.






If you look around as a little, you can find some real gems in South Africa`s array of plains game animals. And I am not thinking or talking about the likes of golden wildebeest, black impala, red oryx, white flanked impala and the dozens of other colour creations that have sprung up in recent years. No, I am thinking of plains game animals that are indigenous to RSA or were introduced - in some cases over 100 years back and other cases in my lifetime, as recent as 50 years back.

Black wildebeest - indigenous to South Africa and in my mind a great and yet very underrated and poorly understood trophy. Vaalribbok - another ‘only in RSA’ superb animal and great fun but very difficult to hunt.

Then the introduced - fallow deer springs to mind as a long ago introduced species. Fallow deer are one of the gems. South Africa has great fallow deer and they can be hunted at a fraction of the cost of fallow bucks in the UK and many European countries and, I would guess, at a fraction of the cost of what one would pay in Texas.

Another one has to be the Barbary sheep or aoudad. South Africa has a great albeit limited population of aoudad but there are some large and mature rams to be had if you know what outfitter to talk to and where to go.

Barbary sheep (Ammotragus lervia), native to the mountains of Northern Africa and parts of North West Africa and subsequently introduced into Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain and some of the islands), South Africa and the USA, where they have flourished. In fact the aoudad, whilst referred to as a Barbary sheep, is neither a true sheep nor a true goat but rather a species of its own genus, namely “Ammotragus” which shares characteristics with both sheep and goats. But for the sake of this report I am going to call them sheep.

Tough animals standing 1 meter plus at the shoulder and weighing up to 150 kgs, they inhabit dry, arid, rocky, mountainous areas, feeding off grasses, mosses and scrub. Their Conservation Status is listed as `Vulnerable`(IUCN 3.1) in the wild whilst Cities has them on Appendix II.

I spoke to Marius Goosen of KMG Safaris about aoudad a couple of years ago, knowing that he has an area for them and we fixed up a date to hunt one. I have hunted with KMG a number of times and the hunts have all been nothing but good.

We sketched this hunt out and planned just 3 hunting days plus 2 days travel. Marius mentioned that there are also good black wildebeest and Cape mountain zebra. He also said to bring a fly rod as the property has some decent fly fishing for the down time. Maybe my Reddington 5 wt glass rod!

Aoudad! A fun and challenging animal to hunt in rough terrain and most likely with long stalks and even longer shots!

Barbary sheep in South Africa - this would be a first for me!

With it being a pretty short hunt, I decided to work in a second hunt and fixed a buff with Mark Dedekind of his own name safari company. I have known Mark on and off for some 10 years but have not hunted with him so far. He attends the Dortmund Show in Germany every year and we have often chatted with me enjoying time at his booth.

Well this year I booked the buff hunt being a 7 day hunt at Thaba Tholo, a 50.000 hectare reserve north of Thabazimbi. That’s 500 square kilometres! 500 square kilometres with or without a boundary fence is one heck of a large piece of land and is very much fair chase hunting whatever anyone says. I told Mark that I was interested to try for an old, old bull as opposed to inches. Give me an old bull, past breeding, with broken and worn horns any day!

The area is also known for seriously big warthog and I was keen to try for one of those as well. Mark did warn that the drought had hit the pigs hard but there is always hope! Plus, I would be the last hunter of the 2025 season and Mark mentioned that there may also be some left over quota to clean up.

A 7 day buff and warty hunt in the north followed by an aoudad hunt down in the Eastern Cape.


Travel





Travel for this trip was easy - I picked up 2 seats each way on Lufthansa from Frankfurt to Joburg and return. Economy tickets were USD 550,- each round trip, so for USD 1.100,- I had two seats and could stretch out some.

Local flights were Airlink and FlySafair to the East Coast and back for the aoudad hunting and I would self drive in my Landy 110 Defender to Thaba Tholo some 250 Kms north west from Joburg.



Rifles





I opted to take one big bore rifle for the buff and warthog. I would use the .300 Win Mag from Marius for the sheep hunt.

Rather than a double, for this trip I decided to take my bolt action CZ 550 Mag in .416 Rigby, topped with a Zeiss Conquest scope, shooting 450 grain Norma Africa PH softs and solids. A super caliber and a solid working rifle. Why CZ ceased production of the 550 series I do not know, but I have one and I love it! Mr X from Afton House did my licenses and sent me a copy in advance. Very easy. Thank you.

The rest of the gear was simple - 8x40 binocs, Courtney boots, a couple of pairs of shorts and shirts, a fleece and a ball cap. Sun cream and Tabbard spray and I was good to go. Travelling hand luggage light!








Plus my 5 weight Reddington Butterstick glass fly rod, an Orvis reel and an assortment of flies, I was told there is good fishing at both venues.



Part I - Cape buffalo with Mark Dedekind Safaris





Self Drive - Defender 110







With the Landy checked over and my gear loaded, it was an early morning start north from Joburg towards Thabazimbi. Easy driving - hey you cannot speed in a Defender - and a beautiful sunrise as I came through Hartebeespoort and on to Brits.

I stopped at Deon’s Vleismark in Brits to pick up some T-bones. The hunt is fully catered, but I have been buying meat from Deon’s for nearly 30 years and I was not passing up on the chance of a couple of their 500 gramme T-bones when driving through Brits! The chef at Thaba Tholo would have to indulge me and change the menu the first evening! It would be T-bones and a top South African red wine.








I drove on up to Thabazimbi and met Rowan Watkins, the PH, at the Wimpy in town for a late bacon and eggs breakfast. And then I followed him the last 40 minutes to the farm.



Mark Dedekind Safaris / Thaba Tholo





Thaba Tholo is a 50.000 h property, predominantly flat, with a mix of jess, vlei and plenty of water. In short there is a heck lot of game on the farm ranging from some 200 black and white rhino down to thousands of impala and hundreds of warthog! It has it all, including 1.000 or so buffalo !

The camp is tented accommodations, all with bathrooms and showers and plenty of hot water day and night. A large dining boma and a good campfire overlooking a waterhole round it off. A very comfortable camp.








On arrival, I unpacked, we skipped lunch having just had breakfast and headed to the range. A few shots off the bench with the .416 and she was shooting where I wanted at 100m. A game drive and then a steak braai with some great Cape red wine and then an early turn in, in anticipation of the days ahead!



Blue Wildebeest





‘Not a good day to be a wildebeest.’ That was Rowan’s comment at the end of Day 1.

On the first day out, we shot 3 non trophy wildebeest! The first we spotted around 08.30 after a failed stalk on a large sable antelope that upped and disappeared into the thick bush. Shortly after, we spotted three wildebeest, grazing in the open with a herd of some 15 impala. Glassing them one was young, one was a trophy and the third a non trophy. We drove past them and stalked back. From the cover of the thorn bush, we waited and the wildebeest slowly began walking in our direction. With the .416 on the sticks, we waited and when the non trophy bulled cleared the bush at a little under 35 m, Rowan called, the bull stopped and I squeezed the trigger. The gnu bolted in a death run, pumping blood from the heart and piled up after 40 m. 08.30 a.m. and we had blood on the truck!





Number 2, came a few hours later, from a bachelor herd of some 20 bulls, again a non trophy bull. We stalked in to about 110 m when the bulls started looking our way. We discussed and agreed which bull to take, Rowan put up the sticks, I slotted in the .416, and aiming under the bulls chin, he was facing us, I fired. He too piled up after a short death dash.

A good one to take off as he had some large abscess growths on his right flank. Number 2 down.





We dropped the bulls at the skinning shed and carried on driving, spotting, walking and stalking.

Later in the afternoon, we spotted a lone wildebeest bull. Casually glassing it, Rowan commented “non trophy” to which I replied “let’s take him”. All good things happen in threes!

We made a great stalk to get to within 35 m and as Rowan put up the sticks and as I placed the rifle onto them, I quietly asked Rowan if he wanted to shoot. He looked at me quizzically and I whispered that I had already shot two and three would be greedy.

He took the rifle and leaned into the stock and at the shot the bull bucked like a bronco and dashed straight towards us only to make a last minute right turn and fall a few meters from where we stood. Rowan held out a shaky hand and with a big smile, thanked me. Wildebeest number 3 in the salt and all on day one!





Back to the skinning shed and then to camp for celebratory drinks and a great braai dinner.





The food at the camp was great. Lots of game, fresh vegetables and home made breads.



African Civet





He is often referred to as a civet cat, he is not a cat but rather a member of the mongoose family, but I guess ‘civet mongoose’ sounds a bit stupid hence the name civet cat.

I have wanted to hunt one for a while and speaking to Mark at the show, he sounded pretty confident that we could get one in a week.

40 cm at the shoulder and a mass of up to 18 kg for a big male, civet are quite common. They are very secretive and nocturnal, hiding up during the day in thick bush, grass or reeds. Their cry is a low growl or loud cough and now the fun bit - when alarmed they sercrete a foul smelling tar like substance from their peri-anal gland! They require a ToPs license to hunt and shot one, but obtaining the paperwork was more a formality than a lottery win.

With the kitchen trash container on the back of the Toyota, we headed to a waterhole where Rowan and Gert had set up a trail camera before my arrival and we proceeded to hang a net bag of kitchen scraps in a dry old tree at the pan. For good measure, Gert, the tracker, also deposited a few scoops of vegetable waste and scraps at the base of the tree.





The first evening a brown hyena paid a visit and the second evening nothing showed. It was not until day 4 that we had civet tracks and a good sized cat on the scraps bait.

The following day we built a blind at 60 m and in the evening after dinner we drove to the water hole. On the way there, Rowan spotlighted a civet on the road but we lost him and carried on to the pan and our blind.

Stopping 500 m away, we slowly walked in towards the pan, me carrying the camp Blaser in .375 (loaded with solids) with a Guide thermal scope. At about 100 m out, we picked up an image in my hand held thermal - a civet! Getting a bit closer, Rowan put up the sticks and I sighted onto the civet which was at the scraps pile. A large, long bodied civet but whether a male or female one could not tell. That was the 50/50 crap shoot aspect of the hunt but the ToPs permit covered both.

Things then happened very fast and on the sticks I sighted onto the civet and push cocking the Blaser, I put in the shot, hitting the civet somewhat low in the shoulder and I watched him as he limped into the thorns, without giving me the chance of a second shot.

Then things happened even faster, Gert got Bruno, Rowan’s hunting dog, from the truck and unleashing him on the blood trail, we watched and listened as Bruno raced away into the thorns on the line that the civet had taken and into the darkness.

With my head torch on and the thermal scope now off the Blaser, Rowan and I ran after the hound.

“Mind my dog!” shouted Rowan.

We could now clearly hear that Bruno was after the cat and within moments his barking changed. He had bayed the civet.

Rushing through the thorn bush, pushing aside the offending branches with the Blaser, we ran towards the barking and growling!

The civet, a big one, was deep in a thorn bush with Bruno circling and snapping. You could clearly see the civet and his glowing eyes in the torch light. Rowan shouted at Bruno to come away and as soon as the dog was clear, I put in a finishing shot with the .375 from less than 2 m. We had our civet!! Super exciting!











A wonderful, old, old, stinking male African civet, with torn ears and scars on his face and shoulders.

Thank you Rowan and thank you Bruno! A memorable hunt and a wonderful old civet trophy. Definitely one for the wall!

Rowan dropped me back at camp and then drove the 15 kms to the skinning shed where he woke the skinners up. They then skinned out my civet for a full mount and soaked the skin in a salt water pickle before heading back to bed around midnight! That says something about a well run hunting camp and passionate team!



Buffalo





The farm has a lot of buffalo. MD Safaris sells a buff hunt package including a dagga boy under 39 inches. They hunt some 30 buff per year on the farm. Anything above 39 inches and it’s a sliding scale price up to buff of 45 inches and possibly even bigger.

Not everyone’s ,cup of tea’, to use the English phrase and I know many disagree with prices based on inches and sliding scales, but that is how it works here and I was ok to go along with it. Plus I was after an old, old busted and broken horned bull and not inches.

Rowan told me that the farm has some 1.000 plus resident buff and also added that as many of the hunters want to shoot buff under 39 inches, the trick is to find old boys with smaller spreads. He would do his best.

We were seeing buff from the outset, twos and threes, herds of 20 - 30. One evening a herd of some 40 buff came to the camp waterhole to drink, a non hunting area. That was something to see in the thermal hand held!

On the second day hunting, Sam another PH who was hunting an elderly German client, called through on the radio that they had seen two buff, one very old, watering on the far side of the farm. We began a fast dive through the bush, but stopped when we spotted a seriously large tusked warthog and we decided to try for the pig. He was that big! However, the pig had made tracks and so we resumed our drive and arriving at the water hole, we were greeted by the two bulls drinking. We had a brief glass and drove a long way past the bulls and, agreeing that they were old and probable shooters, we began a down wind stalk back to the water.

The buff had moved on so we began tracking then in the red earth and followed them in to some thick thorn jess. We continued to track the two bulls for quite a while when the wind began to swirl and the buffalo caught our scent and ran. We followed for a few kilometers and then decided to pull back and return late afternoon.

Which we did, but we could not pick them up and we headed back towards camp, with the plan to return early the following morning.

Driving a power line cut, Rowan spotted two other buffalo bulls at a water pan at the edge of the cut. We quickly gathered sticks and rifles and fast walked through the bush at the edge of the cut to the pan. One bull had already watered and was in the thick jess. The second bull, an old hard bull, slowly walked across the cut and into the thick. We followed.

He may have heard us or sensed us, he stopped and turned, some 15 m away from us and stared back at us. I don’t have to tell anyone what that stare looks like!

“He’s old and wide, he’ll go 42 inches,” Rowan whispered.

I told him to put up the sticks and bedded my rifle on them. It would have been a clear shot straight into his chest. But he was not what I was really hoping for and without further ado the bull snorted and turned and ran away into the bush.

That was that then. Back to camp for drinks and dinner. I was close to pulling the trigger on that one, but fortunately I did not.

The next morning we were back to where we had seen the old, old bull the day before and from the dirt road, we spied the second bull, the younger and wider of the two. Then suddenly upwind and to our left the second bull crossed the dirt road and crashed away into the thickets. A seriously old, old bull with cracked tips and worn down bosses. A old dagga boy! The hunt was on!

Rowan, myself and the tracker, slowly and quietly loaded up with rifles, sticks and water and took up the tracks and it was not long before we spotted one of the bulls. The larger of the two. The wind was good and we were as silent as could be, yet the bull must have sensed us and stared, unmoving, in our direction. Crouched low, we pulled back and waited some 20 minutes and then did a big downwind circle to come in from the left of the bull’s position. And there not 30 meters in front of us, head down feeding, was the old, old dagga boy!





(The red mark is where the bull was standing when we shot him.)


Rowan flipped the sticks and I bedded the .416 onto them, scoping down to 1 magnification - he was that close!

I whispered to Rowan that on my shot he should shoot too. The bush was so thick and we needed to try and anchor the bull on the spot.

“Tell me when you are about to shoot”, he whispered back.

Sighting on to the bulls left front shoulder and allowing for the slight off angle, I slid off the safety and taking up the trigger, whispered “now”, and fired. A second later Rowan fired too and 950 grains of copper and lead hit the bull hard. He dropped on the spot!





Pushing through the thorns to some 10 meters from the bull, I put in 2 more shots, 1 in his neck breaking the spine and number 2 in his shoulder. We then stood back and waited, taking in the bull that we had just shot. And what a great bull he was or is. A super old, old dagga boy, with totally worn teeth and a broken and polished head. A real warrior. I was and am delighted to have been able to take this buff!

A long drawn out death bellow ended the hunt and I was then able to admire this bull up close. Split horns, a fresh deep wound in his front right flank likely from a horn, teeth down to stumps and ribs showing through his thick hide. And his bosses, cracked, splintered and shiny. A great old bull and a magnificent trophy in my opinion.

We took our time with photos and then Rowan and Gert cut a recovery road and when done, we winched the bull onto the Toyota and recapped the hunt all the way back to the skinning shed and then camp.





























Looking at his molars and lower incisors, his head and his overall condition, the consensus was that he was 14 years plus minus.





We saw a good number of old, old buffalo during the week that I was there and almost all heads over 40 inches.

That is the conundrum that the safari company faces I guess, lots of wide old bulls in the 40s plus range whereas most hunting guests are looking at dagga boys under 39 inches being the package deal hunt.

The bull measured 39 1/2 inches (calipered at the skinning shed) and I was thrilled and happy to pay the extra dollars for the wider spread.

At the skinning shed the guys set to work straight away, skinning the bull for a flat skin and skull and horns and the meat into the cold room.





A memorable Cape buffalo.

That evening we had the balls, yes testicles, sliced and deep fried as an appetizer by the fire! It was not so tough as tender. Strong muti!






Warthog





Those that know me and many on here know that I love hunting warthog. MD Safaris, being based in Thabazimbi, has a reputation for trophy warthog. And here we are talking 14 - 15 inches. At the time of booking, Mark did warn me that the drought had hit the pigs hard but there were still some big old pigs about. Rowan was perhaps less optimistic but we would do our best.

I am mad keen on all pigs and Rowan kept telling me “a young boar” or “no he has a few years to go” and the likes. Me, I was keen on every pig that showed some tooth!

Walking a large vlei, Rowan spied a warthog, an old, large tusked sow, grassing alone, no young pigs at her sides.

We stalked to within 25 m and seeing that she was old and solo, Rowan flipped up the sticks and I slotted in the .416, sighted and shot. The sow bolted, I recycled and followed and Rowan said it was a good hit.

It was, but low and the sow ran in to the thorns. Her front left leg clearly broken. Gert was called and after a few minutes came to the spot with Bruno. Thank God for Bruno!

He picked up the spoor and within a couple of minutes he was on the sow. He chased her some two hundred meters with Rowan following at a trot. The tone increased as the terrier beagle cross caught up with the pig and forced her to stand. Rowan caught up with them and put in a .458 Lott round to end it and we had our pig.





This was warthog Number 100 for me! My 100th warthog in Africa! I was double happy, a great warthog sow to have hunted and taken, with the help of a great tracking dog plus she was my number 100 warthog! I’ll drink to that!

The following day at first light we spied two warthogs on the short grass under the power lines. We put in a good stalk and from some 50 meters I was on the sticks with the pig, a decent boar, looking at me. At the shot he tumbled and bolted. Soft and low.

Bruno came into play again and after some 20 minutes we had our warthog non trophy boar! A solid old pig with a broken tusk and a great one to take. Pig number 101!








After that we returned to the range and checked my rifle. Shooting low at 100 m. A few clicks and a couple of shots and we were back on track.


Bruno chilling in the bakkie!






Other Game





Thaba Tholo has simply lots of game, during the few days there we saw

Roan
Sable
Rhino black / white
Eland
Buffalo
Giraffe
Kudu
Wildebeest common & golden
Impala
Pigs
Duiker
Steenbok
Blesbok
Ostrich
Hartebeest
Waterbuck
Nyala
Oryx
Tsessebe
Civet
Bushpig
Bushbuck
Bat Eared Fox
Jackal








There are lion and ele on the farm but we did not see them. Plenty of ele damage and dung but no actual sightings.



Fly fishing





I spent the morning of the last day fly fishing at a large dam. Huge catfish and barbel were churning the shallow waters as they spawned. They ignored everything that I threw at them. As did the carp.

No luck on the fishing, but an enjoyable morning all the same casting and retrieving with my 5 weight Reddington Butterstick and an Orvis reel. Next time.



Skinners & Meat





Three full time skinners are at the camp all season. They come up from Mark’s main base in Zululand at the at the start of the season and work through to early October. The skinning and trophy facilities and cold rooms were super clean and well run. Fresh bags of salt were stacked in the trophy shed and every trophy was salted with clean salt. A well run operation.





Everything I shot was dealt with straight away - off loaded, skinned, head removed and the meat weighed, recorded and into the cold room. Super efficient.

There was an elderly German client hunting the first few days I was in camp and he was very pleased when he heard that I had shot a buffalo.

“Bait for the jackals!” was his comment.

The skinners drive all the guts, bones and waste to ‘the dump’ at the end of the day and the other hunter wanted to shoot jackal at the dump. On the last day I asked to see the dump.

The dump is a wide open clearing in the bush, littered with literally hundreds of game skulls and horns and rib cages, you name it and the animal skull is there, like some huge bush cemetery. Apparently when the front loader arrives with the offal and waste, the jackals can be seen running in hoping for an easy free meal. Vultures sat in the thorn trees watching us.

Daytime baited jackals?

I too could have spent the late afternoon at the graveyard dump shooting jackals, but I did not fancy ending a great week of hunting by sitting and staring at skulls and bones strewn across the clearing. Maybe next time.



Return drive to Joburg

I packed up a day early as I could use the time in Johannesburg to catch up on a few things.

Having checked over the Landy, I loaded the trophies, thanked the staff and Rowan and set off for Joburg, a comfortable 245 km drive.

After the Hennops River, I called in at Highveld Taxidermy and Monique took over my trophies, putting all the hides straight into a big salt water pickle tub.

A huge taxidermy operation started up by Dieter Ochsenbein some 30 to 40 years ago. I have been taking trophies to them for over 20 years.

A couple of simple skull mounts and a flat skin of one of the wildebeest. The buff horns I will hang bleached and without a board in the house entrance in Sandton. The civet is destined to be a wall full mount!

The buff skin is going to be tanned as leather by Carl Dedekind, Mark’s brother, who runs a taxidermy. Maybe I’ll have a couple of gun bags made up for the boys. The warty tusks get added to the coffee table pile!








Part II at the Eastern Cape to follow ...



.

Fabulous report!

Remarkable report with really great photos! Thank you for taking the time to write it up and share with us.

thank you for the report and pictures. cant wait to read part II.

Charlie - Thanks for the great report! Good to hear about some of these "gems" in your reports. One of your earlier reports inspired me to hunt fallow in the Eastern Cape.

Thanks for sharing, great report!

Sounds like a great trip. Congratulations! Great Buffalo!

Nice old bull! Looks like a great trip and great photos. I never take enough pictures for some reason.

Great report. Thanks so much for posting. Quite a ‘bag’! Nice pics.

Great report Charlie! That buffalo bull makes some I've thought were old look like they were still sucking on the tit!

That’s an old bull!

Good job!

Love the civet as well.

Charlie,

You certainly got your old dugga boy and I'm green with envy for the civet. Well done!

Mark