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After returning from our Mozambique Cape Buffalo Safari July 31, 2011, we sadly now find SAFRIQUE concession in Mozambique, based out of Dallas, Tx (Safrique - Mozambique Hunting Safaris, WWW.SAFRIQUE.NET).
The 10 day hunt was successful only because of the Professional Hunters BUT.....
NOT returning unused trophy fees,
NOT paying PH's,
NOT returning phone calls, emails, &
BLOCKING their website to past hunters!
:mad:
Sad news...
Any more details of who, PH, outfitter names, etc.
Another SCI sponsor/client that is scamming people.
Perhaps SCI needs to do a little more screening as a member driven organization!
I hope we hear from WDracer if he is having problems too. And other people! Seems like all the links on the website are shut down...I smell problems.
Yes - thanks for asking. Agree SCI has GOT to due diligence for members!
Nick Schirripa, Managing Director of Safrique Limitada - Safrique is the outfitter. Company owned by MDCC Holdings out of Dallas,TX - Matt Muns, CEO. (Both were personally in SCI booths last 2 yrs selling the hunts, plus they donated a hunt at 2010 auction & both met us at airport). Our Professional Hunter, James Rosenfels - who made our hunt the only aspect that was successful has not been paid for three 10-day hunts - so far.
What have you been able to do to try and resolve your concerns?
If they have been in business for a long time and are at the SCI shows year after year they should be willing to address your concerns.
The last communication August 16 was, When we get your electronic evaluation form then will send. 4 emails & 4 phone calls to Matt & Nick without any response since. Contacted our PH and found out he too has not been paid, now onto to SCI and other hunters.
Hi there Deputy Doc,
Can you tell me whether this hunt took place in the Niassa National Reserve, Block L1?
No we hunted Mahimba Reserve. Interesting timing, after posting we have been contacted and assured the trophy fees are "coming".
Many thanks. I hope that you get this sorted out
Hello all. Im headed to hunt with Safrique next Wed. I have had no problem getting on their web site, they so far have done everything they said they would, and theres always two sides to every story. So before we bury these guys, lets take everything with a grain of salt. My report will follow as soon as I get Home, good, bad or ugly!
WD
I like the timing. Maybe AH just happens to work. Power to the web!!! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Deputy Doc
WDRacer
Your report will not change what has taken place...
I am sure that Deputy Doc waited and thought over his posting before doing so. As you can see and read Deputy Doc tried both e mail's and telephone call's before posting on AH.
I also make a daily log and keep all e mail correspondence when working on a safari package. You would be foolish no to do so.
Your experience while your own will not change what has taken place with Deputy Doc.
Good luck on your safari and we all hope you will have different results.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WDRacer
We have all had bad hunts, thats for sure. My only issue is putting up a thread Beware of Safrique perhaps a little extreme. When I read Docs post, I personally made an effort to get in touch with Matt and Nick. Which took some time since they were in Moazambique and getting a response takes a little time. When I brought it to there attention they immediately from what Im told got in touch with him. Was only trying to help since my dealings with them in the past have always been good. And we have all been in situations Safari wise that have not gone well, its no fun. As for the e mail correspondence, you are correct. My 14th Safari, and that paper trail has saved my tail more then once!
Nice to hear WDRacer, glad you have a good relationship with them and THANK YOU James.Grange. Been 1 week and nothing from Nick @ Safrique as promised - no phone call no refund. Guess you have to do a show with them to get service.
Here's hoping for a good result for you.
SAFRIQUE - RED ALERT
Four of us went with Safrique to hunt in Mozambique - What should have been the holiday of a lifetime turned out to be a complete disaster. Safrique recognised this and promised to refund one of our members all his money; my brother and I our trophy fee along with half our daily rate and the last member his trophy fee. To date, we here in Ireland have received No refunds despite all the promises. We could not put all our correspondance with Safrique up on the blog in one article but intend to post everything over the coming weeks and months. Perhaps we can save some other hunter from walking into the same trap. We will post some photos in the near future of our accommodation - they make interesting viewing. We advise against using the showers or tap water in the W.C......Watch for regular updates!
Any updates George?
George
This is troubling that the 4 of you had such an experience with Safrique.
I do hope that both you and Deputy Doc go into the outfitter section and post a review for Safrique for future reference.
You will need to keep us in the loop on how your money refund is progressing as Deputy Doc has not received a refund.
The part that is real troubling with this is that you have lost your treasured time and it can never be replaced.
I am not sure who you would contact in Mozambique to let them know what a travesty you have went through. For an internal investigation.
I would suggest that you also send a review to Dallas Safari Club (DSC) and Safari Club (SCI).
With the information that Deputy Dock and you have provided to us on AH, I would say that this company need to be kept at arms length and not used.
Quote:
Originally Posted by george o malley
SAFRIQUE - RED ALERT:
Thanks for your comments. Still no refunds and none of our emails have been answered.:mad: We have sent a report to SCI regarding Safrique and will be sending one to Dallas Safari Club (DSC). We are also sending a Report to AMOS (Association of Mozambique Operators) and will keep you posted of any updates.
Arrived at Maputo Quiliman
Nobody to meet us Guns and ammo confiscated. 5-30
Native Skycaps held us to ransom and had to pay $50.00 to get rid of them.
Neil went past Customs to look at arrivals for Nick or someone from Safrique to meet us; nobody from Safrique at airport.
Neil rang Nick (7-30) a Black fellow named Dalio (arrived 30 minutes later) who spoke some English came to meet us.
He arrived without any documents, brought us to a caf at the Airport and disappeared for 3 Hours.
Neil tried to ring Nick after 2 hours sitting at the airport Nick would not answer the phone.
Eventually Dalio arrived (mid-day) with the paperwork for the guns and demanded a further $20.00 bribe for the Lady at Customs. We refused this request and then he got our guns released.
We then discovered that the flight due to leave at 13-30 for Quelimaine was delayed indefinitely. It eventually departed at 10pm. We subsequently discovered that this flight never leaves on time.
Before leaving Dalio he informed us that it would be too dangerous to travel on the river at night by boat. We were presented with a gun case and ammo case and asked to bring them from Quelimaine with us. We were charged for the extra weight and given the opportunity to pay for same before Neil informed Dalio that we would not pay the extra weight charge for Safrique guns.
Dalio advised us to book into a hotel and take the 2 hour boat trip the next morning. He let us speak to Koos and Freke in Quelimaine who also advised us to book into a hotel for the night.
Eventually we arrived in Quelimaine at 1.30AM, 12 hours late to be informed that the boat was broken and the 2 hour boat ride which we all looked forward to on the Zambezi River would now be replaced by a 7 hour road journey in the back of a pick up. This journey took most of Friday 22nd July 2011. We had to pay for our own room $55.00 no breakfast. No allowance from Safrique on daily rate.
Duly arrived in camp to be informed that there was no shotgun available for me despite Nick's assurance prior to departure.
We were shown to our Chalet. Bathroom awful and shower not working. Toilet rocking and flushing intermittently. Hot tap leaking into bucket (brought to Freke's attention, no action taken). Tiles cracked and dangerous to walk on (photos and video available). We discovered afterwards that the main sewerage from the toilet and showers etc flows into a French drain and not a septic tank, effluent seeps into the soil and into the water table from this drain. The water supply for the camp is pumped (not working) or carried by hand from a well to a reservoir and re-distributed to the camp. The water effluent from this French drain is flowing uninterrupted into the well and is being fed back into the system. This is guaranteed to cause an outbreak of Typhoid. NO MOSQUITO NETS DESPITE ASSURANCES FROM Nick they will be set up before you arrive MORE LIES. Tom has developed while at your camp a very bad rash which modern medicine has so far failed to cure. He attributes this to camp conditions.
We were invited to the range by Koos to access our ability with a rifle and treated to a drive round the hunting area. Another hunting day lost.
Dinner Chicken Curry Disappointed after asking to eat game while in camp.
Food okay and enough supplied but No. beer, No wine, No spirits except what we brought ourselves.
We were each paired with a P.H. and rallied fourth full of excitement.
Very quickly it became apparent that riding on a hilux over these roads would be slow torture.
James had mentioned burning grass we soon discovered why as visibility was Nil no burning had being done at all prior to our arrival. Meanwhile Clive was being told that it would be difficult to shoot Croc without the boat. Hippo was being dismissed for him as it did not state on his license that he had booked to shoot Hippo.
We tracked a small herd of BUFFALO in the afternoon. We could not see them because the grass was too long. Eventually they spooked. We left them alone for half an hour to settle again and then repeated the same exercise 2 3 times more. This set up a pattern for the week.
Dinner again disappointing Spaghetti Bolognese. NO beer, no wine, and no spirits except what we brought with us.
Monday Began to really get suspicious. Followed yesterday's pattern. After a long discussion Koos agreed that we did not have to pay to shoot meat for the camp. We shot a Bush Buck.
Dinner again disappointing Steak. No game. (WHY AM I BEING CHARGED FOR CAMP MEAT?)
Neil One shot at Buff.
Day's pattern was changed today.
We spent the whole day driving in 10ft tall grass and saw absolutely nothing.
Dugout supposed to be organised for morning for Clive. We light big fires all day.
Dinner Bush meat delicious.
Bush meat sandwiches for lunch tomorrow great.
Current joke Next Americans Hunters will be very pleased we came before them and burned all the long grass.
Asked about boat Koos to check status - looking good, computer box en-route.
Wednesday repeat of Tuesday.
No dugout for Clive. Now obvious to us that he had been taken for a ride.
Tom sat on top of jeep for change. Koos nearly turned the jeep over Very dangerous.
Asked to insure boat would be ready for Saturday computer box en-route.
Thursday Now desperate as we all feel we have been conned. Clive in bad form. Neil asked Koos to confirm flight times and tickets for Saturday/Sunday. NICK assured him everything checked/confirmed.
Eventually found Buff. Tracked for 2 hours and found Neil and James and Clive ahead of us on same Buff. James's approach very different to Koos. We offered to withdraw as the other hunters were before us. Koos said no as there may have been more than one bull in the herd. We bravely marched on secure in the knowledge that we were on a fool's errand. Informed that boat would not be available for Saturday.
Assured again that all flights and ticket reservations were confirmed by Nick.
Friday Everyone resigned to not getting Buffalo, but determined to go out trying. We got on a small herd and eventually got our first sighting of Buff No shot.
Shot Bush Buck in desperation.
You now expect me to pay a trophy fee of $900 for what in effect was camp meat.
Clive by this stage had conceded defeat and stayed in camp.
We saw a snake black and yellow in colour.
I asked for a band aid to discover that we had no first aid kit.
Asked Koos why the Trackers all wore bright blue uniforms.
Saturday Set out for Quelimaine by road not boat! Arrived to discover no tickets confirmed and flight delayed until 11-00pm.
No panic as flight from Maputo to Lisbon had been cancelled how had Nick confirmed our tickets?
Koos had left the airport.
Neil rang Nick he got Koos to return to the airport and eventually we got a flight to Maputo.
Nick agreed to meet us at the airport and book us into the Southern Sun Hotel. Then he informed us that someone from the Southern Sun Hotel would be at the airport to meet us with a van to take us all to the Hotel and that he would meet us at the airport the following morning and help us to get flights organised All lies.
Maputo Airport Sunday 9AM Book new tickets through Johannesburg to London starting cost ?1,750 but eventually set at ?1,100
Arrive London 6.45AM Monday and booked flight to Dublin via Aer Lingus cost ?280
Please factor in the following and you may start to appreciate how I feel about Safrique.
You knew perfectly well that the airline from Maputo to Quelimaine never runs to schedule yet you failed to inform us prior to booking. You were well aware that the grass had not been burned and nothing short of a miracle would get us a Buffalo. A dry toilet would have been far safer and preferable to the system in use at your camp. You are well aware that the roads throughout your area are in a shocking state even by African standards they need to be ploughed (plough in camp, no tractor strong enough to pull it).
Your Agent Nick told us complete lies from start to finish and made promises by email and telephone that he never intended to keep. He never had any intention of meeting us at any stage as he knew exactly what to expect from us. You never had any intention of supplying a shotgun for me despite his assurance that I did not need to bring the shotgun barrels for my .577. You made no effort to supply game for the table despite email specifically telling you that we wished to eat game while in Africa.
You left your P.H's to face the music. Without James' help we would have been in a dreadful state.
He emailed his wife who was in South Africa. She researched on computer and established that we could fly Maputo to Johannesburg and Johannesburg to London. Phone calls to Nick both from Neil and Koos proved useless. He told us that no-one would talk to him on the phone at the airport and that he was going to the airport directly to help us and would be in touch. That was the last we heard from him.
I have waited to get your response to Neil's correspondence before deciding on a course of action. Among other actions being considered by me will be a letter to the following:-
Texas Outdoorsman Magazine
Texas Trophy Hunters Association
Texas Outdoors Journal
Texas Hunting Today
Texas Sporting Journal
African Hunter Magazine
African Sporting Gazette Magazine
African Expedition Magazine
AfricaHunting.com
African Hunting Gazette
Outdoor Life Magazine
Petersen's Hunting
Sports Afield Magazine
North American Hunter Magazine
Better Business Bureau (US)
In the circumstances I find your email insulting in the extreme. Your questionnaire does not allow adequate space to express my disappointment in Safrique and my disgust at the condition we lived in at your camp. You may limit the damage to Safrique by refunding our trophy fees in full and half our daily rate by return.
Yours sincerely,
George & Tom O Malley