So why hunt elephant?

A bull elephant along the Chobe River, Botswana.

My quest to hunt the world's largest land animal has been met with a very mixed response.  The protectionists in my life hate it. My colleagues at work - well the girls aren't so impressed, but most of the lads are okay with it. 


Some of the hunters I know who long to hunt dangerous game are excited, but most hunters I know are giving me the "...I only hunt to save the koalas..." speech; are they serious?  


My wife's not totally convinced, but she's coming 'cause she wants to hunt giraffe! My four-year-old daughter wants to come along but understands it's just mummy and daddy this time - "...but I can come with you to hunt elephant next time daddy..." she tells me.  She sure can. And my two-year-old doesn't get it, she reckons it's "...a little bit scary!"


So why hunt elephant? Why not?

The hunt for ndlovu

Around Christmas, I was sitting in my office late one night when my wife rang to see where I was and whether I was ever planning on coming home. I had to confess to her that I'd been day dreaming about going to Africa again which was met with a rather stony silence on the other end of the line - "...just you and me, maybe two weeks, we'll hunt elephant and leave all the drama at home for a while..." A bit more silence, and she agreed...

An outdoorsman on the Dark Continent

So I was thinking, surely it's time to get a bit more of the Dark Continent on here?
This wretched habit of mine has gotten much worse since I first set foot on that terrible place...

I sometimes like to think of myself as an outdoorsman, albeit chained to a desk, flying in and out of meetings, dealing with performance reviews and foreign exchange, and all the other extraneous interruptions in a modern man's life.

Are you an outdoorsman? Take a minute and think about it, what does being an outdoorsman really mean to you? Take that minute, reflect on the experiences that you've shared with others or those special solo efforts with just your gun, a dayback and your sense of adventure. Hunting and the activities that often accompany our chosen sport are a window to see things that you don’t often see in everyday life. They give you the opportunity to experience nature in a different setting; an opportunity to open your eyes to a whole new world.

So if an outdoorsman is what I am,in the contemporary culture of our inner city lives, there are three things that just don't sit well with this outdoorsman - noise, hurry and crowds. And so it began...