Greetings from the Chacma family.

Hunting season in South Africa is in full swing, and the local hunters are also planning their hunting trips with lots of excitement.  Although Chacma Safaris mainly cater for the international market, we do however make space for the local hunters to experience true Chacma hospitality and professional service. 

The weather is getting colder in South Africa, and winter is on our doorstep.  The colder weather and not so dense bush makes it the ideal time for hunting.  We had good rainfall, and we are sure that all the animals will have lots to drink and eat till the end of winter. 

Elephant/buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe

We had a very exciting elephant/buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe from 19-26 February 2009. 

Elephant:

We shot the elephant on the third day after tracking it for almost 6 hours in thick jess cover; this was after we spooked them twice. 

Gary made a perfect side brain shot at 20 yards and was rewarded with a 34 pound PAC elephant bull.  We shot the lone dugga bull the next day. 

Buffalo:

We cut his tracks at 07:00 in the morning, and were witness to the well known ways in which buffalo uses their territory and natures elements, such as the wind, to their advantage. 

We spooked him 4 times before we could get a clear shot.  Everytime he would circle down wind to catch our scent. 

We almost gave up at 16:00 the afternoon but he luckily tried his trick one time to many and we came face to face for the first time.  After a nerve wrecking follow up and another 5 shots we finally had our trophy in the bag. 

Leopard hunt in Zimbabwe

Another great adventure was our Leopard hunt in Zimbabwe from 23 April to 3 May 2009. As some of you would know, a leopard hunt is much like a chess game, and we had to work hard to get our trophy. This hunt was different from other leopard hunts, because the cats did not respond as we expected and we had to take a chance on bait the second last day of the hunt. Luckily it paid off and we got our trophy.

This proofs that leopards are as elusive as they are known for.

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South Africa finalizes new laws on lion hunting - June 1st 2008

"Over the years that got eroded and now we are trying to re-establish that principal.'' South Africa is famous as home to the Big Five animals — lion, leopard, rhinoceros, elephant and buffalo. Its flagship Kruger National Park attracts hundreds of thousands of camera toting visitors every year.

Some 9,000 privately owned game farms and other government-run reserves also offer visitors a taste of the wild. But it has become also become a choice destination for wealthy gun-toting tourists willing to pay more than $20,000 to take home a "trophy'' lion or rhino's head.

The new law, which enters into force June 1, bans the hunting of animals that have been tranquilized. It outlaws bows and arrows for big predators and thick skinned animals like rhinos — one of the practices singled out by Van Schalkwyk as particularly appalling. And it bans the use of vehicles to chase the animal until it is too tired and terrified to flee for its life.

"To see people who are half drunk on the back of a bakkie (truck) hunting lions which are in fact tame animals is quite abhorrent,'' Van Schalkwyk — himself an avid hunter — told The Associated Press. But conservationists said the law would be difficult to enforce and did not go far enough because it stopped short of an outright ban on intensive breeding of lions, leopards and other predators.

"The big thing for South Africa would be to stand up and say 'we are conservation leaders and this industry is immoral and unethical and we are not going to allow it," said Louise Joubert of the San Wildlife Trust, which campaigned for tougher regulations. She said it made little difference whether a lion was freed for six months or two years before being hunted because once it had got used to being reared and fed by people, it was hard to break that trust. Joubert said there should be an outright ban on intensive breeding projects, which often remove cubs from the mother at birth so the lioness mates more quickly, and often destroy female cubs as male lions fetch a higher trophy price.

The South African Predator Breeders' Association, which was set up last year to lobby against the regulations, has warned that breeders may be forced to euthanize the estimated 3-5,000 lions they have reared if they are unable to offer them to foreign hunters and can no longer afford to feed them.

"We have asked for an outright ban,'' said Joubert. "If it means that four to five thousand lions have to be euthanized, it would be a tragic day but it is the only way for this country to get a grip, so be it.'' Earlier this year, the breeders' association threatened legal action against the government to claim for compensation. Association chairman Carel van Heerden said the regulations would shut down the industry, according to the South African Press Association.

Lion farmers from the North West province — which has a population of 1,700 lions in captivity, and a labor force of less than 1,000 people — met with local government authorities Tuesday to voice their fears that the new law "would almost certainly kill their industry,'' SAPA quoted provincial government and conservation minister Mandlenkosi Mayisela as saying. The regulations would affect the local economy, he said, including poor rural communities that made a living by supplying donkeys to lion farmers.

The Professional Hunters' Association of South Africa said, however, that it welcomed the new regulations as a chance to clean up the image of the South African hunting industry by clamping down on lion breeders, who account for only about 3 percent of game farms. "A small sector has given the whole industry a bad name,'' said Stewart Dorrington, president of the hunting body. Up to 7,000 foreign tourists visit South Africa each year on hunting safaris, each spending roughly $18,000, Dorrington said. About 55 percent of hunters are from North America and the rest from Europe and other countries.

Van Schalkwyk said the regulations marked the start of a ``clean up of the hunting industry'' and would in due course be extended to other animals like antelope species. Hunting is an integral part of South African life because of its cultural traditions and importance to the economy.

"We gave our firm intention more than two years ago to deal with the issue,'' he said. "Many of the lion breeders thought they were empty threats and did not take it seriously. This is a practice that cannot be defended in any way.''

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

Lets have look at nature!

The Marula tree:

The Marula tree is a large deciduous tree that grows up to 20 metres. Flowers from September to November and fruits from January to March. Distributed from Ethiopia, in the north, to Kwazulu-Natal in the South. The fruit, very high in vitamin C, is used by humans as well as animals.

Marula fruit is turned into an alcoholic drink and also a jelly eaten with meats. Elephants, Giraffe, Kudu, Eland, Waterbuck, Warthog, and Bushpig, all browse the leaves and fruit that falls to the ground. Baboons eat the fruit on the tree as well as fruit that has fallen.

Birds such as the Blackheaded Oriole eat the flowers. The seeds contain two or three edible nuts. These nuts are pressed and the oil extracted for cosmetic use. The fruit skin can be burnt and used as a coffee substitute. Medicinal uses include a decoction of the bark to treat dysentery and diarrhoea.

The bark infused in brandy is also used as a prophylactic for malaria. The inner bark is used to treat insect bites and irritations caused by hairy caterpillars. An essence made from the leaves is used to treat burns.

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