You should write a book. Seriously.
Here to learn, Thank you sir you are to kind.
It has crossed my mind from time to time.
Is there any game in that area that could be taken with a handgun?
I am not certain that you could obtain a handgun permit in Zimbabwe. I would suspect that it wouldn't be allowed. (If any of you know the answer to this please chime in.) If it were however the answer is YES. The cover is just right and the average shot distance would be very conducive to handgun hunting. You can use a handgun for hunting in South Africa, and Mozambique I know for sure. There may be others as well?
Why don't the villagers hunt this game? Why rely on folks like you?
Cooch has answered this question to it's fullest extent and he is correct on all accounts.
I'll just add several comments to his informative reply.
The natives in the area do hunt for themselves and are allowed to shoot/spear some game for food or religious purposes. There is some poaching going on but mostly limited to substanence hunting.
(VENT MODE ON)
This area was a hot bed of poaching during the war and teams of armed poachers supporting Mugabes marxist rebels used to stream in from Mozambique and mass poach to feed the troops and they wiped out the rhino population in the area using the funds from the rhino horn to support their cause.
This area was basically depleted of game animals 25 years ago. Through funds derived from sport hunting and wise conservation and selective taking of animals the area is once again a lush and game rich environment. Sport hunting is the ONLY activity on earth that provides the funds and man power and desire to regrow and repair the envrionment suffciently to allow game to flourish in a region that would otherwise be poached dry in a matter of months. Sport hunting assigns value to animals that would otherwise be killed off as pests. Just like Cooch explained.
The parks systems are great but they are an expensive operation hunting concessions provide income not drain on the local economy.
(VENT MODE OFF)
Poaching has taken a back seat to sport hunting because the money made from sport hunting is far greater than that of poaching.
That being said. The local natives are Shona tribes men who have a strong hunting heritage and that instinct can not be quelled in a man so a bit of "off the grid" hunting is to be expected and it is tolerated as long as it doesn't get out of control. It seems that the best poachers are usually hired as trackers or game scouts or they wind up in the anti poacher units around the country. No sense in letting all that skill and bush craft go to waste.
The APU's (anti poaching units) Are allow to shoot game while on patrol to feed themselves and thier families. The PH's jokingly refer to the APU's as All Poachers United..
Weren't you worried about poachers or bandits or non-professional type troops?
The answer to this question is no..
Unlike an unarmed camp like the gorilla camp that was attcaked in Ruwanda several years ago a hunting camp is not a soft target. Most of them there tourists in a hunting camp are armed. The game scouts all have fully auto AK's and in addition to their heavy rifles it seems most PH's have an FAL or two around. So while banditry is always a possibility it's much easier to go rape and pilage the fuzzy legged anti-hunter typs in the parks than to try and steal from a guy who's sleeping with a loaded .470NE by the bed.
As far as non-pro soldiers that really isn't a factor in the region we were in. It can be a problem in parts of Africa however. The same goes from above their are easier targets of oportunity than a hunting camp. Too many trigger happy gringos in a hunitng camp.
