The Safari Hunting Game
The safari hunting game
Today most of the big game safari hunting game take place on private ranches which raise their own wildlife or buy it in from other breeders specifically to be killed by their paying guests. The tone of these establishments varies enormously from the best where it is a genuine conservation project to the worst where it becomes more like a killing fest with bands of deranged visitors dressed in camouflage, pumping full of blood lust and keen to mash as many animals as possible in the shortest time.
Safari Hunting Game: A Primer on the Thrills and Challenges of African Safaris
Until recently it was very common to see large numbers of safari hunters driving out to the vast open plains in East and South Africa where they would spend a week or more on a hunt for the famous Big Five of Lion, Elephant, Leopard, Buffalo and Rhinoceros. Inevitably this was a huge drain on resources and the wildlife was absolutely decimated by this type of unregulated activity.
The Big Five safaris still occur but the trend is now towards focusing on photographic safari rather than shooting, and there is much more focus on conservation of wildlife. The other types of safari, however, which are more of a pure killing festival are still very prevalent.
The latest example is the current boom of ranch hunting in South Africa and Namibia which is essentially a massive hunting farm for big game. These private estates are stocked to high densities of wildlife, the game is often baited and shot by vehicles or from blinds, and even whole prides of lions can be taken by shooting them with automatic weapons in a matter of minutes.