Kruger Not Having Much Luck....

[BushPig1963]

South African National Parks​

Incident at Concession Picnic Site in the Kruger National Park
A guest has been fatally wounded at a concession-operated braai picnic area in the vicinity of Phabeni Gate in the Kruger National Park on the evening of Wednesday, 17 June 2026.
Based on the preliminary information available at this stage, a private guide attached to the concession operator allegedly accidentally discharged a firearm, resulting in the fatal injury of a 69-year-old guest from Canada.
The guest was part of a group booked outside the park and only came in for a bush braai offered by a private concession with a valid permit to operate the facility within the park:

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Something sounds fishy. Guide who's supposed to be an expert handling weapons brings a loaded gun to a picnic area with a fire burning. Hmmm. Wonder if alcohol was involved.

 

[skydiver386]

 

[Odinsraven]

My day job is weapon safety...Sadly people operating alone fall into bad habits with weapon handling......But for tge rarity of incidents...Africa or the parts I have hunted are better tham the local range.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

My day job is weapon safety...Sadly people operating alone fall into bad habits with weapon handling......But for tge rarity of incidents...Africa or the parts I have hunted are better tham the local range.

Exactly. I have spent a lifetime hunting alone and gun safety when solo can be "different" than hunting in a gang. First morning of my first safari I told my much younger PH as soon as we were out of the truck, "Listen Glen, yes I've got fifty years experience hunting but I'm not used to others being along. Watch me. If you see something - anything - you think is amiss, speak up. Don't be afraid of offending me. Now tell that to the tracker [in Afrikaans]." He did and the fella's eyebrows go up, he looks at me, nods, and smiles. Wish I could say I never needed to be lined out but that would be a lie. When hunting in Africa, I'm again the little kid who doesn't know anything. And fine with filling that role. Fortunately, my PH isn't the bossy type overly impressed with his authority. I only get guidance when needed.

 

[Odinsraven]

Exactly. I have spent a lifetime hunting alone and gun safety when solo can be "different" than hunting in a gang. First morning of my first safari I told my much younger PH as soon as we were out of the truck, "Listen Glen, yes I've got fifty years experience hunting but I'm not used to others being along. Watch me. If you see something - anything - you think is amiss, speak up. Don't be afraid of offending me. Now tell that to the tracker [in Afrikaans]." He did and the fella's eyebrows go up, he looks at me, nods, and smiles. Wish I could say I never needed to be lined out but that would be a lie. When hunting in Africa, I'm again the little kid who doesn't know anything. And fine with filling that role. Fortunately, my PH isn't the bossy type overly impressed with his authority. I only get guidance when needed.

Respect SIr - the proper approach to gun safety !

 

[leslie hetrick]

to me carrying a firearm by the barrel on the shoulder seems pretty dumb(if loaded). and i would not walk in front of anyone holding a loaded firearm like that. but you see that type of carry on just about all the african hunting shows.

 

[Field28]

It's always the "unloaded" gun that seems to kill.

 

[C.W. Richter]

N. RSA (or RSA) not having much luck...Local police ruled them both suicides (i know nothing of these people but IDTS!) Happened at different times. Caroline von Rantzau (26), heiress to the German shipping firm Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), and Arno Koën (44), the family estate’s financial manager, were found dead from gunshot wounds at their family’s luxury wildlife estate, Leeuwfontein Safaris, in South Africa's Limpopo province.

 

[Odinsraven]

N. RSA (or RSA) not having much luck...Local police ruled them both suicides (i know nothing of these people but IDTS!) Happened at different times. Caroline von Rantzau (26), heiress to the German shipping firm Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), and Arno Koën (44), the family estate’s financial manager, were found dead from gunshot wounds at their familY

One of the UK papers hinted at a romantic relationship- tragic !

 

[deewayne2003]

So much bad press about Kruger lately.....

 

[trperk1]

I've taken a rifle to Krueger with two RSA citizens. It had to be inspected, locked and they put a tag on it to validate that it stayed locked until we left the park. Where it was reinspected again.

 

[JG26Irish_2]

Sad to hear. There are two kinds of people... Those who have had an AD and those who someday will. It is why you never point you weapon at a person or allow the muzzle to sweep over them at any time. Loaded or not. Make that a habit and your AD will be a benign, event. Embarrassing perhaps but not deadly. It is also why I hate the Afrikaan carry method with rifle balanced on shoulder and hand on the bbl pointing the muzzle forward or slightly down and away. It fosters bad habits even if the rifle is unloaded.

After all if you are hunting and may encounter DG animals, your rifle needs to be loaded. Sometimes and in some places, it needs to be loaded in camp also. Ever walk across the camp at night on your way to your tent or cabin and bump into a rogue hippo that wandered out of the nearby river to feed? They move too fast to have tome to load up on the fly. I am a former National range safety officer and am a stickler for firearms safety myself and of others around me. But, it is still possible to have an AD in some cases. Make safety a habit. Treat all guns as loaded, all the time. Nobody wants to be the guy who has to call and tell your best friend's wife that you accidentally shot and killed him. Or a son or a daughter.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Boddington says African carry "may be comfortable." Really? I bare thin rod of metal weighing +10 lbs digging into me between my neck and shoulder where clavicle bone is all but unprotected is more comfortable than having the gun slung on the shoulder or carried in hand? Or in any possible way comfortable? Sorry Craig, I have trouble wrapping my head around that one.

 

[roverandbrew]

Boddington says African carry "may be comfortable." Really? I bare thin rod of metal weighing +10 lbs digging into me between my neck and shoulder where clavicle bone is all but unprotected is more comfortable than having the gun slung on the shoulder or carried in hand? Or in any possible way comfortable? Sorry Craig, I have trouble wrapping my head around that one.

Unless you have to hump the pig.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Unless you have to hump the pig.
View attachment 771527

View attachment 771524
View attachment 771525

I don't believe those came equipped with slings?

 

[roverandbrew]

They did.

 

[skydiver386]

The M60 was a lightweight at around 24 pounds.

The M240B is the Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla at just over 27 pounds.

Both were issued with slings, but most guys didn't use it when carrying a heavy ruck.

 

[matt85]

Boddington says African carry "may be comfortable." Really? I bare thin rod of metal weighing +10 lbs digging into me between my neck and shoulder where clavicle bone is all but unprotected is more comfortable than having the gun slung on the shoulder or carried in hand? Or in any possible way comfortable? Sorry Craig, I have trouble wrapping my head around that one.

Its easier to carry my 16.5lb double in the "African style" than it is with a sling. Even a wide sling will dig in to your shoulder after a while.

 

[Wildwillalaska]

N. RSA (or RSA) not having much luck...Local police ruled them both suicides (i know nothing of these people but IDTS!) Happened at different times. Caroline von Rantzau (26), heiress to the German shipping firm Deutsche Afrika-Linien (DAL), and Arno Koën (44), the family estate’s financial manager, were found dead from gunshot wounds at their family’s luxury wildlife estate, Leeuwfontein Safaris, in South Africa's Limpopo province.

For those two, a day apart or something similar...weren't they both shot in the chest, thought one report was multiple shots...or maybe I misinterpreted. Just surprising if that were the case and suicide....if the chest wound let alone multiple was accurate.