- Joined
- Jul 11, 2015
- Messages
- 38
- Reaction score
- 80
- Location
- Limpopo, South Africa
- Website
- www.marulagame.com
- Member of
- PHASA
I've been on this forum a while now, mostly answering buffalo and plains-game questions and welcoming people on their first trip out, and I've deliberately kept quiet about what I actually do. Now that Marula Game has come on as a sponsor I can introduce myself properly, so here it is — and then I'll get back to being useful.
My name is Chris Burger. My family has farmed this ground in the Limpopo Bushveld since 1997, near Steenbokpan in the far west of the province. Twenty-four thousand seven hundred acres, with frontage on the Matlabas River. Malaria-free, which matters more to some families than others but matters enormously to the ones it matters to.
The hunting is why most of you are here, so let me tell you what sits underneath it. We breed our own buffalo — no bought-in bulls, our own genetics, built up over years of watching bulls grow old on this ground. Our top sire green-scored 57" and 152" SCI. More to the point than any single number: the bulls on the property average roughly 45" with hard bosses. We also run free-ranging sable and roan that we bred ourselves, which is the work that got us named WRSA Game Farmer and Game Breeder of the Year. I sit on the PHASA Executive Committee, which mostly means I spend more evenings than I'd like arguing about regulation.
What I've learned from the breeding side is the thing I keep banging on about in the buffalo threads: when you watch a bull from calf to old age, year after year, you stop seeing a number and start seeing a life. Age and boss over inches, every time. That's not marketing — it's just what happens to your eye when you spend enough years with the same animals.
Some photos of the ground and the animals below — they'll say it better than I can.
Mostly, though, I want to say thank you. This forum taught me a great deal about what hunters coming to South Africa actually worry about, and a fair bit about how badly our industry sometimes explains itself. I'll keep turning up in the buffalo and first-safari threads either way.
— Chris
My name is Chris Burger. My family has farmed this ground in the Limpopo Bushveld since 1997, near Steenbokpan in the far west of the province. Twenty-four thousand seven hundred acres, with frontage on the Matlabas River. Malaria-free, which matters more to some families than others but matters enormously to the ones it matters to.
The hunting is why most of you are here, so let me tell you what sits underneath it. We breed our own buffalo — no bought-in bulls, our own genetics, built up over years of watching bulls grow old on this ground. Our top sire green-scored 57" and 152" SCI. More to the point than any single number: the bulls on the property average roughly 45" with hard bosses. We also run free-ranging sable and roan that we bred ourselves, which is the work that got us named WRSA Game Farmer and Game Breeder of the Year. I sit on the PHASA Executive Committee, which mostly means I spend more evenings than I'd like arguing about regulation.
What I've learned from the breeding side is the thing I keep banging on about in the buffalo threads: when you watch a bull from calf to old age, year after year, you stop seeing a number and start seeing a life. Age and boss over inches, every time. That's not marketing — it's just what happens to your eye when you spend enough years with the same animals.
Some photos of the ground and the animals below — they'll say it better than I can.
Mostly, though, I want to say thank you. This forum taught me a great deal about what hunters coming to South Africa actually worry about, and a fair bit about how badly our industry sometimes explains itself. I'll keep turning up in the buffalo and first-safari threads either way.
— Chris
always great to see a new sponsor outfitter
