Zimbabwe: Polish Hunter Sues After Failing to Bag Elephant

Zimbabwe: Polish Hunter Sues After Failing to Bag Elephant


A Polish businessman is suing a travel agency after he failed to find elephants to shoot whilst hunting in Zimbabwe.

Waldemar I. (name withheld under Polish law) from Bytow in the Pomerania region in northern Poland, had long dreamt of hunting elephants in the African bush.

In a bid to fulfil his fantasy, he enlisted the help of hunting specialists Jaworski Jagreisen, a German-based firm that also organises trips in pursuit of Polish bison.

The company organised a trip for Waldemar I. to Zimbabwe, and the huntsman was picked up in Harare by staff from the Mopani Safaris company. However, the adventure was not to be a success.

“They took me to a terrain where there simply weren't any elephants,” he told the Rzeczpospolita daily.

“The bagging of trophies was simply out of the question.”

The head of Jaworski Jagreisen was in court in Poznan on Tuesday, where he argued that “the terrain is difficult and hilly, but elephants are present.”

“From what I know, Waldemar I. would have seen their dung,” he added.

The case has been adjourned until 15 February. The plaintiff is hoping to secure 32,000 zl (8,000 euros) from the company to cover his safari costs.

Interesting, I like to hear the outcome!

This is one of those people who give hunters a bad name, all he is doing is showing the hunting nai sayers that hunters are senseless killers who don't give a snuf about anything els but killing the animals.

We all enjoy hunting, buts called hunting not killing because its the total experience that counts not just the killing of the animall

I have spent many many days hinting where I haven't seen a thing and it not from lack of trying but it is all part of the experiance and what brings us back each time

Sorry for the rant but it just frustrates me when people don't appreciate the beauty in hunting

I wonder if there is more to the story than what we see. Maybe some promises by the Outfitter to get the client to book and then no animals in a bad area or something?? Hmmm.

It would be interesting to know the whole story. Were there NO elephants in the hunting area? That seems to be part of the hunters point if there was " no dung". Was the hunter physically unable or unwilling to go where the elephants were? How long was the hunt? Was enough time scheduled to realistically find an elephant? Or is the real story a combination. If you save for 3 or 4 years to go on a elephant hunt then there should be animals around and a decent chance for one to be taken. I would think that any reputable PH would do everything in his power to find the right animal. If there were NO elephants to hunt in his area then perhaps a partial refund or new hunt is warranted. On the other hand, there are never any guarantees. If the hunter couldn't physically go where the elephants were, then there is nothing his PH could do and no reason for any refund or new hunt. My 2 cents. Bruce

Originally Posted by TOM

I wonder if there is more to the story than what we see . . . maybe some promises by the outfitter . . . no animals in a bad area or something?

Tom, I agree. It's generally best to sit back and wait until more facts are known before jumping in and taking sides.

gillettehunter . . . my point exactly. There just may be a few more variables we are unaware of at this point.

Pure speculation on my part, but he is only suing for 8,000 euro. That sounds a little low for the hunt price, enough days, decent area and whatnot. I understand it most likely did not include trophy fee, but sounds like a "too good to be true" price which might be why there were no elephants.

Originally Posted by VonJager

Pure speculation on my part, but he is only suing for 8,000 euro. That sounds a little low for the hunt price, enough days, decent area and whatnot. I understand it most likely did not include trophy fee, but sounds like a "too good to be true" price which might be why there were no elephants.

Well that would somewhere between 10,000 and 11,000 dollars which could be the daily rate total depending on the duration of the hunt and who is outfitter was.

I think I'd like to know more information before I were to draw a conclusion.

One would have to ask what he considered a shootable elephant?

From what i encountered, we stumbled onto elephants almost daily, however our PH said that we did not run across any large bulls to consider shooting. We saw singles, small groups (3 to 5) and large herds (10 to 20) almost daily. The large bulls were around we just did not run into them and we were not looking for them as i did not have elephoent on my bag line...