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This was one of our 'weekends away in the bush' trips and initially I was not planning to write it up as a hunt report. But then I thought again and thought that this is such an interesting project / story, maybe I should write it up and tell it. So here goes ....

After a short trip to Cape Town, Anja and I had a few days free so we planned a short bush trip / hunt. We decided we would try and find something new to us in the Limpopo region of RSA and keep the hunting down to just and impala and a warthog type of hunt. Some meat for the freezer and maybe a warthog for the wall! We contacted the owner of Syringa Sands, a farm a couple hours north of Joburg and although Sean, the owner, mentioned that they only do 3 or 4 hunts a year and were booked out for 2016, he said that if we were only after a pig and a rooibok we would be welcome for a few days. It would be three days three nights self catering and ps there is a bass lake too so fishing is also possible!

Syringa is not a huge farm, but what it lacks in size it makes up for in beauty, diversity and the small things that the owners have done that almost go unnoticed.

The farm has a good range of plains game - giraffe, blue wildebeest, zebra, plenty of big eland, kudu, impala, blesbok, warthog, bushbuck, lots of small antelope, small cats and other predators and roan! And I will come back to the roan in a moment. The accommodation is a wonderful self contained two bedroom cottage, with a complete kitchen, good braai facilities and nicely decorated. You will not see a single electricity line on the farm, Sean, the owner, buried them all so that they are not an eye sore - miles of cables buried ! The farm has thick bush, open plains and lots of water. The hunting was not easy as we had a cold and windy spell. We saw a lot of game and took an impala for the table as planned. I caped, gutted and butchered the impala with a new knife I purchased in Cape Town. I saw a couple of warthog that would have looked great on my wall but never had a shot. We caught lots of bass on fly - in spite of the wind. First large mouth I have ever caught - so that was great fun too! And we had some wonderful BBQs paired with great RSA reds!

Coming back to the roan ..... the joint owners, Nick and Nicole, started a project some three years ago with Sean to reintroduce Southern Roan into the Limpopo and Waterberg range. Roan existed there a century ago but were shot and poached out and suffered badly from tick related diseases. They have set aside a separate section of the farm for a breeding herd of a dozen plus roan which they have purchased in from different sources, checking DNA and blood sampling and registering each animal with the authorities along the way. They are monitoring the herd daily and now have two young bulls outside the roan camp running with the rest of the game animals. The significance of this being to see if they have developed tick resistance which they can then pass on when breeding. We spent time observing the roan, helped with feeding ( every couple of days the pregnant cows are given some extra fodder just to help the on ) and we asked lots of questions.

To be very clear - this is not a "breed to shoot tame roan" operation but a very specific, costly and scientifically researched, private funded and managed programme to reintroduce Southern Roan into the Limpopo region of RSA.

Anja and I learned a lot on this short bush trip. We did some hunting and fishing, ate well and made new friends. And now I'll let the pictures do the talking.

A couple of hours north of Joburg up by Modimolle







I love these signs




A wonderful bush cottage














With a great braai place and bush TV







Ready for the off




Not a great start but we got there in the end - two lower right were mine





Not a Landcruiser





It was cold !





Bush




Open veld





Spot the trophy pig!?






Roan







Roan hiding





Large mouth on fly - a first.









We ate well!







Impala liver and kidneys




Bass pond at last light




A new best friend !




It's a shame they are over in a few minutes!






Thanks for coming along. Sorry this was light on hunting and game pictures taken but I hope interesting nevertheless.






Ps I am not even sure if we photographed the impala that I shot. He was a good old ram with solid horns. I shot him right shoulder with the Krieghoff .375 and a 300 grain Norma. He dashed about 50 yards and dropped.

Pps. It was so clear that the farm was not heavily hunted with the game not spooking when the Landrover approached / drove by. But then again why would anything or anyone for that matter run away from a Landrover!!

Ppps. We are hoping to go back in 2017 and chase that trophy pig again!

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What a cool outing! Thanks for the report.

Classy as always. Can you post more pictures of Anja?

Charlie;

You and Anja really know how to have fun!!!! Great pics and report!!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Nice report; sounds like a great weekend.

Great trip and report. Thanks for all the pics.

Looks like a great trip.

Love those Helle knives!

One of my friends in West Nic has some large lakes on their property and told me it was full of largemouth bass and "bream" (Tilapia to us in the States). I asked him what was the biggest bass he'd caught to date and he said "13.5 lbs." I asked what he caught it on and he replied: "I think you call them rubber worms." Southern Africa is producing some leviathan's. Good way to spend some time, enjoyed your pics

Looks like fun!

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Amazing project which is looking very promising !

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Great report and beautifull photos as always .

Thanks for sharing.
Is that roan suicidal????

What is an old guy doing with such a young lady????