SOUTH AFRICA: Trigger Time With Bos en Dal SAFARIS

The idea for this particular hunt started when Gerrit, owner of @Bos en Dal SAFARIS, posted a management hunt special here on AH. Over the past 15 years my hunts have mainly been booked by outfitters posting offers here, so to the sponsors of AH, thank you for supporting this website. My reasoning for doing a management hunt was because last year I took two wild Africa hunts in Zimbabwe and I wanted to do a more relaxed hunt, that included some ‘trigger time’, and boy, did I ever have some trigger time.

My hunt was booked as a 6 day, 8 animal hunt, which included 6 blue wildebeest and 2 zebras. I told Gerrit when I booked this hunt that as his year progressed, if he wanted to switch out any of the animals, that would be fine with me. As it turned out, just before I left he asked if I would mind switching the 2 zebras for a female hartebeest and a female kudu. I told him ‘that would be awesome’ and we were all set.

Gerrit collected me at the Spur restaurant in Thabazimbi, I had hunted the previous few days with Africa Sun Safaris. The drive to camp was about 3 hours, during that time Gerrit and I were able to discuss his plans for his property and he shared he had an abundance of blue wildebeest, and if I wanted I could take more than the six that were in my package.

Camp at Bos en Dal is very nice, super comfortable. One thing I would like to share is that when you hunt there, you literally start hunting when you pull out of the parking area. There isn’t any driving 30 - 60 minutes to the hunting area. My room was exceptionally nice, AC, wifi, nice amount of cabinets to store my gear in, a really comfortable setting.

The outdoor seating area where they have the fire pit is a relaxing area that has views you can see for miles and miles. Coming back in from hunting every day and having a snack board with a couple of gin and tonics was a most welcomed thing. Another nice thing my guide did for me was to take me to a very high viewing point one night with a cool box of snacks and drinks where we sat and watched the sunset.

My guide for my hunting days was Francios, he and I hit it off like long lost friends. There were very few moments when one of us wasn’t trying to make the other one laugh. I have never enjoyed a guide more than I enjoyed my time with Francios. As I get older and have more experiences in Africa, having a guide who can converse with you, laugh with you, adds so much to the hunt.

Elna, Gerrit’s mother-in-law was the cook, she made some wonderful meals. On more than one occasion I would see several cookbooks out on the counter as she was looking for different ideas for meals to cook us. I will post a picture of the one desserts she made during my stay, honestly, I’ve never had a better dessert anywhere in my life, simply amazing. Going hungry here isn’t an option, Elna will keep you stuffed!

The property itself is quite thick, more vegetation than I would have thought. It made for some great hunting. Our method of hunting was to drive short of a water point, get out and make a stalk. Sometimes we would see something in the distance and we would stop and stalk it, often times we would drive past a herd of animals then stalk back. One evening we went and sat a water point to finish out the day. The bird life that evening was wonderful. Hunting at Bos en Dal will not be from the back of a cruiser, I much prefer getting out and doing some walking.

For anyone wanting a trophy blue wildebeest or kudu, this place is the place to come to. They do have cape buffalo and boy, did I see a couple of real nice ones. One other thing I would like to point out, Gerrit has one price for each species, there is no sliding scale. I believe I noticed cape buffalo was 10,150 and that was for any size buffalo. Same for his kudu, shoot any size you want for 3,520 I believe it is.

This property is not as vast as some places I have hunted, but I challenge anyone to come here, hunt it properly, as in stalking and taking some walks, and not tell me this property is a wonderful place to hunt. Hunting a buffalo here would be a proper hunt, same for kudu and blue wildebeest. They do have several species of animals here, I saw a handful of really nice nyala, but given my focus was on old impala rams and blue wildebeest management animals, I did not pay attention to other species.

Because I had booked a couple of extra days, Francios and I did take a day and drove to Pilansberg National Park, that was about a one hour drive away. I had been there two times previously, but I wanted to go back. We enjoyed a few leisurely hours there driving around, saw 9 rhinos, one little baby rhino, lots of elephants and a number of other game species. We also took the time to enjoy a nice lunch there inside the park. Bos en Dal also offers other things of interest for people to do should you wish to take a day away from hunting.

The drive from the JNB airport to camp is just 2 hours, it is an easy drive. Because I had so many days booked I had them drive me back to the airport the day before my flight and I stayed at City Lodge Hotel. I did this because I wanted to enjoy a relaxing night at the hotel and be better rested for my flights home. After spending the night at City Lodge I took the Gautrain from the terminal right to Sandton Station. It was super easy to get to Sandton Station, from there I took an Uber to one of the Outdoor Safari stores, then headed back to Sandton Station where I ate lunch then returned to the hotel, showered and made my way over to the terminal. Oh, another thing, check out is at 11 at City Lodge, I paid 35.00 US to keep the room until 6pm so I could take the train to Sandton Station.

For those wondering about traveling with a suppressor. Before my trip I printed out the 4457 form, I personally filled it out with my gun, scope and suppressor serial numbers. On return to Dulles, when I was called over to the desk at Border Patrol, I handed the young lady the original copy of my 4457 along with the front page of my tax stamp for my suppressor. After handing the young lady my paperwork she said, ‘please unlock your case and take a step back’. I did as instructed. As this was her first gun to clear another guy came over to assist her. It only took a few seconds for them to clear the gun, when they were finished with that the guy helping this young lady yells over to their boss, ‘hey, you need to come look at this gun’, so the guy comes over, I tell him, ‘go ahead and pick it up, see how light it is’. He picks it up, looks down and sees the suppressor and says, ‘wow, this thing suppressed is a sweet rig, ok, we’re done here, lock it up’. So after all I have heard about traveling with a suppressor, it was not an issue whatsoever. Oh, Global Entry, it’s worth it, you basically walk right through Customs.

In my 5 days of hunting with Bos en Dal, I took 20 animals, 14 blue wildebeest, 2 male impalas, female hartebeest, female kudu, buffalo cow, and an injured black female impala.

I would like to take a moment and express my gratitude to @Mark Biggerstaff for sharing his experiences at Bos en Dal and to answer the questions I had in regards to what to expect, etc. They have a ‘Buffalo Board’ in the dining area of the lodge, seeing Mark’s name on it like 7 or 8 times for the buffaloes he has taken, I suggested they rename the board, ‘The Mark Biggerstaff Buffalo Board’!!

Bos en Dal Safaris gets Two Thumbs Up for me!!!

Sounds like a great trip. I've never done a full hunt. I might have to put that on my list. Congratulations

Awesome report, Bos en Dal rocks!

Francois is one of my favorite people on the planet. Incredibly friendly and I’m not sure there is anyone in South Africa that knows the game, their habitats, or their activities better…. He’s also the hardest working man on earth.. he PH’s pretty much non stop year round.. owns/operates a wonderful sports bar and restaurant (food is incredible… service excellent, etc)… and manages a farm… I’m not sure where he finds the time…

The thing I always think about with Gerrit is how genuine and sincere he is. He's a great conversationalist and I have enjoyed all of our conversations, even though they were all in TX. I look forward to seeing his place sometime. Sounds like another great week with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS!

Green Chile said:

The thing I always think about with Gerrit is how genuine and sincere he is. He's a great conversationalist and I have enjoyed all of our conversations, even though they were all in TX. I look forward to seeing his place sometime. Sounds like another great week with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS!

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The day Gerrit picked me up and brought me to camp he stayed and had lunch, then 2 of the 7 nights I was in camp he drove out from town, 45 minutes, to have dinner with us. He did so to visit and ask if everything was going well. I will always remember those conversations, it really added to my trip.

One day I came down with a cold, unlike me, because I hate to ask any favors, I asked Francios to ask Gerrit if he would bring me some cold medicine since he was coming out to have dinner with us that night. So Gerrit went to the pharmacy, got me some cold medicine and brought it to me, I really appreciated that!

Here is a picture showing the vegetation of his property!

Congrats on an amazing hunt!! I been waiting for this report, and really enjoyed the updates when you were there. I have hunted with all the PHs and Francios is a fun to be around.

Congratulations on a great hunt. Bos en Dal was our first experience with Africa. Your pictures of Elna’s food brought back great memories. Had several meals with Gerrit’s family when we were there. Great times. Mark Biggerstaff was very helpful answering questions and helping us with our trip as well.

Congratulation on a successful hunt. Gerrit and his crew are all just great to hunt with.

Seems like you had a great time, congrats !

Glad you had a great trip! Looking forward to seeing the place myself next year!