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. This was a self organized two week mixed bag sporting trip to South Africa, that - for us - simply had everything in it (bar dangerous game which we are not hunting this year unless you count bush pig up close and personal as dangerous game). We would start off with 3 days of first class fly fishing on a top trout stream / water in the Dullstroom with two very close friends of ours, Rob and Karen. We would then drive down to the Northern Free State for a couple of days of classic pointed wingshooting for greywing, Swainsons and Orange River francolin over working GSPs, coupled with an evening duck flighting with Matt van Vuuren of Likhulu Safaris. Then it would be down to the Natal Midlands and Zululand near Kranskop for a couple of days of chasing bushpigs and some shot gunning of a different kind with Clint and his Jamludi Hounds, finishing up at Pongola near the Swazi border and Lake Jozini for four days of mixed plains game and hopefully some seriously trophy, trophy warthog with Leeukop Safaris ( and the 'double trophy' is not a typo - there are literally hundreds of pigs there and the chances of one or two 14 inch plus warties for the wall are very good indeed!). We could also fish the Jozini dam with a reasonable chance of catching a tiger or two! Anja and I would self-drive in our Landy 110 but we would stay in great lodges and guest houses all along the way. We have know all the outfitters and PHs for many many years and arranging the trip was done thru a number of phone calls and a series of WhatsApp mails and emails. Deposits weren't asked for other than at Pongola, we could pay on the day. Trust is a very special thing that is priceless these days ! There would be a fair amount of driving between locations but it would be in stretches of 4-5 hours, so pretty ok and not overly taxing. Mainly country tar roads with great scenery. It was tough putting the guns and rods together for this trip - not that we were not sure what to take but rather we could have taken a battery of guns and used them all! But flying from Germany luggage was limited and so in the end we decided on the following: For the fly fishing - an Epic 6 weight with a floating and fast sinking line (a lot of the water is deep and the fish hold low) - also good for the tigers at Pongola - my late father's Orvis 5 weight and reel, for Anja to use and also as these were the last waters that my dad fished before he passed away last year. A touch sentimental perhaps but it would be good to have his rod on the water. And lastly - a Sage 4 weight for dry fly for the evening rises which are prolific on these waters. For the pointed wingshooting - a 1923 Boss 20 bore - Anja's 20 bore Browning shooting Eley paper cased fibre wad 6s - both light to carry and easy to swing, ideal for pointed greywing! And for the bushpig and for the plainsgame we would use a - .470 Krieghoff double shooting WR 500 grain softs (why not) and - Anja's Dumoulin in 7x65R topped with a Swarovski scope shooting 177 grain Brenneke TIGs 2 suitcases and 2 gun cases and we were packed and ready for the off - Dusseldorf via Frankfurt to Johannesburg. Lufthansa charged us for the gun cases. Gun clearance at OR Tambo was a breeze - in and out in 15 minutes. We had a couple of easy days in Joburg to check the Landrover over including a set of new tyres, purchase some bubbly and wines, enjoy some wonderful meals and more wines and see some friends. And then we loaded up and headed North on the two hour drive to Dullstroom and the Meander for the first leg of our adventure and three days of superb trout fishing! I am going to split this report into 4 sections now - the fishing, the wingshooting, bushpig hunting with hounds and lastly Pongola and plains game simply to break up the huge number of pictures. So here we go .... Dullstroom - trout fishing The fishing was at a private venue in a fantastically comfortable lodge including raised fireplaces in every bedroom! And yes we did use them and it was toasty warm in bed at night despite sub zero temperatures outside with morning frost on the dry yellow grasses! The fishing was epic not due to me fishing an Epic glass rod, but this is simply a fantastic trout water. Based on a natural stream that courses through a deep cut valley there are some 18 plus pools and dams ranging in size from a small pond to a largish lake all linked and fed by the one crystal clear stream. Whilst the fish - mostly rainbows but with a few browns - are stocked, the owners have not put any fish in for a few years resulting in large tailed, healthy, big fish that aggressively take a fly and put up an excellent fight. I guess the smallest fish we caught was probably 1 to 1 1/2 lbs with the largest up at 7 lb or thereabouts. It was all catch and release bar two fish that were deeply hooked in the gills and bleeding. We took them for the table - drenched in flour and pan fried in butter with almonds as a starter one night! Delicious! Rob, Anja and I enjoyed some memorable mornings and afternoons / evenings catching literally dozens of superb rainbows on sinking lines, fishing large damsel patterns and pheasant tails down deep, and equally dozens of fish on top fishing small dries and emergers. One highlight for me was hooking, landing and releasing a 7 lb hen rainbow off a small water with the fish gulping a size 10 tadpole lure that I only flicked some 10 ft into the shadow of a gorse bush growing over the waters edge. My Lord did she put a bend in the rod, the knots held and she slipped into my net - a super fish! I took a couple of pictures and then released her and she slashed her tail in irritated defiance as she swam away. Anja spent some time on the water and caught a number of good trout on top and below. I helped net them and release them for her. Rob's wife, Karen, was happy to look on from the bank and soak up the winter sun calling out congratulations and encouragement from time to time in between chapters of her book. In the evenings we dinned on great home cooked meals and enjoyed wonderful Cape wines and then settled down with GT's and rum and cokes in front of a roaring log fire to recount the days fishing. Life does not get much better! It was difficult to pack up and say goodbye to Rob and Karen, as we could easily have stayed a few days more, fishing and sharing their company, but the Free State and Likhulu Safaris beckoned! . "Up the ladders and down the snakes!" | ||
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Wow. Looks like a great adventure ! | |||
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. Pointed greywing It was an easy drive down from the Dullstroom to the Free State and we arrived late afternoon. Now, we have know Matt, the owner and PH of Likhulu, for many, many years and we have hunted with him on a number of occasions. Matt, a second generation PH, is one of a handful of PHs in RSA that understands birds and wingshooting and runs a great wingshooting business as well as plains and dangerous game hunting. For many years he worked the "off season" in the USA on a bird farm. I stressed to Matt, that Anja and I were after a couple of days of classic, top pointed birds, especially greywing partridge and orange river francolin and some morning and evening duck flighting. Greywing partridge (Scleroptila africanus) is the Southern African equivalent of Scottish red grouse! They are a totally wild bird, hold tight when pointed, are loud and explosive off the ground and fast and furious in flight - a true sporting challenge to the best shotgunner! We would cover a lot of ground, walking hard and fast behind the dogs for a couple of brace of birds each. But pointed greywing is not a numbers game, it's about the getting rather than the end bag. Pointed greywing is in my book up there in African terms as the King of wingshooting sports ( or in Anja's case the Queen of wingshooting) followed closely in my book by flighted sandgrouse! On arrival, we changed quickly into greens and grabbing shotguns and cartridges we drove to the nearest dam for a sunset duck shoot. It was amazing. Over some 90 minutes so much bird life came onto the lake to roost in the high reeds - cormorants, geese, duck, starlings and more. The sounds and calls of the birdlife was simply incredible. I have never seen or heard anything like it in all my life. Amazing! Anja and I took a number of yellow and red bill before it was too dark to shoot and then we called it a day. It was great to meet up with Matt and his brothers and catch up on the news over drink and a great meal the first evening in a wonderfully comfortable hunting lodge in the Free State. The following morning we loaded up and drove 20 minutes to a nearby farm where we met Piet, a friend of Matt who also runs GSPs. And as the sun started to rise we dropped the pointers and started walking and hunting. That day we walked hard and hunted hard behind the dogs, covering 16 kms of ground and we were blessed with excellent dog work from Matt's and Piet's pointers and we took a number of brace of birds. We could not have asked for more and Matt delivered 120 %! Greywing and swainsons. We had a pic nic lunch in the veld and carried on until around 6.00 pm. We shot pretty well and finished up with a dozen plus birds between us for a ratio of 2:1. Not too bad shooting. That evening we enjoyed a great RSA braai and super wines and recollected the days shooting. And the next day we got to do it all over again! And we had another great morning, this time however we drove farm roads looking for birds and on spotting them we dropped one or two GSPs and went after those specific birds. We then finished up the morning walking a large cut soya bean field and the dogs managed to search out and point a number of Swainsons, with their crops full of spilled beans. It was a glorious morning of champagne wingshooting! Having enjoyed 2 days of bird shooting, we bade Matt and his brothers and staff goodbye and headed off down the N3 towards Mooi River for the next leg of our safari. To be continued with bushpig in KZN .... . "Up the ladders and down the snakes!" | |||
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Wonderful report so far. Can't wait to read the rest of it. | |||
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Fantastic! | |||
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Charlie, I have been watching this forum for a year or two and find myself skipping over the RSA hunt reports as nothing interests me. I feel compelled to say I read your entire report and look forward to the next installment with envy and anticipation. While I read, I try to conjure a way to recreate a similar experience with my wife. Keep it coming. Brad | |||
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My wife and I just finished a similar trip last month. We spent our first night in Dullstroom( loved the World of Whiskey). Next after 4 nights in Kruger we spent3 days wingshooting into the springbok flats area around Settler( combo of upland birds over GSP and waterfowl). Then 3 days in Capetown and Stellenbosch before resuming wingshooting in the Arnniston area around Cape Argullas( again upland birds and waterfowl). Wound up in Hermanus to shark dive but orcas had run the sharks out of Gaansbaii. Great trip and like you, we weren't carjacked, mugged or murdered. RSA has some great, under appreciated wingshooting. And contrary to some opinions here, we felt perfectly safe. Vote Trump- Putin’s best friend… To quote a former AND CURRENT Trumpiteer - DUMP TRUMP | |||
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Charlie!!!! You and Anja certainly know how to have a good time!!!! I'm so envious of your adventures together!!! Well done, Darin | |||
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Charlie - please drop me an e-mail at doctari505@gmail.com. Love you report so far. I live in the Kruger Park only 3 hrs from Dullstroom. Would appreciate the contact details for your flyfishing and Free State wingshooting venues. I live amongst the elephants, buffalo and lion here but am starved for good flyfishing and the wingshooting opportunities here are few so I'm on the lookout for new opportunities. If you could supply the contact details, I would be most grateful. Kevin Robertson | |||
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Wow, not sure who has more fun, you guys or Ross. Nice review. Thanks again! | |||
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Charlie you are giving away some of South Africa's best kept secrets Love those 20's behind good dogs Looking forward to the next installment | |||
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looks like way too much fun! Good Hunting, Tim Herald Worldwide Trophy Adventures tim@trophyadventures.com | |||
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. Bushpigs over hounds! I hunted with Clint last year taking a great bushpig sow at about 5 meters at a bay in some very thick brambles with a .375 double. Anja has hunted bushpig over hounds many times but not yet with Clint. Two days running the hounds with Clint promised to be exciting, plus we would spend a few hours doing some shotgun pest control. We had asked Clint to book us into a local B&B but he would not hear anything of it and insisted that we stay with him and his family on his uncle's dairy farm, which we did. And it was great. He had started baiting a couple of sites the week before our arrival and had bushpig, warthog and porcupine feeding regularly. The first evening we went out with Clint and sat on a bait hoping for bushpig and porcupine. I want to take two porcupine for a specific mount that I have in mind. But despite good wind in our faces and a dark night nothing came in to the bait so at 9.00 pm we opted to walk the maize fields, listening every few steps for the sound of feeding pigs and breaking stalks. It is an incredible way to hunt pigs, all your senses are at 125 % in the darkness. Anja actually said at one point that she could smell pigs! We heard one feeding a dozen or so rows into the mealies but winded him or her and ended up calling it a day around 10.00 pm. The following morning, we were up early and off to run the hounds after bushpig. I am addicted to bushpig over hounds - seeing and hearing the excitement of the dogs, running and trying to keep up with the pack, pushing the dogs on, finding a fresh track and hearing the hounds singing and howling as they chase and ultimately the bay and hopefully a large boar surrounded by howling and barking dogs! Thrilling stuff! We drove to a cane farm and dropped and ran the dogs on fresh spoor. After half an hour the dogs put up a small 25 kg pig - a red runner - which we managed to drop after 45 minutes. We returned to the nest site in the cane and the dogs put up a second pig - a boar of about 50 kg - which ran for an hour, never leaving the panels of big cane, before Clint dropped it with his 12 bore shooting buckshot. It was now 10.00 a.m. and getting warm so we called it a day and after watering the dogs at a farm pond we returned to Clint's house for a brunch. That afternoon, we set off for some cane and crop fields that were being decimated by vervet monkeys. The farmer had called for help and we needed to keep the farmer happy and come to his assistance! We searched the nearby wattles and gums and had a few hours of hunting and shooting vervets with shotguns and a .22 with open sights. Pest control - vervets from the treetops! It would serve to keep the monkeys out of that area for a day or two. The following Monday morning, we ran the dogs again but without luck and as we were on a time deadline we pulled the dogs and headed back to the farm. After a late breakfast, we thanked Clint, his wife and his staff, and bid our farewells and headed down to the Natal coast and then east to Pongola Game Reserve. A pleasant three / four hour drive through some great scenery up and along the coast. Kranskop and the Tugela River crossing To be continued - Pongola & plains game .... . "Up the ladders and down the snakes!" | |||
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You had me at this and it has just gotten better . ___________________________________________________________________________________ Give me the simple life; an AK-47, a good guard dog and a nymphomaniac who owns a liquor store. | |||
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Certainly not the usual run-of-the-mill safari! BH63 Hunting buff is better than sex! | |||
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That's a heck of a mixed bag! Frank "I don't know what there is about buffalo that frightens me so.....He looks like he hates you personally. He looks like you owe him money." - Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter, 1953 NRA Life, SAF Life, CRPA Life, DRSS lite | |||
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What a trip! Thanks for sharing! Gray Ghost Hunting Safaris http://grayghostsafaris.com Phone: 615-860-4333 Email: hunts@grayghostsafaris.com NRA Benefactor DSC Professional Member SCI Member RMEF Life Member NWTF Guardian Life Sponsor NAHC Life Member Rowland Ward - SCI Scorer Took the wife the Eastern Cape for her first hunt: http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6881000262 Hunting in the Stormberg, Winterberg and Hankey Mountains of the Eastern Cape 2018 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/4801073142 Hunting the Eastern Cape, RSA May 22nd - June 15th 2007 http://forums.accuratereloadin...=810104007#810104007 16 Days in Zimbabwe: Leopard, plains game, fowl and more: http://forums.accuratereloadin...=212108409#212108409 Natal: Rhino, Croc, Nyala, Bushbuck and more http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6341092311 Recent hunt in the Eastern Cape, August 2010: Pics added http://forums.accuratereloadin...261039941#9261039941 10 days in the Stormberg Mountains http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/7781081322 Back in the Stormberg Mountains with friends: May-June 2017 http://forums.accuratereloadin...6321043/m/6001078232 "Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading" - Thomas Jefferson Every morning the Zebra wakes up knowing it must outrun the fastest Lion if it wants to stay alive. Every morning the Lion wakes up knowing it must outrun the slowest Zebra or it will starve. It makes no difference if you are a Zebra or a Lion; when the Sun comes up in Africa, you must wake up running...... "If you're being chased by a Lion, you don't have to be faster than the Lion, you just have to be faster than the person next to you." | |||
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. Pongola Reserve & Leeukop Safaris The original Pongola Reserve was declared by Paul Kruger in 1894. Today the Pongola Reserve is owned and managed by the third generation Landman family and is home to 4 of the Big 5 with ele, rhino, herds of buff and leopard in the reserve. We have hunted here a number of times in past years alone and with friends, taking great trophies - especially warthog! The first time we hunted here as we drove towards the Jozini dam shore the PH told me to close my eyes. "What's the largest sounder of hogs that you have ever seen?" he asked. "I don't know, maybe 30." was my reply at the time. "Open your eyes and look at the shore!" I did. And I saw some 100 plus warthog grazing on the short grasses and vegetation on the dam shores. Simply amazing. Pigs everywhere you looked! We took some brutes then and were hoping to do the same now! Pongola has some very serious pigs! We arrived and unpacked our bags into our chalet overlooking the river and enjoyed a relaxed dinner at the boma. Just Anja, myself and our PH, Mpfanas. We first hunted with Mpfanas, some 5 or 6 years ago. We told him what we wanted to hunt and chatted about hunting and the farm and then called it an early night with a 05.00 start the next day. The farm is split by the N2 highway with the one side mountainous and rugged and the other low hills and flat lakeside with a coal train track crossing the farm up from Richards Bay. Over the years two eles and a rhino wandered onto the tracks and were hit and killed by trains. Pretty hairy having a train line through your game farm! We hunted the mountains on the first day. We saw giraffe, a superb serious trophy quality nyala bull (hindsight), zebra, wildebeest, bushbuck, reedbuck, warthog, rhino and buff. We blanked in the morning although Anja did get a long, uphill shot at a zebra but it was a miss. One strange thing at Leeukop is that they charge for missed or repeat shoots ! I don't agree with that but hey, it's their farm and their rules. The following day I took an older wildi bull out of a bachelor herd of 4 bulls. A lung shot, with the bull dropping after 200 m. I was happy. Lunch? Shortly after, Anja put in a shot on a zebra out of a herd of some 15 animals. The zebra was heavily quartering away and the bullet opened up 12 inches of rib / flank but didn't penetrate more than 2 inches into the zebra's right side lung. We followed the zebra about 2 kms tracking a blood spoor that was simple incredible! It was as if someone had walked through the veld spilling red paint from a bucket. Anyone could have followed that trail. When Anja did put in a finishing shot (and I did too with the .470) the zebra choose of all places the fork of a thorn tree as it's final place to rest. It literally jumped / sprang through the the bush and dropped there. A unique hunt from start to finish! That afternoon I put in a bad shot on a large quartering warthog sow hitting her soft too far back and we tracked her till dark but lost her. The blood trail started well but thinned out to single tiny pin point drops and then nothing. Never good and again I was amazed at how tough African game is vs Europe and elsewhere. Mpfanas was certain that the pig had gone to earth in her den wherever that may be. We tracked her a long way until darkness beat us. Lost. Not good. On our final day's hunting Anja took a second zebra - a large stallion - it was a great stalk over a period of an hour plus and a good solid lung shot. Waiting for the skinners to arrive and recover the now gutted zebra, I marvelled at some 15 dung beetles that arrived on the wing as if a bush telegram had gone out to all beetles in the neighbourhood! Amazing to see how quickly they can build a dung ball and roll it away! In injury time that afternoon, literally 15 minutes before sunset, I was able to shot a great, old warthog boar, using the farm's silenced Tikka in .30-06. The pig dropped to the shot. A solid, old, old boar with huge warts and very long unbroken lower tusks! Certainly one for the wall. I was thrilled! He had amazing drooping warts and his teeth were worn down to the root. A real trophy pig in my book. The funny thing was that we were at the river bank and Anja was taking pictures; I asked her to stop taking pictures for a minute and help look for warties! She looked up from her Samsung phone and said "What about that one there?" And there was the pig, coming thru a gap in the reeds 50 yards away! And I shot him. Ticks We had no incidents on or off the roads the whole trip in RSA, other than ticks! There we loads of ticks - big and small - at Pongola and Anja suffered. She was chowed by pepper ticks! Mpfanas uses Peaceful Sleep on his legs to keep them at bay. Anja tried that but with no relief. Next trip we will have 2 or 3 DEET anti tick sprays in the Day bag! Friday saw us settle up and then drive to Johannesburg to end a wonderful fortnight of fly fishing, champagne wing shooting, chasing bushpig over hounds and some challenging but successful plains game hunting. We had an uneventful LH flight back to Germany only to find out on arrival that one of the gun cases and Anja's rifle had taken a big knock and the case and more importantly the rifle were damaged. We'll see how that goes with the insurance. It was an amazing mixed two week safari with us covering over 1.800 kms in total. We never had an issue from start to finish on or off the road. Totally trouble free! We saw an amazing contrast in landscapes from the Dullstroom mountains and valleys to the heights of the Northern Free State at 5.000 ft above sea level, to the rich green timber, maize, sugar cane plantations and heights of Kranskop in Natal and finally the hills and waters of Pongola on the Swazi border! We had a lot of fun! It was an amazing mixed safari. A huge thanks to Rob and Karen for the time fishing with them, to Matt and team and their GSPs for the champagne wingshooting, to Clint, his family and hounds for the bushpig hunts and to all at Leeukop for the good time there. And thanks to all AR readers for coming along too! Please remember to close the gate when you leave! ________________________________ A couple of Ps notes and funnies 1/ netting a decent hen fish at Dullstroom on day 2, I somehow managed to slip and fall in at the deepest edge of one of the ponds. Instead of consoling words and concern, Rob fell apart laughing. I fished on and eventually dried out in the warm African sun. I fear I have not heard of this the last time from Rob! 2/ On the second mornings bird shoot, after we got out of the cruisers and dropped 4 of the pointers, I asked Matt to take a photo of Anja and I. Whilst taking the picture Matt told us to turn around and said that the 4 dogs were on a solid point not 5 yds behind us. We thought he was bs'ing us, but turning around we saw it was true. The dogs had nailed a covey of 3 francolin right there next to the vehicles! We managed to take 1of the 3 birds. Here the second picture that Matt took! 3/ As a note - since we last hunted Pongola / Leeukop, they have sold a number of blocks of land as private game lodges and as a result you can only hunt certain parts of the concession with a silencer / moderator to keep down the noise disturbance. And one area even needs to be booked in advance. We did not factor such changes since we last hunted there and so a) we didn't have a silenced rifle and b) we could not hunt the prime warthog area by the dam. So my hope of taking a number of large pigs was shattered on arrival. I was of course very happy with the one warty that I did take on the last afternoon. Next time we book any hunt we will ask whether any rules have changed since we last hunted there or elsewhere! You never stop learning. . "Up the ladders and down the snakes!" | |||
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Congratulation's Charlie and Anja Charlie you write a fine report. Thanks for taking us along!!!! I have walked in the foot prints of the elephant, listened to lion roar and met the buffalo on his turf. I shall never be the same. | |||
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Excellent report everythng perfect ,i consider SA my second country i love it and hve many friends there . www.huntinginargentina.com.ar FULL PROFESSIONAL MEMBER OF IPHA INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS ASOCIATION . DSC PROFESSIONAL MEMBER DRSS--SCI NRA IDPA IPSC-FAT -argentine shooting federation cred number2- | |||
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Everything classy and elegant ,thanks for sharing my friend . Cheers Juan www.huntinginargentina.com.ar FULL PROFESSIONAL MEMBER OF IPHA INTERNATIONAL PROFESSIONAL HUNTERS ASOCIATION . DSC PROFESSIONAL MEMBER DRSS--SCI NRA IDPA IPSC-FAT -argentine shooting federation cred number2- | |||
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Your report had it all as well. Great read, great adventure. Jytte | |||
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