Safari with Tholo Safaris in the Kalahari desert Botswana

Dates May 13th – May 24th
Rifles Winchester pre 64 model 70 in 375 H&H Winchester pre 64 model 70 in 300 H&H
300 H&H loaded with 200 grain Nosler Partitions
375 H&H loaded with 300 grains Barnes TSX
PH Riann Taljaard
Location Kalahari desert near Ghanzi Botswana
Booking Agent: Wendell Reich
Travel Agent: Shawn at Gracy Travel


I started my trip by flying out of Boston at about 4:00 PM on Wed the 13th on Lufthansa. The flight was smooth and I landed in Frankfurt Germany at about 5:30 local time. I had decided to get a day room at the Sheraton since I had about a 17 hour layover in Frankfurt. I was able to check in earlier then the 8:00 AM check in time and slept a few hours before taking the train into Frankfurt. I spent about 5 hours wondering around Frankfurt trying to kill some time. I then caught my flight to Windhoek at about 10:40 PM and then a short flight over to Maun Botswana.
I was met at Maun by my PH which gave me about 3 hours to talk about the upcoming hunt as we drove to camp. Riann was a wonderful and interesting PH. Riann has lots of experience with plains game as well as dangerous game. He has hunted with well known outfits like Johan Calitz and Jeff Rann as well.
I spent the first evening relaxing and dreaming of the hunt to start the next morning.
We headed out at about 7:00 the first morning and sighted the rifles in at about 50 yards. Everything checked out fine and we started the hunt. Since this was my first safari we were pretty wide open as to what we were after. I knew I wanted a Kudu, a gemsbuck, and an eland as well as being interested in impala, springbuck, warthog, and maybe some of the little antelopes.
I always find the first morning of any hunt to be hard as I have not had a chance to see what’s out there and I find it hard to judge and appreciate what I’m seeing. I let me PH know that the trophy judgment was up to him since this was my first safari and he knows the area and I don’t.
We drove around for a good part of the morning and then decided to get out and walk up to a clearing to see if there was anything there. We found quite a few Springbuck, a nice Kudu bull, and 3 nice Gemsbuck males. We crept as close as we could and the PH set up the sticks about 200 yards away from the Gemsbuck. Although I had practiced a lot prior to coming I was hoping to ease into the safari with something a little easier but that was not to be. Just as I got up onto the sticks the Gemsbuck moved behind a bush. It seemed like FOREVER as the Gemsbuck shifted around but never came clear for the shot. The Kudu bull kept producing prefect broadside opportunities but not the Gemsbuck. Finally after about 10 minutes (that felt like 2 hours!) I got a shot. I slowly squeezed the trigger and BAM the shot went off. I looked to my PH and he said the shot looked great. The Gemsbuck dropped in about 20 yards. As we walked up I saw the shot hit right on the point of the shoulder, I felt like a world of worry was lifted from my shoulders by making that first shot. I had shot the Gemsbuck with the 300 and was really impressed with the performance of the Nosler partitions, I blew the shoulder apart and still got a nice exit hole. The gemsbuck is approx 35” according to my PH, a nice way to get things started!
My first African Animal

We went back to camp for a lunch break and to drop off the Gemsbuck. We started out again at 3:30 to see what the rest of the day would bring. Not too far from camp we spotted a very nice group of Eland bulls, about 7 of them.
We hopped out of the truck and started our stalk using that half bent over walk stuff that is brutal! I was running 2-3 miles a day a couple times a week to get ready for the hunt but I find it very hard to breath doing this bent over walk and it doesn’t take long for the legs to start burning. I hadn’t grabbed my binoculars so I let the PH do the trophy judgment. We had a very tough time getting an angle for a shot and had to keep moving. The grass was also very long so it was hard to see the Eland. Finally we got to within 50-60 yards without them spooking and my PH said that we were not going to be able to set up the sticks without spooking them. He suggested I just get ready and step out into the open and take the shot. I got ready and stepped out, but most of the Eland was covered by brush and the long grass. I could make out the outline of the Eland and see a white area on the head. I quickly asked the PH if the white spot was the head to double check and he confirmed this. I must admit I wasn’t totally comfortable with the shot but I had a little too much confidence after the shot I had made on the Gemsbuck I fear. I slowly squeezed off the 375 and I instantly reloaded. Riann the PH felt the hit was good and I didn’t take a second shot as there were Eland everywhere as well as the 2 trackers and the PH. We ran after them and the yards started to mount as my fears grew, 100 yards, 200 yards, 500 yards, out oh this doesn’t look good. Riann quickly decided to get into the truck to follow them after he hadn’t gone down in 500 yards. Now the race was on! We spend off trying to cut them off but man can Eland cover a lot of ground quick. We raced after them in the truck through the bush. If we weren’t chasing a wounded animal it would have been the most exciting part of the whole safari. One minute we were racing after the trackers as they literally ran on the spoor to the next when we were all in the truck racing after the spot where we saw them. We finally got to the them in an opening and started running after them. They stopped about 400 yards away and the PH told me to take a shot if I could. Now keep in mind we had just run about a mile, we had left the sticks in the truck and I still had the 375, I told him I could wing a shot out there but that was about it! The Eland crossed behind a tree before I could shoot but I figured there was no way in hell I was going to be able to hit him under those circumstances anyway. We continued to race after them in the truck but decided to let them settle down and track them tomorrow as it was getting late. Not how I wanted to start my first day.
We had a very nice dinner and went over our plans for chasing them the next day, I have done very few things in my life as fun and exciting as chasing those Eland at 30 mph in an open safari truck. I wish we were doing it for a different reason though. Just before bed my Riann told me to be ready to walk our asses off tomorrow, whatever it takes I thought.
DAY 2
We woke up a half hour earlier to try to catch up to the Eland. We picked up the tracks and started walking. The Bushman trackers were amazing to watch as hour after hour and mile after mile melted away. We had walked all morning and we were still on last night’s tracks. We then decided to try to use the truck to cut the tracks and make up time. This worked but we still were on last night’s tracks, these Eland would not stop. We finally stopped at about 1:00 to break for lunch, things weren’t looking good even though the Bushman did find tiny spots of blood here or there.

We started up again after lunch but just could not get onto today’s tracks. After about 12 miles we discovered the Eland had crossed over into the Photo Safari area and we could not continue after them. Great, I thought to myself. I wished that I had trusted my gut a little more and headed the advice I read many times here on AR . No use crying over spilled milk but that was going to hurt the wallet. We shook it off and the ended the day shooting nothing in day 2.

Day 3
I wanted to move on from my expensive lesson and get some confidence back so we went back to concentrating on the other animals I wanted. We drove all over the better part of the morning without seeing anything great. Finally at about 11:30 we spotted a very nice Impala, Quickly I got into position and had to take an offhand shot at about 60 yards. The 300 fired and I hoped for the best having the day and a half of tracking the Eland fresh in my mind. We raced up and started looking, it was only a few minutes but it felt like forever to find him. He hadn’t gone far but has hiding behind a tree. He was beautiful and I was grateful to be back on track. He looked huge to me and Riann figured he is 23-34 inches, hopefully my luck has changed and I was back on track.

After lunch we were back on the trail of Kudu. We had mounted a few various stalks but kept getting busted. We saw some nice ones but could not get in on anything. We ended the afternoon without having any luck.
Day 4
We decided that we weren’t going to have much luck with Kudu after spotting them from the truck so we decided to take out time and walk up to an area where we had seen a nice bull twice but got busted twice. We started our stalk about a mile away and slowly made our way to the area. As we got closer we found a small Kudu bull but we pushed on. Then we saw him, the Kudu who had busted us twice before. He was about 60 yards away and facing us, he had no idea we were there. The PH quickly set up the sticks and I slid into position. The only problem was that he was facing us. I felt comfortable with the shot at that distance and decided to put one into his chest. I squeezed the trigger on the 375 and he dropped. After all those failed stalks I had my Kudu.


After lunch we decided to concentrate on duiker and Steinbuck as we had seen many in the Kudu areas and I decided I really wanted to take one. I must say I enjoyed hunting the little guys as much as anything! These suckers were fast and the only ones that seemed to stop and give you a shot are females and males with broken horns. Finally after 5 busted stalks be bumped a great duiker and an excellent steinbuck. We had to pick and choose the Steinbuck as our target. He gave us a broadside shot and I took it offhand. Needless to say 200 grain Nosler Partitions are more than enough bullet! I had taken aim farther back on my PHs recommendation and the bullet just opened him all up. It turns out he was a monster, somewhere just shy of 5”s!!!

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any better I found out that Clive had arranged for me to hunt Eland on another one of his concessions, my second chance.

Day 5
We packed a lunch since we would be about an hour and a half from camp and wanted to be prepared to spend the whole day hunting. The property was given to some bushman by some British people and they more or less played bushman for the visiting tourists. When they found out we were coming to hunt eland one of the bushman asked to come along and we agreed. He told my PH that he hoped we would spend the whole day hunting. This guy wanted to do nothing more in life then hunt, playing bushman for the tourists in the PC manner the British had developed obviously wasn’t satisfying his urge to hunt for real.
We quickly picked up fresh tracks because hell I now had 4 honest to go bushman tracking for me, those eland didn’t stand a chance if I just did my job! It wasn’t long, maybe an hour, and we found the eland, personally I saw like 5-6. We were too far away and mounted a stalk using the dreaded bent over crouch walk. My tracker Rasta was kind enough to polk me with his finger whenever I got too upright for his liking. We got about 150 yards out and the PH slowly put up the sticks, I slid into position and the PH pointed out my Eland. I squeezed off a shot with the 375 and gave him a good neck shot that dropped him. I quickly worked the bolt and gave him an old fashion Texas heart shot, I wasn’t about to lose 2 eland. We raced towards the eland and finally I got to really see and appreciate his size. He wasn’t quite dead and started to get up so I gave him one more through the lungs. I in NO WAY felt that the 375 was too much gun for the job, maybe even a little light!
I still can’t believe the size of his horns, Riann felt that they were 37-38 inches and he said that he has only shot one bigger in his 11 years of hunting! I gave the bushman twenty bucks for his help and I thought he was going to faint! Nobody knew his name so I named him “lucky”.


Next came one of the best parts of the whole safari for me, we literally gave the bushman a wheel barrel full of eland meat, you’d have thought we were giving away gold bars!!!


We headed back to camp for lunch after this incredible morning, I’m really loving this safari business!
I wasn’t all that impressed with most of the Springbuck that we were seeing and Riann told me that he knew of a property near by with true Kalahari springbuck. We happened upon a group of 3 nice springbucks but they were very far away, we did our best to get closer but roughly 300 yards away was the best we could do. I held the crosshair on the back of the springbuck and squeezed. The shot felt great but Riann though I had missed since he didn’t hear the bullet slap. We then saw the springbuck running off and there were only 2, did I hit one? We drove up and quickly found him stone dead. The shot was a perfect double lung shot, Riann kept going on and on about what a great shot it was. It was a wonderful moment.

Day 6
The quest for my pig continues!
I for some strange reason really really wanted a wart hog. As soon as I saw them running around with their little tails straight in the air I knew I had to have one. The problem was we saw exactly 1 old male, 1. I told Riann we must try stalking him. We spent the whole day tracking him and getting close but no luck. Watching the bushman work was wonderful.
Day 7
We spent the morning tracking the pig and knew his area well but kept getting busted. Riann decided to hunt him in the afternoon, leopard style! We set up a blind, cleared shooting lanes and set up our chairs for the wait. I kept thinking about Ruarks wonderful quote “where there was once nothing but tree, there was now nothing but leopard”. After a day and a half of tracking him he slipped up and gave us a shot at our make shift leopard blind, I had my pig.

Clive and his wife Linda joined us for dinner the last night along with another PH named JP and lucky1 from here on accurate reloading who would be hunting with Riann the next day. It was a wonderful ending to a wonderful adventure.

Dining area


The 1998 Toyota Land Cruiser

My and Besa, my favorite tracker

Giraffe

Riann

Gemsbuck

Honeybadgers!

Beetle

Dung Beetle

Green Tree snake

Besa with the snake

Brown mole snake


The Hippos

Handing out candy


Rhino on foot at 20 yards!

Thanks for taking the time to share your story and your great pictures.

excellent adventure - what a great kudu!

Making plans for a return yet?

Thanks for your report, I was very excited to see it as I plan to be there this time next year. The photos were great and it looks as if you had a wonderful, successful trip. Thanks again, and I may try to call you about the area and trip later in the year.

My GOD, that Eland is . . . just . . . WOW!

Thanks for sharing a great hunt report - made me feel like my first safari all over again.

Great Hunt! I like the Pre'64 Model 70 as well. Who did the work for you? The rifles show alot of class!

Good to see you had a great hunt. Tholo is on the short list for my next trip to Africa.

Dean

Great hunt! Congratulations.

Brett

Just a great hunt report,and really good pictures. Welcome to the African addiction. May you enjoy many more.

quote:

Originally posted by Bo Rich:
Great Hunt! I like the Pre'64 Model 70 as well. Who did the work for you? The rifles show alot of class!

They both worked very well, the 300 with the 200 grain Noslers impressed me a great deal. The PHs loved the 375 and it was great to have for the thick stuff on the Eland and the Kudu. We took the 375 on the Wildebeast stalks but we didn't end up taking one.

Great report. Man what an eland!

quote:

Originally posted by JPenn:
Thanks for your report, I was very excited to see it as I plan to be there this time next year. The photos were great and it looks as if you had a wonderful, successful trip. Thanks again, and I may try to call you about the area and trip later in the year.

Please feel free to give me a call if I can help with anything.

A couple tips I can think of off hand:

Practice out to 75 yards offhand
You don't have to wear green, khaki worked great

I tried shorts one day but went back to light weight Polo rip stop cargos I got at Costco

It is pretty cool in the mornings and when the sun goes down, my Beretta wool pullover with wind proof lining worked great.

8 power binoculars are more then enough

The 300 and the 375 were the perfect combo but just a 338 would work great too. The 300 could have handled everything but the 375 was nice to have on the big stuff.

I bought a Hardigg Storm Case - iM2075 for the ammo in my check luggage and I ended up using it the whole safari to store my camera, binos, candy etc right in front of me on top of the truck.

Geoff

The eland is a toad and I love your pix. Congrats on a great safari. I'll be hunting with Clive in Sept with a client and am very much looking forward to it. A big Cape eland is at the top of my list. I wish more people would realize that Botswana can provide anything they might find in Namibia and more.

Mark

Woderfull photos,and report
thanks.

Wow fantastic pics and beautiful trophies. That Eland is a monster.

Great story and pictures. Your trophies are wonderful. Who did the work on your pre-64's? The work looks like Canyon Creek Custom Gunstocks. (LeRoy Barry)

Geoff,

Great report, that eland is awesome! Glad you had a great time. Makes me want to go back!

Shaun

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Great story and pictures. Your trophies are wonderful. Who did the work on your pre-64's? The work looks like Canyon Creek Custom Gunstocks. (LeRoy Barry)

I sent two blanks to Roger Biesen to inlet for me to his pattern.

I had Bill Soverns finish and checker the stock on the 375 and Jim Dubell from Delta gunshop did the metal work.

For the 300 H&H I had Bill Gostomski in MD do all the metal and stock work.

Congratulations on a great hunt. Great pics.
Where did you get the ear plugs in your pics? I want to get some for my dad.
Thanks,

Great report.

Does anyone know if this area will be affected by the central government's efforts to reduce sport hunting in Botswana?

Great report with some grand trophies taken!

wonderful hunt. thanks for the great pictures.

That's a big eland. great pics
Be careful that Wendell will screw up your trophies

Congrats!!!

Great report, trophies, and photos. Thanks for sharing.

I had not planned to take a Warthog, but now I want another. Nothing says African safari quite like a Wartie.

I'm booked with this outfir for this summer...so I devoured your report!! Thanks for a good read, great pics.

John

Great Hunt and great report!!!

A little advice...stick with the baseball cap!!!

quote:

Originally posted by jeff h:
That's a big eland. great pics
Be careful that Wendell will screw up your trophies

Congrats!!!

Well worth the $0 dollars I paid him !!!! All joking aside Wendell was great.

Congratulations on an wonderful safari. thanks for sharing. your eland is a real beaut.

Great report! Thanks for sharing!

Great report
I hunted Clive's ranch a few years ago. Great Kudu! Clive and Linda are great people.

quote:

Originally posted by MotorCity:
Congratulations on a great hunt. Great pics.
Where did you get the ear plugs in your pics? I want to get some for my dad.
Thanks,

I grabbed them at Cabelas, I have tried the ones with rubber inserts for your ears but they take longer and more effort to get in there and work. These had the foam tip and just enough pressure to get in there quick and work.

quote:

Originally posted by TerryR:
Great report
I hunted Clive's ranch a few years ago. Great Kudu! Clive and Linda are great people.

They are great. The last night it was Clive, Linda, Riann, Me and John (Luck1 from here on AR) and we had a great time and a lot of laughs.

Well done report. Thanks for taking the time to post the pictures. Even with the instructions provided I still can not figure out how to do it.

The pictures really added alot to your report. You are now hooked.

H Kittle

Well done! Thanks for the report and congratz on the trophies...

Geoff
Did you visit the orphanage just outside of Edo's camp, the photo area? An interesting story. By coincedence, I shared a camp, (Splash in the Delta) with Clive when he was guiding the Italian who setup the orphanage and Edo, the namesake of the photo camp, in 1998. The Italian's ex runs, or in 2005 ran, the orphanage. She is an interesting lady.
If you go back it is worth stopping by.

TerryR

So one of my wife's friends is over and she is looking at the pics. This is what comes out of her mouth....

Wife's friend - "Those things are so weird looking, did you really kill all of them".

Me - "No they just stopped and posed for me like that"

Geoff,
I just got back from Tholo yesterday and collasped after over 21 hours in the air. Great pictures and story. I will try to get mine on in the next few days. I took two impala, a wildebeest, an eland, a zebra, a kudu, a warthog and a springbok. Had a grea time. Riann, Clive, Linda and all the staff were great. Went to Wally's today to get the pictures developed for the album. More later!
John

quote:

Originally posted by Lucky1:
Geoff,
I just got back from Tholo yesterday and collasped after over 21 hours in the air. Great pictures and story. I will try to get mine on in the next few days. I took two impala, a wildebeest, an eland, a zebra, a kudu, a warthog and a springbok. Had a grea time. Riann, Clive, Linda and all the staff were great. Went to Wally's today to get the pictures developed for the album. More later!
John

That is an impressive list John! I can't wait to see the pics and read your report.

Great hunting report. How long did you and the Rhino spend smelling each others breath?

what a Eland! And great pictures also.