Just returned from my third trip to Africa and wanted to post some pictures. **STORY ADDED BELOW PICTURES**

Outfitter: SS Pro Safaris
PHs: Scott Van Zyl and Abel Van Zyl
Where: Limpopo, RSA
Animals taken: Cape Buffalo, Bushbuck, Blesbok, Mtn Reedbuck, Kudu, Caracal and Warthogs
Animals seen: Pretty much everything










Third Trip to South Africa
July 21 – August 3, 2007

July 21, 2007

Ben, Paul and I all leave for South Africa, this time we fly thru Dulles airport in Washington, DC since South African Airways no longer flies out of Atlanta. Kathi Klimes has gotten us some great seats on SAA, Ben and Paul have the first seats in the section which gives them a little more leg room and they do not have to worry about anyone in front of them leaning the seat way back. I have a seat in the back of the plane where is no seat in front of me so I have plenty of leg room.

July 22, 2007

We arrive in Johannesburg and clear passport control and customs. When we get to the lobby area we do not see anyone with SS Pro Safaris so we just go right to the SAP’s office to get our permits. Peter, Scott’s older brother, with SS Pro meets up with us at the SAP’s office. When we get our permits we make the three hour drive from the airport out to the lodge. By the time we get to the lodge it is 9 pm. We meet up with all the old staff and meet the other hunters, Tim and Art who are also from GA, Tim and his wife from Michigan and Charles from Alaska. We get some dinner and go right to bed.

July 23, 2007

When we get up and breakfast is ready. After breakfast we go and sight all of our rifles. Then we all go out to the property where I will be hunting my cape buffalo. We have a big crew besides Ben, Paul and I there is Scott and he has other PHs along, Marlise and Vern, and there are several trackers. We split up in two vehicles to see if we can pick up any sign of the buffalo, I am hunting an old bull that is not running with the herd. At the first smaller waterhole we find some tracks from the night before but decide to check another larger waterhole that is nearby. At the larger waterhole we meet back up with the other vehicle and look for tracks. We do not find any buffalo tracks but we do find some good eland tracks. Since Paul wants an eland, he, Marlise, Vern and one of the trackers decide to follow these tracks. Scott, Ben, 2 trackers and I return to the smaller waterhole to follow the buffalo tracks we found there.

Most of the property is hilly with thick brush. There are more open areas but not many and they have small areas of thick brush spotted all over them. We follow the tracks for about 4 hours and the buffalo seem to be circling around but we have not seen them yet. At times the buffalo cross over some large areas of rocks where we lose the tracks and have to circle around to find the tracks where they come off the rocks. We come to another big rocky area that is surrounded by thick brush so we split up to try to locate the tracks again, the 2 trackers go around and thru the brush in one direction and Scott, Ben and I go around the other way. After a little bit we hear the trackers whistling indicating they had picked up the tracks so we continued on around to meet up with them. We see movement coming from around the brush and believe that it is the trackers when all of a sudden the buffalo came trotting out. I quickly take a shot but my bullet placement is poor. The buffalo is quartering toward me and I shot it directly on the shoulder so the bullet misses the vital organs and travels thru the guts. The buffalo takes off and Scott tries to get a shot at it but misses as it runs into some more thick brush. We send Sticks, a Jack Russell terrier, to follow the buffalo as we start tracking by following the blood trail. In few minutes we hear Sticks barking and the buffalo had stopped about 500 yards away in some thick brush. I get a second shot but since the buffalo is in the brush I am not sure exactly where I was aiming on the buffalo. We find later that I hit it a bit far back, again missing the vital organs. The buffalo takes off again this time into the very thick brush and very hilly part of the property. We spend the rest of the day tracking. At first there is very good blood but as time and distance go on there is less and less blood. We finally have to stop as we are losing light so we mark our spot so we can continue in the morning. I am now convinced that all plant life in Africa has thorns as my arms are covered in cuts and scratches and by shirt has several tears in it from all the thorns in the thick brush. Paul never was able to get a shot at the eland even though they caught up with it and he decides that he is going to continue to try to get his eland in the morning.

July 24, 2007

When we leave in the morning we decided to take Sticks with us again and Stella, a German Short Hair, to hopefully help us locate the buffalo. We spend the entire morning tracking and I find it amazing how Scott and the trackers are finding these little bitty drops of blood. By lunch time we can not find any more signs of blood and the buffalo has been traveling in some very rocky areas so there are no tracks to follow either. While eating lunch we decide that it might be best to bring in a helicopter to locate the buffalo. After lunch we get a helicopter and cover the part of the property we believe the buffalo is in but after 2 hours of searching we see no sight of him. So our next plan is that we will bring in the other PHs and trackers and walk in a line thru the area. We get about 12 of us and begin the walk. After about 1 ½ hours one of the trackers is pulling back some brush and spots the buffalo and he slowly puts the brush back and signals us. Now the excitement begins after the first shot the buffalo takes off again with Sticks and Stella on his heels. The rest of us run to catch up and all hell breaks lose and everyone is firing. After six more shots the buffalo is finally down for the count. Back at the lodge we learn that Paul has gotten a Zebra.

July 25, 2007

Today Scott, Ben and I (Sticks and Stella are also with us) are still hunting together and decide that it is Ben’s day. We travel to a different property to see what we can get. We spend the morning driving around to see what we can spot but we only spot female animals, young males or animals we are not hunting. At lunchtime we decide to sit at a waterhole to see what might come to drink. We make a blind in an old cattle dipping trough and eat lunch. While there we only see a female warthog with a baby. After lunch we decide to go back to driving around to see what we can spot and to return to the waterhole in the evening. While driving around we spot a wounded male warthog and we send the dogs after it. The dogs bay up the warthog and Ben quickly gets in to finish off the warthog. Upon inspecting the warthog we find that it had an old wound on its front leg where it had been previously shot. In its mouth we pulled out what appeared to be a 22 bullet. We returned to the waterhole but nothing comes in that evening. At the lodge we learn that Paul has gotten a waterbuck but still no eland.

July 26, 2007

Today we decide it is warthog day so Scott drops Ben off at one waterhole and drops me off at another on a property that is across the road from where we were the day before. During the morning I saw 3 young male warthogs and a few females, 9 female kudu and a few small duikers. At lunch when Scott came to pick us up, Ben had taken 3 warthogs, 2 male and a female. After lunch we stick together and go to another property where at a waterhole another group of hunters had seen a lot of warthogs. We spend the afternoon in the blind we had made dosing off only seeing a couple of steenbok off in the distance. We began to talk and joke about things and were talking about the GA deer season when a good male warthog came running into the waterhole. I quickly shoot it in the head and it drops right in the middle of this thick, sticky grey mud. Ben gets the idea that he would get in the back of the truck and we could back the truck up to the hog and he would grab hold of it and we could drag it out of the mud using the truck. So, we let Ben grab the warthog and Scott and I proceed to see if we can dump Ben into the mud with the warthog. Ben was wise to us tough and was holding on to the truck with one hand and we were able to get the hog out.

July 27, 2007

Today we are hunting for blesbok for me and gemsbok and waterbuck for Ben. Scott, Ben and I travel to Mof Venter’s place; Mof was my PH on my first trip back in 2003. In a second vehicle Tim from GA and Abel, Scott’s younger brother, also go to Mof’s because Tim had wounded a blesbok the day before and are going to search for it. Just a few minutes after arriving we spot a blesbok and think it might be the wounded one so quickly drive into position to cut it off. But we soon realize that it is not the wounded one so I shot in the front of the chest as it was facing us and dropped it in its tracks. Ben and Scott then go off to hunt gemsbok and I team up with Tim and Abel to search for Tim’s wounded blesbok. We get in a line and walk some areas of the property but see no sign of the blesbok, I did spook up some wildebeest and warthogs. After awhile we team back up with Scott and Ben in one vehicle to help with the gemsbok hunt and to continue looking for the wounded blesbok. It was not until after lunch that we got one some good gemsbok and Scott and Ben were able to put on a stalk. During their stalk they spooked the gemsbok and they started to run away and Ben took a shot at one running and hit it high in the back. Now we have a wounded gemsbok and blesbok to search for. We were able to spot the gemsbok herd a few times but they were all ways running and we tried to cut them off in the truck but no luck until late in the day. Scott and Ben quickly jumped out of the truck and went on foot to get closer and Ben was able to get a shot off but hit it too high above the shoulder where no vital organs located. So we ended the day with no gemsbok and without Tim’s blesbok. Tim had to leave the next day so we told him we would continue to look for the blesbok since we were going back the next day.

July 28, 2007

We get up early today as we want to get an early start as time is limited today as Scott, Mof and a few others have a rugby game to play in today. We decide to take three trackers with us to aid getting the wounded animals. We spend the morning trying to get a shot on the gemsbok by sending the trackers into areas to see what they could push out. Then about 1 o’clock (we skipped lunch due to the limit on our time) the trackers push the gemsbok out but it is behind us. Ben quickly gets into position and shots the gemsbok in the hip breaking it and then runs up and finishes it off. We decide we still have a little time so we decide to go after a waterbuck we had seen in the morning. We use the same technique we used in the morning for the gemsbok and after 1 ½ hours the waterbuck is pushed out but again behind us. Ben uses the 375 rifle and takes two shots at the running waterbuck but misses both times. So we use the truck to catch up with the waterbuck which has slowed down some now and Ben is able to hit it but a little too far forward but it still stops him. Ben now grabs his 270 weatherby since he has emptied the 375 and after three more shots the waterbuck is down.

After we get the waterbuck loaded we quickly rush off to make it to the rugby match. At the game we meet up with Peter, Scott’s older brother, and Paul. Peter decides that we have to keep up drinking with him; this is bad since they only thing I have had to eat was an apple on the way to the game. It seems that every few minutes Peter is handing us another beer so after a few beers Ben and I get a burger to put something on our stomach. Scott’s and Mof’s game is first and his team loses, which I found out later that this was the finals. So when Scott and Mof join us in the stands it seems that the drinking kicks into high gear. During the second game Scott is telling Ben what to yell and I am noticing we are getting some very bad looks from people but Ben and I do not know what he is yelling since we do not know the language. If I fight breaks out I have all ready decided I am going to get beside Mof since he is the biggest one of our group and that might provide me some protection. Luckily no fight breaks out and we head back to the lodge and I head straight for bed.

July 29, 2007

The morning seems to come early and it takes two cups of coffee and some aspirin before I can open my eyes. Scott, Paul and Ben go to continue the hunt for Paul’s eland and Abel and I go decide to go for mountain reedbuck. Abel and I arrive at the property which is very mountainous hence the name mountain reedbuck. Not long after arriving three huge bush pigs run across the road in front of the truck. Our plans quickly change and we scramble up the mountain opposite on the one the pigs ran up hoping to be able to get a shot at them when they stop. However, the pigs either never stopped or stayed in the thick brush where we could not see them. Since we were all ready most of the way up the mountain we decided to go on up to the top and walk the ridge glassing for mountain reedbuck. After several hours and only seeing a few klipspringers and a female bushbuck we decide to go back to the truck and head to another area. On the way down the mountain I slight twisted my ankle on some rocks but not bad enough to stop the hunt. When we started in the truck to go to another area we had not gone 100 yards when a group of six mountain reedbuck ran in front of the truck off the mountain we were just on. So we quickly got back up the same mountain hoping to get a shot as they slowed on the opposite mountain. After a few minutes we saw one stop in a small clearing just over three hundred yards away. I was able to get a steady rest on the sticks and took a shot. The reedbuck jumped out of the clearing and I thought I had missed until the reedbuck stumbled back into the clearing and fell.

We headed back to the lodge for lunch and meet up with Scott, Ben and Paul. Paul had not only finally gotten his eland but also got a huge nyala. After lunch we all decide to hunt together and headed back to the property I was on in the morning hoping to run into some baboon. After driving around for a few hours we finally spot a troop of baboons over 500 yards away moving along the side of a mountain. Scott and Ben get out of the truck and try to get closer to get a shot. After a few minutes they get about 400 yards from the baboons and we hear the shooting start and after 7 shots it appeared no baboon was hit but we did see a few duck. As the sun had started to set we decided to head on back to the lodge. On the way out a big kudu bull was chasing a few females and I decided to take him. I made a good broad shot on him and he ran only about 30 yards before going down. We joked how the kudu bull made the mistake of most males of the world, paying to much attention chasing the women then what was going on in the world around him.

July 30, 2007

Today Abel, Paul, Ben and I decide to hunt together and drive up to a farm that is on the Botswana border. Ben and Paul are going after bushbuck and I have heard that there are some large warthogs there. At the farm there are no game fences, the only fence is a barb wire fence that runs along the Limpopo River but animals and people can cross it quite easily. In the fields there is corn and onions and the tobacco has just been harvested. There is a wide strip of land, 300 – 500 yards wide, that is not cultivated with some thick brush and open areas before getting to the river and on the river there is green vegetation and large trees. We start by stalking along the river and for awhile just see young male and female bushbuck. Finally we see a good male bushbuck but we spook it into the thick brush land towards the fields. Abel and Ben try to stalk after it while Paul and I hang back. The bushbuck makes a loop and it is trying to get back to the river and ends up walking straight to Paul and me. We signal Abel and Ben as to where it is and as they come back the bushbuck sees them and takes off again. The bushbuck makes another loop and comes back just about 75 yards further up from us. Abel and Ben quickly move up to intercept and Ben goods a good shot on it and it goes down.

Now it is Paul’s turn for a bushbuck and he, Abel and I go on stalking along the river while Ben goes to sit where the farmer puts out some hay for the animals in hope for some big warthog. We see several bushbuck even a few good ones but are not able to get on them before they run over into Botswana. We stop for lunch at a camp site and when we get Ben he has taken two warthogs of decent size. We grill out for lunch cooking some pork and sausage. After lunch Abel and Paul continue to stalk for bushbuck and I, since my ankle has gotten pretty sore, decide to do like Ben and sit at another area where the farmer has put out hay. I pick a nice shady tree to sit under and after about only 10 minutes a big male warthog comes out. But just my luck he is behind the only patch of brush between me the feeding area. I can kind of see him thru the brush and I get inpatient and decide to take a shot and miss and he takes off. Later a couple of male impala come in and one is very big but will not come out in the open where I can get a shot. Finally about 5 warthogs come in and there is one decent size female that I decide to take and with one broad side shot she goes down. Later some female waterbuck start to come in but they get scared off when Abel and Paul return. Paul too now has scored on bushbuck and now not to be left out I decided I wanted a bushbuck too.

With about 1 ½ hours of daylight left Abel and I start out on a stalk for bushbuck. We saw a couple of female bushbuck and did not see a male until it was too dark to tell if it was a good one or not. Since we did not want to ground check it we pass on it. We collect Paul and Ben and take a short dinner break. After dinner we decided to spot light to see if we could get a bushbuck. First we went along the river again but did not see any decent bushbuck. So, we went to the fields and the bushbuck where literally everywhere. We spotted a good one and I had to wait to shoot until it had gotten out of line with the farm house. Finally it got into a safe position for me to shoot and I took it. After taking pictures we loaded up and started out and soon spot a good duiker. Ben decides to take it but uses my rifle since it is the closest one to him. We loaded up all the animals taken that day (3 bushbuck, 3 warthog and a duiker) and drive back to lodge and get back about 11:30.

July 31, 2007

We sleep in a little late since we got back late the night before. As the day before Abel, Paul, Ben and I all hunt together and go to a property close to the lodge to see if we can get Paul a blue wildebeest and Ben and I are looking for baboon and warthog. After a couple of hours of driving around we finally spot some baboon about 200 yards away and I promptly miss a big male. After the shot all the baboon take off and go over the mountain not to be seen again. So, we drive around again and spot a small herd of wildebeest but there is not a good in the bunch. We drive back to the lodge to eat lunch and decide that Ben and I would sit at a waterhole while Paul and Abel continue to hunt for wildebeest. Shortly after getting to the waterhole I fall asleep only to have Ben wake me as several female warthog have come in to the waterhole. There are no big ones in the group so we decide to pass on them. It is not until late in the evening that a big male warthog comes in but I scared it off when my rifle slips on a branch as I was trying to take aim on him. About 20 minutes later another male comes in and I am able to take him. When go to check him he turns out to have one tusk broken off that we did not see before I shot him. Abel and Paul come to pick us up after dark and they have been unsuccessful on the wildebeest. When we get back to the lodge a local farmer has called to tell us that trap we had set out earlier in the week had captured the caracal that had been getting into his chickens. So we decide we will go and get him in the morning.

August 1, 2007

Scott and Paul head out after wildebeest and Abel and I drop Ben off out a waterhole for warthog and then head into town so Abel can take care of some errands before we go to take care of the caracal. After we take care of the errands we go and take care of the caracal with a 22 rifle and he turns out to be a big male. The farmer thanks us for getting the caracal for him and go to pick Ben up. At the waterhole Ben has taken two more warthog, a big female and a decent male. We go back to the lodge for lunch where we meet up with Mauritz, another PH who had just gotten back from taking a couple to Kruger National Park for some sight seeing. After lunch we all decide to hunt for baboon together. We see a couple of troops of baboon but we can not get close enough to take any shots. When we get back to lodge we learn that Paul has gotten a very nice wildebeest.

August 2, 2007

Today Paul is going for red hartebeest while Ben and I are going after baboon and warthog. Paul goes with Scott, Ben with Mauritz and I go with Abel. Abel and I spot a troop of baboon up in the mountains in the morning but again are unable to get close enough for a shot. About 11:00 o’clock we decide to go sit a waterhole to go after warthog. We eat lunch while at the waterhole and about 2:00pm our tracker pulls up in the truck to tell us Scott has been calling. Scott has been called by a group of hunters that have been hunting buffalo for over a week and had finally shot one and needed his dogs to help track it. So go meet up with Scott on the road to pick up Paul. Paul has not gotten his hartebeest but has taken a huge warthog that probably has 12 inch tusks from the gum line. On the way to the property we are going to hunt we see an older couple that had hit a warthog with their car and had a flat tire so we stop to help them. That evening I decide to sit at a waterhole where baboon had been spotted while Abel and Paul continue his hunt for red hartebeest. All that comes into the waterhole are female kudu and a couple of gemsbok, no baboon. Abel and Paul have a couple stalks but are not able to get a shot at the hartebeest. Back at the lodge we learn that Ben has taken another warthog. Scott tells us that by the time he had meet up with the other hunters they had found the buffalo and that he guessed the hunter had gotten too inpatient on trying to find an old bull and had taken a young bull.

August 3, 2007

Today we have to leave but decide that there is time to do a little hunting in the morning. Like the morning before Paul and Scott go for red hartebeest and Ben and I go after baboon, Ben with Mauritz and me with Abel again. Abel and I spot a troop of baboons and are able to get within about 200 yards of a large male. I take a shot but hit high to the right and the baboon take off around the mountain. Abel and I are able to catch up with them and I take another shot at about 300 yards and hit high to the right again. At this point I believe my scope has been knocked off since I shoot left handed and if I was pulling it I would be hitting to the left. We hear on the radio that Ben has hit a baboon and they are tracking it. We head back to lodge so I can pack and get ready to head to the airport. Ben and Mauritz return and have been unable to find the baboon, they just ran out of time. When Paul return we find out they got on some hartebeest but no goods were in the herd. We get all packed and head to the airport. At the airport this is the worse time I have ever had trying to get checked in with SAA. We find out that there are 2 problems; first that there is a group of about 50 teenagers that had been on a mission trip checking in and second that only one ticket agent is checking people in. After awhile one of the SAA personnel spots us, most likely our gun cases, and moves us to the front of line by telling everyone we are business class, which we are not. He is probably just looking for a tip and I give him one since he got us to the front of the line. However, things are still going very slowly and some us complain to a supervisor and SAA finally opens another ticket agent. After 2 ½ hours we finally get our bags checked in and then head for the SAP’s office. We get thru SAP’s, security and passport control pretty quickly but still do not have time to get anything to eat and head straight to the plane as it is all ready boarding. On the plane the 50 kids are noisy the whole trip and most of the TV screens are not working. When we reach Washington DC the next day, we get thru passport control and security very quickly, too quickly. They did not even check our guns or bags and send us right on thru. I have now decided that if I ever do try to smuggle anything into the country that I am going thru Washington DC. We make our connecting flight to Atlanta with plenty of time to spare and finally get home.

With the exception of the actual traveling it has been another great trip to South Africa. I ended up with a cape buffalo, mountain reedbuck, blesbok, bushbuck, kudu, caracal and 3 warthog. Ben took a gemsbok, waterbuck, bushbuck, duiker and 9 warthog. Paul took a zebra, waterbuck, eland, bushbuck, nyala, blue wildebesst and 2 warthog.

David, outstanding trophies! Congratulations!

I love that wide Kudu!

Nice pics, congrats

Great pics, looking forward to the stories.
Jeff

HI David,

great stuff, And that bushbuck looks interesting. He seems to have a bow in the horn. I've never seent hat before.

Thanks for posting. I'm looking forward to the stories.

Rgds,
FB

david, thats a good looking bunch of animals congrats.

David,

Congratulations! It looks like you had a great safari!

Very nice David. Looks like another bang up Safari!

Something tells me you like shooting warthogs and bushbucks

Yes, I love hunting those warthogs. By buddy took 9 of them in the 2 weeks we were there.

I did not plan on taking another bushbuck but we traveled up to a guy's farm up on the Botswana border and they were all over the place. The farm had no game fences and a lot of animals were crossing over the border to snack in the fields. The 3 of us all took a bushbuck while there. By buddies took theirs by stalking along the Limpopo River and I shot mine out of one of the fields.

Looks like you had an outstanding trip to the Limpopo. I have to wait until 2010 for my 3rd visit there, hope it's still a going concern by then!!!!

Thank you for sharing your trip david. That's a nice warthog.

David.

Great hunt and great pics. Thanks for sharing with us.

Hey Dave, you forgot about the trip back to the lodge after the rugby game!
Paul

quote:

Originally posted by Paulyote:
Hey Dave, you forgot about the trip back to the lodge after the rugby game!
Paul

Forgot about that. Ben drove one of the trucks back to the lodge and seeing him trying to drive on the wrong side of the road was hilarious. And you having to feed him biltong and cigs to keep his concentration up.

And having that ardvark run accross the road and it looked just like a big possum I thought he was going to try to run over it.