Just got back from a short seven day hunt in the Kimberly area of the RSA with Russell Lovemore's Hunts for Africa. You can find Russell's website at www.huntsforafrica.co.za or e-mail him at r.lovemore@freemail.absa.co.za. I first hunted with Russell when he was hunting for another outfit and he started out on his own last year with Hunts for Africa based in Paterson in the East Cape. I have hunted with his new outfit twice. Once in the Northern Province near Kruger for buffalo. (that's me with the buff on his home page). And now in the Kimberly area of the Northern Cape and Nortwestern Province.

This was primarily a make-up plains game hunt for my father, who had to cancel his trip last year due to an illness in the family, but Russell was very honorable about allowing him to return the following year and searched hard to find an area that had the species he was looking for. Since I am also booked on a hunt in Tanzania, we cut the hunt down to seven days to still allow me to tag along and not use up too much precious vacation time.(by the way, 7 days isn't bad and we had ample time, but 10 days is still better in my opinion)

Dad killed some great trophies. A 29" blue wildebeest, a beautiful 30" waterbuck, zebra, a nice 37" gemsbok with very heavy bases who fooled all of us (would've swore he was longer), an average kudu 47" and a very nice impala. We never found the big floc farc we were hunting for. Some warthog just none big enough.

I took a very nice sable 41", a mountain reedbuck and a bontebok 14".

We hunted on three different ranches and had to travel hard one day (my fault in wanting a sable, had to head up toward the Botswana border). But plenty of good trophies were available. Lots of good blue wildebeest and some great gemsbok! All Kalahari species were available with some good heads, however, I've shot most of them several times so we didn't shoot things like red hartebeest and springbok.

Food was good and plentiful and accomadations were comfortable. South African wines and beers were available and enjoyed in the usual moderation.

All in all, a good and enjoyable hunt! My scanner is down but will try and post some pix when I get a chance.

I spoke with several hunters returning on the flight with me and not all had positive experiences. I don't know if expectations were too high or outfits didn't deliver but "caveat emptor" is still as valid today as it was in Caesar's time. I can recommend Russell's Hunts for Africa without qualms however.

Well ladies and gentlemen I have pictures but must apologize for the quality...... nevertheless, it's the best I can pull off at the moment!

My sable shot near the Limpopo River near the Botswana border with my .416 Rem. Mag.


Dad's Blue Wildebeest.....shot with his old Reliable, a .300 Win. Mag.

Dad's Waterbuck......

My mountain Reedbuck, pesky critters, have given me the slip on previous hunts in the Eastern Cape.


And my "Good Deal" Bontebok, paid a $500 trophy fee which I thought was cheap. Have seen them alot higher.


Cheers, all!