Ryan Wilson
AH senior member
A friend of mine and myself booked a bowhunting trip with Harry Nel of African Arrow Safaris in RSA near Ellisras. When we booked, Harry was running a special that if 2 people booked, there were no daily fees. We only paid for the trophies we shot plus any tips. I spent months trying to figure out if this deal was legit or even possible but we never found a single bad thing about Harry and his operations. So I chalked it up as him needing to fill a week of hunting and assuming he would make up some profit from us killing animals.
After months of less than ideal responses to emails, Harry finally confirmed someone would be at airport to pick us up the day and time we arrived.
Upon arrival in JNB a guide of his, Johan, met us at the airport and started our 4 hour journey to camp. After arriving at camp around 11:30pm we were shown our rooms and were left to get some sleep so the next morning we could get up and meet Harry, staff and shoot our bows. The next morning, we were greated by another client in camp with his son (Harry's clients) Followed by Harry and staff and a small breakfast of toast, yogurt, fruit and ham. My friend Josh was assigned to Johan and I was assigned to an outgoing Garry. Both men were a pleasure to deal with and Johan takes more than ideal photos. Garry is an absolute riot and never offered a dull moment.
At the beginning of our hunt, our guides asked what animals we wanted to pursue (Harry was notified in advance) so Josh was looking for Zebra, Warthog, Impala, Blue Wildebeest and Gemsbok. I was looking for Kudu, Blue Wildebeest, Gemsbok, Baboon and an opportunistic animal of which I would decide after I saw a few animals. This was my second trip and already had taken waterbuck, zebra, Impala and warthog and was not interested in taking them again.
Over the next six days we ate the same small breakfast in the morning, hunted until 1:00pm came back to camp for an unbelievable lunch, hunted until dark and ended the night with a 5 star meal and beverages. I was able to harvest a wildebeest, kudu and gemsbok. Josh had a tough week and only took a wildebeest and gemsbok off his main list and shot a female warthog because males were hard to find (a subject I'll mention later) and a blesbok (because zebra were hard to get on). For the most part, the hunt was successful and the food was excellent regardless of the light breakfast.
Now to the questionable parts of our hunt. Several times in the week I saw Zebra, Impala and male Warthog at a water hole. I would pass this along to my partner Josh, his guide and Harry. With Impala and Warthog, this followed by Harry taking his client to shoot the animals and not offering the opportunity to my buddy. Even after I asked them to take Josh there to get his primary animals for 2 days prior. There were several times my friend and I had to sit together because my guide had a birthday to go to or Harry had business in town. Which kept one person from taking a primary animal everytime we sat.
Harry's client finished their hunt a day and half before us. After 3 days of no AC in my room I was able to change rooms for a night. (90+ degrees all week) I got by by opening all windows and doors at night. Harry did not offer his guide service to myself so we shared a guide because my guide was assigned the 8 hour trip of taking Harry's clients to airport and getting a new AC unit in prep of the next guests coming after us. The last 2 mornings of our hunt, our small breakfast turned into just toast.
Lunch and dinner the last day was adequate but far from the dinners we were served through the week. We sat together with the exception of the last evening and I sat by myself in a blind we called the "sable hole". We sat that blind 6 or more times that week and I shot a kudu (primary) and Josh shot blesbok and female warthog from it (just to spend a $). The day we were scheduled to leave, we decided to give the cook $100 a peice because the food was amazing most all week.(We were told we shouldn't have).
Harry gave us our invoices for the week which included a $20 conservation fee per animal and a $350 camp fee per person that was never mentioned, discussed prior to or during our hunt. We received a nice shirt and hat and were sent off to the airport. In a nut shell, Harry's communication with us was less than adequate, hunting was tough for Josh, yet Harry's client killed all their primary animals (6-8) or more. I killed 3/4 and Josh 2/5 not counting a female warthog. We left camp with a feeling that we were secondary and expendable clients.
AAS has tremendous potential, they own the land, the animals, live on the property, food was excellent, when important, and the guides were great but at the mercy of Harry's decisions. What started as a 9/10 we were going to be repeat clients, we are now 50/50 after much discussion over our 20hrs of travel home. Both of us are in our mid 30's and could have provided repeat business hopefully over the next 30+ years. All this was our perception of the events that took place and if the intent was different than depicted, good communication would have been suffice. Cheers
After months of less than ideal responses to emails, Harry finally confirmed someone would be at airport to pick us up the day and time we arrived.
Upon arrival in JNB a guide of his, Johan, met us at the airport and started our 4 hour journey to camp. After arriving at camp around 11:30pm we were shown our rooms and were left to get some sleep so the next morning we could get up and meet Harry, staff and shoot our bows. The next morning, we were greated by another client in camp with his son (Harry's clients) Followed by Harry and staff and a small breakfast of toast, yogurt, fruit and ham. My friend Josh was assigned to Johan and I was assigned to an outgoing Garry. Both men were a pleasure to deal with and Johan takes more than ideal photos. Garry is an absolute riot and never offered a dull moment.
At the beginning of our hunt, our guides asked what animals we wanted to pursue (Harry was notified in advance) so Josh was looking for Zebra, Warthog, Impala, Blue Wildebeest and Gemsbok. I was looking for Kudu, Blue Wildebeest, Gemsbok, Baboon and an opportunistic animal of which I would decide after I saw a few animals. This was my second trip and already had taken waterbuck, zebra, Impala and warthog and was not interested in taking them again.
Over the next six days we ate the same small breakfast in the morning, hunted until 1:00pm came back to camp for an unbelievable lunch, hunted until dark and ended the night with a 5 star meal and beverages. I was able to harvest a wildebeest, kudu and gemsbok. Josh had a tough week and only took a wildebeest and gemsbok off his main list and shot a female warthog because males were hard to find (a subject I'll mention later) and a blesbok (because zebra were hard to get on). For the most part, the hunt was successful and the food was excellent regardless of the light breakfast.
Now to the questionable parts of our hunt. Several times in the week I saw Zebra, Impala and male Warthog at a water hole. I would pass this along to my partner Josh, his guide and Harry. With Impala and Warthog, this followed by Harry taking his client to shoot the animals and not offering the opportunity to my buddy. Even after I asked them to take Josh there to get his primary animals for 2 days prior. There were several times my friend and I had to sit together because my guide had a birthday to go to or Harry had business in town. Which kept one person from taking a primary animal everytime we sat.
Harry's client finished their hunt a day and half before us. After 3 days of no AC in my room I was able to change rooms for a night. (90+ degrees all week) I got by by opening all windows and doors at night. Harry did not offer his guide service to myself so we shared a guide because my guide was assigned the 8 hour trip of taking Harry's clients to airport and getting a new AC unit in prep of the next guests coming after us. The last 2 mornings of our hunt, our small breakfast turned into just toast.
Lunch and dinner the last day was adequate but far from the dinners we were served through the week. We sat together with the exception of the last evening and I sat by myself in a blind we called the "sable hole". We sat that blind 6 or more times that week and I shot a kudu (primary) and Josh shot blesbok and female warthog from it (just to spend a $). The day we were scheduled to leave, we decided to give the cook $100 a peice because the food was amazing most all week.(We were told we shouldn't have).
Harry gave us our invoices for the week which included a $20 conservation fee per animal and a $350 camp fee per person that was never mentioned, discussed prior to or during our hunt. We received a nice shirt and hat and were sent off to the airport. In a nut shell, Harry's communication with us was less than adequate, hunting was tough for Josh, yet Harry's client killed all their primary animals (6-8) or more. I killed 3/4 and Josh 2/5 not counting a female warthog. We left camp with a feeling that we were secondary and expendable clients.
AAS has tremendous potential, they own the land, the animals, live on the property, food was excellent, when important, and the guides were great but at the mercy of Harry's decisions. What started as a 9/10 we were going to be repeat clients, we are now 50/50 after much discussion over our 20hrs of travel home. Both of us are in our mid 30's and could have provided repeat business hopefully over the next 30+ years. All this was our perception of the events that took place and if the intent was different than depicted, good communication would have been suffice. Cheers
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