SOUTH AFRICA: Gizmo Family's African Safari Hunt

Royal27 said:

You could be walking a beat!!!

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Lol. No thanks, been there done that. It sux.

Wheels said:

But its west texas so it is a dry heat.

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Lol, normally you'd be right but with all the rain it's humid as hell. I feel like I'm back in Brazil.

Was the name of the Kalahari area with the lion Tinashe? I think i saw Fred there in December. He didn't have a name yet, so I didn't have any issues taking a blesbok. Enjoyed the writeup, understand the feeing hunting a lion that is hunting you.

What an absolute prick Gizmo !
I lost an absolute monster stag years ago and it took me years to get over it .
I used to wake up in the middle of the night with cold sweats .
This would be doubly worse , shit .
Hope they find it soon for your sanity .
Cheers Dory .

Great story had me on the edge of my seat. And I thought my one year old kitten was scary.

K-man said:

Was the name of the Kalahari area with the lion Tinashe? I think i saw Fred there in December. He didn't have a name yet, so I didn't have any issues taking a blesbok. Enjoyed the writeup, understand the feeing hunting a lion that is hunting you.

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It very well could be but I really don't know. If Fred was there I assume it probably was as there can't be to terribly many rum drinking blesbok with tennis balls on their horns running around the Kalahari. Lol

Gizmo, I do have to say that this is a great read. Its like we are there with you. The adrenaline, the fear and the triumph.... Now the heartache on the buffalo. Hope they find him soon. Great pics by the way. Bruce

Gizmo, what a great report, even though it's a heart breaking report. Like I said to you when you first told me.....that's hunting, sometimes things just don't work out the way we want them to. Lets hope there is a silver lining in the end.

We ate breakfast our last morning in the Kalahari and packed up to leave. I followed Andri back behind the lodge to tip all the trackers that worked so hard and did such an amazing job. What a wonderful group of guys they were and the absolute best in their profession. After this I started to walk back to my cabin to grab my bags. I was completely unaware that Fred had been plotting my demise and revenge was in the air. As I was leisurely strolling along my way enjoying the morning I caught movement out of my peripheral vison to my right. A brown flash of tennis ball tipped fury was bearing down on me. Due to some relatively recent medical issues I’m not quite as quick as I once was. I’m ok now and recovering well but none the less I still have a bit of a hitch in my giddy up. Try as I may I wasn’t quick enough and Fred slammed into my right thigh. For a roughly 90 lb animal the little shit can hit like an NFL linebacker. It just about knocked me on my can and I found myself trying to retain what few cool points I had left by not squealing like a 12 year old girl. As I stood there with a stupid look on my face Fred strutted off smirking, Fred 1 Gizmo 0. As much as I wanted to find a shovel to break over his head I figured I kinda had that one coming. Fred had put up with a lot of shit from me over the course of the last few days. I limped the rest of the way over to the cabin where my wife was standing outside waiting on me. As I hobbled around the corner I began to get a lecture about over doing it and that I needed to take it easy or I would be to stove up to finish the hunt. I started to tell her about Fred ambushing me but then realized I would be telling her that I just got pummeled by a 90 lb cute furry antelope. Ya, over doing it sounds better. I nodded and grumbled my usual, “yes ma’am”. I pulled our bags out on to the porch and there he was. Fred went strolling up on the porch and began playing with my kids who had come out to join us. “Well, he made his point and now he’s again the Fred we all know and love” I thought to myself. This was a trick. He lulled me in with his cuteness, now he had me where he wanted me. I walked over to pat him on the head and scratch his ear. This was my first mistake. After a brief scratching I kneeled down eye level and reached out to pat his neck. Mistake number two. WHAAM, like a lightning bolt I got a tennis ball tipped horn in the chin. “You little turd”, I barked. I reached up and caught his horn to stop the second jab as I jumped up to my feet. Now the fight is on and Fred is going for blood. I learned a valuable lesson right here about Blesbok. Did you know that when they fight they will drop down on their front knees and start plowing while wielding their horns like samurai swords? I didn’t either. I just about went ass over tea kettle as he had me off balance. Now I’m beginning to get a little irritated at him. I pick him up by his horns and start pushing him over backwards. His little hind legs are scrambling to keep underneath him and after about ten yards I throw him. He performed some move only possible in the likes of the Matrix movies somehow doing a half spinning half turning thing to keep him from going over. In a flash he’s back in the fight, he lunges forward horns a blazing onto his front knees going almost completely underneath me. I caught his horns to prevent catching them in the gentlemen vegetables but the impact caught me off balance and into the bush behind us we go. Now I’m beginning to not play anymore. My wife and kids are roaring with laughter. So much for helping dear ol Dad out. I wrench his head back to get him off balance, side step, and give him a good what for boot in the side. Another thing I didn’t know about Blesbok, if you kick one in the ribs it will get their attention but…. It really pisses them off. Now he’s seeing red and goes ballistic. I’m holding on to his horns for dear life as he is doing some stuff Jackie Chan would be proud of. The only thing I could think to do was to turn his head until his nose was buried into his side. Letting go of him was definitely not an option at this point. My family are now rolling on the ground with laughter all except for my daughter who is now filming this on her phone. I sort of had the upper hand now in that at least he wasn’t able to kick my ass any further and I just stood there with him tied in a knot trying to figure out what my options were. Letting go wasn’t one of them. I didn’t want to hurt him but at the same time this was going to only work for so long. Fortunately, some of the trackers and the appy took notice of my predicament and came to the rescue. We were able to finally get him off of me and by then I think he had had enough. I know I sure did. He trotted off giving me the middle hoof.

About 30 minutes later as we were getting ready to leave he came over to apologize. He walked up to me, stuck his nose under my hand, and I gave him a scratch on the ear. We said our good byes and I got in the van. As we drove down the road he ran alongside the van all the way to the gate to see us off.

We were now Kimberly bound…….

I’m a huge history buff and Andri knows this. We drove to Kimberly for our overnight stay but Andri had an Ace up his sleeve. After checking in to the Flamingo hotel and casino he loaded us up in the van and off we went to “The Big Hole”. For those of you that don’t know the Big Hole is the first diamond mine in SA. It also happens to be the largest hand dug hole in the world and just about the most influential historical occurrence in the 19th century for SA. The discovery of diamonds in South Africa completely changed the course of history for the country. This mine brought a flood of immigrants looking to seek their fortune into what would become Kimberly. I don’t really know how to summarize this as a book could be written over this but here’s my attempt at the cliff notes version. A diamond was found by a child playing in the area. He took it home and a family friend saw it on the floor of his house shortly after this, he asked if he could have it. It was given to him as it was just a rock right? The diamond changed hands several times until it eventually finds its way into the hands of a geologist who goes through the 7 levels of hell to find out where it came from. Eventually he succeeds and viola, huge diamond rush. Thousands of people flood into the area to stake claims and find their fortunes. Cecil John Rhodes shows up and over the course of several years acquires the controlling shares of the entire mine. De Beers Diamond Company is born. Rhodes is elected to the Cape Parliament in 1880. Now, the diamond mine is in the Transvaal which is part of the recently formed Boer Republic. Rhodes being an imperialist wanted not only the Transvaal but all of South Africa under British control. He had already been successful in acquiring Rhodesia and Zambia into British colonies. He smuggled arms into Jo-burg to arm an uprising of British and British sympathizers. This led to a skirmish known as the First Boer War. Needless to say it was a huge disaster and political suicide. This did however start a chain of events that led to the Second Boer War which was three years and saw the defeat of the Boers after a very brutal and bloody war. Brittan acquired all of modern SA and it changed the history of the country forever. It also posed major problems across the British Empire as the war wasn’t too popular with British subjects everywhere. All this because a little clear rock was found by a young boy playing with his friends on an afternoon like any other on the banks of the Orange River in the Transvaal. Pretty cool stuff huh? (I drive my wife and kids crazy with this sort of stuff)

Knowing fully well what was about to happen Mrs. Gizmo and the kids started to explain what type of trouble the group was in for. Once I am in a place like this it is impossible to drag me out and I won’t shut up as I feel the inherent need to share my passion for history by giving lessons over eeeverything. Needless to say I thoroughly enjoyed the visit and happily tormented my family with hours of history lessons. Payback for leaving me hanging with an enraged Blesbok! Here is some pics for those who are interested. I took literally about a thousand pics there but I will just try and hit some high points for obvious reasons.
My family and I in front of the Big Hole
The first electric lamps in the southern hemisphere

Description of the size of the mine(For those of you that are metrically challenged like I am, there are 3.3 feet in a meter and roughly 2lbs in a kilo, if I'm not mistaken)


Sorry for exposing my inner nerd but I really love this kinda stuff. After practically being drug out of there kicking and screaming we went back to the hotel and had a wonderful meal. I highly recommend the lamb chops in the casino! After dinner a bit of gambling and wouldn't you know I broke even for the first time in my life!!!! Off to bed to travel to the Eastern Cape and Alicedale for pg hunting.
More to come.......

You sound like me as a history buff my family just say all the useless sh*t is coming out of dads head again.

My new morning ritual. Coffee and reading your adventure report. Bring on the PG Section.

R.

Gizmo, you can tell us, how many did you sneak out in your boots??

TMS said:

Gizmo, you can tell us, how many did you sneak out in your boots??

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Lol, that pesky impact resistant glass

The Fred story. We need to see your daughters video.

Wheels said:

The Fred story. We need to see your daughters video.

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I'm thinking a good double feature movie would be "Fred, Revenge of the Blesbuck" and @billc 's "Attack of the Killer Giraffe."

First, as has already been said, that video needs to be posted! Rumble in the Jungle!

Second, thanks for the history lesson on SA diamond mining. My grandfather worked the mines up in Telluride, CO. Always great to hear about stuff like that. -Did you find any clear rocks on the ground?

rinehart0050 said:

First, as has already been said, that video needs to be posted! Rumble in the Jungle!

Second, thanks for the history lesson on SA diamond mining. My grandfather worked the mines up in Telluride, CO. Always great to hear about stuff like that. -Did you find any clear rocks on the ground?

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Man I wish, but no unfortunately not.

Wheels said:

The Fred story. We need to see your daughters video.

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Yup. Where is the video!???

I believe my daughter airdropped the Fred video and several others onto Pierres phone to be added into the video. Once igala is done with the videos I will post them accordingly. She still has the video on her phone but I'm going to post the trip highlight video which should have that on there.