Matabeleland Taxidermy, Bulawayo

[Breaker Morant]

Has anyone here used them? I did a site search here and found nothing relevant. My stuff is sitting there and they can either do the taxidermy or ship it raw here to the states.

Taxidermy has never been a priority for me on my hunt, but I plan to have it done. I am constantly surprised that the most common questions from people about the hunt are related to taxidermy-"When am I getting it?, What am I having done?etc"

For some reason, it is very important to me to have the work done in Zimbabwe. I like the idea of supporting the hunting industry there.

 

[BRICKBURN]

The only dealings I have had with this company is the related (sister) firm in Botswana. Wild Touch Taxidermy Botswana.

Got a hefty quote to Dip & Ship some stuff. It was NOT economical to use them for what I wanted done.

Can't speak to quality of workmanship as I never got that far.

 

[James.Grage]

How do you plan to pay them? I could not wire money to Zimbabwe? Something due to our state department.

I did have Collett Taxidermy do some work for me and they were good. If you have some work done and some shipped raw you will have two boxes to export back to the states.

Check shipping on your raw VS completed items? Again i had the dip & pac and shipping for billing go through south africa.
You will find that Zimbabwe will ship to south africa and then you need a SA shipper to send to the states.

Ask for referenced of work performed and then Check the references out.

Has anyone here used them? I did a site search here and found nothing relevant. My stuff is sitting there and they can either do the taxidermy or ship it raw here to the states.

Taxidermy has never been a priority for me on my hunt, but I plan to have it done. I am constantly surprised that the most common questions from people about the hunt are related to taxidermy-"When am I getting it?, What am I having done?etc"

For some reason, it is very important to me to have the work done in Zimbabwe. I like the idea of supporting the hunting industry there.

 

[Breaker Morant]

Thanks James and Brickburn.

To Brick-In some ways, I am a captive to them. That is where my stuff is-so even if I don't have them do taxidermy, I am stuck with them for "Dip and Pack." It would probably be impossible for me to comparison shop among other options in Bulawayo from here in Minnesota. I see no other options at this point.

To James-similarly, at this point-I owe them something, so we will have to figure that part out. I plan to ship through "Coppersmith Houston" so maybe they will be able to facilitate that.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Captive is a polite way if putting it. This "trap" has now become my most hated part of the Safari process.

I agree, Research after the fact is tough to do.
There are a couple of other companies doing taxidermy that might provide an option.

As it is ask for those pictures of the recent work and references and then decide whether you ship it back D&P or full taxidermy.

Good luck.

 

[K-man]

Have had 2 shipments from Zim with not much problems other than a delay on the first one. Both times I had the dip and pack price up front before going (per crate) if all goes in one crate, paid the PH while there. The other thing you should check on if you are doing taxidermy there will be the freight charges for the mounts. They will be substantially more than a single crate of dip and pack. Best of luck to you and hope turns out great

 

[drew416]

I posted this in another thread be can see it belongs here.

I have used Matabeleland Taxidermy in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe to do all my work from last years 10 day trip.
What I saved getting the work done in country balanced out by paying the extra in freight. However they were still done in Africa, by people who know what these animals really look like in the wild.I believe the transit of the finished work was through OR Tambo but nothing was required as it was all done by Zim Customs and Parks and Wildlife in Bulawayo. My crates were merely in transit on the tarmac in J'Berg.

Bruce Bertram from Bertram Bullet Co. has a full mount of a Kudu that was done here in Australia, it looks more like a Shetland pony with spiral horns.

I paid the extra and had a freight handler here who specialises in Trophy animal importing. I am sure someone has a company like this in USA, but then again it is sooo much easier and cheaper for you guys to import your trophies.

All my trophies arrived in Brisbane this afternoon. Not even 12 months to the day the safari started. Not bad I thought as I have heard of trophies taking years or not showing up at all.

No problems with payment. A 50% deposit was required up front the remainder paid on completion before shipment. Both easily done with direct transfer into their nominated account, which went through a intermediary bank in New York.

 

[don]

I have not used them, but I can tell you to never use Safariland taxidermy in Bulawayo. The were horrible, slow, over priced and too top it off they shipped my crate with two buffalo skulls with NO packing. Yes, no packing, the skulls were just thrown in a card board box and shipped! Beware of them!
Attached is a photo of the card board box and the buffalo with no packing material!!!
Unbelievable how poor of a job they did & how expensive they were. They charged $1800 for this!!

 

[drew416]

This is how mine showed up a couple of weeks ago, not even 12 months to the day from the start of our safari.
Packed much better than that. In fact it was a mission to get everything out!

 

[harden]

For some reason, it is very important to me to have the work done in Zimbabwe. I like the idea of supporting the hunting industry there.

I'm curious why you wouldn't support U S businesses and the hunting industry everywhere even Africa. Yes your dollars spent here help even Africa Hunting more than you think. Every taxidermist here in the states that I have ever met or know and that is thousands of them hunt. In Zimbabwe none of the low paid employees working on your mounts hunt, legally anyway. Most make less than a minimum wage hourly worker here in the states makes in an hour for a full days work in Zimbabwe. They could never afford to recycle your taxidermy money back into the hunting industry. Your taxidermy dollars here are used for wages that are paid to employees that hunt buy more U S hunting type products that again recycles money thru the hunting industry thru the purchase of, guns, clothing, accessories , pay license fees, conservation fees, ammo taxes, etc and spent money on hunts again to africa and in their home states the list goes on. That IS supporting the hunting industry.

All this on top of the fact, that taxidermy here takes much less time to complete for you. We are at 120 day delivery time from arrival.
IF anything goes wrong at any state side taxidermy company , any U S taxidermist , with your mounts you have an avenue of recourse legally to mediate a resolution to any major issue or quality issue. Try that in Zimbabwe.

Yes, I am very Red White and Blue , Yes. I support my fellow U S citizens when I can. I support MY PH's and their agents and their families as they are truly supporting the hunting in Africa. Hunters from the U S spend Billions, not millions, Billions of dollars in Africa Each Year to hunt and support hunting. That is what makes hunting in Africa what it is Great !

Also hunters spend up to a Billion dollars each year throughout Africa, not a million, a Billion dollars in taxidermy charges in the taxidermy industry in Africa that can easily be spent to support the U S hunting public, supporting their hunting passions and recycle that Billion thru the HUNTING INDUSTRY ! !

 

[Breaker Morant]

The Artistry of Wildlife>>>>In Zimbabwe none of the low paid employees working on your mounts hunt, legally anyway. Most make less than a minimum wage hourly worker here in the states makes in an hour for a full days work in Zimbabwe. They could never afford to recycle your taxidermy money back into the hunting industry.<<<<

My initial response to this portion of your post is that I fully understand that the low-paid Zimbabweans can't legally hunt. However, my belief is that the more such Zimbabweans supported by the industry the better as that will help (in some sense) maintain political support for wildlife and hunting.