My Safari - I posted this on AfricaHunting, but thought you lads here might want a chance at reading it.
Daniel A. Beach
CPT, Cavalry
US Army, Retired
All Rights Reserved
Copyright, 06OCT21
The Prelude – A case could be made that this safari started in the fall of 1989. I decided to leave active duty and chase the dollar in the corporate world. (What a moron!) Being too much of a Soldier, my debut with Cameron Brooks netted one follow-up interview. Trying to hedge my bets with this miserable interview fair outcome, I contacted Art Alphin at A-Square and asked to interview for a position. Art had been my “Art” (History of the Military Art) instructor at West Point, as well as my instructor for the History of Military Technology. I received a generous offer from Art, but accepted the other offer from a trucking company, as it held better proximity for the Lovely Spousal Unit to further her post-grad education at a Big 8 university. Nonethless, I was bitten by the idea of going to Africa and pursuing many animals. I eventually did work for A-Square, circa 1996. I ran the ammo production line for Art. Naturally, this served to aggravate the Africa bug. However, after my paycheck bounced for the third time in 9 months, I sought better income stability.
The Funding – In 2016 the VA declared a miraculous healing of my shoulders, etc., and therefore, relieved me of 45% of my disability income. I did not agree with the idea that I was healed, and so fought the decision. Over the course of 18 months, numerous poke/prod/exam sessions occurred, and the VA continued to tell me I was healed. I continued to tell them they were full of [bleep]. The huge packet of records disappeared into the labyrinth of the VA appeals process and I moved on with my life.
In the fall of 2017 my wife came to me and asked me why we had a $28,000 deposit from the government in our checking account. I opined that they had made one butt-load of a clerical error and warned her not to spend a cent, as they would surely come back for it.
Upon getting ahold of DFAS and the VA, I learned that it was an actual payment to me that was proper/genuine. However, since the notification letter from the VA explaining the payment was sent to my old address, I had not received the notice. The VA did not have record of my new street address, so their explanatory letter was returned from the local post office. DFAS could not disclose the nature of the payment due to their SOPs.
After contacting the VA and following the yellow brick road, we arrived at the point where a clerk was able to e-mail me a copy of the notification letter. Apparently, God smote the final reviewing bureaucrat at the VA on the head and he/she reversed all of the previous decisions about my miraculous healing case. My 100% disabled rating was restored, and it was declared to be permanent. The $28,000 was my return of the disability pay over 18 months that was now due to me because of the decision in my favor. Some of the money went to house upkeep/upgrade. Some was set aside for a safari.
The Plan – At the 2018 KC SCI show I sat down with Drom from Somerby Safaris. My buddy Robert, who was an active member in the SCI KC club, tagged along to oversee things. I signed up for a safari in 2019. The game to be pursued was set as: impala, zebra, kudu, oryx, blue wildebeest. Robert and his wife decided to tag along for moral support, my wife grudgingly went along, and then her sister grabbed onto the straps as well.
The Plan Changes – 2019 was a tough year for Beachheim. The septic pump broke. The car broke – twice. I had to get major dental work twice due to heavy metal poisoning suffered on deployment. We contacted Drom and asked to push the safari back from May, 2019, to, you guessed it – May, 2020. By the time we actually got on the plane, we had postponed/rescheduled the safari five times. We left from KCI on 14SEP21. The first leg was 3 hours to Newark, then 15 to Johannesburg after a 4 hour layover in NJ so the rifles and luggage would be assured of making the connection.
The Gear
Ruger Alaskan in .375 Ruger - This is the stainless model with a 20” barrel and Hogue overmolded stock. It sported a VX5-HD 1-5x20 with firedot reticle and Custom Dial System-Zero Lock elevation turret. I scored this scope as “mounted once, not fired”, from a member on AfricaHunting.com for $100 off of the new price. I carried the rifle with a Viking Tactics padded sling worn over the torso. I ran part of a boot lace through the rear sling swivel stud. 550 cord was too thick to go through the stud. I tied a knot on each side of the stud so the lace could not rotate. At the top I tied off a loop to hook the sling into, and then square knotted the string ends ¼” from the comb. This may have looked like a hillbilly yard sale, but it held the rifle upright and made for very fast shouldering of the rifle. The Boyt Harness case did a superb job of protecting it as it never lost zero, in spite of an E-Ticket ride it was given.
Savage 110 Tactical – The back-up was a .308WIN. It also sports a 20” barrel, and employs AICS pattern single stack magazines. The glass was the Primary Arms 3-18x50 ACSS lit reticle silver model. Really a designated marksman tool, my buddy Robert seemed quite capable of using it to take blesbok, warthog, baboon, jackal, and porcupine. This saved him from lugging his own rifle over. I was also not on the opposite side of the planet without the ability to effectively defend myself from the next communist uprising. This rifle rode in a Pelican 1730 case which, likewise, protected it from losing zero.
Nanuk 930 hard case – Not wanting my zippers to be popped open with a pen by the thieves, I opted for the “starlight scope” case hard luggage. It worked great.
Eberlestock Halftrack – This worked superbly! It is 2” too tall for the carry-on dimensions, so I basically left the top pocket empty for the plane rides. No one ever seemed to worry about it’s size in the least, however. I used it for the “lug stuff to the bakkie” bag each day. I never noticed it during the airport baggage schlep sessions. The coyote brown color drew no notice from anyone. I packed a second set of clothes in this bag and wore the first set of hunting attire.
Maxpedition Mongo Versipack – This worked superbly as my Murse/personal item for taking on the plane. Epi pens, snacks, essential oils, coffee creamer, spoon, sweetener packets, Kindle, 5 days of vitamins – it swallowed it all.
Steiner 8x30 binos – These were adorned with a 550 cord woven sling that permitted torso carry with the glass resting high on my right cheek at the belt line. When I got to use them, they did a great job and matched my military habits of not fiddling with the focus wheel and wasting time.
LAPG Operator pants – Two pair of OD pants worked superbly, shrugging thorns off well during stalks.
Wiggy Boots – I took two pair of the brown combat boots that Wiggy’s had to quit selling. Gore put the screws to his bootmaker. If they didn’t cease making Wiggy’s boots without gore-tex, they would stop supplying them with gore-tex for all of their other manufacturing. So, I snagged 3 pair and am blissfully pleased with the wicking the lamilite lining does, as opposed to the plastic sack sweatbox effect from gore-tex that insures I will always have cold, wet feet in spite of merino wool socks. The Vibram sole was a bit noisier than the PH’s Courtney’s. The Wiggy’s were less than ½ the cost of the Courtney’s though, so I dealt with the extra sand/rock crunching.
REI Zip-off pants – I did not hunt in these as I feared for their life with the thorns in the bush. However, they were great as my camp and around town pants/shorts. They are very light weight.
REI Hat – This worked superbly – lightweight, great sun eye shade to see game, ventilated, foldable. Not near as sexy as a cavalry Stetson, but got the job done of protecting my bald head perfectly.
Duke athletic Dri-Duke wicking T-shirts – These worked great to wick perspiration. When we traveled on the economy I wore a Cabela’s shirt over them with a neck knife in between. The dark color helped to not “glow” during stalks.
Layer Shirts – I had a Cabela’s button shirt and one from REI. I wore these as over-layers for sun shielding, or insulation in the mornings/evenings when it got cool. They worked great.
Wool Vest – Cabela’s did a knock off of Filson wool garments about a decade ago, when they were focused on hunting (as opposed to the Bass Pro ownership now changing them into a fishing store). The camo patterned wool vest was just enough extra warmth without the weight of the sleeves. It packed down pretty well into my carry-on bag.
Darn Tough Socks – Over the calf merino tactical socks worked great.
Kindle – provided some relief (with the headlamp from my murse due to no reading lights on the plane) from the tedium of the never-ending flight to RSA. I re-read van der Walt’s African
