REPORT: Safariland Taxidermy in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

[don]

Beware of Safariland Taxidermy in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. They are rip off scammers. They charged me over $1800 for shipping two buffalo, delayed the shipment for over 18 months and to top it off they shipped the buffalo with NO packing. Attached is a photo taken of the cardboard box and skulls with no packing!
Never use them for anything!!! Beware!!
We even visited them on site to check out the operation & introduce our selves, they still screwed us!!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Ok, I have to ask.

How was the second buffalo placed in this "crate"?

Is the Baboon damaged?

What cape is that under the left skull?

 

[don]

2nd Buff was upside down with horns interlocked.
Baboon skull was loose, but wrapped in handi-wrap.
That is my Steenbok cape & skull. The cape was wrapped around the skull.
We actually paid $750 for dip & pack, the $1800 was for shipping.
We waited 18 months before we were notified that Safariland was ready to ship.
My wife and I booked the hunt with Wayne Vandenberg of Nyamazama safari through International Outdoor Consultants.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

When we were with Wayne Van den Bergh in late April, we visited some other taxidermy shops in Bulawayo. He no longer uses Safariland because of the reasons above - apparently the owner is spending most of his time in RSA and not overseeing the operation in Zim. It really is a shame to see trophies arrive at your doorstep looking like this when there are many good taxidermist/dip-n-pack specialists out there.

 

[hunting4sanity]

Wow ............. that's terrible and very unprofessional; I hope everything handled the mistreatment.

 

[don]

Wow ............. that's terrible and very unprofessional; I hope everything handled the mistreatment.

HI;
We were very upset at the price, lack of service and the lack of care. We also, personally visited them prior to our trophy's being there and met the owner & staff. So, it seemed like a real slap in the face for them to treat our trophy's this way.
I wrote them an email and told them that if they did not refund some portion of funds that I would let everyone in the safari community know what happened to us.
I waited several months after telling that I would do this with not one reply from them.
So, I'm now on a mission to let the world of safari clients/hunters know what happened.
Please share this information through your networks so that other hunters will not face the same disappointment.
Thanks!

 

[Bwannabe]

Sad but thats what many taxidermy companies in Africa do.

Look at close up of the live animals and the mounts people get back, many many times the ears are not located properly. The nose lacks detail, finish work is rough.

Plus many African shops over charge for the poor quality of the work.

 

[CAustin]

This is so very sad. I am sorry this happened to you. Too bad your outfitter didn't get into this thing and help you during the 18 months you were waiting. There is no reason what so ever that you should have had to wait that long.

I had some problems with the shippers, Logwin Logistics, from my 2013 hunt but my taxidermist, Mike Smith at Capricorn, and Andrew at African Sky Safaris helped me get the problems resolved. It would seem to me that the people who sold you the safari would want to assist you from start to finish. As for the way the trophies were shipped the outfitter wouldn't be able to help there other than to take his business elsewhere which it seems from another comment he did.

I'm very glad that there is a forum where you can let others know about the poor and unresponsive service you got from this company. You have done everyone a great service by bringing this to light. Hunters be ware.....talk to other hunters before you buy a hunt........before you choose a taxidermist........and before you agree to a particular shipping company.

Don I hope you are able to get good work done with what you received. Post some pictures when you can!

 

[CAustin]

On another note let me share with hunters that not all African taxidermists are rip off artists. Great work is done by many of them. I have used Capricorn Taxidermy in RSA two times now. I have in trusted my trophies to Mike Smith and he has delivered what he said he would......good quality mounts. The eyes are perfect and the ears are where they should be. When people walk in my house they are impressed with the trophies and those who know what good work looks like have commented about Mike's finished products. I can't wait yo get the full body mount of my lioness from this years hunt.