As long as I can remember, Hunting, Fishing & the Outdoors have been at the center of my universe. I grew up outside of El Paso, Texas hunting Pronghorn, Mule Deer, and learning to shoot on the Prairie Dog towns of West Texas cattle ranches. My father, two brothers and I also spent a lot of time hunting Mule Deer, Elk, & Bear across the state of New Mexico. When I was about 9 years old my father got into bow hunting. Over the years, the obsession turned into my full time profession, and today my biggest thrill is seeing clients, friends, & family live out their dreams hunting our areas in Africa.
In 1999 I was given the opportunity to go work on a hunting concession in South Africa for the summer between high school and college. I worked for room, board, and tips. It was the adventure of a lifetime. That August I had to leave Africa for college, but I knew I wanted to be in the African Safari Industry, and for the next 4 years I spent June through December in Africa apprenticing as a Professional Hunter.
In 2003 I started my own company in South Africa, and by 2005 I went out on my own with my own safari company. The first few years were long hours, hard work, some mistakes were made but it was all part of the growth process. In the beginning we hunted South Africa almost exclusively with a few photo safari tours to neighboring countries.
In 2004 I met my wife Mia at a local get together we call a braai (bbq). We were married in 2008 and Mia took over all of the day to day office and lodge managerial duties for Choronga Safaris. As the daughter of a local tobacco farmer, she received her degree in marketing from the University of Pretoria, and is a pivotal part of the company today. We have two wonderful Children, and I am beyond blessed that the entire family are outdoor enthusiasts, and passionate about hunting. As the company grew and clients wanted to hunt outside of South Africa I began cultivating relationships with concession holders and Outfitters in most of the Southern African countries, and today we hunt South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, & Zambia. All of these areas are top concessions and we have been fortunate to harvest some incredible trophies in all of these countries over the years. In addition to our new safari company, I also started our own booking agency, as it was a good fit with what we were already doing. The plan was to expand through other countries and book clients not only throughout Africa, but also other locations. So throughout 2019 & early 2020, I traveled all over the world joining hunters in camps throughout the Southern Hemisphere, spending weeks away from home developing this new company.
In March of 2020 our first clients of the African hunting season were on their way to Dallas-Fort Worth International airport when the President of South Africa announced he was closing our borders due to Covid. Little did we know that we would only reopen for business in South Africa in 2021 and it would be over 15 months with no hunting in Southern Africa. When the borders reopened, we were extremely fortunate to have a strong client base that knew what we had been through, and that wanted to help. They streamed into South Africa for the shortened 2021 season to support us, and we are extremely grateful to have such loyal clients and friends.
The hunting shows and expos resumed in 2022 and it seemed like we were back to business as usual. I hadn’t given any attention to my booking agency at this point, and was just starting to assess where to go with the young company again after Covid. In Salt Lake City at the Hunt Expo, I ran into an old friend of mine that I’ve known for almost 20 years… Josh Harris. He explained to me that some changes had been made at Huntin’ Fool, and that he wanted to take his knowledge and past success with his booking agency background and experience, and apply it to the Huntin’ Fool model. He was looking for an Africa Specialist for that segment of the agency, and he said that I was the first one that he wanted to offer the opportunity to. At that point in time I knew my booking agency was finished, but all of the time, energy, research, and relationships I had developed would still go to good use.
After meeting on the opportunity, I accepted the position to join Huntin’ Fool and help with the development of the Southern hemisphere outfitters, with the primary focus of Africa. I am now officially a Hunt Advisor at Huntin’ Fool, and have been designated the “Africa Specialist”.
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