It's been a hectic couple of years for me.....

My wife and I sold and purchased a home, had our first child, I started a new career, she left her career to be a mom....all within the last 2 1/2 years. And then of course all of the COVID fiasco.

Now it seems like things might finally be settling down and I'm hoping to get to Africa in either 2022 or 2023. One of the ways of doing that is bringing my wife, with the promise of a good private experience, and also spending some time in wine country (Cape Town) after the safari.

I've been talking to Victor Watson with Karoo Wild Safaris....and right now he seems like a very good option. Can anyone here recommend another outfitter that offers a private hunt (where my wife and I will be the only clients in camp) in the Eastern Cape? Also, I'm not dead-set on only hunting the Eastern Cape....there just doesn't seem to be any options near Cape Town that I can find in my limited searching so far. But the closer to Cape Town, the better.

TIA

PM sent

Andrew Harvey at Safari Trail International
https://safari-international.com/

Good hunter, great guy, solid concessions.

Andrew Renton. Read the Hunt Reports.

Chris Cawood, Southern Cross Safaris. Real good guy and runs a quality operation. He hunts his home propterties in the Little Karoo and also hunts into Botswana.

I was at his place ~20 years ago when 9-11 took place. They were very supportive. It hit me hard as my son was at the pointing end of the spear in the Army and I knew he was going to be deployed real soon.

Probably the best PH is Swartei Safaria, Phillip Price, I asssure you based on 40 plus years in the booking business, now retired, but knowing hundreds of PHs, that they are the very best the Eastern Cape has to offer..Every thing about that operation is perfection....

There are a number of reasons why Victor Watson is popular.
He gets the trophies, no matter how obscure or difficult the species Victor knows where to find it and he doesn't mind travelling to collect it.
Victor and Lindsay are fundamentally decent human beings which is not something I would say about some of the people I have dealt with in South Africa.
Their camp is superb and very handily situated for the tourist attractions which might interest your wife.
I had a list of 6 species when I arrived at his camp in the afternoon. I collected the Black Wildebeest within 2 hours on the way back from trying out his rifles. The next morning at dawn I took a Klipspringer then popped up the hill as it was too early for breakfast and got lucky on a 8 1/2 inch Mountain Reedbuck (don't expect Victor to find another one that size)
After breakfast we drove down to his sheep farm where a lovely Steenbok was lying 50m inside his front gate. We had to drive it away because people were playing tennis on the courts just behind it but he didn't run too far. 4 species off the list before I had been there 24 hours. The other 5 species I collected were harder work, especially the Vaal Rhebok.
Personally I wouldn't ever bother hunting in South Africa with anyone else.

Victor Watson, Karoo Wild Safaris has an excellent reputation.

Just to be helpful and nothing else, I need to say that I cannot recommend Two Waters Safari. He, Brian Seedy, stacks his place full of guests and you have to travel a long ways to the hunting pastures. He has no land of his own. He is located 100 yds off the highway next door to the village pub. He tends to get confused about the final bill at the end of the hunt.

Victor is within easy driving range of Graaf Reinet where the movie Red Dust was filmed, Craddock, Addo Elephant Park and Mountain Zebra Park.
My wife and I enjoyed exploring those places for a week or more after the hunt.

Just to help Ray Atkinson out a little. I have hunted with Charles and Phillip Price three times and I can say without reservation they are an extremely good safari company. Ray is a little dated on their name. They are Swartkei Safaris in association with EZulu and that has been shortened to just EZulu. This association was one that resulted in many more properties adjacent to the Price's vast holdings in the Salisbury Plain, the eastern Cape.

I too have hunted with Ezulu but have not returned. I would hunt again any time with Victor Watson.

I’ve also hunted with Swartkei and would do so again if I was interested in going back to South Africa. They have very large properties and run a first class operation from start to finish. Feel free to PM if you want to discuss over the phone.

quote:

Originally posted by the Pom:
I too have hunted with Ezulu but have not returned. I would hunt again any time with Victor Watson.

Yes, good bloke.

We had a great time with Nick Bowker Safaris in 2019. We are going back in 2022.

My hunt report
Web site

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Andrew Renton. Read the Hunt Reports.

Plus 1 for Andrew Renton and Kei River Hunting Safaris

In 15 days I will have been married for 44 years and over that time I have earned a few things about traveling with Wifezilla.

Your wife will like Vic and Lindsay and she will enjoy staying at their camp.

quote:

Originally posted by Matt Norman:
Chris Cawood, Southern Cross Safaris. Real good guy and runs a quality operation. He hunts his home propterties in the Little Karoo and also hunts into Botswana.

Agree. It's been some years since my sons and I hunted with Southern Cross--back when Chris' mother Pat Cawood was running the operation as one of the only female PHs in RSA. Their property is outstanding and you couldn't go wrong hunting there.