In S. Africa, wildlife outside of the parks is the property of the landowner, and has to pay its way, or else there simply is no wildlife.
All our game meat was processed and sold to market, much of it as traditional biltong, a South African version of jerky that is less salty and used more like a meal than a snack.
This is the Kemp's biltong drying room.



We did get to sample a few choice cuts of our game cooked to perfection by Ray's mom and the lodge staff.



Who says tough & experienced professional hunters aren't sentimental?
Here Ray is spending a moment with a very large Kudu bull that I shot after a long day of hard hunting in steep, rocky, hot, thick and thorny bush.
A difficult stalk in 36�C and a successful conclusion may have caused a little sweat around the eyes ...



One animal that we didn't encounter but saw lots of evidence of was the nocturnal Aardvark or ant bear.
Plenty of Aardvark holes were in the big ant hills and soft ground and serve as dens for warthogs, porcupines, jackals, scorpions, and maybe even cobras.
No, Kevin is not contemplating diving in!



My what big teeth you have! Our Xhosa tracker - skinner Boysanna showing the tusks of a warthog that I shot.
It is the bottom teeth that are most dangerous, they are almost as sharp as knives.
Boysanna was a marvel at spotting game. He could spot game about as well with his bare eyes as Kevin and I could with binoculars.
He rode the high seat in the box of the "bakkie" on our drives between hunting spots and his light tap on the roof signalling game spotted was music to our ears!



A Gemsbok that I shot, and I was very glad that I shot it well. They are dangerous game when wounded, and are incredibly swift and accurate when using their sharp long horns as defensive weapons.
Ray has had wounded Gemsbok use the tip of a horn to bat thrown stones away in mid-air when he was checking to see if the animal was dead or not.
Ray's old dog Tracker lost his eye when a wounded Gemsbok poked him dead centre and then tossed him over an acacia thorn bush for good measure.
I've read that even lions respect Gemsbok horns. The young dog Penny was not allowed to accompany us on this hunt.



We took a Saturday off to tour a cabbage farm and do some fishing. Kevin with a "yellowfish", a sort of sporting version of our sucker. We caught a bunch and released them.

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After fishing, lunch was Eland steaks on the "braai" and may be the best meat I've ever eaten.
But then the surrounding ambiance may have contributed to that impression!

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Kevin's black wildebeest, a species endemic to South Africa and quite different than the East african Blue wildebeest of the Serengeti.
Ray's old dog Tracker has heartfelt experience with those hooked horns.
They are called the "clowns of the veldt", and like to run in front of hunters and flap their long white tails while drawing all the game in the area with them as they run away.

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Everything that grows in the veldt has thorns, even the caterpillars!

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continues...

looks like a great time. Where exactly in the Eastern Cape?

btt

Castnblast.

Thanks for the posts and photos. I appreciate the effort and am reminded of my fondness of the southern part of the continent.

Randy