A crackling fire, three spaniels at our feet, and a conversation that takes us from frosty Scottish mornings to the heat and dust of the South African veld. We sit down with professional hunter and outfitter Sarah Ripley Forsyth to talk about what conservation really looks like when you’re paying the bills, protecting herds, and living with predators. Sarah runs a historic lodge and game farm on land once owned by Paul Kruger, where history, habitat, and hard choices intersect every single day.

We dig into how South Africa’s professional hunter system works, what it takes to guide international clients across multiple provinces, and why dangerous game requires far more than a short course. Sarah opens her books on breeding programs for sable, eland, wildebeest, impala, and blessbuck, and she doesn’t shy away from the messy bits: predator losses, poaching with dogs, and fences that never stop everything. If you think zebra are harmless, brace yourself.

Then we follow the money. Leopard permits have been frozen since 2021 even as encounters rise. Rhinos demand 24/7 security that few can afford without legal horn revenue. Elephant overpopulation in certain reserves is flattening trees, stripping browse, and pushing grazers to the brink—one park saw a reported hundred elephants starve in a year. Sarah argues for ethical, regulated hunting as the only model that consistently funds habitat, enforcement, and long-term wildlife recovery on private land. It’s not the easy story, but it’s the one that keeps animals on the landscape.

We round things out with practical guidance: how to book a safari, travel with firearms, set a realistic species list, and match terrain to your fitness and goals. Whether you hunt 1,400 acres or 18,000 hectares, the bush decides; a good outfitter adapts with you. Come for the animals and the history, stay for the truth about conservation that glossy campaigns won’t tell you.

If this conversation challenged you—or clarified things—share it with a friend, subscribe for more field-first stories, and leave a review with the one insight that changed your mind.

You can find Sarah on Instagram at this link 

https://www.instagram.com/sarahripleyforsyth/?hl=en

The Kedar Heritage Lodge at this link 

https://kedar.co.za/

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