SOUTH AFRICA: BOWHUNT: African Arrow Safaris Harry Nel

Ryan Wilson

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A friend of mine and myself booked a bowhunting trip with Harry Nel of African Arrow Safaris in RSA near Ellisras. When we booked, Harry was running a special that if 2 people booked, there were no daily fees. We only paid for the trophies we shot plus any tips. I spent months trying to figure out if this deal was legit or even possible but we never found a single bad thing about Harry and his operations. So I chalked it up as him needing to fill a week of hunting and assuming he would make up some profit from us killing animals.
After months of less than ideal responses to emails, Harry finally confirmed someone would be at airport to pick us up the day and time we arrived.
Upon arrival in JNB a guide of his, Johan, met us at the airport and started our 4 hour journey to camp. After arriving at camp around 11:30pm we were shown our rooms and were left to get some sleep so the next morning we could get up and meet Harry, staff and shoot our bows. The next morning, we were greated by another client in camp with his son (Harry's clients) Followed by Harry and staff and a small breakfast of toast, yogurt, fruit and ham. My friend Josh was assigned to Johan and I was assigned to an outgoing Garry. Both men were a pleasure to deal with and Johan takes more than ideal photos. Garry is an absolute riot and never offered a dull moment.
At the beginning of our hunt, our guides asked what animals we wanted to pursue (Harry was notified in advance) so Josh was looking for Zebra, Warthog, Impala, Blue Wildebeest and Gemsbok. I was looking for Kudu, Blue Wildebeest, Gemsbok, Baboon and an opportunistic animal of which I would decide after I saw a few animals. This was my second trip and already had taken waterbuck, zebra, Impala and warthog and was not interested in taking them again.

Over the next six days we ate the same small breakfast in the morning, hunted until 1:00pm came back to camp for an unbelievable lunch, hunted until dark and ended the night with a 5 star meal and beverages. I was able to harvest a wildebeest, kudu and gemsbok. Josh had a tough week and only took a wildebeest and gemsbok off his main list and shot a female warthog because males were hard to find (a subject I'll mention later) and a blesbok (because zebra were hard to get on). For the most part, the hunt was successful and the food was excellent regardless of the light breakfast.
Now to the questionable parts of our hunt. Several times in the week I saw Zebra, Impala and male Warthog at a water hole. I would pass this along to my partner Josh, his guide and Harry. With Impala and Warthog, this followed by Harry taking his client to shoot the animals and not offering the opportunity to my buddy. Even after I asked them to take Josh there to get his primary animals for 2 days prior. There were several times my friend and I had to sit together because my guide had a birthday to go to or Harry had business in town. Which kept one person from taking a primary animal everytime we sat.
Harry's client finished their hunt a day and half before us. After 3 days of no AC in my room I was able to change rooms for a night. (90+ degrees all week) I got by by opening all windows and doors at night. Harry did not offer his guide service to myself so we shared a guide because my guide was assigned the 8 hour trip of taking Harry's clients to airport and getting a new AC unit in prep of the next guests coming after us. The last 2 mornings of our hunt, our small breakfast turned into just toast.
Lunch and dinner the last day was adequate but far from the dinners we were served through the week. We sat together with the exception of the last evening and I sat by myself in a blind we called the "sable hole". We sat that blind 6 or more times that week and I shot a kudu (primary) and Josh shot blesbok and female warthog from it (just to spend a $). The day we were scheduled to leave, we decided to give the cook $100 a peice because the food was amazing most all week.(We were told we shouldn't have).
Harry gave us our invoices for the week which included a $20 conservation fee per animal and a $350 camp fee per person that was never mentioned, discussed prior to or during our hunt. We received a nice shirt and hat and were sent off to the airport. In a nut shell, Harry's communication with us was less than adequate, hunting was tough for Josh, yet Harry's client killed all their primary animals (6-8) or more. I killed 3/4 and Josh 2/5 not counting a female warthog. We left camp with a feeling that we were secondary and expendable clients.

AAS has tremendous potential, they own the land, the animals, live on the property, food was excellent, when important, and the guides were great but at the mercy of Harry's decisions. What started as a 9/10 we were going to be repeat clients, we are now 50/50 after much discussion over our 20hrs of travel home. Both of us are in our mid 30's and could have provided repeat business hopefully over the next 30+ years. All this was our perception of the events that took place and if the intent was different than depicted, good communication would have been suffice. Cheers

full
 
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Thanks for sharing the experience with us, sorry it wasn't ideal. If you have a chance, do post some pics of your trophies
 
Boy talk about Mixed Emotions. Sorry for the disappointment.
 
RW,

I can completely relate to what you have described. My wife and I experienced a very similar situation on our very first trip to South Africa. We felt we had thoroughly researched and vetted several outfitters and felt very comfortable with our top 3.... However, my work schedule forced us to go with our #2 pick on short notice. Still, this was a highly regarded outfit with very good reports and references. We felt very good about our choice.

Long story, short.... We also felt a drastic shift in the level of attention and priority we were receiving early in the hunt when we were the only hunters in camp. When repeat clients arrived with new trophy lists and pockets full of money, we were more or less brushed to the side. There were also miscellaneous BS charges on our final bill which were not included in our hunting agreement. Our PH of 5 days also announced that he was leaving us to hunt with one of the new guests who was his repeat client. We left feeling hustled, and it just put a bad overall taste in our mouths, after what started out as a fantastic experience.

My point is that even though we had a less than perfect experience with this outfitter, we enjoyed the overall experience of Africa enough to know that we wanted to return. We ending up returning 2 years later with our #1 choice, and we have never looked back. Our second African safari was a night and day difference from the first. We discovered an ethical, honest, professional outfitter that exceeded our expectations at all levels and showed us what an Africa Safari should be. I guess sometimes you have to endure a negative experience to find and appreciate a truly great one... There are some great outfitters out there. Don't let this one ruin Africa for you. Glad to see you took some nice trophies anyway!
 
Kind of like you can't fully appreciate a good hunt until you've had a bad one for comparison.
 
This was my second trip and I'll without a doubt go back to Africa. My first trip was a good experience and we just happen to have chosen to go with and try something new on this trip. Overall, the trip wasn't bad nor a bust. We killed a few animals and ate some great food. However, we were subdued to what we believe was preferential treatment. I've guided and sold deer hunts here in the states. No matter how much a guy spent with me, they knew what they were getting, they received a quote that was the total price, no surprises. If I offered discounts, it was on me. I didn't treat them any less for taking advantage of our farm needing to do some herd management or needing to fill a couple hunts. It's a part of the business. Thanks for the insight. RW
 
Thanks for the report Ryan. I think it's important to provide the ideal and less than ideal experiences on here so others can cut their learning curve through your experience.

You've approached it very professionally- giving credit to the excellent food and quality of trophies while explaining how the outfitter made you feel by not making your hunt a priority and trying to sneak extra charges in.

there are so many excellent outfits in South Africa that I hope everyone that reads your report will be warned against going with Harry's outfit and find someone that gives everyone a quality experience.

Who wants to chance feeling like a second rate citizen?

Thanks again for posting and I Hope your next adventure is an A+!
 
Ryan thank you for sharing the report! Looks like you got some good trophies though!
 
Absolutely. I'd never deny that the hunting is fantastic and that they have excellent quality. My only negative assessment would be with communication and customer service. As I mentioned before, this was our perception of the circumstances involved and I believe them to be fair and accurate. I could very well say we killed some animals and therefore justify the hunt, but as Harry stated, "It's not about killing animals, it's about the experience", and this was our experience.
 
Absolutely. I'd never deny that the hunting is fantastic and that they have excellent quality. My only negative assessment would be with communication and customer service. As I mentioned before, this was our perception of the circumstances involved and I believe them to be fair and accurate. I could very well say we killed some animals and therefore justify the hunt, but as Harry stated, "It's not about killing animals, it's about the experience", and this was our experience.

I hope the experience didn't turn your buddy off to hunting in Africa. This being your second trip you have something better to compare this trip to.
Again good report.
 
Apparently you were discounted vs having a discount hunt.
Short sighted on the Outfitters side.

If you are not receiving prompt (reasonably) replies to communication before a hunt, it NEVER gets better.

Glad you got some of your critters and thanks for sharing your experience with us.
 
Some good trophies nonetheless!
 
Some good trophies nonetheless!
Absolutely. Thank you! I saw good numbers of quality kudu, waterbuck, gemsbok and eland. There were also good numbers of steenbok.
 
I wanted to complement you on the write up. Seems fair handed. Sorry it wasn't what it could of been. Nice Kudu. congrats.. Bruce
 
Congrats on the trophies you did get- sorry to hear about how things went overall. For your next safari, there are lots of sponsors on this forum that will jump through hoops to make your safari a success regardless how much you're spending. My parents accompanied my wife and I on our first safari in July. While there were other clients in camp hunting DG and many more trophies than us, we were still treated exceptionally throughout. Its just smart business practice, because now we'll be back for more and bigger targets on our next trip!
 
Congrats for the nice trophies, and thanks for sharing your experience.

Unfortunately some hunts do not turn out as expected, I believe you are giving us an even handed account of what happened, and we all appreciate that info.
 

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