SOUTH AFRICA: Has Anyone Hunted With Crusader Safaris?

I am doing a buffalo and plains game hunt with crusader safaris next year, has anyone hunted with them? If so, how was your hunt?

Andrew runs a first class operations, he and i are very good friends and we have done business together for several years. We have sent dozens of clients to hunt with him and they have all been pleased with the accommodations, food, staff and most of all the trophy quality.

That is great to hear, I found some reviews in here and all were very pleased with them. Having never been to Africa before I booked through Cabelas. We told them what we were looking for and this is who they set us up with. Outside of that I had no knowledge of their operation. From what I have read they seem like a first class outfit. I am really excited though the anticipation of it is killing me. I've waited my whole life for this and this will be the longest years wait in history. Thanks

its that last week that's a killer, if you have any questions please feel free to call me. is Cabelas handling your gun permits?

Thank you. Yes, we signed up for a deal through Cabelas with African Sky. They are supposed to be handling all of that and will meet us at the airport to help us clear customs etc... From there they will take us to their B&B where we will overnight. It was kinda expensive but it looked well worth it considering I dont have a clue and their B&B looked first class. I think my wife will enjoy the accomidations and it seems to take a lot of hassel out of the whole deal.

Africa Skye is very nice and they do a good job on the permits.

Crusader runs a good outfit from what I have read about them .i'd say that you will be pleased. Bruce

I hunted with them two years ago. Andrew Pringle has a great team, and I was thrilled with the experience of hunting with them. The gentlemen I went through (personal friends Dennis Stanley and Henry Baskerville of Safaris Unlimited) have been hunting with Crusader Safaris for many years. Matter of fact, they are hunting with him at this moment. You can see the photos of the animals I hunted under my profile on this site. I can promise that you won't be disappointed you used them.

Those are some pretty good references and the hunt reports all hold that you are going to have the time of your life.

Have fun waiting.

Hey we hunted with Gizmo at Crusader! Look up my hunt report.

Hey we hunted with Gizmo at Crusader! Check out my hunt report.

View attachment 28700 Hey we hunted with Gizmo at Crusader!

Hunted with Crusader in 2012. Had a wonderful time and took great trophies. I believe Andrew has bought out Chris but still uses his home as a lodge in the Stormberg Mountains. You will definitely enjoy the hunt. Andrew has superb areas and is more than fair with his clients.

Awesome! I booked with them through Cabelas and didn't know anything about them. I'm pretty sure the wait is going to kill me though.

Sorry for the multiple posts of the same thing. I was having trouble getting the pictures in. Maybe the moderators can delete those extra posts?...
Gizmo is the tracking dog if you haven't figured it out.

To answer your question, we had an absolutely great hunt! It was our first time to Africa, so not much to compare to. It is so far over the top of anything we can do back home. We bought a package, added my wife, then 2 extra days. Some touring, and then let the PH know what our priority animals were but to feel free to point out any superb specimens of other species and we would do our best to aim well and squeeze the trigger.

We started out in the Baviaans River area which is Andrews home base and about a 2.5 hour drive from the Port Elizabeth airport. We were taken to the Cowie area for Zebra and Bushbuck but they also have other Species there as well. That is more of a jungle area and on the rainy side of the mountains. Then we also spent 3 days/2 nights in the Karoo or semi desert area and took 3 springbuck, Gemsbuck, Impala and Eland. I missed a nice Steenbuck there as well and we saw a few nice Kudu but were actually too close and they ran off before we could get a shot. It was early April so a lot of greenery everywhere. Our PH was Mark but we also met Tyson and both are good down to earth types and late 30's/early 40's. The guy hunting with Tyson was very successful as well. Mark had a 4 door pickup (Hylex) so could accommodate my wife and I together. Tyson had a 2 door Land Cruiser. These guys are fit and hunt hard but Mark was patient and made sure we were keeping up. Mark has a friend (Dave?) who also guides for Andrew who Mark highly recommended and commented he is a gadget guy and has everything, if you want that. Andrew was guiding another couple as they were return clients and I think requested him. As far as I know, the rest of the guides are younger fellows. Andrew is a great guy and had guided the other hunters to some superb animals, but he has a business to run so I don't think he can guide all the time himself. We were very pleased with Mark and I could also highly recommend Tyson as I really enjoyed his company in the evenings.

I'm sure if you are hunting Buffalo with Andrew in RSA, you will be going to his Greater Kruger area way up North and I believe he has a PH up there who specializes in the Buffalo hunts. That is a long ways from the Baviaans area. So you might be hunting the Umkomaas area for plains game? From what I heard talked about and the Trophies I saw other folks had taken from that area, there are very good Nyala and Greater Southern Kudu there. The Umkomaas is a 7 hour drive South to Baviaans, and the Kruger area looks about that much farther again North of Umkomaas... So unless you want to spend a lot of time on the road, you may want to hunt Kruger and Umkomaas and adjust your wish list accordingly. Andrew responds to email but if he is out hunting it may take a while. He seems to really want to please and I'm sure he will do what he can to accommodate your wishes, but I would suggest you explain the overall big picture, like times and general types of animals you want and any sightseeing you might be interested in, then let him give you more specific advice... Keep things open so he can advise without feeling pressure to offer something difficult to accomplish in the time allotted. I would think you would need an absolute minimum of 2 full weeks and 3 would be better to get to all his areas.
Bob
P.S. We booked through James Jeffrey and he was very helpful throughout. We had booked this before James became the official booking agent on here.

Ok, thank you for your response Bob. We booked a 10 day hunt in two areas. Buffalo is the main trophy. We are supposed to transfer to the Cape after that for Cape Kudu and Zebra. I may have messed up in that I requested our tranfer to be a drive as opposed to a flight but we really wanted to see the country and have the oppurtunity to sight see along the way. I wish I could spend three weeks but there is no way I could take that much time off work. My eventual goal is to go back several times. I tend to stick with outfitters that I like and it sounds like these folks are going to far exceed my expectations. I have heard nothing but praise from everyone about their operation.

BTW- I like the dog. I'm sure he will be honored that we share the same name.

Your going to have a great time! The drive time we had with Mark was very pleasant and filled with great sights. I really got a kick out the monkeys hanging all over the bridges... Sometimes it's the simple little things. Don't get too pushed on time, take time to stop and look, even if it means arriving late. There are some benefits to driving in the hunting areas after dark, you will see various animals in the headlights... We had some spectacular sights and Mark was good enough to pull over and let us take pictures. Such as the view from the top of a mountain pass with the sun coming up over the mist filled valleys stretching as far as you can see.

Oh wow, those are awesome pics

That is a spectacular Hartebeeste