous prices and why the Govt don't step in, I simply don't know. Until I emigrated from RSA to Portugal 18 months ago, I was paying about UKP100 a year to insure my 5.9 litre V8 classic Jeep for ANY driver and RSA is the car theft capital of the world. Now I'm in Portugal, the same car with the same cover costs me just E45 a year.

Sooooooo can I take it my offer wasn't as expensive as your original comment suggested then?

Any news or did the offer disappear?

FWIW, I bought a Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel a little while ago & it averages 8.4 km per litre on supermarket diesel & 8.8 km per litre on filling station diesel. I pay 1.34/litre at the supermarket & 1.40 at the filling station.

Absolutely spot on. If you do it right, there's no need for a big calibre or a shotgun. The forehead bones (for want of a better term) are quite delicate on most animals. If you have or can get access to a humane killer or a handgun, (if allowed in the UK now) it's even easier.

Got any news/info yet?

Someone had to take on the unions who were destroying the country and she was the only one who had the brass neck to do it. Although that caused a lot of destruction it was necessary and without her, I've no doubt the Falklands would now be Argentinian so all in all, I reckon she was the best PM since Churchill. As for the son, he's an absolute disgrace and I'm astounded that no-one put a bullet in his head after the Simon Mann thing. There's absolutely no doubt that he was in it up to his neck and sold those poor guys out for his own freedom. As for the benefits system. Whilst I'm all for giving it to those who really need it, I'm dead against anyone at all getting a single penny if they don't deserve it or haven't paid into the system. I'm almost ashamed to admit that I have a feckless, good for nothing brother that is perfectly well and better qualified than I am but hasn't worked a single day in the last 25+ years. He's never been unwell but he is a lazy, bone idle s**te. I on the other hand have never claimed a penny in any benefit at all. Have paid my taxes and worked my **** off all my life but despite that, my brother has a better standard of living than I do and i have to ask myself how can that be right, fair or just? RIP Maggie...... whether any individual loves or hates you, none will forget you.

MMM Yes, it struck me as a lot of car for the money and so far I'm very impressed with it. Vince Proper fluid and filter changes are essential on all vehicles as you say but I've always been paranoid about that anyway.

UKIP will get my vote next time if only because the Lib/Lab/Cons conspiracy have just taken turns in stuffing things up whilst not making anything better.

Can you keep & sell the bunnies?