AR Colleagues,

My wife and I leave this evening for a Botswana buffalo (my first) and plains game safari with Greg Butler Safaris. As you might expect preparations have been in high gear all week, packing, repacking, weighing luggage and trying to cover all the details. The rifle is ready: Ruger 416 Rigby with a 1.8-5.5X Conquest, in Warne detachables and 400 grain Swift A frames as the soft, 400 grain Barnes Banded as the solids. My son Brandon (aka Clayman) ably assisted in equipment selection, reloading and range work as well as being an excellent source of conversation all things Africa and shooting…thanks B-man. I think I’m ready having put about 250 rounds down range and practice off sticks out to two hundred yards. My rifle feels like it is an extension of me after all the practice. Planned trophies are: buffalo, tsessebe, red lechwe, impala and crocodile. Travel routes are long and tedious but we won’t let any complications or problems deter us from our final goal. We fly PHL to Munich, 10 hour layover, Munich to JNB, overnight at Afton (using Louis’s VIP Meet and Assist Service), next day JNB to Maun and connect to a charter into Butler’s Khwai camp in the Delta. Ten days of hunting followed by a charter to Chobe for some sightseeing and (for now) plans to sightsee at Hwange and Vic Falls. We fly Vic Falls to JNB to Dulles and then back to PHL for the return. Unfortunately the Zim run off election falls in the middle of our safari so we will be monitoring results there with an eye to avoiding Zim if it goes to hell and implement a (loosely organized at the moment) backup plan.

None of this would have been possible without the expertise and suggestions that I often tapped into from many of the Forum members and for that I am very grateful. It goes without saying that we all owe a debt of gratitude for Saeed for conceiving and making this Forum available to all of us.

Talk to everyone in a few weeks,

Paul

Man, I envy you. Good shooting!
Dave

Paul

Have a great time and if you see Andy and Sharon, let them know I send positive thoughts and prayers.

John

I'm green with envy! Have fun!

Brett

Enjoy your Safari and be safe.

give Greg and Kelly my best and good luck on a successful hunt. it is truly a beautiful area. Jerry Dollar

Sounds like a great safari. Best of luck and I hope you have a ball.

What a great hunt. Have a blast!

I dropped 'em off at the airport on Saturday night! I'm so jealous I can't go with! Hopefully, he blasts the BIG one!