SOUTH AFRICA: Another Great South African Safari Has Concluded

[Cliffy]

As the sun sets in the west and the sky turns from blue to black, the stars emerge to start their nightly dance around the Southern Cross an so comes the end of another African Safari. For those who have - the hook is set and the pull begins to once again return to the Dark Continent. For those who have not, they can not even imagine.

If you go once YOU WILL RETURN!

Have just walked in the door from our 4th safari, this time a 10 day plains game hunt with Sadaka Safaris, Limpopo Distric, RSA. To say it was great would be an understatement. Was talked into going this time by 4 friends who wanted to hunt Africa but would not go unless we went with them to show them the way. So the wife and I thought long and hard (about 10 seconds) and said yes.

We used our own proceedure to help them select the safari company (we went to the Dallas Safari Show, I'll go into more on this later when I get time to do a full report) and selected Sadaka Safaris as our best candidate. What a great selection it was. My friends had the time of their lives. They all did more than they thought they would. They hunted everything from Sable to Genet (I wanted a Nyala and Common Reedbuck). They all have decided to return in the near future. And they all have decided to only go to Sadaka (Just to be clear, I have no financial connection with Sadaka or any other hunting outfit, I only know of the places I have been and how good they were).

I can't say enough good things about Sadaka Safaris. The facilities, the service, the hunting was all top notch. We have hunted Zim, Namibia and South Africa in the past and this was as good as it gets. Ewert, the outfitter/PH will bend over backwards to see to it that his customers have a good time. Crystal and linen service for all meals and the food? WOW! Never a bad meal. And the women had a ball too (one hunter and one observer). To top it off - they have a resident Registered Nurse on staff (Ewert's wife, Karen).

I will post pictures and more info in a few days as I get caught up on sleep.

Read more of this hunting report in this thread below...

 

[enysse]

I know Sadaka Safari and would agree with everything you said above, Ewert will go out of his way to give you a great hunt! Glad you had a good time!

 

[1Shot2Kills]

I can't wait to see your pictures!

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Cliffy, Get some sleep, looking forward to the rest of your hunt report and pictures.

 

[Bobpuckett]

Sounds like something I'd like to hear more about, can't wait to see the pics.

 

[Cliffy]

Another South African Safari concluded at Sadaka (con't)

As the sun sets in the west and the sky turns from blue to black, the stars emerge to start their nightly dance around the Southern Cross and so comes the end of another African Safari. For those who have - the hook is set and the pull begins to once again return to the Dark Continent. For those who have not, they can not even imagine.

If you go once YOU WILL RETURN!


It all started almost 2 years ago when a co-worker said her huband was retiring and wanted to go hunt Africa. They had heard that we had gone several times (3) and that inspired them (they do a lot of deer and elk hunting here in Arizona) to ask me about going there BUT they would not go alone, only if I went. Word was passed around our little town (and I mean little town) and our local Dentist wanted in and wanted to bring his Father. Again, only if I went and they wanted to go to see Vic Falls also on the same trip. So, here I am playing booking agent, who would have guessed?

My wife and I have developed a system of our own to pick appropriate outfitters for Africa and it starts with the Dallas Safari Club show every year. Have been to SCI and other shows but we just feel very comfortable at the DSC show. I told the co-worker and her husband that they HAD to go to DSC and help with the selection and they did. The first day we had 12-14 candidates that we whittled down to 5 or 6 that night. Our selection process covers how we feel about the personalities involved after talking with them in the booth, are we talking to the people we will see during the hunt or a broker, the abilitiy for exclusive use of the property, property size and the looks of the facilities and very important, the quality of the food and its service (crystal and linen or a can of beans on a log). Everything plays a part on how we feel about any particular offer. After the 5 or 6 on day 1 and a retalk with all of them, we were down to 3, of which we went right to 2. Both a toss up for me. I let the newbies pick the finalist and it was Sadaka Safaris, RSA.

For my wife and I, we enjoy not only the hunting but seeing the area, meeting the people, learning about the culture, the history, even the family history of the operator. This kind of rubbed off on our "clients" as well, as they got involved with Ewert and his family and went to the son's rugby game while we were there.

Two big items that swayed the opinion for Sadaka was that it was only 2 1/2 hrs drive from Jo'burg and they had the ability to get in a horse back ride (the husband and wife own horses and a farm). Namibia (with Jamy Traut Safaris, our last trip, also top notch excellent) was considered, but the extra days to get there and back negated that option and another PH/Outfitter in RSA was close to being picked but he was a 5 hour drive and I feel that might be too much after 16 hrs on an airplane)

Now that the destination was settled, I picked the airline. We have always traveled on South African Airways but they have seen fit to change from Boeing 747s to the Airbus 340. Being a retired airine pilot with many hours (under duress) in an Airbus 320, I don't fly in an Airbus if I can avoid it. Only my personal opinion, but none the less, valid to me. There's and old saying in the flying world, "If it ain't Boeing, I ain't going!". That left us with Delta and the Boeing 777. We were cautioned about Delta service and lost bags, I too, was nervous being from the airline world but, surprisingly, Delta did an outstanding job for all 6 of us. Bags arrived everytime. Guns always showed up. And the cabin service was as good as it gets these days. I gotta give credit where credit is due, Delta did a great job and this was with all seats full on every leg.

We used Gracy Travel to make our arrangments. We have used them in the past and they did a good job for us this time. We decided to get medical evacuation insurance and pre-clear our rifles through Gracy. I've done my own rifle imports before, and now with the new Jo'burg facilities it would probably be even easier than before to do it yourself, it would just take more time after the 16 hr flight. With the preclearance, the rifles arrived about 10 minutes after we did from customs (and we were one of the last groups out of Customs), Gracy had their guys there who brought in our 3 rifle boxes, they got the Inspector (dragged is more like it) to come over and verify the serial numbers and we were gone first and in 3 minutes after seeing the rifle boxes. WOW good service. Well worth the expence as far as I'm concerned. If the rifles or baggage didn't arrive, Gracy's people are there to start the tracking process.

The Customs proceedure in South Africa:
In a word, better than coming back to the good 'ol USA!
You leave the airplane and walk to Passport Control which goes much quicker and easier than here in the US, then grab a couple of free baggage carts and go the the bag carousel for your flight to get your bags. One person asking if we had anything to declare and out we went to the SAPS office to get our rifles. Couldn't have been easier.

Ewert from Sadaka Safaris was right there at the SAPS office and we were ready to go to the cars and drive to the hunt property. 2 1/2 hrs later we arrived.

Just a teaser for the next installment Got to learn how to do pictures better here.

 

[enysse]

Thanks for the sable picture, he's nice!

 

[Thunder head]

MORE !!! Give us more.
It allows those of us not going this year to get a little addiction fix.

 

[Cliffy]

Another South African Safari concluded at Sadaka (con't)

As the sun sets in the west and the sky turns from blue to black, the stars emerge to start their nightly dance around the Southern Cross and so comes the end of another African Safari. For those who have - the hook is set and the pull begins to once again return to the Dark Continent. For those who have not, they can not even imagine.

If you go once YOU WILL RETURN!

As we continue - Sadaka Safaris has its own property and facilities and, of course, has ties with other properties in the surrounding area. We spent the first day relaxing (we contracted for an extra day just to get caught up) My friends went for a long horseback ride (Ewert is a frustrated cowboy on the wrong continent On day 2 we started hunting. The newbies were beside themselves. They couldn't believe how much fun they were having. The sights, the sounds, total sensory overload at first. Robert got a nice Impala, Kristi got a Blesbuck, and as the days went by more animals were added.

We ate, we slept, we hunted. What could have been better? Nothing!
10 days of hunting bliss, as it should be in Africa.

The food at Sadaka was a combination of game meats and local type meals cooked to perfection, supervised by Karen, Ewert's wife. Breakfast is a light meal of cerals, coffee, tea, Milo (if you've never had Milo you're missing something good, it's kind of like hot cocoa but it's not). toast, etc. Lunch is a full sitdown affair, again excellent and dinner is always two or three courses. Your choice of good SA wines and beers around the fire before and during dinner. All I can say is- crystal and linen service at every sitting for meals. I talked with a hunter returning when we were in Atlanta and he was very upset with his accomodations and food where he went in the Limpopo dist. but at Sadaka that couldn't be further from the truth. We were pampered day and night. The laundry was done every day, the rooms were cleaned every day, as they should be. The grounds were immaculate.

I warned everyone a year and a half ago to watch out as they would want to hunt more than they first thought and they all did. The Sable was not mine (I already had one, it was taken by Peter). I wound up with a real nice Nyala, a 12" Common Reedbuck, a 17" Blesbuck that I took because it was wounded (broken foot, not shot) and had a real nice stalk for a mile and 1/2 on a reasonable warthog.

Unfortunatey on day 7 I came down with tick fever. No big deal really but laid in bed for a day and a half. It was raining anyway. While I was sick, Kristi had a 4 mile stalk on a zebra and dropped it. She said she would never shoot a zebra (horse) a year ago. Now it's all she talks about.

As all good things must come to an end, we ended our trip on a high note in that Robert bagged a huge warthog on the last day. We packed for home that night and spent the next day driving around looking at sights that Ewert thought we'd like to see as we went to the airport for our evening flight.

What more can be said about Sadaka Safaris. They did everything we thought they should do and then some. They went way overboard to see we had a good time. On a final note they have one item that almost no one else has, a Registered Nurse on staff!
Ewert's wife is a Nurse, and a very smart one I might add.

There is no doubt that I would return to Sadaka. All of my friends are already talking about the same thing. It's a great place, period. My highest recommendation.

As the sun sets in the west and the sky turns from blue to black, the stars emerge to start their nightly dance around the Southern Cross and so comes the end of another African Safari. For those who have - the hook is set and the pull begins to once again return to the Dark Continent. For those who have not, they can not even imagine.

If you go once YOU WILL RETURN!

 

[enysse]

I have know Sadaka Safaris for years, nothing but first class treatment. Glad you selected them. They come to Wisconsin every winter...never had the chance to hunt with them, but they are super nice people!

 

[Nyati]

Congratulations for your Safari, and thanks for the report.

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

Thanks for this great hunt report!

 

[enysse]

The more I look at that sable...the less I sleep (lol)!

 

[Cliffy]

Thanks for the kind words guys. I still am not over the great times we had on this trip. If I could afford it I'd go twice a year but like most, I have to save long and hard to go. Maybe that makes it more enjoyable.

 

[Wolverine67]

Thanks for a great **NOT**PERMITTED**. Have to agree with you enysse, that sable is awesome.