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Posted By: ggarcia85 Just returned from Botswana - 05/21/21
My younger brother and my self just returned from an excellent Safari with Tholo. I cannot say enough good things about this outfitter. The travel was a little rough, other than that everything went great. I could not ask for a better first experience in africa. The target was plains game. Animals harvested were Kudu, eland, oryx, blue wildebeest, impalla, zebra, warthog, and a few others. Now just to see the price on getting everything back.
Posted By: TimZ Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/21/21
Congrats--glad to hear everything is working again.....give us a few pics!
I hunted with Tholo in 2016. Top notch outfit.
Wonderful! Pics, please!
Posted By: pete53 Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/22/21
congrats ,i am hoping in the next couple of years of going unless Biden really screws crap up ?
Hunted there with my wife 3 years ago. Had a great hunt. The trophy shipment will likely cost more than the hunt......
That’s what I’m afraid of when I get the cost of the shipment back. I will try to post pics soon.
Posted By: M3taco Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/22/21
Congratulations. You've got a lot of great lifetime memories!
Posted By: CWD Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/22/21
Please post some pics.
NICE! Congrats, what rifle, loads and bullets did you guys use?
We used the guns at camp both Blaser R8’s is 375 H&H and 300 Win Mag. 300 gr and 180 gr bullets. The use of camp rifles was free and just pay for ammo used. All were with leupold glass.
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Great trophies sir, congrats.
Posted By: RTSJ Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/22/21
Awesome pics bud! Congrats on a great trip!


Roy
Posted By: Dogcat Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/22/21
Love that place. Been once and hope to go again.
Great trophies.
Some fine looking trophies. That Eland is a little unusual- fine horns but a body the size of a Gemsbok. Maybe it’s the camera angle or it’s a dwarf Eland
Posted By: Scotty Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/22/21
Nice trophies. Congratulations.
Great first hunt! Thanks for posting pics. When you going back??
He’s working dates for 2023, I’m saving up for New Zealand. But I would not hesitate to go back in the future. I would do Botswana again. Then go after the Cape buffalo.
Congratulations. You got some dandy critters.
Congratulations on a great first safari! You were fortunate to take some excellent animals.
Posted By: CRS Re: Just returned from Botswana - 05/23/21
Congratulations, thank you for sharing.
Looks like you had a great trip. Wife and I hunted with Tholo in '18. Loved every minute of the hunting. Took every animal I was after. Camp was great, PH was great and so was our San tracker and driver (Charles and Sam). Food was good but not great. No biggie, though. Accommodations were quite nice at 'Hippo Camp'. From out of the dark every morning, a woman's pleasant, high-pitched voice called out: 'KNOCK KNOCK!" Nice, if kind of weird wake up call. wink

Are Riann, Stefan and Steven still PHing there for Clive? We had Christo and we hit it off great. Great dude and great hunter and teacher. I don't think he's with them anymore. He used to PH for Calitz for elephant and other big stuff.

For me, some of the most fun I had was knocking down about ten guinea fowl with Clive's old 20 ga double he let me borrow when Christo told him he had a bird crazy guy in camp. About 1 out of 3 of the old shells he gave me didn't fire, but that just made it all the more interesting. smile

And yes, prepare yourself for sticker shock on getting your stuff shipped home. It cost me about 75% of the whole safari tab just to get my raw shipment in. Ouch.

Thanks for sharing.
Riann is still a PH, but he was not in camp while we were there. Stefan and Steven were both in camp. We hunted with Steven and had an excellent time. The bushmen were excellent trackers, we were with Besa. They have a few more PH’s around. They all got along great and made evenings around the fire a memorable time.
Congratulations on a great adventure!
I, too, was at Tholo. In 2011.

Besa was my tracker. Did some things which truly amazedme. He was also quite a character.
Besa was awesome, the made the fly swatters for me. The bushman were amazing trackers.
None of the pics open.
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Now just to see the price on getting everything back.


That is the hurdle that turns me a away from such.
Congratulations.Nice animals,I like the Eland.
Don't tell me you used Leupold scopes on rifles shooting at critters that could kill you? The sky's gonna fall I tell ya!
Posted By: Sako76 Re: Just returned from Botswana - 06/11/21
Great animals! How big were the Kudu?
The one I harvested was just under 55”
Posted By: Sako76 Re: Just returned from Botswana - 06/15/21
That's a nice Kudu, congrats!
ggarcia85, Congrats on your safari, you got some great animals!

Originally Posted by Filaman
Don't tell me you used Leupold scopes on rifles shooting at critters that could kill you? The sky's gonna fall I tell ya!

Not to hijack ggarcia85's thread, but just some more proof of the ability of Leupold scopes...
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And this fall I'll be using another Leupold scope on my .375 RUM for a Brown Bear hunt in western Alaska.
Very nice
Just got the invoice for the dip, pack and vet certificates for 7 animals. Shipping from Ghanzi, Maun, Johannesburg then Chicago. A little under $3,300. Is that high or about the norm?
Posted By: ingwe Re: Just returned from Botswana - 09/07/21
Sounds about like the norm nowadays
Originally Posted by ggarcia85
My younger brother and my self just returned from an excellent Safari with Tholo. I cannot say enough good things about this outfitter. The travel was a little rough, other than that everything went great. I could not ask for a better first experience in africa. The target was plains game. Animals harvested were Kudu, eland, oryx, blue wildebeest, impalla, zebra, warthog, and a few others. Now just to see the price on getting everything back.


Sounds like a nice time. Here in Maine we are harvesting sweet corn right now. Funny but we dont harvest animals. Because they are not fugging corn. Can we just say you shot whatever animals please? Keerist.
Posted By: Jeffpg Re: Just returned from Botswana - 09/07/21
Excellent trophies taken on this trip sir!
There's nothing like that first safari, I'm hoping that you are half as addicted as I was!
The crate should ship out mid October. I’m pleased with the turnaround time, I figured it would have taken longer.
Posted By: 79S Re: Just returned from Botswana - 09/08/21
Originally Posted by bluefish
Originally Posted by ggarcia85
My younger brother and my self just returned from an excellent Safari with Tholo. I cannot say enough good things about this outfitter. The travel was a little rough, other than that everything went great. I could not ask for a better first experience in africa. The target was plains game. Animals harvested were Kudu, eland, oryx, blue wildebeest, impalla, zebra, warthog, and a few others. Now just to see the price on getting everything back.


Sounds like a nice time. Here in Maine we are harvesting sweet corn right now. Funny but we dont harvest animals. Because they are not fugging corn. Can we just say you shot whatever animals please? Keerist.


Uh what??
The skins and skulls cleared customs and USFW. They are headed to the wildlife gallery close to 6 months to get everything back to the states. I am impressed with that turnaround time. Now just need to wait on the tannery.
Posted By: GRF Re: Just returned from Botswana - 11/17/21
Good news.
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