In reading all of this dialogue about Zambia from last year, I would be happy to have a phone conversation with anyone about hunting in Zambia. The tourism businesses that I own or am involved in employ 300 Zambians across 12 safari camps, 3 of which are hunting camps. I don't just casually know things about Zambia, I live and breathe it every day. It is a fantastic country in terms of wildlife experiences, the communities and people that you come across as a general rule of thumb, and overall value of what you get for your money - fully understanding that hunting in Zambia is expensive on a relative basis.
I understand there are lots of opinions about operators, PHs, outfitters, and the government in this country based on people's past experiences but it's such a small hunting community that for any "insider" it has become quite easy to navigate once you understand how it all works and who can be trusted or not. In short, I can help people eliminate the mistrust thru better information if asked. But doesn't this insider/outsider situation exist in most things in life? It's my position as a sponsor on this website to get anyone comfortable with booking a hunt in Zambia via our outfitting business or others by educating them on what I know about Zambia as an insider and that's why I have taken the time to become a sponsor at AH even though we may never sell a hunt thru this platform until we earn trusts from members of this community.
Regarding PHs, there are many excellent Zambian PHs and many quality younger ones that no one for the most part has heard of on this forum. They have no less training than other country's PHs and many have a vast amount of more experiences hunting all types of DG due the quantity of opportunity that exist in Zambia. PHs from other countries love to come hunt in Zambia which should be a hint about the quality of hunting experiences that one finds in Zambia. You typically don't find Zambian PHs traveling to other countries to hunt game in those countries. IMHO, that's because the hunting and hunting opportunity for the best PHs is so good in Zambia.
From the 30,000 foot view, Zambia offers some of the best open range hunting in Africa in terms of quality of trophies, number of animals available to hunt on quota, game viewing while hunting, non-hunting activities for observers, numbers of indigenous species you can hunt out of one camp, camp life experiences on the banks of iconic rivers like the Luangwa and Kafue rivers, bird hunting, and I could go on and on. Hunting the huge government concessions that buffer the iconic national parks is a real treat that I personally haven't found anything to match it in my travels across Africa, although I still have a few places I need to go check out admittedly. If you want to learn more, again, I am happy to talk to anyone on this forum or otherwise about Zambia. It is a real gem that doesn't get enough recognition on all that it offers and I am hear to try and educate folks about the truly epic experiences one can have in Zambia.
