Professional hunters, a travel specialist, a filmmaker and our representatives across the United States. Between them they have decades in the African bush — and every one of them is someone you can talk to before you book.
Francois Els
Outfitter, Dangerous Game PH
Francois has been a professional hunter since 1999, carrying on a family tradition that started when he was six years old, hunting alongside his father. He took up bowhunting in the early 2000s and has since taken more than 40 African species with a bow, though his first love remains big-calibre rifle hunting. What sets him apart is how he reads the bush itself — the land, the game, the birds and the flora — whether that means closing to 20 yards on a Cape buffalo or placing a 700-yard shot on a mountain kudu. For Francois this is not a career but a way of life, and many of his clients come back year after year to hunt at his side.
Erik picked up a rifle at six and has spent his life since mastering tracking, spoor identification and animal behaviour across some of Southern Africa's hardest terrain. He hunts most often with an open-sight .375 H&H, preferring the discipline and tradition of iron sights to anything with glass on it. Away from the rifle he is a keen fisherman who travels the world chasing new species. Clients single out his patience and his refusal to settle for anything less than their success.
The youngest PH on the Kaiwhai team, AJ learned to track from the Khoisan bushmen who lived and worked on the farm where he grew up — an apprenticeship in reading sign and animal movement that most hunters never get. He carries a .470 Nitro Express and has built a reputation for spotting, stalking and closing the distance on game in a way that impresses even veteran hunters. Clients describe him as calm, patient and sharply instinctive in the field, and good company around the fire afterwards.
Carmyn runs the whole guest journey, from a client's first enquiry to the flight home — communication, planning and travel arrangements all sit with her. She has been passionate about travel since 2001 and joins the hunts herself, which gives her a real feel for what guests have come for. Her speciality is everything around the hunt: excursions for spouses, and pre- and post-hunt extensions to other parts of Africa. For most clients hers is the first voice they hear when they contact Kaiwhai.
Altus is a photographer, videographer and editor, and also a qualified hunting guide — which is exactly why his footage works: he knows where the animal is going to be before it gets there. He films the hunts, shoots camp life, and cuts it into something clients can take home and show people. He is a serious outdoorsman in his own right, as happy tracking game or casting for tiger fish as he is behind a lens. Clients consistently mention his energy and his knack for putting people at ease on camera.
Dayton's strength is bushcraft — reading tracks, interpreting animal behaviour and adjusting as conditions change, so clients end up in the right place at the right time. He hunts thick bushveld and open plains with the same precision and patience, and he leads by example on ethical practice. He is also one of the easier people to spend a week with: his humour and easy laugh make him a favourite around the campfire.
Claudia is a lifelong hunter based in Montana and one of Kaiwhai's US representatives. She has hunted with the team for years and taken a wide range of species, so she answers questions about travel, firearms and logistics from experience rather than from a brochure. For American hunters weighing up a first African safari, she is the person who has already walked that road and will talk it through honestly.
Reed is a lifelong outdoorsman who has hunted Alaska, the wider United States and Africa, and the founder of Alaska Gun Company, where he designs and builds precision rifles. He has travelled to hunt with Kaiwhai many times, on plains game and on dangerous game. That combination makes him unusually useful before a trip: he can advise on calibre, optics and gear as readily as on travel and preparation.
Blake is a lifelong hunter based in Michigan who has hunted in Africa with Kaiwhai several times. He serves on the boards of the Safari Club International chapters in Dallas and Flint, which keeps him close to the conservation and hunters' rights conversation. For hunters in Michigan and further afield he is a direct line to the team, and a candid source of advice on what a Kaiwhai safari actually involves.
Collin is a Charleston-based outdoorsman who came to Kaiwhai as a client, hunted in Africa with the team, and stayed on as a friend and representative. He fields questions from hunters considering a first safari — species, gear, travel logistics, and what the days in the bush are really like. His answers come from having done the trip himself rather than from a sales script.
Dr. Gore has hunted with Kaiwhai many times and has taken Africa's Dangerous Seven — elephant, rhino, buffalo, lion, leopard, crocodile and hippo. He is also a practising physician, which makes a rare service possible: he can travel with a safari as the doctor on hand, for clients with health concerns or anyone who simply wants the peace of mind. He is a trusted reference for hunters weighing up a first trip, and happy to be contacted as one.
Kassandra owns Crown Precision Arms, a custom rifle maker with a reputation for accuracy and craftsmanship, and rifles that a number of Kaiwhai clients have carried on safari. Crown is one of Kaiwhai's official sponsors, and she is a keen hunter herself. As a US representative she can talk about both halves of the trip — the rifle you take and the safari you take it on.
