was infected and the assessment of the medic (Natalie – all PHs are trained as at least EMTs in RSA) was that I was starting to come down with tick bite fever. Fortunately, I had brought an azithromycin Rx with me from the states. She recommended that I begin the course of medication.

25SEP21
This was movement day back to Sherewood Lodge. About 0730, TJ arrived at the front steps of Tilodi. All of our bags were already out of the cabins. I asked him, “what’s the plan, commander? Who and what goes where?” He said people and regular luggage in the van, trophies, Trymore, he, and the rifles in the bakkie. I cringed for a minute. That thing about a Soldier being separated from his rifle. I almost raised a stink, but literally ran through the words in my head, “well, I will do what my PH says. Damned good thing I did. TJ’s marching orders saved my life.

Tips went to the staff. When I handed our envelope of tip money to Trymore, his first words were “Thank you for giving me a job.” What did he do last year when there were no safaris?!

We loaded the vehicles, ate breakfast and mounted up. We got out a little ahead of TJ, as he had to swing by and grab Trymore. In addition, the highways were crazy due to it being RSA’s brai national holiday. The van wound up at Cambano’s for the high-quality souvenir buying gig. Significantly before TJ. I kind of loafed through the aisles, as the tick bite fever was dealing me a fit. The Lovely Spousal Unit bought a pendant of the Southern Cross for $80. Gotta love a simple farm girl who is not into diamonds!

About 1300-ish, the right rear axle and wheel came out of the rear end of TJ’s bakkie. This threw the front end to the left and flipped the truck numerous times. TJ was belted in and he survived. He collected 4 cracked vertebrae, two cracked ribs, a broken ankle, and a head full of golf ball-sized lumps for a “slight” concussion.

Besides the physical toll, TJ lost:
- His dangerous game rifle – it was in a buffalo hide soft case inside the cab – the stock is shattered
- His binos
- His rangefinder
- Two months of the hunting season
- His truck was totaled
- The cage/rack on the back is wrecked
I am asking the AH community to contact Somerby and send them some money to get this kid back on his feet. He was only able to guide ½ of one day last year due to the scamdemic. He just got back onto his feet, and this happened. From the Somerby website:

To call us from the USA in South Africa:
Dial the following numbers (international dialing codes are provided)
Bear in mind the time difference - we are 7 hours ahead of the Eastern time zone.
Drom: 011 27 72 1184800
Suné: 011 27 79 873 5154
You can also call 815-361-9079 - it will go directly to voice mail. Please leave us a message with your name and number and we will call you back within 24 hours.
FAX: 815-361-9079
To call us from South Africa if you are in South Africa:
Drom: 0721184800
Suné: 0798735154

We found out about the wreck around 1700 hours. Natalie grabbed me and we drove north to Bela Bela to recover what we could of TJ’s luggage and gear, the trophies, and hopefully, my rifles. Andre, one of the other PHs from Somerby, was already there being abused by the police detective. At this time, they were telling us that they were going to press charges against TJ for illegally possessing firearms. RSA is extremely hoplophobic. One cannot buy any ammo for a cartridge that you don’t have a licensed firearm for. Even holding someone else’s firearm is technically breaking the law. Even though I had the keys with me, they considered TJ to have control of my rifles, so he was illegally transporting firearms.

Now, for what was really happening. The white detective had a raging vendetta to prove to the black community that he was not going to do any favors for the white PH that had broken a law. In addition, a lesson had to be taught to the arrogant American tourist who thought he could ignore South African law because he was special. The detective refused to even make eye contact with me, and absolutely refused to speak any English, chewing on and abusing Andre and Natalie in Afrikaans. At one point, he wanted to verify the serial numbers on my rifle vs. my permit. Unfortunately, I had run out of Sherewood Lodge with my keys lying beside my Nanuk hardcase. I told him (through Andre, in English) to cut the locks. He tried and the locks broke the jaws of the bolt cutters. I guess I actually DID have control of the rifles, as he certainly could do nothing with them!

We were able to recover the Somerby FLIR TJ had been using for night hunting, TJ’s luggage, and the road rashed trophies. Sune, Drom’s wife, was on the phone to me when we were headed back south to Sherewood Lodge. Drom had already made contact with the CEO and the president of PHASA. Given that we were in the midst of their Labor Day weekend, we already expected to have to extend my stay until MON night’s 2000 flight. Monday morning the chief counselfor PHASA would come over to Sherwood Lodge to meet with me.

Monday morning, Juan Koetz (pronounced “John”) and I met, and then drove the 90 minutes back to Bela Bela. It was a pleasant drive as Juan is a severe gun nerd, so we got on quite well. He is also the president of a shooting organization in the country. I did not retain the name of the organization. However, it has 45,000+ members.

About 1000 we were granted an audience with the captain of detectives. This time, Juan began with the request that their discussions be conducted in English since I did not speak Afrikaans. The captain’s opening statement went something like this: “Well, we thought that Mr. Beach had left South Africa on last night’s flight, but since he has chosen to remain, I believe that we will go ahead and press charges against him for not maintaining physical control of his weapons.” She also intended to pursue charges against TJ as well.

BTW – had I left RSA without my rifles SUN night, I would have been breaking their laws, as I would have left without the rifles on my permit. If this didn’t get resolved by Friday, I would be in violation of RSA law, as my rifle permit would expire. The fact that I sent the remaining ammo home with my Lovely Spousal Unit meant I had technically violated RSA law, as she was not authorized to transport ammunition for a rifle that she did not have a permit for. However, if I had not sent the ammo home with her, and kept my Nanuk hard case and the ammo boxes locked inside the locked Nanuk case, then I would have had three bags to check at the ticket counter for a $200 fine/excess baggage fee. Oh yeah – I probably also broke their laws by letting Robert take my back-up rifle to the night-hunting blind without being there myself. How many ways can we make people into criminals? This from the country that is now trying to remove self-defense as a valid reason for being issued a permission slip to possess a firearm.

Juan and she fenced for about 20 minutes. During this time, she admitted that they did not believe that I had any sinister intent when I allowed my rifles to be transported via TJ’s truck. Not that they would have fit in the KIA passenger van holding 6 people and their luggage. According to South African law, without sinister intent, no law is broken. Therefore, another section of their law dictated that the police SHALL return the firearm to the lawful owner if no crime has been committed. Oh, but not so fast! Their SOP dictated that ALL firearms the police take control of must be ballistically tested. Apparently, they had had their head handed to them in court when a defense attorney got a case thrown out because the police could not prove that the firearm allegedly used in a crime had been a genuine, functioning firearm. Therefore, every “weapon” now had to be test fired. Not that they had any .375 Ruger ammo. According to the captain, this would take up to 8 months for their tests.

I tried to verify with the captain that I had understood her stance. To comply with her enforcement of the RSA law, I would have had to enter every public restroom with a rifle case in each hand. Each time I ate, I would have to walk into the restaurant with a rifle case in each hand. Did she really want me stirring up their society by parading around with rifles each place I went? She had nothing to say when I brought this up.

BTW – had I raised a stink with TJ about being separated from my rifles that morning, I am sure he would have accommodated his Client’s wishes by letting me ride shotgun. Had I done so, my head would have been smashed like a ripe tomato in the wreck. The passenger side of TJ’s bakkie was smashed down to half-size. My decision to do what my PH recommended had genuinely saved my life.

At this point, Juan was seeing he would get nowhere with the captain. He elected to visit the magistrate (judge) and prosecuting attorney over at the courthouse. We arrived there about 1120. The magistrate was out to tea. (My money is on an extended three-day weekend, but everyone was covering for him.) A junior magistrate opined that IF such a case came before her, she would hypothetically not waste her time chasing a silly American that had entrusted his rifles to his PH. No charges had been filed due to the holiday weekend, so without anything on the case docket, no one would commit to any decision.