Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Another African Adventure - Part 2

Outfitter / PH: Pieter Kriel

Dates: May 2 - May 17, 2014

Hunter: Charles

Observer: Ellice (aka Princess Wannatakeapee or Trophy Wife)

Airline: American Airlines DFW to London, British Airways London to Johannesburg

Rifle: Mauser 30-06 and Marlin .243

Animals on my list are: Nyala, Red Hartebeest, Blesbok, and Bushpig.

May 8th: We are excited about seeing the Big Five plus a ton of other animals this morning and now it is time to head for Natal. It is a long ride, we have an interesting detour, and end up making a �Texas� onramp on to N5 (I think). Those of you from Texas or spent much time in Texas understand about making a ramp where there isn�t one, but where TXDoT should have put one.

We arrive in camp and meet up with Anton (our chef / camp manager) and Zwelly (our tracker / skinner). We arrive later than planned so we have what was lunch for dinner. It was a wonderful Blesbok lasagna, garlic bread, and sides. Ellice is very pleased with the chalet and I am excited about tomorrow.

May 9th: I am up well before the alarm goes off. I grab a cup of coffee from Anton.




IMPORTANT NOTE HERE: Instant coffee is common in South Africa. Pieter knows that we (especially the Princess) don�t care for instant coffee so he ensures that we have real coffee available. He also provided Ellice with a �survival kit� that included an electric kettle, French press, three different coffee roasts, a hair dryer, a power adapter, and a power strip.

After a light breakfast we head for the hunting property (a very short drive away). I was even more excited to learn that the property has the Big Five. The property is very large and one of the problems they have is that because of the size a helicopter with poachers can land in parts of it without them even knowing. They are in the process of moving their Rhinos to a more secure location, but they had five Rhinos poached the week before we arrived. We sight in the 30-06 and head out.

We see Blesbok, Giraffe, Warthog, and Impala as soon as we start hunting. After a couple stalks on Nyala and hearing �he is too small we can do better� our guide spots a group of ewes and one bull on the slope of the next hill. We go for a walk with our local guide leading followed by Pieter, myself, Ellice, and Zwelly.



We get close enough for Pieter to judge the bull. It is what we are looking for so we stalk up closer. I just put the 30-06 on the sticks and we hear crashing behind up. We turn and are looking at two adolescent Elephants that are looking at us from behind brush about 25 yards away. Ellice and Zwelly are about 10 yards from us at about a 45 degree angle from the Elephants. Pieter and I are motioning, without making big movements, for Ellice to come to us. She is hesitating at first and Zwelly isn�t going to abandon her. Once they join us we slowly back out and make a large loop back to the bakkie. Once we are safe I think damn that was better than actually shooting the Nyala. I talk to Ellice and learn that she didn�t really understand the potential danger she was in and was thinking about taking a picture of the Elephants until Zwelly gently caught her by the back of her vest and guided her to us. We had a chat about staying closer and following instructions.

We saw a lot more animals and had more stalks that day, but nothing productive. At one point we came across a group of Elephants (a dozen that I counted). One was in the road.



We started to back out, but now there was Elephants in the road behind us. We stopped and patiently waited for them to move on out. One of the younger ones broke off a tree across the road in front of us. That got the attention of the rest of them and they slowly moved that direction so we could back out.



While we are waiting for the Elephants to let us pass I have a texting discussion with my boss about a customer�s order terms. Technology has its drawbacks.

The sun sets on my first day of hunting. Well almost.



On the way out a good Nyala bull was spotted with a group of ewes. We stalk to them, but they are in heavy cover and it is after sundown so I can�t see them until the bull catches my attention as he is departing.

Conversation on the ride back and at dinner was more exciting than normal. It may be old hat for some, but for me the close proximity to Elephants added more to the hunt than I can describe with words.