During a really bad part of your day, what are the memories of Africa that take your mind off your current problems?

Mine is the sunsets, the sight of the fire as you return to camp, hearing lions roar in Mozambique and the look on my brother's face when he killed his elephant.

Perry

The most "alive " I have ever felt was when I was bowhunting buffalo in 2000 and a bull charged .

Most contented I have ever been was listening to a leopard sawing away as the sun went down on the Save River in Zimbabwe whilst I enjoyed my sundowner and warthog fries over a bed of popcorn.

Most dissapoited I have ever been is driving back to the airport after my first trip to leave Africa for the trip home.

Best reovery is when on the flight home from that first trip when I realized that this was not IT and that I would somehow find a way to get back.

While at work I can sit and look at the photos that I have in my law office of all of my african trophies (in addition to the actual bull elk, antelope and whitetail trophy mounts that I have hanging in the office as well). Having these at work creates a positive atmosphere, great discussion with new clients, and keeps me focused on the future. (Hunting future, that is)

Wow, I'd hate to have to narrow it down to just a few.
Like UEG said, looking at the pictures now and then sure lifts the spirits.

Kyler

Standing alongside my son, quietly watching a beautiful African sunset, with all the sounds and smells of the bush surrounding us, and my son softly saying "Thanks Dad".

Perry,
Hard to pick a favorite memory (even though I have only had the pleasue of one safari). That is one of the good things about safari - even one leaves you with multiple memories. However, the memory that "pops" in the most frequently - sitting in a dry riverbed, watching 3-400 people massed around you, me, Ganyana, and my shot up elephant. Just a day, watching the people, seeing/experiencing their joy, swapping stories, and eating bits of fresh grilled ele. "Top of the world Ma, top of the world." Hell, sitting here reflecting on it, that may well be my best memory of all time. - Boet, Baie Dankie.

Following buff in the long grass, lions roaring all night, being chased by a young bull elephant.

Titanium blue skys. Star filed nights. Mopane smoke. Solitude, freedom, danger, beauty......

surestrike,

That baobab tree reminds me of the old Africa.

Hamdeni

quote:

Originally posted by surestrike:



Titanium blue skys. Star filed nights. Mopane smoke. Solitude, freedom, danger, beauty......

There are many good memories from hunting in Africa, but the ones I cherish the most is the pride I felt when my wife shot her first animals in Zim (an Impala and a warthog), and a few years later in Namibia when she got her first kudu.

Then there are countless non-hunting memories from various countries that I am reminded of everyday when I see the photos on our walls at home.

Tracking gorillas in Uganda is especially one of my fondest memories:


As was the complete solitude in many parts of the Sahara desert. At night, the stars were brighter out there then I've seen anywhere else in the world, and there was complete and utter silence:

I have only been on one (so far). I took several great plains game trophies, but a great memory as i think back is when we were driving around and just looking out and thinking "can I really be here".

while hunting warthog we were sitting around the truck eating lunch. One of the guides cellphone started ringing at that moment a pair of young hogs busted out of the brush running right for us. I jumped to my feet and pulled my 44mag. I was all set to shoot when I decided they were too small. When I turned around both guides were standind with their fingers in their ears. One said damm you sure you aint from Texas and the other said why the hell are we chasing these hogs all over when we could just call them in with the cell phone!
Dean

Seeing a pai of elephants fighting over who would get to dirnk out of the pool (elephants aren't hunted on this ranch) waking up way too early and gazing up at a cristal clear sky filled with seemingly millions of stars. Losing complete track of the date or the time of day.

7mm. guy

I'd have to say it was my very first "PH" ... I spent 90% of my time in the bush.

Nick -

You got that...and I got Ganyana?

Wild elephants could not have pulled me on to the plane if I'd had the opportunity to share a tent with that.

quote:

Originally posted by Nickudu:
I'd have to say it was my very first "PH" ... I spent 90% of my time in the bush.

Sounds like the kind of safari (wet)dreams are made of!

While glassing for waterbuck one evening from the middle of the mostly dry riverbed, My PH and myself noticed some Kudu bulls heading towards us within the next 15 minutes we had 16 Kudu bulls feeding in 50-100meter radius of us.
unreal!

The Ostrich that tried to rape JudgeG in the Kwazulu Natal in 2004. Funniest thing I have ever seen.

quote:

Originally posted by BWN300MAG:
Nick -

You got that...and I got Ganyana?

Wild elephants could not have pulled me on to the plane if I'd had the opportunity to share a tent with that.

I will take Ganyana any day to that women while hunting!

I am one of those who believe women should stick to running our hunting camp, not be our PHs!

Saeed: I´m a bit dissapointed in you but in one way you have a point: Ugly women should stay in camp and fix meals!

My best memory...lots of them but one sticks: You´re a prety good shot!

My PH words from my first trip. Coming from him it was a major compliment!

quote:

I will take Ganyana any day to that women while hunting! I am one of those who believe women should stick to running our hunting camp, not be our PHs!

Saeed,

You are a VERY brave man! I would never say a thing like that..............in public!

Nickudu,

Please provide the name & phone number for that "Professional Hunter" or was it "Professional XXXXXX"..?

Regards,
Dave

I'll go one further, I don't like women in hunting camps at all. Many are good hunters, including my wife & daughter, but when I go to camp with the guys I like it that way. Can't tell dirty jokes, cuss, drink too much, pee in the yard, totally relax, etc. when they're around.

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
I'll go one further, I don't like women in hunting camps at all. Many are good hunters, including my wife & daughter, but when I go to camp with the guys I like it that way. Can't tell dirty jokes, cuss, drink too much, pee in the yard, totally relax, etc. when they're around.

Women like dirty jokes just as much as we do. Their presence has never stopped us doing exactly what we normally do!

I'd say the memory that sticks in my mind is the feel of the cold steel, of my rifle in my hand as I slid on my belly, up to the edge of the river, just after daylight. Then looking at a giaganic bull Hippo, standing on a sand bar,75 yds away, grunting at another bull about 20 yds in front of him, both with teeth showing. The sight picture coming to rest just behind his right ear, and the feel of the recoil of my 375 H&H. Then the resulting sound of that bull hitting the sand bar as if the world had been yanked out from under him. The splash of the other bull hitting the river.

You see this 28" bull Hippo was the first animal I shot on my first trip the Africa. We had been looking for him for a couple of days, and this morning was the first time I had seen him from less than 400 yds down river. His teeth are on my mantel as I type! There are many other things I can remember, but that was my introduction to Africa.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by fla3006:
I'll go one further, I don't like women in hunting camps at all. Many are good hunters, including my wife & daughter, but when I go to camp with the guys I like it that way. Can't tell dirty jokes, cuss, drink too much, pee in the yard, totally relax, etc. when they're around.

Women like dirty jokes just as much as we do. Their presence has never stopped us doing exactly what we normally do!

Saeed's right. Virtually all women like the same "naughty" stuff we do, but a lot of them don't admit it because they're afraid they will seem "unwomanly" and/or unsofisticated. Very few women would be really be bothered with the behavior fla3006 mentioned IMO.

I see no harm in having women in a camp, or a female PH for that sake (as long as she's a good PH). I'm quite used to women hunting, and enjoy hunting with them. In fact, only a couple of women in my family don't hunt! And they're the boring/stuck-up ones!

quote:

Originally posted by PWN375:
During a really bad part of your day, what are the memories of Africa that take your mind off your current problems?

Mine is the sunsets, the sight of the fire as you return to camp, hearing lions roar in Mozambique and the look on my brother's face when he killed his elephant.


Perry

Just being with my kids and wife floating the Zambezi looking at villages and animals. Peaceful and fun.

Saeed,
In all seriousness, I would not have wanted, nor could not have had a better PH for my safari than Ganyana (little shameless plug for old Ganyana upcoming). He had all the answers to my numerous ignorant questions, found game frequently, showed the ins-n-outs of negotiating Zim's communal lands, told some amazing stories about life in Zim, etc, etc, etc. However, all praise and gratitude to Ganyana aside, IMHO he is/was a little lacking in the looks department but then maybe that is just me.

It all has been pretty much good but I think three experiences stick in my mind most. They are shooting a bull elephant the first hour of the first moring of my first safari, having a lion and lioness mating directly under our machan in a sausage tree on a dark and moonless night in Zambia and my elephant hitting the ground after a brain shot in Botswana last year.
That stuff is hard to duplicate in our modern world.

Mark