ZIMBABWE: Has Anyone Hunted With Roger Whittall Safaris?

[John Burrell]

As a follow-up to my statement on John Burrell's High Adventure Company. I think even they became disgusted and embarrassed by the behavior of the Whittalls. After their multiple inquires to Whittall about what was going on and getting no response, they gave up, because my last inquiry to them went unanswered. I'm guessing they felt powerless to help me and were embarrassed because they are the ones who set me up with Whittall.

To hunter300: This is John Burrell the owner of the High Adventure Company. I got an email Guy just now making me aware of your post. I am not aware of any of our clients who have not received their trophies, from the Whittal's or any other operation. Give us some details and we will get this fixed immediately. Guy is as good as the come and horrible embarrassed if this is real. Please call me at the office ASAP.

 

[MMAL]

To MMAL, why on earth would someone log into this forum and make up a story. I gave Roger Whittall 3.5 years to do the right thing. At which point I thought it might be a courtesy to other hunters to have this information when making a choice for an African hunt. My bill was paid in full and fees for trophy preparation were paid with the expectation that they would eventually be shipped to me. My direct inquiry was ignored as were inquires from John Burrell's High Adventure Company who set me up with the hunt with Roger Whittall Safaris. I have no explanation why someone would behave in this manner but they did, period. Now you might be a Roger Whittall fanboy and that is fine but these statements made by me are fact. Other potential Roger Whittall clients may appreciate this information before signing on for a hunt with Roger Whittall.

As you can see Hunter 300, this forum is about informed decisions. Your story might be true but without facts or any kind of history on this forum, we will call you out on specifics. You will notice that I stated I will call BS UNTIL you provide details. We now have the booking agent on the thread to help verify your claims. Unfortunately in this day, everything you read on the internet is not true. The members here try and make sure that what is posted is verifiable facts especially when negatively commenting on an operator. Good Luck with this, I would delete your username and start over personally.

 

[BRICKBURN]

To hunter300: This is John Burrell the owner of the High Adventure Company. I got an email Guy just now making me aware of your post. I am not aware of any of our clients who have not received their trophies, from the Whittal's or any other operation. Give us some details and we will get this fixed immediately. Guy is as good as the come and horrible embarrassed if this is real. Please call me at the office ASAP.

Apparently Guy got my email notice about the thread and that took less than 24 hours to get someone to have John act on this.

I hope the matter gets resolved. Please keep us updated on the progress.

 

[KWood]

I'm new to this forum but I feel the need to chime-in on this. I hunted Humani with Roger Whittall Safaris in 2011 along with two close friends. I booked the hunt through John Burrell's High Adventure Company: I have known JB since 2002 and have been on a pile of trips that he's booked in the U.S. and in multiple African countries. To the best of my knowledge, we were the only group that JB has ever sent to Humani so this whole thing smells fishy. We had a fantastic safari with RWS at Humani and I would highly recommend both RWS and High Adventure. We received our trophies within a reasonable period of time, considering that it was Zim and nothing happens fast there. The buffalo that I took on that safari is hanging over my shoulder as I type this.

Hunter300, since you are disparaging the reputation of a well-regarded safari operator, the burden is on you to provide more facts than you've given.

Keith Wood

 

[boldo 42]

I'm new to this forum but I feel the need to chime-in on this. I hunted Humani with Roger Whittall Safaris in 2011 along with two close friends. I booked the hunt through John Burrell's High Adventure Company: I have known JB since 2002 and have been on a pile of trips that he's booked in the U.S. and in multiple African countries. To the best of my knowledge, we were the only group that JB has ever sent to Humani so this whole thing smells fishy. We had a fantastic safari with RWS at Humani and I would highly recommend both RWS and High Adventure. We received our trophies within a reasonable period of time, considering that it was Zim and nothing happens fast there. The buffalo that I took on that safari is hanging over my shoulder as I type this.

Hunter300, since you are disparaging the reputation of a well-regarded safari operator, the burden is on you to provide more facts than you've given.

Keith Wood

View attachment 169837 View attachment 169838

Like the buff head on the right , nice.

 

[jeff]

KWood, it seem a rather odd coincidence that you just joined today and you have such glowing reports, were you asked to join and defend the booking agent and outfitter?

 

[KWood]

KWood, it seem a rather odd coincidence that you just joined today and you have such glowing reports, were you asked to join and defend the booking agent and outfitter?

Not a coincidence at all: the booking agent called to confirm that everyone in my party received their trophies, we had. He was confused to have read the post about RWS since ours was the only trip he'd booked with them.

I looked up the post and weighed-in.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Pebbles in ponds......

 

[hunter300]

John I will give you a call this week and this is real. I find it hard to believe you can't even figure out who this is. Go back and look through your emails. Actually not addressed to you but your office people (I don't want to mention their names in this public forum). My last email got no response which is when I just gave up.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Send a pm on here and he will get it for sure.

 

[Jfet]

To hunter300: This is John Burrell the owner of the High Adventure Company. I got an email Guy just now making me aware of your post. I am not aware of any of our clients who have not received their trophies, from the Whittal's or any other operation. Give us some details and we will get this fixed immediately. Guy is as good as the come and horrible embarrassed if this is real. Please call me at the office ASAP.

John Burrell
Welcome to AH!!! We visited at the gathering at the Beretta store on Wednesday before the start of DSC. I was part of that Aggie crowd that showed up. Sad that you had to get on this forum this way. Do a full intro and tell us some of your stories.

 

[hunter300]

I contacted John Burrell and both he and the Whittalls are working to resolve the situation. Based on what I heard I believe it was just a perfect storm of sloppy bookkeeping on the part of both parties and NOT intentional.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Sloppy bookkeeping?

I sincerely doubt it is intentional, but I surely want to hear how a Safari "disappears" like that.

 

[gillettehunter]

Goes to show that even good safari companies can screw up. My next question is why couldn't the booking agent get some answeres? Doesn't sit too well with me. I'm still waiting on raw trophies out of RSA from May 2015 and that's got me impatient..... I guess the other question is where are his trophies? Will he even get his own when they sow up..... Bruce

 

[zephyr]

Hunted with them once going back again, cannot say enough.

 

[Buckdog]

Hunter300 since you opened the can of worms I believe it would be only proper to share the details of this matter out in the open. personally if my trophies never showed up for that long I would have never given up quietly and would surely want the whole world to hear the details SO???
Hell I get pissy when it longer than 6 months!

 

[BRICKBURN]

Have some patience.
I have no doubt the final result will be reported.

 

[hunter300]

Work is in progress to get the trophies exported. No idea how long that will take but it is in progress.
Also it should be noted that both the Roger Whitthall organization and High Adventure Company are picking up the tab for getting the trophies to me.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Work is in progress to get the trophies exported. No idea how long that will take but it is in progress.
Also it should be noted that both the Roger Whitthall organization and High Adventure Company are picking up the tab for getting the trophies to me.

Great news. Glad we were able to help get the ball rolling!

 

[hunter300]

Apparently (what I was told) the trophies were delivered to the exporter but I was never contacted by the exporter, so they just sat there all this time. Since no one ever followed up and my emails went unanswered, we arrive at the present situation. If this had not happened to me I'm not sure I would have believed this story either. Everyone involved failed to communicate. I will post again when I get the trophies to close out this thread.