My first Safari

Hi guys. Just got back a few days ago from my first trip to South Africa.

I had an incredible time. The PH and his wife were outstanding. The hospitality and food was beyond anything my wife and I had expected. On day 3 my wife, who was a little apprehensive before the trip, comes to me and says, "we are coming back here right."

Took some great animals and had a blast.
Africa 122.jpg Africa 183.jpg Africa 233.jpg Africa 258.jpg Africa 308.jpg

Thanks to Chris and Sabina of CT-Safaris. It was an incredible experience that we will definitely be repeating in the future.

Congrats. Good looking animals.

Its funny how everyone who hunts with Chris and Sabina mentions the food LOL. Out of this world.

Derek I presume?

Well Cowtown Guy, your first but not your last safari I presume. Sounds like you got the OK from the wife.

Nice trophies.

Very nice trophies 'CG' - congrats.

Yip, after a long hard day of hunting, nothing round it of as perfect as a good meal!

Congrats on the great trophies! I really like your bushbuck! Thanks for the pictures and hunt report.

Thanks for posting your trophy pictures and hunt report Cowtown guy.

Thanks for the report. And that is a nice bushbuck!

Thanks for the kind words folks. I had a blast and will be back again for sure.

Thanks for your report, and congratulations for your hunt.

That bushbuck is very nice, and the warthorg insn t bad, either !

Congratulations on your first trip and very successful hunt.
That is a very fine Bushbuck.
Tell some more of the story when you get a chance.

Congrats Cowtown Guy on a great hunt those are some fine Trophies, glad to hear your wife enjoyed it as well.

Originally Posted by Cowtown guy

Derek I presume?

That would be me.

Chris kept getting my name mixed up with yours. It was pretty funny.
I heard you guys had a great huny as well. I am thinking of KZN for my next trip. It sounds like a gorgeous area with some great trophy potential.

Cowtown guy,

Thanks for sharing and those are some fine trophies. Congrats.

nd

Originally Posted by Cowtown guy

..... I am thinking of KZN for my next trip. It sounds like a gorgeous area with some great trophy potential.

When I am finally done writing my report from my hunt at Leeukop I'll show you some of that great trophy potential you refer to in KZN and you can drop by the house and see them in person when they are on the wall.

So to add a little more to the story now that I have some time...
We left home here at 6am from Calgary Alberta. After 28 hours of travel we were met at Tambo by Chris from Ct-Safaris. We made a 4ish hour drive to camp and absolutely passed out!
The next day was for getting used to the time change and we made a trip to the range. I was borrowing one of Chris's guns and he wanted to be sure that I was comfortable with it. After a couple of shots I am sure he was terrified of my shooting abilities. For whatever reason I couldn't get used to the trigger on his gun and had some horrendous results. We switched to a different rifle and I was much more comfortable with it. I had never hunted with a .375 H&H before so I was excited to be able to do so.
Day 1 of hunting had us in some very thick bush looking for Gemsbok. We made 4 stalks and one walk into a waterhole that were all unsucessful as the wind was swirling in every direction that day. We finally had the wind die down later in the afternoon and made another walk into a waterhole. We found my Bull all by himself and I put one behind his shoulder. He was quartering away and we thought the shot was a little far back at first but he piled up about 200 yards away. Upon closer inspection the bullet was right where it should have been.

The second animal was the Impala. We came upon him by accident but I made the shot count and he was down in a big puff of dust. He is a great animal that should score nicely.

Day 2 was fairly uneventful looking for Bushbuck and Kudu but I managed to take a Warthog at last light while sitting in a hide overlooking a field that the pigs had absolutely destroyed. He was a big, very old one tusker. He was very skinny and was probably on his last legs.

Day 3 found me looking to upgrade my Warthog and look again for Bushbuck and Kudu. We found the Warthog in the afternoon after seeing piles of pigs that just didn't meet the criteria for an upgrade. This is the only animal that didn't fall to a single shot. I misjudged the range and shot too high. We needed to finish it off but after a few minutes we had the big old boar in the back of the truck and were looking for Bushbuck.

We were only a mile or so away from the Warthog spot in some thicker bush and we came across the Bushbuck. I made a running shot from about 80 or 90 yards and dropped him in his tracks. He had all kinds of very small ticks on him. They were crawling everywhere. I believe they were pepper ticks???? Gross is all I can say. I'm not a fan of ticks. The evening was dedicated to finding Kudu.

Day 4 was dedicated to again finding the Kudu. At around 0930 we seen my Kudu bull standing on the side of the montain and we looked him over. The PH and tracker both said to take him so I knocked him down where he stood. The tracker Micklaus kind of had a weird look on his face and said something to Chris. Chris started to laugh and said "you said we should shoot him Micklaus". Apparently Micklaus asked how he was going to get him down from there.

It wasn't easy getting up to him because of how steep and thorny it was, but we made it up there for the photo op. Again he was a very old skinny Bull. He had almost no teeth left and was very scarred up from living in the mountains all of his life. The tracker asked if I was going to shoot any fat animals for the meat or if I was just going to shoot the skinny ones. Getting him down wasn't as bad as they thought. He rolled quite easily down the hill.

Day 5 had me upgrade my Bushbuck and kill my Baboon. Again the .375 was extremely efficient. most of the animals hardly even twitched. This Bushbuck however somehoe made it 35 yards or so with his vitals and both shoulders busted apart. They are tough little critters for their size. He is a very nice Ram and I am very happy with it.

The remaining days were spent souvenier shopping and sight seeing. We made a trip to the Cheetah project in De-Wildt. We also made a trip to Pilanesburgh game reserve with hopes on seeing the Big 5.

More later guys. Work calls.

Thanks for the report and photos. Congratulation on the fine trophies, your bushbuck is great. That is one of my priorities next year in Kwa-Zulu Natal.

Originally Posted by Cowtown guy

Chris kept getting my name mixed up with yours. It was pretty funny.
I heard you guys had a great hunt as well. I am thinking of KZN for my next trip. It sounds like a gorgeous area with some great trophy potential.

LOL thats funny, maybe its because the Alberta crew flattened most of our game on the spot.

We did have a good hunt. If my wallet was thicker I shudder to think how big my bag would have been, and all quality animals too. When Christine decided to come that put a big dent in my TF $$$!

Interesting read on your hunt. Those valleys south of Chris' place just felt like elk shangrila to me, cool country I almost got a shot at a bull way up on the back of the shooting range hill. He never stopped in the open for more than a couple seconds though. Chris commented that had we killed him there we would have had our work cut out for ourselves! I found it amazing how gutting and cutting an animal up to get it out is the absolute last resort over there, most of what I shoot here comes out in the backpack, for me getting everything out whole at all cost seemed strange LOL.

You would love KZN. Emaweni is the most beautiful place, it took my breath away, even in the rain! If you go definitely have Nyala and Blue Wildebeest on your list. Theres lots of them and some real hogs of each. Make sure to shoot a Zebra too if (when) you get a chance. I think Chris' heart was about to explode near the end of my hunt there when I had stallion after stallion standing around at 150yds or less. Every time I would pass he would shake his head and comment "They just dont stand around like that, they just dont, ever. When ever a hunter wants one they are the spookiest game around." LOL I guess they knew they were safe.

I actually shot my Kudu bull on the range hill. Just around the corner to the west. We could see the highway while doing the trophy photos.
I agree with the "Elky" looking hills and valleys. The rocky ledges and brushy valley bottoms with all of it leading to the river sure looks like Elk to me.
After seeing the Blue Wildebeest rug in the Chalet, my wife would really like that flatskin to come home next time. I think a Nyala or Bushbuck skin would be cool too.
I am thinking more and more of doing KZN for the next trip. Do you have any pics of Natal and the area or lodge? Chris was having computer issues so he couldn't show me at the time.
Where in AB are you?