People ask me all the time why I am so mesmerized by Africa. I don't know that I have a simple answer. It is the people, the place, the species, the land, the experience. I just cannot narrow it down to one thing. It is just so much different than hunting in CA and the US and I consider British Columbia the most beautiful place on Earth.

Not knowing what is over the next hill or around the next corner is just such a different feel in Africa than here at home in the states for me. You just never know what you might find.

I had a good friend tell me that he would give anything to have his first day in Africa all over again. It is just something that cannot be recreated. I have to agree the first day is unlike any other. Truly special.

I will be the first to admit; I dream of Africa. I frequent this forum often to follow the adventures of others to feel part of the scene and learn for the future.

I don't know what Sheep fever is like; some of my friends have it but I would guess I have Africa fever and it is about the same thing. It becomes a goal, a passion, a reason to get up in the morning to do what we do to go back to that most magnificent place.

One of my best friends has zero desire to go to the dark continent and my dad is the same way and cannot understand why I have said that I will go back to Africa 100 times before I go to Alaska or Canada again. There is just something about it that I cannot quite put my finger on. I guess I am addicted.

What makes each of you so passionate about the dark continent?

When I'm home, I'm dreaming of Africa.
When I'm in Africa, I'm living the dream!
It's just that simple to me & don't care if anybody else understands it or not.

I'm having a tough time getting rid of the afterglow this time around.

Anywhere else you are typically hunting 1 or 2 species. To me the allure is that Africa offers a whole catalog of game around the next bend or over the next hill.
That and for some reason when I am in Africa, I feel that I am home. I have never experienced this anywhere else that I have been but when I see those stars and smell the woodsmoke, I am at peace.

For me its not only the numbers and variety of game, but the non-game critters as well...As stated, you never know what you'll see, especially in unfenced Africa. Also getting to eat all those delicious game varieties!

I equate Africa to having a beautiful mistress. If you don't visit her regularly, she'll start calling you daily. The first visit was too much and the tenth is not enough.

Geoff

I equate Africa with being home. Even when I am not hunting, feels the same, home.

It is the sheer diversity of wildlife. I suppose I would be just as enamored of North American hunting if I could go back 15,000 years. Unfortunately I do not have a time machine.

quote:

Originally posted by Frostbit:
I'm having a tough time getting rid of the afterglow this time around.

After That Safari I don't blame you!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by SG Olds:
I equate Africa with being home. Even when I am not hunting, feels the same, home.

\

I understand your feelings. Not a day goes by that I do not think about the time I have spent in Africa where I have always felt comfortable. I always feel most comfortable when home.

The wildlife is the big draw to your first African hunt. It is unique, sexy, dangerous and new. There is little to compare to the smell of a mopane campfire and the relaxation of a couple of sundowners. But, once there, you learn about the culture and the people. It is amazing to see those with so little being so happy and really enjoying life. I have never met anyone other than an African who has such joy with humor. And the trackers, there is no where in the world that you can watch such dedication and skill. I believe they are one of the biggest parts of my enjoyment of Africa.

Only those that travel to the Dark Continent will truly understand why we Dream of Africa. There is no other place quite the same. I have traveled extensively and Africa is always calling. Counting down the days....

To the person that has no desire to hunt Africa I offer no encouragement to do so. To those that have hunted Africa I do not have to encourage them to return. I have been fortunate to hunt RSA twice. I plan to return soon, hopefully. I so desire to take my only grandchild with us. He will be 11 years of age this coming January. Those that have hunted "The Dark Continent" know that she is a mysterious seductress. "I dream of Africa"! MTG

I aree with everything said here except the part about the sexy wildlife

The light is different. The doves calling in the distance, new plants and animals that you have never seen before. There is a rawness to the landscape, and people. You are excited about getting out of bed. All your senses come alive. Food tastes better. Beer tastes better. Smoke smells better. Red sand between your toes, meat in your belly, horns and skins in the salt. Forgetting what day it is. A long day, a cold drink, A hot shower, fresh, crisp, pressed clothing before a meal and a fire. Tired legs. All that stuff and more.....

Whwn I was told that if I went I would go back I only half believed it as then it was a dream that I hoped to do one time in my life. Of course I have been back twice more & leave again soon and have another trip booked. I dont think that any of my hunting friends have any type of appreciation for what I have done, seen there and felt. Most others are clueless. I have since stopped trying to explain its greatness & beauty and the hold it can take on a person. I now mostly pity those who will not
try to see Africa, it is a real loss they will
never experience. I am thankfull for every day there!

I don't know if there is an answer that fully covers the question. So many little things that make up the experience. The smell of the smoke, doves calling, Franklin squawking, the simple comedic entertainment of watching monkeys and baboons, the crispness of the air with perhaps a tinge of smoke making the sunset come alive, the wildlife variety, and of course the people. Probably more than anything else, its the promise of the unknown that the new day offers.

Like I said, I can't cover then all but I do know that it is an obsession like none that I've ever experienced. It is constantly on my mind. Not way back on the back burner, but right up front, affecting my everyday actions to the point that my wife and kids sometimes would rather not engage me in discussion as they know, I'll find a way to turn the conversation to Africa within a few sentences.

It really is a moot point to try and explain Africa to the guy who hasn't gone yet. Nothing close to the experience can be conveyed verbally. I feel sorry for the man who has no interest in visiting her as he knows not the experience he is sacrificing. Conversely, I find this old saying to be perfectly on point and I think maybe it was Ruark who said it: "I've known many men above my station in life including movie stars, millionaires, and even members of the Royal Family. But I've never envied any man, except the man about to undertake his first Safari in Africa, for he is truly blessed beyond that which he can comprehend"!

Because I read several Africa books when I was a small boy and never quit hoping.

I stopped trying to explain my trips to others who ask and don't hunt or aren't drawn to Africa. I borrow an old quote from Gordon MacQuarrie:

"Some people ask why men go hunting. They must be the kind of men who seldom get far from the highways. What do they know of the tryst a hunting man keeps with the wind and the trees and the sky."

There's nothing left for me to add. Ya'll have covered it pretty well. Makes me feel that I was born in the wrong place on the wrong continent. I know where home is. Home is where the heart is.

The people, the history, the food, the variety of game, braai smoke, that beautiful night sky full stars, the sound of a land rover's fuel pump going out, brandy by the pool, double guns, Mausers, stark and monkey gland sauce, boerewors, bilitong.....I could go on but I will say this: my first trip was to see all the sites I had read about: rorke's drift, islhandwana, blood river, talana hill, the Voortrekker monument etc. After I saw all of that, a friend told me, " you will be back, the red dirt is in your blood now.". It took a while but I went back and hunted with friends and reminded myself how i love africa. I will continue to go back as often as I can.

The people, the history, the food, the variety of game, braai smoke, that beautiful night sky full stars, the sound of a land rover's fuel pump going out, brandy by the pool, double guns, Mausers, steak and monkey gland sauce, boerewors, biltong.....I could go on but I will say this: my first trip was to see all the sites I had read about: rorke's drift, islhandwana, blood river, talana hill, the Voortrekker monument etc. After I saw all of that, a friend told me, " you will be back, the red dirt is in your blood now.". It took a while but I went back and hunted with friends and reminded myself how i love africa. I will continue to go back as often as I can.

I dreamt of Africa since I was a kid from reading Corbett and Capstick and finally went last year as this was the first time I could afford the time and the cost. I went on a free range (for me this is what is has to be) lion, leopard, buffalo hunt. I killed a fantastic lion, a very good leopard and buffalo and half dozen other quality animals. Three decades after having the dream I fulfilled it. I will be back next year and many more to come. A lot of people wonder how you can justify the cost? I smile and say you can't unless you been there. A friend just got back from a free range plains game hunt in Namibia (his first safari as well) and his first words back were " how can you go only once? ". Africa is a lady that once she gets her claws in you: you dream of her, you think of her every day, you can't wait to see her again. It is a privelege and honour to have met her and it will be a joy when we meet again.

Little Joe:
Why Africa?
So I don't have to play golf.

Two elephants see a naked man in the bush. One says to the other, "How does he eat with that thing?"

Cheers,
Cal

I was hunting Texas exotics last weekend. Before anyone says something about that, it was challenging and I came home empty after failed stalks on axis.

However, a taxidermist was hunting with us. Over dinner, Africa came up. He is 37 or so and has never been to Africa. He has hunted all over NA. His father has hunted Africa, but wished he had waited for Africa so that he could've done sheep, etc. in better shape/earlier in life. His father had only hunted SA, as I have only hunted SA in Africa. I have, however, hunted in as many foreign countries as I have US states.

I see the point about mountain hunting, but my next Africa hunt is tops on my list. I might do another Argentina dove hunt before I book my buffalo hunt, but African buffalo will be my next big money hunt. As others have said, it gets in your blood and draws you back. Although my two SA hunts were not like most of what you all see as "true" Africa; it worked.

quote:

Originally posted by Blacktailer:
.....................
That and for some reason when I am in Africa, I feel that I am home. I have never experienced this anywhere else that I have been but when I see those stars and smell the woodsmoke, I am at peace.

All men should feel at home in Africa: The Cradle of mankind is in the Muldersdrif area in Gauteng!

Africa is a bug , drug , virus etc. Once you get it, there is no cure except to return and go into remission until she calls again.
Thankfully I will get my fix in 2 mos, the wait has been hellish long.

While I was growing up,I read a lot of ficton,two of the authors that I read were,Edgar Rice Burroughs and Wilbur Smith,I enjoyed their works immensely,little did I know that one day I would be playing with double rifles and hunting Africa,I just feel at home while I am there,I have now hunted Africa five times,PG thrice,DG twice,there is just nothing that comes close to the African experience for me!

quote:

Why Africa???

Because it (was) home. Now it takes money to be "home".

Africa and safari are just so much more than shooting an animal. You go to Africa for the "EXPERIENCE". Safari is a 24 hour a day assault of sights, sounds and smells that cannot be matched or fully explain to the uninitiated.

Mark

For me, part of the allure is the history of all the greats that trailed and explored before me. In a way Africa is still very much like the land those early hunters experienced. I guess I feel I can connect to them in some small was by going there.

Cheesy answer? Yes, but true.

The French have a term for it. It is something like "Clinique du Afrique" The Illness of Africa. I'm afraid you have it bad, Me To!

I find Amarula helps, but the only remedy is to go back.

As to the all of the posts, the WHY'S have IT !!!

I have to agree with all that is being said. I think I take 100 to 1 more pictures in Africa than anywhere else. Going back through all the pics and watching the video I had done brings back the sites, smells, flowers, prickly bushes and makes the blood churn to get back there even sooner. It is such an amazing place. Hard not to have a good time there. Such a different culture and time table than in the states. I have a friend going with me to Botswana that has never been and to have that feeling of the first morning again and the unknown cannot be replaced.

Riverman, I am excited that you will be coming along as well to film this latest adventure. The video just gives those at home a little peek at what we see and go through.

People say they cannot go to Africa due to price. Obviously they have not researched it very close. Sadly I can go a couple of times for the cost of a sheep hunt.

The call has come and I am headed back again much sooner than I had planned and I cannot wait to go.

50.5 wks. till I return.
Not that I'm counting down or anything.
We'll see how things work out in the Save as to just where I will hunt.

The original poster asked the question of why Africa and then said some others had sheep fever and asked if they were the same. Having been infected by both, I will give my own feeble answer.

Sheep hunting for me is being in God's house, his cathedral, surrounded by the sheer beauty of the mountains, the vastness of the wilderness and the intense silence of it all. It is for me a physcially challenging, but intensely spirtual quest. I am constantly in awe of the surroundings and intensely aware of the beauty and dangers inherent in the landscape and elements.

In Africa I feel like I'm walking with God among and as one of his creatures in the crucible of life. Surrounded by life and death from the bugs on the hood of the Landcruiser to the Elephants and everything in between. Can there be any time when you feel more alive than when you walk into the long grass with buffalo bellowing in front of you and lions softly grunting just behind you? I don't think so.

From both places I return to "normal" life a softer and more gentle person, thankful and more appreciative for the short time we have to enjoy it all.

EB....Nicely put.

I started reading this thread when a bull began to bellow two fields away, and I closed my eyes and tried to kid myself it was a lion.....

Damn, I need to go back real bad!!

quote:

Originally posted by wtnut:
A lot of people wonder how you can justify the cost? I smile and say you can't unless you been there.

I will use that one!

Some good answers. I really don't have one. I went on my first trip of a lifetime in the 70's and 31 trips later I am still excited as a little kid, if that stops I will hang it up.