SOUTH AFRICA: Leopard Valley Safaris aka Dave Davenport

Michael, 5 years after the fact you come onto this board all fired up and discontented about your hunt with Dave at Leopard Valley Safaris. A hunt you booked through a booking agent. Your point of contact, as you well know is the booking agent, not the outfitter. If you have issues with the outfitter, you work through the booking agent. If your agent is not doing this for you, then what on earth is he being paid for by the outfitter and/or you? You should fire him and never use him again. Brick seems to have found that you added on several items and these were contracted directly with LVS and all these items were full filled. So what exactly is your complaint? You have been asked this several times and are yet to provide a satisfactory answer.

I posted the above two items that Brick found because I do not believe you have been honest. Matter of fact, by not disclosing that you shill hunts for Huntershill Safaris and/or are a booking agent on your own with Affordable African Hunts, you have been deliberately deceptive. At least when Ford claims to have the best truck, they compare themselves to their competition, not ninja rip them by stealth.

Got a question for you. How can you offer a 5 day hunt for 5 animals for $1950? Even at Huntershill daily rates of $260, 5 days costs $1300. What 5 animals can you sell for $650? "Your guy" can't make money at $1950 and there definitely is no money left for your cut, unless you sell specifically to hunt for free? Basically I call B.S.. Somewhere, somehow you guys are cutting corners and any customers foolish enough to sign on with you will pay the price.

Basically you came on here and slimed Dave and LVS while providing no details and not disclosing that you are competition to LVS. Actually you aren't, but you think you are.

A little honesty would have been nice.

BRICKBURN said:

Dave does not want to get into a public bashing of a previous client, but was willing to get back to me and shared copies of:

1. "The Hunting Consultants" (Vance Corrigan) receipt for deposit dated 2/6/14
2. Email from Dave to OP confirming the details: 21 February 2014
3. Email from OP to Dave August 5, 2014 query swopping
4. Copy of a contract initialled by Dave, at the OP's insistence, with the prices agreed upon.
5. Final Invoice 17/08/2014

Extra clients, extra activities, extra travel included in final bill.

No contact of complaint before today.

Screen shots from the illustrious FB. Trophies taken at LVS during the hunt in question.

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Apparently There were three properties hunted. The furthest was Asanta Sana. Which is actually just over the ridge from LVS.



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Google Earth says the far side of Asanta Sana is 6 miles and change as the crow flies from LVS. It is likely an hours drive if you go by road.
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I didn't come on here to advertise any business I have. Yes Extra Clients were added, aka kids, but that wasn't added to my bill I came alone. "no complaints as of today", we complained the day of. Hunting on Asanta Sana, was one of Dave's concessions.

AB2506 said:

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Michael, 5 years after the fact you come onto this board all fired up and discontented about your hunt with Dave at Leopard Valley Safaris. A hunt you booked through a booking agent. Your point of contact, as you well know is the booking agent, not the outfitter. If you have issues with the outfitter, you work through the booking agent. If your agent is not doing this for you, then what on earth is he being paid for by the outfitter and/or you? You should fire him and never use him again. Brick seems to have found that you added on several items and these were contracted directly with LVS and all these items were full filled. So what exactly is your complaint? You have been asked this several times and are yet to provide a satisfactory answer.

I posted the above two items that Brick found because I do not believe you have been honest. Matter of fact, by not disclosing that you shill hunts for Huntershill Safaris and/or are a booking agent on your own with Affordable African Hunts, you have been deliberately deceptive. At least when Ford claims to have the best truck, they compare themselves to their competition, not ninja rip them by stealth.

Got a question for you. How can you offer a 5 day hunt for 5 animals for $1950? Even at Huntershill daily rates of $260, 5 days costs $1300. What 5 animals can you sell for $650? "Your guy" can't make money at $1950 and there definitely is no money left for your cut, unless you sell specifically to hunt for free? Basically I call B.S.. Somewhere, somehow you guys are cutting corners and any customers foolish enough to sign on with you will pay the price.

Basically you came on here and slimed Dave and LVS while providing no details and not disclosing that you are competition to LVS. Actually you aren't, but you think you are.

A little honesty would have been nice.

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again I didn't come on here to advertise my business. This here is about me and Dave not the business I have.

Michael,

It would probably be best for the next thing you to post is a longer more comprehensive post including any and all images of invoices, emails, etc. The many small rebuttal posts are doing you no favors here.

Also, being that you are connected to an outfit that has some good reports recently, it may be best to choose very carefully your wording and how you come across to this group.

Brick put together two posts that go in depth on detail and he wasnt a part of that hunt. We can draw a clear conclusion from his efforts. You probably only have 1 chance left to offer a comprehensive and detailed explanation, more so in an effort to save face for your connection to Huntershill

Wheels said:

Elementary for Brickburn.

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If someone is unwilling to or unable to provide details and clarity Wayne will certainly help them.

Hmmmmm.....

Please remind me NEVER to cross our dear moderator. I damn sure don’t want him cyber hunting me down. Might dig up some things I’ve purposefully purged from my memory banks.

Money, is the root of all evil...

Good day All,
I want to personally thank everybody that has sent me messages of support, phone calls, emails and whatsapp messages. I am especially touched by the support I have received from people I have not met, or have hunted with, that expressed their complete support.

These baseless, malicious attempts at a character assassination of myself and my company, right in the middle of our very short 2 month marketing season, can only be seen as a deliberate attempt to try and depth charge my bookings. All prospective hunters, looking to do research for African hunts that I have spoken to could very easily find this with a google search f my company name, to be put off booking. I especially take umbrage to the accusations levelled against my wife, who cooked all his meals, cleared his table, made sure his laundry was done daily, made all the arrangements for the Addo trip he went on, the fishing charter he went on, the countless email correspondence that we have on file with both him and his cousin, to make sure this hunt went off without a hitch.

I considered Michael (Jared) Habel as a friend. He spent hours at my booth, for 3 consecutive years at SCI, after this hunt had taken place, and not once did he ever make any mention of these baseless accusations.
All I can do is show you how terrible his experience with me and my company was, through the lense of his own camera, and his very own expressions on social media, during and after his hunt with my company and professional hunters Craig Done and Flippie Ehlers.

I will let you decide, and will take full responsibility for the outcome, if I am found to be in error.

Yours in good hunting,
Dave Davenport
Owner, Outfitter, Professional Hunter, at Leopard's Valley Safaris

If the motive is malicious then I think it has spectacularly backfired.
After reading this and the dignified response from Dave I would be more likely to book with him than anyone associated with the OP.

How sure are we that it is actually Michael (Jared) Habel who has posted the original post and not some hacker of sorts?

This whole accusation has a bad smell to it and does not seem to be what it is made out to be....

Glad you posted that @daved. Pictures definitely say 1000 words.

IvW said:

How sure are we that it is actually Michael (Jared) Habel who has posted the original post and not some hacker of sorts?

This whole accusation has a bad smell to it and does not seem to be what it is made out to be....

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I had the same thought initially and asked Wayne about that. Well, you know how Wayne will dig into things and call out what isn't real. We haven't heard a call out here. So....

IvW said:

How sure are we that it is actually Michael (Jared) Habel who has posted the original post and not some hacker of sorts?

This whole accusation has a bad smell to it and does not seem to be what it is made out to be....

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Multiple sources to confirm any details.

You leave a trail on the internet, it is not truly anonymous.
Your IP address has a physical location.
I'll PM you some of your personal details that are simple to find on the net.

There is zero issue about posting a negative hunt report on any Outfitter. Do it, if you wish to do so.

I personally dismiss positive reports that are two sentences long.
The one post wonder:
"Great hunt, can't go wrong with XXX. Best animals, best food, best lodging I've ever had. Highly recommend them."

Michaelh said:

again I didn't come on here to advertise my business. ...............

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AH ASSISTANT deleted this post of yours before I saw it.

Why would you need to share the details of your hunts at Hunters Hill in a PM vs the public thread asking for information?

BRICKBURN said:

Multiple sources to confirm any details.

You leave a trail on the internet, it is not truly anonymous.
Your IP address has a physical location.
I'll PM you some of your personal details that are simple to find on the net.

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So, how many years did you work at RCMP SS and CSIS?

It is fascinating watching an individual utilize his gifts and talents.

Thanks for posting Dave, looks like those guys had a horrible time!

Wheels said:

So, how many years did you work at RCMP SS and CSIS?

It is fascinating watching an individual utilize his gifts and talents.

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There are some of those folks in the family. I just like research and have a rudimentary knowledge base.
I can only imagine what you could do with those type of resources.

I want to thank Jerome for making these available to me .

- SOUTH AFRICA: July Hunt With Leopards Valley Safaris: https://www.africahunting.com/threads/south-africa-july-hunt-with-leopards-valley-safaris.39683/

- SOUTH AFRICA: Leopards Valley Safaris In Eastern Cape South Africa: https://www.africahunting.com/threa...y-safaris-in-eastern-cape-south-africa.40389/