What is your favorite or best hunt in Africa?

One of my favorite hunts was for Mountain Reedbuck. It was very physically challenging, which is rare during a hunt in Africa, and in beautiful part of RSA which reminded me of parts of Wyoming. I enjoyed the glassing, spotting and stalking and thought the little guys offered an extremely fun but difficult hunt. My PH was young stout fellow who loved chasing these critters over the mountains near the Lesotho border. The only down side was I muffed a last chance shot at about 200 yards I felt certain I could make.

My most memorable hunt was this past May for elephant in Zim. The tracking, final stalk and shot happened just as I had played them out in my mind a thousand times. I was proud of how well I maintained my composure during my first chance at the world's largest land mammal and placed a perfect shot to down the bull. The hunt was fairly difficult and conducted more as a buddy hunt than client and PH. Spartan camp, basic food and drink, cold, heat, dust, a bit of rain and some long walks in difficult terrain. I loved every minute of it...well except for the one meal a day on the day we didn't eat until 10:00 p.m. That made me a bit testy with old Ganyana.

Perry

My favorite hunt has to be my first hunt in Zim in 97 ( 19 not 18). I can't think of a more exciting hunt or a more perfect camp and crew. I took Leopard, Kudu,Warthog,and 12 Impala (mostly for bait). The hanging and checking of baits and waiting in the blind and hearing the Leopard coughing has be the most exciting time of my life. It was quite an adventure for a 63 year old man to take (at least I thought so). The hunt was in the West Nicholson area which I still believe to one of the nicest areas in Zimbabwe.

Elephant and buff anywhere!

Favorite hunt so far has been stalking bushbuck on the Turgwe River in the Save River Valley conservancy.

Elephants, then way down down the list at #2 is probably stalking bushbuck or Buff hunting. But elephants are way out in front.

JPK

Each and every Cape Buffalo hunt!
APB

My first hunt. I shot Leopard & PG. On other hunts I have shot bigger and better animals, but on the first hunt, everything was so new. The smells, sights, animals.

You can't do that first hunt over again.

Any of the dangerous game. Plains game is in another world (not bad, mind you) once you have hunted the other.

Anything elephant

Tracking on foot and stalking lion, elephant, cape buffalo and hippo at close range.

I would like to go back to Zim and have a run at the Greek woman in the cafe` or the blonde chippy at AF (damn hard hunting and outrageous trophy fees though). Hunting for a coke (a cold coke) in Zim. Naw - it was the Zim Elephant in May.

Any buff hunted in thick cover on foot.

Warthog- hands down. It was over a waterhole. Saw hgim coming in from a couple hudred yards out. PH said he was a ncie one, but to wait until he got to the water hole. Kept my scope on him as he trotted another 100 yards to the hole. POP! He stands there packing a leg, was fixing to put another one in him when he went into the death jig.

7mm. guy

I like cats better than anyother hunt but they can also be very frustrating.

Mark

I am thinking Cape buff is very thrilling. There are also a lot of them, and they are well-distributed.

jim

I agree with Wendell the first was the best. Every thing is new, seeing the animials in the wild for the first time. One of the first sightings was a Warthog with three piglets in tow with tails held straight and high just like the picture s.

Last April, I was in the Arda Block of the Save Conservancy, and the PH (Henry Princloo), the trackers (three) and me all crawled to within 20 yards of a heard of about 80 sleeping buffalo in the thick jess. Still, we could not pick out the trophy, so we all settled down for a nap (in order to wait them out).

As I lay there on my back, I had this feeling of surrealness: here I was, a simple, otherwise sane southern boy, lying on the ground with complete strangers in an unstable, third-world African country, while 20 yards away no less than 80 members of the Black Death Society, huddled and (I imagined) discussed ways to ensure that the otherwise sane southern boy never got to sniff the honeysuckle in Atlanta's suburbs again.

It was the greatest moment of my life!

tracking zebra with my daughter for 2 days until she took one - best hunt ever.

Sitting high in the truck, watching my 12 y/o daughter walk, crawl, slither for over an our to get in position on a blesbok.
Realizing that the PH did not have to do it, but that was what he wanted for her, to hunt rather than shoot.
Then to listen to her story on video a year later and get chills all over again.

Dulcinea

Having only been on one safari, I know that one will always be special. I'm sure that no matter how many I go on I will always say that one was special. My second favorite will probably be "my next one" no matter how many I've been on at that point.

GAHunter,

Henry is not the most talkative fellow in the world, but I enjoyed his company and will always remember him as the guy that put me on my first elephant kill.

I have had very similar thoughts to yours. However, mine were from a hunt in Mozambique and happened while walking around the bush in the middle of the night carrying my buff skull and hide with 3 slightly stoned blacks looking for the truck containing my PH and hunting partner. Never let anyone tell you the local blacks don't get lost in the bush. That hunt is why the weight of a GPS and a good knife or two never bothers me during hunts in Africa.

Perry

I can't pick any particular hunt but I enjoyed a five kilometre stalk on eland, following behind them walking and running until we caught up with them. A difficult angling shot with a .30-06 through a couple of feet gap in the tree trunks.

I like hunting bushbuck a lot too.

Only one buffalo and that was fun.

I think elephant (still to do) would rank up there.

On my last hunt I missed a 60 yard frontal on a fine buffalo bull in the Valley.
I gave no excuses then and won’t now but I wish to set the stage for you to read and believe the story I am about to relate.

My first African hunt was in Namibia, two hunts @ with entirely separate operators.
I was in decent shape and completely wired to be there in bloody Africa. I wanted to put my best foot forward in the worst way and every frigging thing I did turned to gold.
I made up a rig to hoist an engine block out of a wrecked Nissan “Safari†on a 30 degree hillside. I got started the gasoline generator that hadn’t run in 2 years. I put 3 shots in one ragged hole at sight in and spotted the first 2 or 3 kudu on hunting day #1. After turning down a legitimate “banana†warthog who had sauntered up to within 15 yards of us as we brunched by the waterhole, I took one half his size an hour later, with a shot through the heart at 125 yards, on the run (him, not I).

Nick and tracker Manuel, an ex bushfighter from Koakoland, hit it off bigtime. So well, in fact, that when my “PH†made mention of his having to “miss the best truck auction of the year in Okahandra†(sp?), and I replied “go ahead and go, I’ll be fineâ€, he took me up on it!! Well, he was gone, effectively, for 2 1/2 hunting days (yes, yes, terrible form, I know) but I had the time of my life, let me tell you. Manuel and I made impossibly difficult stalks and kills of kudu and oryx on successive days comprised of flinchless decisions i.e., to follow the wind rather than tracks multiple times on the big kudu (my own), astounding displays of naked eye game spotting (Manuel) and some of the best shooting I had done in my life. I .. WE, could do nothing wrong those three days and it was all so very wonderful. With no language between us, we hunted as brothers. .. and more than this, I know this tough, hard man from another world felt likewise.

Nickudu,

That was great! You found some magic in the bush.....

Wish I had some 'best' African experiences to share....

Regards,
Dave

Thanks for that, Nick.

I still hunt for myself, but the Bushvelt Francolin my daughter took with my 22 Hornet when she was 8 is the best to date. Looking forward to my children taking their first buck.

Wimpie

For me, the best African hunting is tracking game like Buffalo, Lion, Elephant and Eland.
Adam C.