THE DEATH OF DAVE WINHALL
THE DEATH OF DAVE WINHALL
I J Larivers
I considered Dave Winhall to be a friend. On the (many, but still far too few) occasions I have had to visit the Rifa Conservation Education Camp in the Zambezi Valley on the border with Zambia, one of the things I have always looked forward to is a chance to visit with the resident Professional Hunter – there is no commercial hunting at Rifa, but it is a National Parks requirement that a fully-qualified PH be on hand to guide students’ walks – Dave Winhall and his partner Elspeth.
Dave was a former Rhodesian National Parks ranger for some years before he obtained his PH’s licence. He was a consummate bushman, and I would always try and tag along on his walks with the various school groups circulating through the camp, because I always learned something from Dave.
He had on occasion remarked to folks that when ‘his time’ came, he would rather be killed by an elephant or a buffalo or a crocodile than die a lingering death in a hospital bed. Sadly, his time came on the morning of Tuesday 26 July 2022.
Dave and a volunteer instructor from the Zimbabwe Hunters Association, which makes Rifa possible, had been out on a walk with a group pf youngsters from a junior school in Harare. They had left the camp, and hiked up Shumba Hill, which always has intriguing secrets about the movement of wildlife from the night before to reveal.
As they came down from the crest of the hill and its magnificent view of the mighty Zambezi River below, Dave spotted elephant activity in a small clearing below them. Elephant are sometimes seen at this place, but usually bulls – this time it was a cow herd – always unpredictable. Dave gave the instruction to the other instructor to back off with the students while he (Dave) got the lie of the land. The group of students duly went back along the trail they’d just traversed to await developments.
It should be mentioned that the bush here is thick, even in the dry season, and there are plenty of thorn bushes.
Usually, elephants will move off once they know people are about, and Dave’s colleague heard Dave whistle and shout, and then a shot rang out. The priority at all times is the safety of the school group, and they were kept a safe distance from the clearing while events below unfolded. After a time, the volunteer moved cautiously down, and came across Dave’s body; it appeared that he had been blind-sided by one of the elephants, possibly from the thick bush. Whether the shot he fired was a warning shot to try and turn the charge, or things happened so quickly that he had no time for an effective, aimed shot, is unknown. Extensive National Parks follow-ups did not detect any blood spoor, so Dave’s having shot the elephant is unlikely. But he had had time to chamber another round before he died.
Dave’s volunteer colleague waited by the body for around an hour – at the same time safeguarding the students but not letting them close enough to see the traumatic scene which had played out. As soon as assistance arrived, the legal and medical formalities began.
Counselling was made available to the students who wanted it, and Dave’s remains were quietly transported to Harare and cremated; an elephant attack is never a pretty sight, and Dave’s injuries were extensive; if there is any positive that can come from all this, death was probably almost immediate.
The safety protocols and standard operating procedures that Rifa Conservation Education Camp have put in place to protect the school children in their care were proved by this incident to have been well thought-put and correctly implemented.
Dave Winhall was 71 when he died, fit and healthy (I never could keep up with him in the bush). He had half a century’s experience in the African outdoors that he loved, and throughout his tenure at Rifa, he was living the dream.
I am very sorry that on future visits to Rifa I will not have the pleasure of his company or be able to share another beer with him around the campfire while reminiscing over another fine day in the African bush.
Dave’s life partner Elspeth is a very strong woman, and I can only extend my heartfelt condolences to her, and to Dave’s family.
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