Adansonia Trip Report
August 2006

Adansonia Safaris is owned and operated by Mof and Minnie Venter. My wife purchased the 10 day trip for two at the Lowcountry SCI fundraiser auction. After doing some additional background and reference checks on Mof’s operation, it became apparent we were in for a great safari. After talking about it so much six friends who couldn’t stand it decided to join us. One non-hunting wife tagged along. She had the time of her life.

Mof’s staff catered to four bowhunters and four rifle hunters as if they did it every day of the year. From the time we got to Johannesburg to the time we were dropped off. We were absolutely taken care of in professional fashion.

Derrick and Louis, two of the PHs meet us at the airport. Mike and Karen are getting ready for the trip of their lives.


Archers Will and Victor wait patiently for the rifle hunters to get cleared.


This was our destination in Ellisras South Africa.


Here I am with our excellent host Mof Venter.


Each Chalet had a bathroom and shower. They were quite comfortable.

The dining hall provided great meals and was very comfortable. We had some of our animals every night.

This is the inside of a typical archery blind at Adansonia.

These blinds produced this excellent duiker at 15yds. This is my first African animal.
I also got this Impala at 32 yards. This was the longest bowshot of the Safari.
It gets cold in August in South Africa. My PH Louis is bundled up. This is inside an old defunct rifle blind we converted for bow use one day. He’s reading "The Deerhunter". We’re settling in for a long day. It was an impossible shifty wind day. We almost gave up. I made the decision to tough it out. There was so much Kudu sign in the area. Maybe a miracle would happen. I’d always wonder if we left. This was the only time I didn’t follow Louis advice. I just had a feeling.
This particular ranch receives heavy rifle hunting pressure. This tends to make getting a bowshot at game quite a difficult proposition. With only thirty minutes left of shooting light we were rewarded. The bull came in to twelve yards from our blind side! Louis simply pointed and turned on the video camera. No words were exchanged. I had no time to stand and shoot. I drew and shot from a sitting position in a chair with armrests! My shot was heading perfectly for the leg on the opposite side of the Kudu but the broadhead encountered a heavy rib bone. Because the shot angle was quartering away this actually caused the arrow to change direction as it penetrated. The video shows this clearly. You can actually see the arrow change direction when it strikes the animal. This turned what should have been a perfect heart/lung shot into a liver shot. Still very lethal, but not as quickly fatal as an arrow through the vitals. I will think about quartering shots on heavy boned animals differently in the future. We recovered the Kudu first thing the following morning. My sleepless nighttime prayers were answered. We found him quickly and by the grace of God he was untouched by jackals.
After eight days of not even catching a glimpse of a Gemsbuck at a waterhole. I decided it was time to borrow a rifle and try and find one. Louis was very considerate of my limited abilities. He also proved extremely adept at finding Gemsbuck. We saw several shooters but couldn’t quite get the right shot opportunity. There were several almost and not quite right opportunities. Louis assured me there was no reason to rush a shot as we would get other opportunities. Since, it was obvious to me, he could produce, I followed his advice and held my trigger finger. We were calling it a day and heading back. When as Africa apparently sometimes does, decided to give me this outstanding Bull. It happened so fast. Much like the Kudu. There was no back and forth conversation. Louis simply said, "The middle one! Shoot!" My shot was where I aimed, unfortunately on a gemsbuck this is 4 inches too high. My mistake, note to self, shoot african animals below the midline. I knew this, but making myself do it in a heated moment is another thing entirely. Many years of shooting deer, in the midline is a hard habit to break. The first shot spined the bull and at Louis’ insistence I shot him again for insurance. A shot in the midline often only stuns a gemsbuck. Frequently, they regain their feet and are lost when this happens. My first shot actually centered the spine. Most of the time a midline shot only grazes the top of the spine. I was being watched over on this hunt!
I only took four animals. Not too shabby considering what I’ve been through. Three years ago my doctors would have predicted there was absolutely no way. Three platinum coils in my head. Extensive rehab of a paralyzed right arm and leg. Rebuilding strength in two dislocated shoulders. Just to name a few of the obstacles to over come. Louis did a great job with me. I probably wasn’t his easiest client but I think he enjoyed it as much as I did.

The eight of us took over 60 animals in 10days of hunting. Will managed to get seventeen with his bow. His biggest blesbuck and african wildcat should both make SCI top 10. He measures for SCI and tells me all of my trophies will make book. Mof has excellent trophy quality and an excellent operation. All the ranches were positively polluted with Warthogs. If you like pigs this is heaven! Mof also has access to some great bushbucks, which unfortunately I was not up to chasing. But a couple of nice ones were harvested while I was there. Something to shoot for, in the future for me. A waterbuck and zebra would also be on the wish list.

Some way some how God willing. I’m going back. And based on this past experience, I would go right back to Mof’s.

I am glad you and your party had a good trip. Mof and Minnie are some really good people, even Mof's cousin Louis is OK . They have some fine accomodotions and good animals on their property. I actually took a duiker and blue wildebeest of his place last year.

Have you started planning your next Africa trip? One is never enough.

Congratulations on a nice hunt. What a Kudu! Kudude

That gemsbok is impressive !!
Congrats for the hunt but most of all for your recovering
L

Great report and some very fine animals, gotta love bowhunting!

A very enjoyable and inspiring report of a well conducted hunt.

Good luck on your next one- a bow shot zebra could be a challenge but you have overcome bigger obstacles.