Here is some general info about the trip. Our party included my wife, daughter, and myself. We arrived at Johannesburg AP on 6/9 and were picked up by our PH, Pieter Kriel, who took us to Peter Harris' guest lodge to freshen up. Then we loaded up all of our gear and headed North up to the town of Marble Hall, Limpopo, to Hendrick Botha's ranch.





My daughter was first to draw blood with a nice blesbuck shot with her Ruger #1 in 7x57mm. I was next with a 24 1/2 impala shot with my mod 70 Winchester in .375 H&H. The third day was a good one with a nice waterbuck brought to bag by myself, and an impala and whopper of a redhbeest taken by my wife with her Winchester mod 70 featherweight in 7x57mm. Our last day at the Botha farm our daughter took a very pretty impala.



Next everything was again loaded up and we headed back to Pretoria to overnight at the guest lodge. Early the following morning found us on the road south to the Orange Free State to hunt at Bokpoort, near the town of Carens. Bokpoort is a cowboy ranch hosted by an interesting gentleman named Christo Roos. We took horses up into the mountains and I was fortunate to get close to a lovely blackwbeest and put a Hornady squarely into it's boiler room. The folowing day my wife and daughter both took springbuck.



Lastly we hunted a ranch, also in the Free State, owned by Jes DeKlerk. My wife scored on a blesbuck the first day there. Then we took turns chasing one fine specimen of a gemsbook up and down the mountain. On the last day of our hunt there we were presented with a rather long shot at the monster. He was broadside on a patch of slickrock sandstone and we decided to shoot together on the count of three. The rifles went off as one shot and both bullets connected. So we will claim the gemsbuck as a team effort.



We said adios to Christo and his crew and headed back to Pretoria for some shopping and a dove hunt.



The dove hunt was a genuine blast! By the end of the day there was a nice pile of birds, and a couple of bruised shoulders. The bird boys were thrilled to receive all the birds as payment for their labour. I hope mine was able to trade a couple of his birds for a pants belt. His bretches kept falling down everytime he ran out to pick up a dove.



Overall it was a great trip.

Sounds like a wonderful family trip!

A few more pics.

Last three photos.

Nice trophies, that hartebeest is indeed awesome. You did a great job with the pictures capturing not only the animal and the proud and happy hunter, but the background which shows the different areas and terrains that you hunted. Congrat's to the lucky family!

Excellent! Congratulations! A very special hunt.

All very nice. And a bloody nice white tailed gnu!!

Looks like you guys had a great time. Congrats....

I'm always amazed at the quality of waterbucks taken in South Africa.

A wonderful family safari! Each of you took wonderful animals.

Mike

Muletrain,

Great trip!

Having hunted with Pieter Kreil last year I know he was a great PH for your family.

Congratulations.

Great pics. The ones showing the elevation and water in the background are fantastic.

Congratulations on a very successful safari, those are excellent trophies! The red hartebeest and waterbuck are especially nice!

Any African hunt is a wonderful experience. Sharing it with your spouse make it even more memorable and twice as much fun.

It's a great feeling to take a good trophy after a challenging stalk. But, as exciting as my hunts are, I get even more satisfaction watching my wife make a great shot after a difficult stalk.

You're a lucky guy to have a wife and daughter who share your enthusiasm for hunting!

Glad to hear you all had a great time.

It gives me great pleasure to see a whole family enjoying the hunt.

Well done! Nice Waterbuck and Hartebeest!

Beautiful photos, the scenery at Bokport is fantastic. I'd love to hunt there sometime.