Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Landelani Lodge

JJHack I just came across this while searching your operation. Are you selling your concession or is someone elses?

http://kunga.co.za/lgfb.html

It's not the same place, My time with Landelani was at the property near Elisrass. Warmbaths is a long way from there.

Landelani has had some significant land claims from ESCOM, the power company. They are routing powerlines all across the property now.

I don't know of this Landelani in/near WarmBaths and it's about 1/3 the size of the one I was at. We had 13,500 hectares, this one is 4500 hectars. The one near Elisrass sold for 3.5 mil USD last year

Jim - Just curious, do you still hunt Landelani as well as your new place? I sure enjoyed my two hunts with you and it would be a shame if such a nice place wasn't hunted. If you're talking to MV please give him my regards.

Tom Z

The farm has been slit into several sections and seperatly fenced now. It's not what it once was and will never be again. There are going to be miles of high power overhead lines run across it, and the main road to the property will be paved and used as one of the main construction roads to the new powerplant. In the next five years it's estimated that 80,000 temporary workers will be involved with the construction of this new powerplant. Just a few miles away. It's not the kind of place I would ever bring my hunters.

The Lodge has been taken over as well as the house and other buildings, however it will be a struggle to make that location functional for hunters who want a real wild African bush experience.

On the flipside, where I'm now hunting we do not even have utility power. We run a big diesel Generator when needed. It's far enough away that it does not distract you with even a little sound. You never even know it's running when it's on during the day. We also use oil lamps, candles, and propane lanterns at night. Plus a nice big fire in the pit as usual. It's a much more remote and "African experience".

What a shame - I'll bet some call it "progress". Anyway it sounds like your new place is every bit as good. Keep up the good work. From the reports posted here it sounds like all your hunters were very happy with the new place. Give Hank my regards as well and tell him to keep a sharp eye out for those puff aders.

Jim,

Sorry to hear whats happening to the old place! I would imagine that sort of construction is going to impact a lot of the near-by farms too?

Having said that, RSA is getting chronically short of power to the point they are having rolling scheduled power cuts in Joburg...I'm not sure if these are country wide or confined to Joburg...

Apparently if RSA don't build power plants now, within a few years the power shortage will be critical...

Politically, the issue is getting very high profile especially as they are still exporting (read giving away) electric to Zim..

Regards,

Pete

Escom supplies power to many other countries. The rolling shut downs are across the country. I've heard that other countries getting power from RSA don't experience these shutdowns. It's a real aggravation to the business's in RSA when foreign countries don't have this shutdown problem and use RSA electricty source!

Jim, We are sorry to hear the details regarding Landelani..however, as you know, Jack, his son and Dave are scheduling with you for 2009. Matt and I cannot..Matt is completing his dissertation. However, be assured that when we can, we will be back and it is far more important for us to hunt with JJHACK than hunt at Landelani!!
John Richardson

Thanks John, It's my job/business to find the right places for my hunters. Let me take care of that part and you will not be dissapointed! Landelani was a gem, and had a great staff. I could not move the property, but I did take my whole staff along with me!

The buildings, landscape and location may be different, but the people and commitment are still 100% the same.

Glad for the chance to hunt Landelani...my better half and I still click through the pic's on occasion and revisit the experience....

Good day to everybody that can read this message. I'm the new owner of Landelani Game Lodge: My name is Willem van Rooyen, and I can not believe all the nonsense that Jim is making you guys believe. ESKOM never made any claims on the land, there are NO new power lines and the new power station is 8 miles away from Landelani. Jim made me believe that we will work together and to my surprise Landelani was a cattle farm according to Jim and so he moved his business. The staff are STILL employed at Landelani we had major developments and improvements at Landelani, we now also cater for bow hunters with 5 star pit blinds and also permanent blinds for rifle hunting. We accommodated hunters from the U.S., Spain, and France and I'm more than willing to provide referances.Should anybody have any questions about Landelani the powerplant - please feel free to make contact with me, I have first hand information - I live at LANDELANI,in Lephalale, Limpopo Province, South Africa.

This certainly is interesting. I've had the pleasure of hunting with Jim twice at Landelani and I've found him to be a very honest and upright individual. Never had him misrepresent anything about the hunts and I wouldn't hesitate to do business with him again. Jim is a pleasure to deal with and you can take his word to the bank. I've never seen anything but positive reports about his hunting operation.

With about 50-80 thousand temporary workers coming to Ellisrass, to double the size of the ESKOM power plant with the expansion of the largest coal powered electrical producer on earth and all the traffic and "big city" noise to deal with. It seems obvious what is going on to me, and the family that sold Landelani. Why do you think it was sold in the first place? Landelani was the only game ranch that was 100% successful and 100% functional in the general area, the remainder was cattle and a few smaller properties. The rear boundry of the original property is another large hunting consession but at this time has no powerlines.

Landelani was a nice size property which is now divided into three sections. One with a main acceess road splitting the two sides, and the back section with another new owner. Landelani was and may still today( at this time) be one of the finest locations anyone could hunt in South Africa.

I'm not sure what the future holds, and from my perspective it was not going to work for my future investment there. I just did not see the amount of expansion in town with the traffic and powerlines criss crossing the landscape as what My hunters wanted in an African Experience. I was at the court hearings with Mw, to listen to the preliminary expansion routes and saw the projected maps they had with the new routing of powerlines.

Willem is a good guy, straight shooter and would certainly put on a great hunt, with top of the line accomadations for anyone interested in hunting there. It's simply nolonger any interest to me. I like Willem, and could see myself working well with him if it were not for the power company expansion and the resulting changes to the environemnt, with the massive growth of the near by town of Laphalale. I would strongly suggest that you contact him and work with him on a hunt if you would like to see the property and have a great bow hunting experience with him. He will 100% treat you great and show you a wonderful time there. I have no reason to doubt that, and I would be happy to act as a good refrence for him.

Over my career I have offered a great package of hunts, with wilderness and true natural wild game on large open properties. Unfortunately the entire Landelani Operation changed and was reduced in size, with additional fences and too much traffic going down the main road to remain attractive to me. It's one of the greatest advantages of booking a hunt with me. I know what Americans want in a hunt, I know what is involved in the travel and how to manage gun permits and exporting trophies out of RSA and into the USA. I'm here in real USA local time to assist you anyway needed. I'm also there in RSA each year and each season to know exactly what is going on. I know what the accomadations are like, what the habitat is like, and I'm accountable to everyone in the USA when they return.

How many people over the time this site has been on line have voiced a compliant about me, my business, or any hunting operation I have managed in Alaska or Africa? How many visitors to this site have hunted with me? Dozens,... many dozens of people. Trust me when I say I made the right choice for a really great quality experience. I hunted with MwDejager as the very first hunter in the camp at Landelani, and I hunted there every single year/season after that til 2008. Nobody knows that property or has put more time in hunting that property during that time then I have. I truely learned my trade there. I have a soft spot in my heart for this place. However.........I could not control what the future held for us there.

Willem, I wish you well, and I would help you anyway I can with hunters wishing to hunt Landelani. However I have several other locations now to hunt without the questionable future in the Ellisras area.