Louis Theroux's African Hunting Holiday

This programme contains some strong language.

MAN INHALES SHARPLY

(Good shot.

(Nice stuff, man.

# Hey-up! Ooh!

# A-wimoweh!

# A-wimoweh! #

I was in South Africa,

spending time in the world of trophy hunters and safari outfitters.

Great shot, Nikki.

Here's the pig. Right through the lungs.

Clever, eh?

Here's your first animal, Nikki.

Their practice of keeping wild animals fenced in on farms

has made it cheaper and easier to hunt than ever before,

and also proved highly controversial.

Are you happy about your pig? Yeah.

Congratulations.

Well done, my sweet. Give me a kiss.

Still it attracts thousands of budget hunters every year,

and I was joining them.

My journey had started a week earlier

in South Africa's Limpopo Province.

Shingani Safaris is one of a new crop of outfitters.

I'm Louis. Nice to meet you. How are you doing? Nice to meet you too.

Its owner, Riaan Vosloo, caters to hunters from all over the world,

but mostly from America.

We have clients here, Ann Marie. And Louis. Hi, I'm Louis.

Nice to meet you. Thank you.

Nice to meet you. When did you... Where did you just come in from?

Cleveland, Ohio. Really? Mm-hm.

He's dressed to hunt and she's dressed to shop.

They don't have wild animals in Cleveland?

Not wild animals like this. Really?

The wild animals in Cleveland you're not allowed to hunt.

Paul and Ann Marie Potempski were the first arrivals

of a group of 22 hunters from Ohio.

Paul had come for his dream hunting holiday.

And Ann Marie was tagging along.

Ann Marie if you're not a hunter, why are you here?

I'm here to watch him hunt. Yeah.

And they say that even if you're not hunting,

the experience is absolutely awesome.

Have you been out hunting with Paul before? Never.

Never? No.

Why not? He doesn't take me hunting.

I'm not very much for the outdoors.

Really? Really.

But these guys are saying that they think they may convert you?

That's what they're thinking. What do you think? I don't know.

We'll talk you through it step by step.

You just warn Paul, tell him we're going to turn you into a monster

and he'll have to start skinning and tracking to pay for your trophies. Oh, great.

Do you have a list of animals that you're after while you're here?

Er, a zebra and a kudu are my big two.

And then any other, other ones as well?

Oh, yeah, I'd really like to find a baboon. A baboon? Yeah.

A baboon? I've never heard of someone hunting a baboon.

A lot of people want it. Er, it's a beautiful trophy.

Really? But they are tough to get, because they are very smart.

They're very, very intelligent.

At the end of the day it's also about money.

Cos he pays per trophy that he kills, it's not just about shooting.

I mean, if money were no object what would you be gunning for?

If money was no object, a rhino.

Really? A rhino? Yeah. Wow!

They just look fierce. Yeah.

And how much would a rhino set you back? Wow!

You could shoot... Rhinos now are very expensive,

because of the demand of the rhino horn. The Chinese people...

Could someone come to Shingani and shoot... Shoot a rhino?

If you want 20, I can get you 20. 20 rhino?

Yeah, easy. But it's the price.

You pay between 50 and 100,000 US for a rhino now.

You hadn't met...Paul and Ann Marie before?

Never met them. Had you spoken to them on the phone?

Yeah, I spoke to them on the phone.

If you'd taken them down there and then you'd seen them on the range

and he'd been a pretty hopeless shot... Yeah.

..What would you have done then?

If you know he's a bad shot you try and keep him on the shooting range for the day. Hmm.

So we can tell them... You can teach them? We teach them.

I also have a form where they fill out their abilities -

can they walk, what operations do they have, how's his eyesight?

So when a guy shows up you know this guy is a 300-pounder,

he can't walk, he can't climb off the truck,

and you adjust to his abilities.

But you have to talk him in. Would you let him go out?

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Cos you must make sure when he pulls the trigger he's on it.

A little later I joined Ann Marie and Paul

and their Shingani PH, or Professional Hunter, Willie.

My lucky hat. We're gonna kill today.

We had travelled to a nearby game farm.

Twenty years ago all this land was used to raise cattle,

now it was game fenced and stocked with a range of trophy animals.

Paul was out for zebra, price tag £675.

Do you know where the zebras are, Willie?

Have you got a place in mind?

Yeah, I know in which area they like to keep,

so what I'm doing is we're zigzagging through that area,

see if we can find them somewhere.

I see a tree. I saw the tree as well.

That's what I saw, the tree.

(Look, look, look, look! Over there. Right there.

(Oh, wow! Look even you can see this one.

(Yeah.

(Oh, my God, there it is, there it is!

(My God, there's two of 'em.

(Oh, my God!

Oh, Jesus!

But there was no immediate sign of a dead zebra.

The trackers set to work.

(Are you nervous?

(A little bit, I think. I'm excited for Paul if he got it.

(He's been waiting to get the zebra, that's what he really wants.

(Could you do it?

(You know, I don't think so, not like that.

(I mean, I wouldn't be able to take a good shot from so far away.

(No, but, I mean, cos they're like horses aren't they, zebras?)

Nerves.

Nerves.

My heart was racing, trying to breathe,

I'm shaky a little bit.

There was one I was watching when they took off,

and I don't know which one it was but it started to,

like, zigzag.

That's why I thought I hit one.

How have you found it so far?

Interesting.

Actually I find that I'm more compelled than ever...

Than ever I thought I would be to want to hunt.

So I don't know, maybe it's like gambling,

like we were talking about you're in the casino

and everyone else is doing it, so you just want to try it.

I hear it's like a major rush when you kill your first animal.

So, what about you? Do you think you would ever kill an animal here?

Hmm, I don't think so.

No?

I think I'd feel bad.

See, and I would feel bad

if it was just killing the animal just for the sake of killing it.

The fact that they, you know, use the meat

and give it to people that are in need, just like cattle,

they're raised to be slaughtered for their beef, right?

Here you're giving the opportunity for men and women that like to hunt,

give them that adventure,

and the animals are living freely, they're not caged up,

and they're able to hunt,

and then the meat is still used for the villages or sold to people.

So I don't feel bad from that respect. Hmm.

Er, Paul, we can't get any blood.

So, er, and we've checked, Pietr is making one last sleep...sweep,

but I don't think you got that one.

I'm glad there's no blood. Yeah. Yeah.

What's the issue with leaving a wounded animal?

Well, you don't want to shoot something

and leave it in the bush, not dead but wounded.

Yeah. Erm, so I think it..

In pain. Yeah, it's an ethical thing.

And also if it's wounded you've paid for it, right?

Yeah. Once it's wounded and we've picked up blood,

then it must be paid for.

Er, then we must find it, if possible.

I was on the far side of Limpopo Province

to meet big game breeder, Piet Warren.

Hello. Are you Piet? Yes. I'm Louis. Pleased to meet you.

Piet raises exotic animals

and sells them when they're old enough to be hunted.

He specialises in a kind of antelope called Sable,

but today he wanted to show me his lions.

Will we be travelling in here?

That's where you're gonna travel. Yeah.

OK. So, this is what you're feeding the lions?

Yes, these are unborn calves from the abattoir.

We just... I buy them off the abattoirs and we feed them...

feed them to the lions.

I'm not really used to being around, um, dead animals.

Yeah. Yeah. You know?

No.

So, even, like, the idea of...

..unborn calves is odd to me. Even the concept of it?

Yeah, a bit. Yeah. Like seeing it

and I think the idea of slaughtering a pregnant cow, to me is quite odd.

Yeah. But that's... That's normal is it?

That's normal, yeah.

Piet also has his own hunting reserve,

but filming there was strictly off limits.

I mean, just for the record,

can I ask, obviously you've made a decision

you would like us not to film any hunting, is that right?

Yes, bec.. Why is that?

If you show hunting, it's offensive to 98% of the people.

So that'll give the film a negative taint before you start.

You don't even want us to film you talking about hunting?

No, it's negative, it's negative to the mind,

it's about farming. What we came to do is farming.

There are just so many people that want to do that.

What? Hunt.

There are just so many and they want to hunt, that's what they like.