Got back yesterday after 50 hours of travelling home! (incl. 10h in a hotel) Had a great time at Landelani, with Pete E, Roger C. and his wife Serena, JJHACK, my friend Cyril (who tagged along as an observer).

I hunted with Henk Viljoen. He turned out to be a great PH, and we had a great time and took some nice animals. Henk had just survived a close brush with death a couple days before our arrival. He had been bitten on the finger by a puff adder, and when he was given anti-venom at the hospital it turned out he was deathly allergic to it. The had to shock him with a defibbrilator 5 times to get his heart going again. Apparently this caused damage to his heart, but 3 days later he was hunting again!

Here are some pics to get started:

Nice Red Hartebeeste I took on the first morning. Wasn't initally planned, but it was too nice to turn down.



Cyril took a shot at an impala on the first evening. It looked like a good hit but we couldn't find it before dark. This is what we found first thing the next morning.....



Amazingly, the only things not damaged was the horns and cape!! Brown hyena and jackal had done a number on the rest of it!

The next day I took a really nice wartie and broke my jinx! Unfortunately the camera died before I could get a pic with me in it. I did get some 35 mm pics, but still have to scan them.



Later that day I also took this nice nyala. Not a big one, but a nice trophy nonetheless...




The next couple of days we spent hunting zebra and kudu. Didn't get any opportunities at zebra, but turned down a few really nice kudu in the 50 to 54 inch class (much to Henk's frustration I am sure). I wanted one with tips pointing out though, so we kept at it hard, and were rewarded early one morning with a nice 54 1/2" bull....



We continued hunting for zebra, spending a lot of time on foot. While doing so just before noon on the day I got the kudu, Henk and I almost stepped on a black mamba! Henk spotted it when it was only about 3 feet from my feet, and 4 or 5 feet from his. It slithered away quickly (thank God!), and Henk took my 375 H&H and got off a couple quick shots. He hit it at least once before it made it into a pile of brush. After a few deep breaths, we decided to give it a wide berth and circle around the brush pile. Henk took a couple of steps and spotted another mamba in a termite mound only a few feet away. Despite his close encounter with death only a week earlier, he took this picture for me...



Turns out we had gotten in between a breeding pair! We quickly dispatched this second mamba with the 375. As you can see by the pics, it is about 9 1/2 feet long! (a foot of the tail is in Henk's left hand, and about a foot of it is laying on the ground!).





At last light the same day, I got a chance at a decent waterbuck....



We spent a couple more days hunting zebra but never did get a chance at a stallion. The tracks were plentiful, and we saw a lot of stripes through the brush, but they always managed to elude us.

On the second last day, I took this second warthog while following zebra tracks...



And shortly thereafter, we found this nice impala. To Henk's credit, he also put up with me passing on nice impala for many days before finally taking this one. I wanted a good one with "tips out" to go with the huge "tips in" ram I got in 2002.



We spent the last day hunting bushbuck along the Mokolo River (Mogol R.). We saw a few bushbuck but never got a chance at a nice ram. I was also starting to come down with Tick Bite Fever and was feeling very under the weather (doxy has done a great job on it in the days since however!).

Well, that about covers it for now. Will post more photos and stories (incl all the details on rifles, bullets, etc) as I get time. It turned out that I was the succesfull candidate for a promotion and was notified of & accepted my transfer the day before I left for Africa. I now only have two weeks to finish up here in Peace and get moved down to the Kootenay's again, so time will be a precious commodity for me the next little while!

Cheers,
Canuck

Great trophies !!!
The kudu and the wartie are great!!
Congrats!
L

Great photos!! Got between a pair of mambas myself once I will never forget the experience.

Great picts and sounds like you had a good time. I for one never want to get that close to a mamba.

-Steve

looks like you had a good time and took some nice animals.

Just one question though, why did you shoot the mambas, whynot just leave them to it?

Incredible pics! Congrats on a great hunt. Look forward to hearing details!

Congratulations on the promotion and a great hunt. That is a combination that is hard to beat.

Congratulations, Canuck! It looks like you had a very successful hunt.

I think it's a very rewarding way to hunt when you set standards for yourself and stick to them, as you did with the "tips out" impala and kudu. If you don't find what you want, there's always next time; but when you do, the success is just that much sweeter!

Holly and I leave for the Eastern Cape and the Karoo in two days to get our next African "fix," I can't wait to get back in the bush!

Congratulations Canuck! Those are great trophies..Good work! (Sounds like there are a lot of snakes there..)

Canuck, I have several more months before I leave for my next trip, so I do appreciate your excellent report and photographs as a needed fix.

And as though getting close to one mamba wasn't enough, you ran into two of them! People say it's rare to see deadly snakes on safari, but that hasn't been my experience, nor yours either, I see!

Thanks and congratulations on your adventure.

Congrats, Canuck...excellent trophies. That is a great kudu and a buster warthog! Not a bad mamba either! Those things really get my blood pressure up!

Congrats on a successful hunt. Looks like you had fun, the most important part.

Congratulations on a great hunt. It sounds like your PH is one tough SOB.

I'm just jealous

Great pics and Post. I'm green with envy.

Regarding the Mamba, I would have sh*t my pants right there.

I hate snakes..

I know I'm jelous! looks like your trip was awesome. What kind of paperwork (if any) do you need to get the Warthog skull back to Canada? And what on earth are you doing moving from the best fishing/hunting spot in North America to the evil lower half of beautiful BC?

Thanks Canuck! Enjoyed the pictures and the story.

Canuck,

That big grin says it all. Good SHOW!

Mark

Chris,

Congratulations on the hunt and double congratulations on the promotion.

Regards,

Terry

Canuck,

Thanks for a very nice hunt report.

Your great report and pictures just adds to my excitement of leaving in four days for my third trip to South Africa! Will watch out for Puff Adders and Mambas, among other things.

Ho Ho Ho Geez Ho Ho Ho!
Way to go Canuck!
Henk is a hardy soul and deserves to blast any vipers that he vishes to. I am glad that he still has all of his own anatomy still intact. That is amazing in itself. Didn't John Sharp lose an index finger to a puff adder?
Thanks for sharing, and please do show and tell more !

Congrats on the Promotion-I would like to find out more. You have great trophies-esp. the Kudu;but i am confused I thought this was the trip for Buff???

Nice report and great photos. Congratulations on the promotion - that was sure some way to celebrate.

Phil

Great job!
Terrific trophys and photos.
Thanks for sharing,
Kyler

Awesome photos Canuck and congratultions on your safari. I always look forward to members post of their hunting photos.

BigBullet

Hearty Congratulations, Chris! You done real good!

Hi

Great looking animals!!

How did you travel to RSA....via Frankfurt?

Where do you plan on getting your trophies done?

Fourteen days and counting to my first safari.

Thanks

Great pictures Chris - Glad to see you got a good Warthog on this trip. Give my regards to MV and JJ. Glad to see JJ is still hunting Landelani. Where you able to bring you own guns this time or did you have to hit up JJ again?

Tom Z

Great Pictures. Thanks for sharing.

Canuck,

Congrats on a successful hunt! Great pics & story.

Regards,
Dave

Congratulations Canuck, glad you've had a good hunt in the good old RSA!

Along the Mogol river you said, exactly where is this Landelanie situated? Nearest town's name if you know it, please.
It sounds as if it is close to where our family farm is.

quote:

It sounds like your PH is one tough SOB.

This PH's actions with mambas are very worrying. These snakes are almost as fast as lightning and to take photos where one is in a termite mound is absolutely reckless. He might just be your 'late PH' one of these days if he continues doing such stupid things!

Sorry, don't want to be nasty and please don't take this personally, but a mamba is definitely not something to fool around with.
I have seen fully grown cattle just giving one huge jump after a mamba struck it, out of an termite mound as it passed by, lying stone dead within the next five paces!

Looking forward to the rest of your report and photos.

Jagter,

I was hunting with Chris although I was not there when mamba incident happened.

As I understand it,Landalani is about 35km west of Ellisras. Its not actually on the river itself as that was a seperate area Chris went to trying for a Bushbuck. There is a big opencast coal mine not to far away as we could hear them blasting periodically.

Regards,

Pete

Wow looks like a great trip. Congrats

Thanks Pete,

Landelani must be about halfway between Ellisras and Steenbokpan, which is situated about 50 - 55km from Ellisras to the West.
You're right, the Grootgeluk opencast coal mine is in the area as well as the Matimba power station, just about at the most 12 - 15kms to the West of Ellisras. Grootgeluk mine supplies Matimba with it's coal to generate electricity.

We are about 9kms from Ellisras in a South-Westerly direction and Matimba power station is clearly visible when looking out from one of the low hills situated on the farm.

Congratulations with your successful hunt!

Congrats on the great photos and excellent trip. Time to start planning another one.

Great pics of some beautiful trophies, congrats.

Looks like you had a great trip. Nice pictures and a good report.

Very nice animals. I thought the Nyala was great. Nice Kudu, Warthog and Impala too. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

Way to go Canuck! Man that is a nice heartabeast! That is a trophy I don't have, and have always wanted. I just don't see them where I usually hunt!

.............CONGRATULATIONS