SOUTH AFRICA: MPETI SAFARIS OUTFITTER - Overdue Report Of Our South African Hunt

SwampTrooper said:

Hey, you got him in the salt! This was not a failure at all. He was not lost and left sitting out sick and scared all night. He was collected and in good time too, just with a bit more passion and action than you were hoping. The fact that you feel badly about it reveals that you are an ethically driven hunter who cares about the animal's suffering. That is a viture that every hunter should keep dearly. I had a similar story with a gemsbok that really hurt my heart but I think it gave me more respect for the animals and reinforced my commitment to ethical hunting and good marksmanship on game. The bottom line is, if you're out hunting, bad shots WILL happen eventually. By being out there at all, you are contributing to sustainable land use and adding value to the game population as a whole. That being said, I think these emotions are important in hunting, and are not separate or an unhappy incident in hunting, but a fundamental emotional course that every hunter should go through.

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Well said!

Sometimes Conrad helped Chef out by preparing appetizers. This is Mike’s Impala filets, pepper encrusted, butter infused, with a bit of garlic, lemon and Worchester sauce. Was delicious as you can imagine....


About half the time we had dinner out in the braai area....

Late afternoon of day 2 still. Mike was not really keen to take the Zebra that was in his package. Like a lot of people, I think he thought it would be like shooting a pony in the paddock. I told him that it would not be easy and to just go for it, and I give him credit for always having an open mind about everything we threw at him on this trip. So we pressed on to get him a striped horse. This was his first set up and I think the only one in an open area. Those dang Zebra just didn’t stand around for him…




So we wrapped the day on that note and headed for the barn...

What a great place! I really enjoyed hunting with Conrad and Henno.

We did have one tough night at the fire when we had a "trial" for all of the minor infractions for the week.

Henno was a bit worse for wear the next morning

Day 3 morning started with stalks on Impala until we jumped this guy and made a short stalk….



Then late morning we picked up where a herd of buffalo had crossed the road. I had traded the Zebra in my plains game package towards a cow buff so we took up the tracks. After about 45 minutes on their trail we ran into a group of feeding Warthogs. I wasn't sure I wanted to leave the Buffalo alone, but Conrad said he saw a glint of what might be good Ivory on one of the pigs. So we set up the sticks and waited and watched....


At times some of the smaller females with piglets would get to within 20 yards of us and I thought the wind was going to blow our cover, but then they would drift back in towards where the big Pumba was. We waited and watched for over 15 minutes catching glimpses of them through the thick cover. Finally, Conrad got a good look and said the big one was a female, but that he could not believe the size of the ivory on it. Then I had to decide if I wanted to hang there and try to shoot this big toothed female or resume the buffalo tracking. At about this time we actually heard the buffalo feeding not far off so that was a lure for sure. I asked Conrad how big was big and he said the teeth would go 10”. We had a discussion about that and ended up with a friendly wager for a liquid refreshment based upon that number. With my mind made up to forget the buffalo, we continued the wait. The rifle stock got sweaty after me being on the sticks and holding it for over 30 minutes at that point. Still waiting....


She finally fed towards us enough to get on her. Great communication with Conrad as there were multiple pigs and I did not want to shoot the wrong one. This is a zoomed in screen shot of the pig (center of photo) right as I broke the shot...

And the result....


Note: It took a day to get the tusk back from the skinning shed for measurements. Which were done at the lodge bar and resembled a scene like officials at a Superbowl game deciding first down measurement. In the end I had to admit that they were just over 10" and pay off the bet. Great fun was had for sure.

gearguywb said:

What a great place! I really enjoyed hunting with Conrad and Henno.

We did have one tough night at the fire when we had a "trial" for all of the minor infractions for the week.

Henno was a bit worse for wear the next morning

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Yes - "Paying fines" was tough and we also saw Henno take the brunt of the punishment. Luckily he is young and with a nap at lunch he recovers quickly.

Yes, contagious is certainly a word to describe Conrad

Nice trip so far

buck wild said:

Yes, contagious is certainly a word to describe Conrad

Nice trip so far

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100% on that, his laugh is the best!

Keep them coming!

Day 4. Spent the day bouncing between tracking Zebra for Mike and Buffalo for me. By now Mike realized that Zebra are one of the toughest and most wary of game. For a 79-year-old he has been amazing! Tracking into the Buffalo herd and getting in close to sort out an old cow was amazing. It was very hot, so I was soaked through with sweat when we finally got run out by the herd bull at about 12 yards to end the day. Note my dark stained shirt. Conrad looked at me right before this picture as we came up to the truck and said “Andy, where did you get the bucket of water!?” Man that beer tasted good!

Day 5. We set off in the morning with high hopes for finding Mike his Zebra. Along the way we bumped into some buffalo that were on really good ground. It was way more open, so we made a stalk and managed get within15-25 yards of them three different times over a half mile approach, but the wind kept betraying us. We finally gave up and got back on the search for zebra.

By this time everyone was calling Mike, Uncle Mike, as a sign of respect for his age and ability. We were all routing hard for him to get his Zebra. Then we bumped into a group that had just crossed the trail, so we dropped Mike and Conrad off and the rest of us kept the truck moving and went up the road about a kilometer and waited. They went in slow hoping that the truck leaving would help confuse them. We waited up the road in the truck for about 30 minutes and then finally we heard a shot……

7x57 Mauser did it again for Mike. One shot kill on a zebra at 100 yards is an impressive accomplishment! Was a beautiful stallion.


Even the recovery crew guys were happy for him...


It was a drone launch worthy event...

Was pretty proud of my old hunt partner. Man he worked hard those last few days to get to that point!

Day 5 still. It was 97° and humid when we left camp after lunch. Picked up our Zulu tracker....


It wasn’t long and we got in amongst a herd of about 50 or 60 Buffalo. They were absolutely all around us...



Opportunities seemed endless....


But there was always something not quite right - cow with calf, other animals behind target cow, bull instead of cow. So, we pressed on. At one point we had Buffalo three or 4 yards from us on the other side of a bush. We were actually army crawling through this at times. It was amazing. Very exciting! In the end, we had pushed them as much and then some as Conrad felt we could safely do. We backed out to leave it for the night (again taking flak for being all wet)....

Day 6. I was always the first one up in the morning and would make the coffee in the lodge and then sit out on the deck to have a rusk and watch the sunrise. It was usually a peaceful time by myself that I really enjoyed. But on this morning, I had an annoying visitor that was NOT happy with me being out on the deck and was very vocal about it....


When Henno showed up at about 0630, he immediately said Andy you must shoot the monkey and then he disappeared. A minute later he was back with a suppressed 25-06 in hand. The monkey was smart and when he saw the rifle he put distance between us quickly through the treetops. But not quite enough.....


And yes, there is such a thing as blue balls....


We left Mike and Ruth at a water hole to watch for Warthogs. He missed the big one that he wanted but in the end he still took a respectable boar....



After dropping Mike off at the waterhole, Conrad, Henno, Mandsla (pronounced), and myself headed out to look for Buffalo...


We cut some fresh tracks crossing the road and off we went...



Watching the oxpeckers to help locate the herd....


So, we caught sight of a loner cow. Actually, Mandsla spotted it - I still don’t know how (you’ll see why in a bit) and we tracked in…..


Set up took a second -had to figure out how she was positioned in that brush - even from only 20-25 yards, I actually turned the scope up to 4x....


This is a second before the shot. If you look hard in the center of the pic you will see a nose and one horn, so you get an idea of my dilemma...


Conrad did a great job of communicating what he saw so I could verify we were on the same page. The after shot wait...


And the result. She was quartering towards me, so I was under her horn in front of the shoulder, and it passed all the way through out behind the off shoulder. It was really hard discerning the angle in the dark bush, so I was glad to see that it was good. One shot and she only went about 30-40 yards. Always a big relief when they are down for good....



All hunting, but especially buffalo hunting, is a team effort...

What a great report. I wish my wife could be talked into a hunt

Day 7. We all loaded up and took a leisurely drive around Jozini Reservoir to a lodge where we had a drink and enjoyed the views. Then we came back to Mpeti where Ruan had set up an outdoor lunch for us with a view of the lake. I even got a chance to get behind the wheel of the safari rig….



Then we spent the afternoon trying to wrap up Mike’s safari with a non-trophy “prince of the bush”…….


This next adventure I will put here as it started on this day and ended early the next.
A new experience for me. Night hunt with thermal imaging for a grey Duiker. It was an amazing experience right out of the gate. Leaving the lodge, getting settled in and the thermal up - Henno held the thermal and it cast what he was seeing to Conrad’s phone so he and I could also see.
We picked up the obvious Impala, Nyala, and Buffalo - things like that in the bush that are just everywhere, so I got used to seeing the images.

We weren’t even a mile from the lodge when Henno picked up an image up the road and we told Ruan who was driving to quickly go up the road a little further with all lights out at this point. Conrad thought it moved like a cat and might be a spotted Genet, which is really cool to see. We were about 80 yards when we stopped and switched on the brights and the spotlight. Beautiful huge male Leopard! He just took a step and then turned and walked off the road. So cool to see him.

Anyway, what was supposed to be about a 90-minute drive looking for a Duiker turned into a long fun night. I got back at 0200. We ended up in the sugar cane fields next door to Mpeti, hunting open areas between the cane fields. Very interesting…


Henno got a chance to take a nice Bush pig while we were out also....

Day 8. Out on Jozini....


Some Tiger fishing. Ruth had the best reaction to her catch...

Day 9 was moving to Sodwana day. I had asked the guys to help me surprise Sarah and arrange a stop along the way. There is a great place to have an interaction with a 57 year old bull Elephant...


It was a great experience that we all enjoyed...


Our time in Sodwana was meant to wind down before Mike and Ruth headed home to Alabama and Sarah and I headed north to Namibia for 7 weeks of overlanding. We enjoyed the afternoon on the beach....



We also met a friend of Conrad's that was going to take us deepsea fishing. Reiner and his amazing boat the Na-Na's....

Day 10. Beach launch of the Na-Na's...


Yes, it is a wild thing to be part of....

And out through the surf you go...


The Indian Ocean was beautiful...


Mike in the fighting chair...





And Mike's Wahoo was so tasty that night with new friends...

Awesome write up and great shot on that cow! Her horns look fantastic for a cow, nice and long with even some drop. Notice how your friend smiled for the warthog pic. Warthog are so addicting and always a crowd pleaser. Great zebra too. A lot of people raise their noses to zebra until they are actually in the position to hunt them! Then they see it’s not like driving around on the farm.

Day 11. Arrived in St Lucia. Hippos wander through town, hence these warning signs...


Our time with the Mpeti crew is coming to an end sadly. They took us on a river boat sunset ride and we enjoyed getting close to some of the estuaries wildlife...


It was a beautiful evening to call it an end to a great time...