In 1989 Federal introduced .416 Rigby ammo along with .470 Nitro Express. In the author’s view both cartridges gave new life not only to two classic African cartridges, but to African hunting.

1965: Rhodesia declares UDI. Balking at Great Britain's plans for majority-rule independence, Prime Minister Ian Smith and his government declared Unilateral Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. This began a long and increasingly bitter bush war and, over time, incurred international sanctions against the Smith government. Region-wide, if not worldwide, implications were extreme. But as far as African hunting goes, until 1965 nonresident sport hunting was not authorized in Rhodesia, with no legal facility for exportation of trophies. The Smith government enabled a fledgling safari industry, with pioneer outfitters like Ian Henderson, Brian Marsh, Peter Johnstone and Geoff Broom operating safaris despite ever-increasing security concerns.

1973: Formation of Safari Club International. C.J. McElroy broke away from the long-established (and now defunct) Southern California Safari Club and founded the Los Angeles Safari Club, which became the founding chapter of Safari Club International. Over time, as membership grew and chapters sprang up worldwide, SCI became not only a powerful pro-hunting political force but also a repository of hunting information never before available. The SCI record book now runs to thousands of pages, and the annual convention draws tens of thousands of participants and hundreds of African outfitters. Of any single force, SCI must be given the lion's share of the credit for the current popularity of African hunting.

1977: Kenya closes hunting. Kenya had been the center of the safari industry since its birth at the beginning of the 20th century, and it was by far the most popular safari destination. This was not the first closure. Kenya closed elephant hunting in 1973, and in 1974 Tanzania closed hunting. But the closing of Kenya was unthinkable. This was without question the nadir of African hunting, and these were bad times. My own first safari had concluded in Kenya just weeks before the closure. Those of us involved thought this was the end of the line. After the closure, Kenya's wildlife, especially her elephant and rhino, were ravaged by organized poaching. But it turns out that African hunting was more resilient than we thought. Hunters still wanted to go to Africa, and during the next few years the safari industry shifted south.

1979: Rhodesia becomes Zimbabwe. Technically, it became a transitional Zimbabwe-Rhodesia, officially Zimbabwe in 1981, but overt hostilities ground to a halt and the safari industry blossomed. During the same period South Africa's safari industry also exploded, but the only specific event this can be tied to is the closure of Kenya. The end of the long Rhodesian War enabled, through the '80s and '90s, Africa's second-largest safari industry after South Africa.