Safari operator / outfitter: Lalapa Safaris. http://www.lalapasafaris.co.za/index.html
Hunting dates: June 16-26 2007.
Booking agent: None, booked directly.
Travel agent: Elaine Porteous, African Odessey.
Location: East Cape RSA, quite near Cathcart.

Last year I posted a report on different hunting lodge wherein my wife made her initial attempt at hunting. This trip was designed to let her experience plains game "whole hog" after setting up a proper rifle and a years worth of practice.

First the lodge. Lalapa safaris is owned ond operated by Raymond and Theo Kemp. Their family settled the land in the early 1800s. The lodge is relatively small but I found it extreemly comfortable and intimate. We were fortunate to be the only hunters in camp. I understand the camp is designed for a maximum of 6-8 hunters at any one time but I got the impression that they prefer smaller groups. Sleeping quarters are free standing bungalows just to the side of the lodge. Food is prepared by Diane Kemp and was truely outstanding with home made soups and traditional South African fare. Their hospitality is sincere and their company quite enjoyable.

Our PH's were Scott Adcock for myself and Raymond Kemp for my wife. I cannot say enouph good things about Scott and Ray. First, my wife and I hunted seperately 1x1. Raymond prooved to be a perfect guide / PH and companion for my wife Ann. They hit it off very well and I always felt that my wife was well cared for at all times. Stalks were conducted on foot and Raymond was very attentive and aware of my wife's pace and footing in the rocky terrain. I had hunted with Scott last year and we had become fast friends. It's always amazes me how hunting can create such fast friendships. This year was no different.

Equipment: The rifle we set up for my wife was a Kimber Montana in .308. We topped it with Zeiss 3x9x50. I had the stock cut down to fit her and we added a muzzle break to help mitigate recoil. She was shooting Federal Vital Shock ammo with 165 grain Nosler Accubonds. The bullets performed extreemly well in my opinion. I was shooting a browning 30-06 with 180 grain nosler partitions. Again excellent bullet performance.

Practice: My wife and I shot a minimum of once a week for just over a year before this hunt. Prior to this she had not shot a rifle in litterally 20+ years. By the time we were done she was hitting an 8" circle about 60% at 200 yards off of stoney point tripod sticks. Over the last several months we did very little shooting off of the bench and concentrated on shooting off of sticks. We practiced out to 300 yards. Both of us were a bit concerned about our hit percentage at 200 when we arrivced but both of us found the wooden sticks of our PH's significantly more stable than the Stoney Points and I'm now going to build my own sticks in the same fashion.

Right so to the good stuff: My wife killed 12 animals during her 10 day hunt. She lost none. Most of her game dropped to the shot. She managed to kill Kudu, Common and Mountain Reedbuck, White and Common Springbuck, Black Wildebeest, Bushbuck, Fallow Deer, Bontebuck, White Blesbuck, Sable and Eland. I managed an Nyala, Eland, Black Springbuck, and Red Hartebeest by rifle and a Zebra and 3 impala's by bow. So here (finally) is the good stuff.

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A few hours after shooting her Common Reedbuck, we ran accross this









These are a sampling of our good fortune but now comes a tale of two Eland. I like Eland, I'm always astounded at their size mobility ratio. This being my fourth trip and haveing never had any success with Eland, I found myself an avid Eland hunter this year. So proudly I show you my old man Eland.



To say he was worn is a bit of understatement. His tips looked like tree rings. Now demonstrative of how this hunt went. May I introduce you to my wife's Eland taken two days later.



I'm always astounded at some of the photos y'all post here so I was mindfull of photo oportunities. Here are a few in the general interest category.









This hunt is without reservation my best experience in Africa. I wholeheartedly reccomend Lalapa Safaris to anyone interested in a plains game hunt. It was routine to see 10 species a day and a joy to spend time with the Kemp family. We look forward to returning.

Other notes of interest:

Air 2000. This year I booked Air 2000 to assist with the importation of firearms. I was underwhelmed. They did have the permit pre issued, but the representative who was meeting us was also meeting another party off of the same plane. Our plane had baggage issues, meaning 60-80 people without all of their baggage off of the plane. (we were among them) Suffice it to say the other party recieved most of the attention. I was handed the permit and that was about it. Next time I think I can manage on my own or use a different service.

Baggage: On another thread in the travel section I saw a post regarding SAA intentionally leaving baggage behind out of Dulles. I can assure you that is true. SAA is offering no appologies and displays an attituded that this is standard practice. I was told that they left two luggage containers from our flight on the ground at Dulles. Here's my tip. If you are flying to another destination in South Africa, go on to your connecting flight and report your luggage lost at your final destination. We flew to East London from Joberg. In Joberg there were a minimum of 60-80 people without their luggage. there was one "person" to tend to the entire crowd. I bailed at went on to make my connection. When I got to East London I made my luggage claim to a much less harried and, shall we say "more articulate", employee. He was actually quite helpfull. Our bags were delivered to us on the 4th day. The advantage to this is that, intuitively, I would suspect that the safari operators know the SAPS and baggage folks in the local airports simply through sheer repetative exposure. That's when you get some synergy. I have no idea if this policy would be best if you are flying into another country.

Rifles/ flying etc...: I used a tuffpack. It did great. Pack it just like everybody posts here, so that you slide the rifles out for inspections. I packed the ammo in with the rifles, no problem. Two medium rifles with 60 rounds for each, the tuffpack and clothing for padding came to 54 pounds.I had no problems with weight. I had no uneccessary harrassment but I payed very close attention to the information on this board. It was increadibly helpfull. T.Carr's reference section is truely a superb source of information. We flew Delta from Atlanta to Dulles (Delta was not booking their direct flight when I booked this flight)and SAA Dulles to Joberg and SAA Joberg to East London. As you all know the Joberg airport is a shithole (sorry but I had to let that go) I scheduled about 3 hours between each flight. That proved more than sufficient except for my arrival in Joberg (which by the way is a shithole) because of lost luggage and an increadibly inefficent SAPS office. (the black hole of shitholes) (sorry again)

Right so this is now much too long. But I would like to close on a possitive note.




Cheers

A great report with great trophies and pictures.

It is a shame that SAA allows themselves to be the tarnished spot in what could and should be a trip with a lifetime of great memories.

Ah, but give yourself 4 months and SAA won't even come up in your conversations about the trip! The memories of mopane smoke from the fire will far surpass the problems with the flights!

Congratulations to both your wife and yourself!

Bamabow, truly some outstanding trophies AND photos. thanks for sharing. That rock art is spectacular! The eland drawings, and is that a kudu with a vulture on top?

Very nice report and photos. Trophies are very nice as well. Congrats on a great hunt! David

Excellent report and congrats on finally taking your eland... I love those worn down tips!

Great report, thank you for sharing it.

Congrat's to you and your wife on the hunt, it is wonderful that you can share these experiences together. That scrub-bull eland is super.

Very entertaining report too, thanks for posting! So...how did you like Joburg?

Bamabow;

Congratulations on your successful hunt...great photos! But I'm especially happy to see another lady join the huntress ranks. I'm glad she has discovered how much fun hunting with her hubby can be!!!!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Great report and fantastic trophy pics! Thanks for the details.