We embarked on our second safair with Samaria on the 21st of June 2008. We hunted with them in 2005 and had a wonderful time, becoming an African addict I had to go back, and they got the nod once again. This trip my parents, and good friend Leigh and his mom came along. We toured 2 days, hunted 6, and golfed 3 before returning. We had a sucessful trip once again, and can't wait to go back. Quinton and Benji run a great camp and have some oustanding animals on thier place. The camp is located near Chipise just south of Messina in the Limpopo province.

www.samaria.co.za

Camp
We arrived at camp late in the evening of June 24th, 2008. There was not enough light left to check the sights on the rifle, so we would have wait until the morning. This was also are first look at the new camp that Quinton and Benji had been working feverishly on for the last 6 months to complete. The new camp was beautiful. They built a new dinning area with a large bar and lounge area on the second floor. The bar was made form old Teak railroad ties I believe, and was quite honestly the most hansom piece of furniture I’d ever seen. They had also built a new patio with a fire pit. That evening we quickly got settled in, had a sun downer and dinner and then off to bed.


Camp


Camp dining area/bar


Fire pit


Bar area

Their property is approximately 18,000 acres where the camp is located, and they also have another 3000 acre piece about 10-12 miles away which consists of thick bush along 2 river beds. The larger section is made up of rocky ridges, rolling hills, and a large sandy flat with thick cover.


Far end of property, Jabalini in foreground


hills

Day 1
The first morning after a quick bite to eat, we all made a stop at the rifle range to check the sights and make sure all our rifles were still shooting where they were supposed to be. A few quick test shots, and every thing seemed to be in order. I was a little apprehensive due to the fact that the bullets I had loaded for one of my rifles, where put together the night before we left and I didn’t have a chance to go to the range to check the sights. Everything checked out fine however, so we loaded up the bakkies and off we went. The plan was for my dad and I to hunt together with my friend and PH Quinton, and Leigh would hunt with Benji, Quinton’s business partner. We went our separate ways and wished each other good luck. We would head for the flats, and Benji and Leigh would hunt the hills.

We drove down a small road for about 2 miles before stopping and climbing a knoll to glass the flats below. We spotted a few impala but nothing else, we hiked back to the bakkie and drove another mile or so to a second vantage point. We glassed for a few minutes before spotting a small heard of blue wildebeest, zebra and impala. We watched them for about 10 min or so and noticed there was a small band of bulls about 300 yards to the right of the larger group.


wildebeest


We quickly checked the wind and made a plan. We circled down wind to get in to position, but the problem was the terrain was relatively flat and the bush was thick, getting in range and getting a shot would prove difficult. We crept to within about 100-125 yards of the herd and waited for an opportunity. My dad stood poised with his rifle on the shooting sticks waiting for the bulls to clear the brush and offer a shot. A quick check of my range finder indicated the bulls were about 135 yards. After what seemed like forever, a nice bull finally walked into an opening. Quinton told dad that it was a nice bull and to take him if he felt comfortable. About 20 seconds later the rifle reported, and the bull bucked and took off running. We all remarked at the hit and figured it to be a good shot.


Dad next to a baby baobab


We waited about 10 min or so before proceeding to the spot where we had last seen the bull. It took us a few minutes to figure out where he had been standing exactly due to the thick bush, and numerous tracks in the sand. After wandering around for about 10 minutes we were finally able to find the tracks the bull had left. We followed them for about an hour, double backed a couple times and didn’t find one drop of blood or water indicating any kind of hit. We spent the next hour or so making circles trying to sort out the tracks, but there was so many wildebeest in the area, that sorting out the correct tracks proved futile. We were all pretty certain that he had hit the bull, but concluded it must have been high and probably too far back. Disheartened we returned to camp to have lunch. We planned on returning in a few hours to see if we could find them again, and to look for any sign of a dead animal.

That evening, my wife Leah accompanied us back to the same area. We searched around in the area for the wildebeest, but again found no blood. We chalked it up to bad luck and figured we could stew about it or let it go. It was impossible to find any sort of sign at this point, and following tracks with no blood in them was pointless. The best thing to do was to continue hunting for wildebeest and hope to run into the same bunch again in the same area and maybe get lucky.

Later that evening we ran into a heard of about 30 or so wildebeest, we were fairly confidant it was the same bunch we had seen earlier that morning but we couldn’t discern if any where wounded. After they spooked we followed the spoor for a ways, but once again found no sign of blood.

We continued hunting along a small dry creek for the next hour and a half. We encountered water buck, impala and a very nice warthog but nothing offered us a shot. With about an hour of light left, we took a short breather to decide on what to do. We could either still hunt back to the bakkie, or continue on and have Jabalani (our tracker) return to fetch it and pick us up farther up the creek. We talked it over for a few seconds and while standing still we heard rustling in the grass about 50-60 yards from us; we quickly crouched to avoid detection. The wind was in our face, and we were confidant that what ever was near was not alerted to us due to the thick brush and grass. The grass was about 5-6’ high or so with a few bushes and game trails running through it.

Quinton snuck up to a small opening and peered over the high grass, confirming his hunch that it was eland. We asked if Leah and my dad would stay put, while we tried to get in close for a shot. Eland are notoriously spooky animals; they can see and hear exceptionally well and drink on the trot… rarely standing still for any length of time. They stand nearly 6’ at the shoulder, and can weigh upwards of 1500-1800 pounds. We snuck up as close as we could, ducking under a large acacia tree for cover. The herd was
feeding in the long grass, shrouding much of their bodies with only their backs, neck and heads visible. A glimpse of an animal here, a horn protruding there, was all we could see.


Yours truely

Finally they moved through an opening and we spotted a couple bulls in the bunch, then WOW there was a monster bull, in a flash, and he was gone. They were on the move feeding and were quickly getting away from us. We hurried through the grass to catch up, and saw that they would be coming through another opening about 100 yards in front of us. Quinton set up the shooting sticks and one by one they single filed through the opening at a fast walk. Finally a bull can through and stopped offering a shot. Quinton said it’s a nice bull, but I replied that I didn’t think it was the big one we had just seen and he agreed, but remarked that this was also a very nice bull. I hesitantly held off on the trigger, in an instant the herd had vanished into the grass again. We hurriedly tried to catch up with them, and a game of cat and mouse pursued for about 30 min until we finally lost light and they figured out someone was after them.

We returned to meet up with Leah and my dad, who we had left stranded in the bush for exactly 49 minutes, I believe that was Leah’s number. We didn’t mean to leave them there that long, but in the heat of the hunt we lost track of the time. Leah was a little miffed, but latter while hunting for zebra she realized why too many hunters is a bad thing when you’re trying to get in close.

Jabalani had returned with the bakkie about the same time Quinton and I had returned to meet up with Leah and my dad. We climbed in and headed for camp. It took us about 30 min or so to get back, and by that time it was pitch black. We spotted a few small animals in the headlights on the way back, a bat eared fox, and an African wild cat.

We returned to camp to find Leigh all smiles. He had taken a very nice impala ram, big heavy bases and exceptionally long horns. Definitely the biggest ram we saw on the trip.


Leighs impala

Day 2
We returned to the area where we had seen the eland the night before. Again we parked in the same spot as the previous evening, and made a large circle, hunting both sides of the dry creek bed. We saw waterbuck and a few impala, but no eland. The impala were heavy in the rut, the sound they make when chasing each other is kind of a cross between a deer grunt, and the sound a Hollywood actor makes when he’s been gut shot, sort of a low drawn out roar. We spent most of the day chasing impala, trying to find a good ram for my dad, we had a couple chances at lesser rams, but no big ones presented themselves.

At lunch, we talked with Leigh and Benji, they had seen a monster warthog that morning and were going to return to see if they could find him again that evening. They were successful and he was a dandy. He was broken off a little on one side, but other wise a very big boar.

That evening we hunted along the dry creek bed for eland again. We saw some red hartebeest, impala, eland and wildebeest. We tried a couple unsuccessful stalks on impala, but didn’t connect.

We returned to camp, to find Leigh once again grinning from ear to ear. He had killed the big warthog they’d seen that morning, and he was a dandy. I have to admit I was jealous, not only had Leigh been luck to get two animals thus far, he killed two really nice animals.


Leighs warthog

Day 3
We decided to give the eland and wildebeest a rest for the morning. We planned on going to the area where Leigh had killed his warthog to see if we could find my dad an impala or kudu, and look for one of the other big warthogs they’d seen the day before. This section of property is about a 15 min ride from camp, most of which is on a paved road. Jabalani and I rode in the back of the bakkie and about froze to death getting there. I think it was about 60 degrees that morning.

We no sooner pull off the secondary road leading to the property, and I spot a massive bushbuck walking along the edge of a field. By riding in the back of the bakkie, you get a better view of everything… I slapped on the roof of the bakkie to let Quinton know that I had seen something, he couldn’t see what I was looking at, but knew it must have been good for me to be that excited. We quickly piled out of the bakkie and Quinton, dad and Jabalani took off in the direction of where I had seen the ram. I stayed back to keep my eye on the area where he was last seen. They guys walked about 300 yards or so out to the spot, and inched their way along looking for the ram in the thick bush. They gave up after about 15 min, figuring that it would be better to come back later in the evening in hopes of finding him again. While they were out looking for the ram, I spotted a massive nyala bull walking through the bush. After seeing that bull, I as having serious second thoughts about hunting eland. Luckily he disappeared before I could talk myself into shooting him.

Everyone returned to the bakkie and we continued down the road for about half a mile or so, stopping about 300 yards short of a small water hole. We unloaded, gathered our rifles and headed off into the bush toward the waterhole in hopes of catching something coming or going from. We spotted a small duiker ram, and a few impala but the baboons had spotted us and given the alarm, so if there was anything around they were likely gone before we could even seen them. We passed by the waterhole and continued in the same general direction until we got one of the small river beds, we traversed the bed to the other side, and upon climbing up out of bottom we spotted a huge warthog walking along in the bush. Dad didn’t have his rifle loaded, and when he opened the bolt to load a cartridge the pig was less than 15 yards away and heard the noise, spooked and ran off.

We climbed up to the other side of the river and still hunted the large sandy flat on the other side. We spotted a few small nyala bulls, a nice kudu bull, and warthog, but nothing offered us a shot. We hiked around in the bush for probably close to an hour before heading back toward the bakkie. On the return after crossing the river again, we peaked over the bank and spied a duiker ram. He was a very nice ram, and I was willing to try for him. He was darting in and out of the mopane trees and was not offering a clear shot. Finally at about a 125 yards, he stopped facing directly away from us. I lined up the 375 on his tail and squeezed the trigger. At the shot he jumped into the air and took off running away from us. I was a little surprised that a 30 pound animal could take that kind of punishment from such a large rifle. Luckily the big bullet didn’t destroy him too badly. We let him sit for a bit and walked up to find him dead.


Duiker

We snapped a few pictures and hung him in the shade and continued hunting up the river. We spotted a few kudu in the river bed, but just small bulls and cows.


Kudu in the river

We slipped around them and continued up the river following the sound of impala grunts as we hunted. There were 3 different groups of rams fighting and chasing each other the best we could decipher all within about a 500 yard radius, it seemed like we’d finally get to an area were we thought we had heard them and we’d hear them 3-400 yards away again. Finally after nearly 2 hours we caught up to a group rams chasing each other in thick mopane. There were 5 or 6 in the group, 2 of which were very nice rams.

Dad and Quinton inched forward, set up the sticks and dad waited for a shot. We continued to watch them for 4-5 min before the biggest one stopped in an opening offering a shot. Dad took aim, fired, and the ram dropped. He then hopped back up and took off running directly away from us. We didn’t see him go down, but figured he must not have gone far because the other rams were milling around, and it appeared to us that they were even trying to gore him while he was down. We snapped a few pictures and sent Jabalani for the bakkie, and to pick up my duiker on the way.


Dads impala

We loaded up the animals and headed back to camp, happy with the outcome of our mornings hunt, it seemed our luck had finally changed. On the drive out we got to the same area where we’d seen the bushbuck that morning, and I spotted some warthogs in the same field. I tapped on the roof of the Land Rover for Quinton to stop. In all I think there was 5-6 pigs in the group. I got a quick glance of a monster pig, and immediately pulled the rifle out of the rack and started climbing down. Quinton didn’t have the same view of the boar as I did and asked what I saw, I told him it was a monster and we need to try for him. We quickly walked over to a low depression along the edge of the field and made our way about 150 yards closer. The pig was with another nice boar. They were both wallowing in a mud hole created from a leaking irrigation pipe. The were too busy playing in a mud hole and hadn’t noticed us. It took a few moments to get the boars sorted out, and finally he was clear. I lined up the 375 and squeezed the trigger. At the shot he slammed into the ground, port side first. The bullet had caught him square in the shoulders, but a little high clipping the spine. We hurriedly walked up to him and put a finisher in to end it. We were immediately awestruck at the white teeth poking out of his lip. Later we learned that this was the other big pig that Leigh and Benji had seen the night before. We took a few pictures and lined up the whole circus act for a few. We were definitely hungry for lunch now! Those cheese, tomato, jelly, and butter sandwiches where not cutting it.


warthog



That afternoon we climbed a vantage point and sat for about 45 min watching the large sand flat near the dry creek. We spotted lots of game, including impala, wildebeest and eland, but there were no bulls with the eland. We decided to head for the creek and still hunt to see what we could stir up. We ducked in and out of the river bed but didn’t seem much other than impala, and a glimpse of wildebeest.


Impala in rut

We heard two rams fighting, clashing their horns together and barking at each other. We moved in close, with hopes of seeing them and possibly getting a shot off. We managed to get within about 150 yards or so before spotting them in a clearing. We could see the rams sparing and chasing each other back and forth. My dad was on the ready, waiting for a shot opportunity, when all of the sudden one ram lowered his head and started chasing the smaller ram. They were coming directly at us, and ran by at less than 10 yards. I sat back, flipped off the safety and if one happened to stop, he was going to take a 300grain slug to the ribs. Neither one stopped, but we heard them for the next 10-15 minutes grunting at one another and running around in the bush. By this time it was getting dark so we returned to the bakkie and made our half hour drive back to camp.

Leigh and Benji returned successful yet again with a nice kudu! The luck they were having was impressive!


Leighs kudu

Day 4
Dad, Quinton and I hunted the central part of the property which consists of a large sand flat with thick mopane, acacia and baobab trees. We followed fresh eland tracks for about 3 miles in a big loop but couldn’t catch up to them. Quinton thought the eland would likely go to the same area where we’d seen them the first night. We parked near a windmill and started walking through the tall grass, we ran into a small herd of waterbuck cows.

We continued for another mile or so and decided that the eland must have slipped around us to the north. We radioed Jabalani to bring the bakkie around and we decided that we would head back to camp for lunch. About half way back to camp I spotted an impala standing in the shade about 50 yards off the road. I tapped on the roof for Quinton to stop, and we hopped out and found fresh eland tracks in the sand in the road. We figured they would probably be holding tight in the trees due to it being cool that morning. They probably wouldn’t be far.

We followed the tracks about 300 yards through the brush and I spotted bits and pieces of eland standing about 60 yards in front of us. We quickly crouched down and verfied the wind direction. Quinton and I crept up a little closer to see if there was a bull in the group, we spotted what looked like a bull, but through the thick bush we couldn’t make out how big he was. He was no more than 30 yards from us. We had the wind in our favor so we crawled 5-7 yards closer, which allowed us a better angle and saw that it was a very nice bull, might have actually been the one I killed I’m not sure? We were about 2 miles from where I shot mine…

I didn’t have a clear shot through the brush, there were just too many limbs and I couldn’t see enough of the bull to determine where the trees stopped and he began. Our only option was to wait him out. We waited and watched for about 5 min or so before the herd either smelled or saw us and moved off. We quickly picked up the tracks and gave chase for the next hour, we traversed down out of the hills, across the sand flat and the dry creek and back again. We finally caught up to them, but as they filed across an opening about 150 yards in front of us, cow after cow single file walking, the bull was no longer with them. CRAP he gave us the slip and must have circle back behind us! We sent poor Jabalani back to get the bakkie again, about 45 min later he returned and we headed back to camp for lunch. On the way back the Land Rover stalled out and died going up the hill. I learned that Jabalani is a better tracker than driver. When he tried to restart it the turbo wouldn’t engage so we were stuck moving along at a crawl in first gear with about 3 miles to go… We radioed camp and Benji headed our way to pick us up, I think mostly to rub in the fact that he drives a Land Cruiser and not a crappy Land Rover.

We returned to camp for lunch and make a plan for that afternoon. Leah decided that she wanted to hunt for zebra so we arranged for that. We were going to hunt the other side of the property in the hills where Benji said he had seen a big lone eland bull many times before, this also happened to be where the majority of the zebra hang out. Leigh, my dad and Benji were going to look for the bushbuck we saw the morning before and Leah, Quinton and I would be hunting together

We spotted 5-6 zebra not to far from camp, maybe 10 minutes after we left, we quickly gave chase on foot, Leah almost got a shot, but they spotted us and took off. We quickly returned to the bakkie and hopped to drive up the road about a mile to get in front of them with no success. However Quinton figured he knew where they were headed so we continued toward a secluded valley in the hills. We continued on to the back end of the property until we got near a high point, sending Jabalani up to have a look. He returned about 20 min later saying he had spotted the zebra, a few eland, and wildebeest about a mile away in a large draw. We parked and started hiking in the general direction coming upon a large open ridge. We spotted a heard of gemsbok feeding in and out of the tree’s, with them was the zebra, wildebeest, and kudu. The eland were on the other side out of site. We watched them for about 10 minutes; the zebra were too far for a shot.

Just then… we were spotted by the gemsbok and everything took off in a flurry of dust, snorts and grunts. It was starting to get dark by that time and we figured we might as well call it a day.

We returned to camp and waited for the others to get back. It was probably an hour after dark before they returned. Leigh had taken a very nice old bushbuck down in the river property, near where he killed his warthog. I’m not sure if it was the same ram we saw the morning before, but it looked similar.


Leighs bushbuck

We had kudu loin for dinner, it was a little tough, but pretty tasty, we also had impala loin, which was very good, and much more tender. I think Benji was a little embarrassed for feeding us the tough meat. Because two nights later we had loin out of Leigh’s kudu and it was fabulous.
Day 5
The morning was spent going to Botswana and then on to a crocodile farm. Leah, Leigh, Benji and I made a quick boarder crossing into Botswana across the Limpopo in a cable car suspended over the water. It was a little sketchy, but we made it to and from unscathed.


Cable car crossing the Limpopo river into Botswana


Botswana immigration

Later we stopped by a large croc farm where they raised about 4000 animals per year. They used them for leather goods, and meat. We picked up a package of steak and grilled it with the kudu loin. It had the consistency of chicken breast, but tasted a little like fish.


Benji with croc


Leah with croc


Croc bait

That evening Leigh and I planned to hunt together, he was finished hunting and would be coming along for ‘support’ and to man the camera. Leah, was on a mission and wanted nothing more than to find and kill her zebra. Leah and dad went with Benji in search of a zebra. She missed a stallion that night, but I’m not sure of all the particulars. All I can remember is her saying “I never missâ€â€¦

We didn’t get back from the croc farm until late in the afternoon. I think it was about 3:30 before we left to hunt. We left camp heading for the hills and planned on making a circle all the way to the other end of the property, trying to cover as much ground as we could to find fresh tracks or eland. We were about half way from camp to the sand flat when we crested a hill and spotted a bull standing in the road. We quickly stopped and sized him up. Quinton was driving Leigh and I were in the back. I could see that he was a younger bull but had huge horns. The problem was that he was nearly 400 yards away and had seen us, but wasn’t sure what we were? He just stood and stared. It was much to far for a shot, and Quinton didn’t think he could get out of the bakkie with out the bull figuring out what we were. So I slipped under the seat in the back and Jabalani and I crawled over the tail gate and back tracked up the road about 50 yards or so and then ducked into the brush. We quickly changed course and parallel the road about 250 yards toward the bull. Carefully I crawled out to the road edge, we were still about a 150 yards from the bull, but close enough for a shot if he was still there. Ever so slowly I scooted out on my butt into the road. I could see the bull but not very well through the grass. Eventually I was between the 2 tracks and I don’t think the bull noticed I was there. He was still fixated on the bakkie, and still facing directly towards us. I took aim using the sling and one knee for a rest. Not feeling very sturdy, I changed my rest and put my rifle directly on my knee, lined up on his chest and squeezed when the movement stopped. At the shot the bull lurched into the air, and I could see his back leg was broken. I figured I put one all the way through and it exited through his leg.

Quinton and Leigh quickly made their way up to where Jabalani and I were. We walked up to the spot where the bull had gone in to the brush and found blood. The trail was slight at first but picked up the further we went. After about 100 yards we caught up to him, looking very sick standing under a small tree. He saw us about the same time and took off up a small hill. He was about 50-60 yards and moving quickly through the brush. I figured I might as well get a shot off if I can. I saw a flash of tan and pulled the trigger, the bull stumbled, regained his footing and kept climbing the hill. We knew he was hurt badly and we would catch him quickly. We quickly gave chase and found him less than 100 yards from the last shot, he was standing under a small tree broadside, I lined up the scope on his ribs and fired. He flipped on his back, kicked a few times and was done.

5 days of hard hunting and finally I collected what I’d come half way around the world to hunt. I was ecstatic! While he didn’t have the massive body of an old bull, he had the horn length of a bull in his prime and was exactly what I had dreamt of.


Quinton and I with eland


How much do you think this thing weighs?


Quinton and Jabalani walked back to get the bakkie, while Leigh and I stayed with the beast. It took a while for them to pick a trail through the bush but finally they arrived at the kill site. We used the winch on the bakkie to pull the bull out of the small ditch he’d died in, propped him up for some pictures and then prepared to load him.


Jabalani clearing a path


We backed the Land Rover up, pulled the winch cable free and hooked it up to the bull. The winch wouldn’t engage and wind. That left us standing there thinking this isn’t good. There was no way the 4 of us were going to load 900 pounds of eland in the back of a truck by ourselves. We were out of radio range so we sent Jabalani back down the road a couple miles to get a hold of someone at camp, round up everyone and bring the tractor with a trailer.


Eland at bakkie

We sat and chatted, wondering why we didn’t have any beer in the cooler, then it dawned on us that the cook got in trouble for putting beer in for the morning hunts and decided if we weren’t going to drink it in the morning, we sure didn’t need it at night either. We had a pretty good laugh about that. Well they did, I was thirsty!

It was about an hour later and nearly dark before 8 guys, a tractor and a trailer showed up. It was a struggle to get the bull loaded but finally we (they, I had to hold the flashlight) managed.


Loading eland

We returned to camp happy and yet another dream fulfilled.

Day 6
I wanted to hunt birds if we had time, and since Leigh and I were done hunting we figured we’d take the shotgun and try for some grouse or guineas. Well the key for the safe had been misplaced sometime in the move from the old farm and the only weapon we had was Quinton’s old model 10 Winchester 22lr. That was fine, but the problem was we only had 6 bullet for it, and it was not sporting a scope! This was going to be a tough bird hunt.

We headed for the far side of the property, which he hadn’t hunted yet, nor set foot on. The far side consists of a large sand flat ending at a large rocky ridge. We managed to wrangle up a few guinea along the way, but the shots were to long and I’m not that great of a shot with open sights. We climbed up a cliff and took in our surroundings. We spotted an ancient board game, scrawled into the sandstone. There was a large civilization living in the area about 1500 years ago. On their old farm, which was about 40 miles away, we found numberous game boards, and hundreds of pottery shards. Very interesting.







On our way back to camp, actually about 400 yards from the skinning shed we passed a massive stallion zebra grazing on the landing strip. He didn’t act spooked as we drove by, and we quickly returned to camp to see if Leah had returned. They were on their way back and had not killed a zebra. We told them where we’d seen the stallion, and they made their way there as quickly as they could, however by the time the got there he had moved on. It was getting hot, so we figured we’d try again in the afternoon when it cooled off.


zebra

The last evening, Leah was on a mission, I think she would have shot anything that walked in front of her given the opportunity, but she was going to focus on killing the elusive zebra! The rest of us were going to head back down to the river area to find dad a warthog.

We spotted a nice hog in the same waterhole where I shot mine 3 days earlier, but we had about an hour and half left of light and figured he’d probably be there when we came back, and also thought we might be able to find one bigger. We spotted a really nice kudu, but couldn’t get him sorted out in the brush in time for dad to get a shot.

For the last stalk we would sneak up to the edge of the field and wait it out until dark to see if the warthogs and/or bushbuck would come out at last light. We no sooner got to the edge of the field and spotted a nice pig in the waterhole. He was a little bigger than the one we’d seen earlier and we decided that dad should try for him. He eased the rifle up on the sticks, took aim and fired. The pig flipped over and was dead on the spot. The shot was approximately 150 yards.


Dad with his hog

We snapped a few pictures and headed for camp. That’s when it set in… we were not hunting tomorrow, and everyone else was going home. Leah and I would be going to the coast with Quinton to stay with he and his wife Ricci at their place in Durban for 3 nights.

We had a wonderful trip and can’t wait to go back someday. I’m grateful that I got to spend the time with my friends and parents, definitely a trip to remember.

We returned to camp to see a zebra hanging from the meat pole! To say that Leah was happy was an understatement. She went to Africa for a rug and found the perfect one!



Zebra at skinning shed


Leahwith her rug



Trophies in the salt


sunset


The next morning we finished packing and headed for Jburg. My folks, and Leigh and his mom were departing for Montana. Leah and I were going to stay a few more days with Quinton at his place in Durban. We had a relaxing time playing golf and laying around. Made for a nice end to the vacation.

Looks like you had a great hunt. Congratulations!

Enjoyed the post very much. Great story and nice pics. Congratulations on a successful hunt. Looks like a very nice operation and area.

Excellent post, some stunning photos. thanks for sharing.

Very nice hunt and report. Congrats.

Great report Ivan!

Excellent Ivan! Congrats on the Eland and everyone's trophies.
LDK

great hunt and great pictures.

Ivan, what a memorable safari.. Planned the next one yet?

Mike

Great! What a beautiful eland (and other animals as well)! Thanks for sharing with us..

Great report and super trophies...congrats!

Congratulations on a successful safari.

Loved your report