Justin D.
AH senior member
Trip Overview:
HUNTING DATES: 10-22 AUGUST 2026
OUTFITTER: Legelela Safaris in South Africa
PH: Dean T. (Primary) & Archie G. (Secondary)
HUNTERS: Justin & Nicole
WEAPONS USED:
PLAINS GAME:
GEESE
SUSTAINMENTS:
This was the first ever trip to Africa for both my wife and I. The trip initially started off as an auction won waterfowl hunt through the Ultimate Waterfowlers Challenge Awards banquet. It quickly morphed into a waterfowl and plains game hunt.
Our trip started off in Nashville, TN then connecting in Atlanta, GA and then straight to Johannesburg. Check-in and flights went off without a hitch. Form 4457’s were completed about a month prior to leaving. We utilized Tracki brand GPS trackers (bought on Amazon) put in our 4 checked bags.
When we arrived at OR Tambo, we were greeted by Dean, our PH, right outside the customs gate. He walked us to the SAPS office to retrieve our guns and ammo box. Getting the guns was a fairly quick process as Reinier Linde, owner of Legelela Safaris, utilized an agent to expedite paperwork and ensure everything was in order upon arrival. The agent assisted us at the SAPS office and got us the guns quickly. The ammo box was another story. Almost an hour and a half later after everyone else had their guns and was gone, we finally found the ammo box. Thank goodness for the GPS. Once the SAPS folks found out there was a GPS in the box, then magically the short term amnesia went away and we found the box sitting behind the SAPS counter. From there, we were off to our first destination about an hour and a half southwest to hunt waterfowl for the next few days.
For those wondering what it’s like for waterfowl in Africa, the birds are generally all local birds. They hardly migrate, so they can get very wise, very quickly. As for species, I would compare the Egyptian Goose to our Canada Goose. They’re everywhere you go although not in the huge flocks like migrating Canadas. They’re very much like early season Canadas in pairs and small family groups up to about 20-25. The Yellow-billed duck is like our Mallard. Tons of abundance and they’re on just about every piece of water you see. The red-billed teal are like green-winged teal. They fly the same way and they’re found all over the place. Those ducks easily and willingly decoy. Everything else, you have to work for.
The first two days of waterfowl reminded me of hunting in North Dakota with a strong north wind growing up as a kid. The temps hovered between 4-6° C (35-40° F); it rained constantly dumping about 2 inches of rain in 48 hours; and winds were sustained between 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30-40mph. Definitely no what I had envisioned for Africa but wasn’t surprised having had visited other parts of the world during my military service. I was used to hunting like this from hunting in the states but our two PHs were less than happy about the weather. That said, the busted their backsides to get us our birds. We hunted hard, got absolutely soaked both days (even with rain gear), and came away with a bunch of birds. Day 3 saw the rain move out but still had some stronger winds. We mostly did spot and stalk jump shooting, flight line pass shooting, as well as some decoying hunts. The first three days saw us harvest the Egyptian Goose, Spur-winged goose, Yellow-billed duck, Red-billed teal, Shelduck, Cape Shoveler, Cape Teal, White-faced Whistling Duck, Southern Pochard, and African Black duck.
On Thursday, we packed up and traveled to our first Plains Game location about 3 hours WSW from our first waterfowl location. We got there early in the afternoon, got settled in and headed out that afternoon to try and get on some plains game. The first area we got to, we immediately saw a Sable and decided to put a stalk on it. After a short track (maybe ½ mile), we lost the sable but came across a bull Kudu and a herd of Impala. I handed off my rifle to my wife because I wanted her to shoot the Kudu if it was a shooter bull. While she was waiting for the Kudu to step out, the herd of impala came through and a ram stepped out and we heard our PH say, “Holy $hit!!!”. We knew for a PH, who does this day in and day out, to say that, we knew it had to be big. We passed on it waiting for the Kudu to step out. The Kudu stepped out but it was smaller than what we were looking for, so we passed on it. We went to some other areas and found a herd of Gemsbok. We stalked and tracked them until the sun went down but could never get a clear shot. We head back to camp for the night.
Day 2 found us up bright and early headed to a local farmer’s pond to try and cross off a couple more of our waterfowl species. My wife and I harvested a couple more Shelducks, White-faced whistling ducks, and yellow-billed ducks. Then we had a HUGE surprise. We had two Hottentot teal dive in and sit down about 5 yards from me. They immediately got up and flew across the dirt driveway to the other pond about 40 yards from me. Dean hollered to go after them. So I snuck up and shot a beautiful drake and a hen. Unfortunately, they both dropped stone dead in the water with no boat, dog, or other way to get to them. So Dean, being the professional he is, dropped down to his skivvies, and waded out to retrieve the birds. Again, these PHs busted their backsides for us. Upon getting back to camp, we quickly swapped out the shotguns for the rifles and got hot on the trail of the same Gemsbok herd we had chased the night prior. At 9:16 that morning, we finally had a bull step out at 117 yards and give my wife a broadside shot with her 30-06. She took one shot, a total pass through, and the bull ran about 70’ish yards or so before expiring. That bull measured 34 ½”. After photos were taken we headed back to camp to refit. That afternoon, we headed back out on the property to see what else we could see. We ended up finding a herd of Eland. We saw a nice bull within the herd, so the stalk began. The stalk was through wide open plains with sparse trees and vegetation to use as concealment so we had to take it very slow. We began our stalk at about 800 yards or so and stalked up to 179 yards and I took the shot with my .375 H&H. The bull was standing broadside facing to the left. The first shot hit about 1/3 of the way up the body in line with the back of the leg. Unbeknownst to us, the bullet hit a rib and ricocheted at a 45° to the right, cutting the stomach, and lodging underneath the opposite side of the hide about halfway back on the animal. As soon as the bull turned to go, Dean said to put another one in him. It was a steep quartering away shot but I put another one in right behind the left shoulder taking out the lungs and bottom of his heart, and having the bullet lodge inside the meat of the opposite shoulder. The bull ran about 30-40 yards before expiring at 2:30 pm. He had everything I wanted; a nice droopy dewlap, a thick mop on his head, and nice, deep curls measuring 30 ½”. After heading back to camp, we drove around the rest of the day looking for Sable and Kudu but never were able to get them. We chased 3, 50+” gorgeous Kudu until the sun went down but weren’t able to get a shot off.
Day 3 had my wife and I splitting up. She went with our other PH, Archie, chasing after the big Kudu we saw the night before and I went with Dean going after my Sable. After driving around we found a couple of different sable but they weren’t exactly what I was looking for. Then, while looking at a herd of Cape Buffalo, Dean looked to the right and saw two sable bedded down. We drove up the road, took a hard right and got downwind of the resting Sable. We hopped off the truck and began the stalk. As we stalked, Dean pulled up the binos and all I heard was, “That’s the one we want.” Dean estimated the Sable to be at the 40” mark. He was big bodied, and jet black. We closed the distance to 89 yards. Dean threw up the sticks and I set my .375 on them and waited for the two to stand up. The first one that stood up was a young, almost brown male. As he walked the solid black one stood up but was facing almost directly away. He took about another three or four steps and then stood perfectly broadside. At 9:25 am, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and when the crosshair dot stopped on the line just behind the shoulder, I squeezed the trigger. You heard the thump of the bullet hitting the hide and the sable reared up on his hind legs. Upon getting up to his hind legs, he spun 180° and planted face first into the dirt. The shot took out the lungs and the heart. This bull measured 39” and had some nice secondary growth as well as split ear, most likely from fighting. So he definitely had some character. We went back to camp with the Sable and meet back up with my wife. They hadn’t had any luck that morning tracking down the Kudu. After lunch we split back up and I decided that I would go after that Impala Ram that we had seen on Day 1 at this location while my wife went back out after the Kudu. As luck would have it, her truck stopped about 300 yards away from camp. There sat one of the big Kudu’s from the night before. As soon as the truck stopped to glass it, he took off. We pulled up and the decision was made that my wife and Archie were going to go after the Kudu on foot. We drove past and I wished her good luck. About 200 yards down the road, Dean and I saw the massive Kudu standing in the wide open. I told him, “I don’t want to shoot it. I want her to.” He agreed and we pressed onward to go find the Impala. Upon arriving to the other part of the property, we drove around until we spotted a herd of Impala. There the monster stood within them. We quickly tried to maneuver downwind with the truck but the herd kept pushing from us. We made the decision to dismount and start tracking on foot. This area was very dense with brush and foliage which made tracking difficult. Every time we got close to the herd, they would spot us and push even farther ahead. This happened about 5 or 6 different times. We made the decision to try and flank them instead of directly following them. What do you know, it worked. We got within shooting distance of the herd. The females took off and I got up on the sticks with my .375. The ram stepped out next to a tree standing broadside looking right at us. I heard Dean say, “That’s him. Shoot when you’re ready.” I took a deep breath, locked the reticle on just above the front leg, breathed out, and squeezed. The shot went off and I heard the smack of the bullet on the hide. The ram took off like a bat out of hell like nothing had happened. We walked up to the tree where he stood and the first thing I saw on the ground was bright, red blood. I knew I had lunged him. We traced drips and sprays of blood for 87 yards and found him piled up on the other side of a downed tree. He ran in almost a complete circle and ended up expiring about 30-35 yards from where he stood when the shot impacted. Dean guessed that he would go 24” when we first saw him 3 days ago. Well, now he was on the ground so we pulled out the tape in the field and measured him. One horn was 23 ½” and the other was 23 ¾”. A ROWLAND WARD sized Impala!!! Once we got him back to the camp, the rest of the afternoon was spent chasing around Vervet Monkeys trying to get a nice male but to no avail. However, if you had ever wanted to get a good laugh, watching a 36 and 40 year old man trying to chase monkeys on foot to get them up trees I guarantee would have been quite comical. When we got back to camp that night, we spoke with Archie and my wife. They never saw the Kudu again. However, according to my wife, they walked halfway to Joburg and back chasing him. LOL
The following day had us pack up and head to our second location to chase Nyala, Bushbuck, and Kudu. This location was about 7.5 hrs due East and only about 2 hours from the East Coast of Africa. During our journey, Archie got a call, and had to go back to Joburg to pick up another hunting party due to an unfortunate family circumstance with another PH. So Dean, myself, and my wife continued onward from the sparse, flat plains to the densely, forested mountains located along the Mkuze River. We arrived around 3 pm, quickly settled in and then drove around the rest of the evening to see what we could see. While we were driving around, we spotted a monster Bushbuck. Dean estimated he would go 14-15, maybe even 16 inches. He only watched us for a split second before vanishing into thing air. We quickly drove around to see if we could see him but to no avail. The grass was waist to chest high and he was gone. The rest of the night was uneventful, so we returned to camp to prepare for the next morning.
Day 1, the next morning at the new location, had us down into the valleys and cliffs of the mountains doing a lot of glassing looking for Nyala for my wife. At about 10:30 we were at an overlook glassing some Nyala by the river. Then I heard Dean say, “Big Kudu, right here.” I looked over the ledge and there stood an estimated 49” bull Kudu. My wife was right next to me, so I pulled her over, got her gun on the sticks, and dialed the dope on her gun for what was going to be a steep angled down shot. She was having trouble finding the Kudu. Meanwhile, I had him in a perfect broadside shot while with my .375. I opted to pass as I really wanted her to shoot the Kudu. By the time she saw him, he had stepped into a patch of trees and was facing straight away. All he had to do was take one step left or one step right and she was pulling the trigger. Due to us being up on the overlook, the wind must have swirled and he caught wind of us. He bolted along the riverbed. We pursued as fast as we could but not fast enough. There’s a reason they’re called the Grey Ghost and he proved why. Disappointed, we went back to the truck and continued on searching for our quarry. As we drove along, Michael, our tracker, spotted a Nyala a long ways off near the river. Dean and Michael talked it over and we drove around to where we could get a good elevated look at him and a subsequent shot. We parked the truck and walked down to the overlook. There we saw not one, not two, but three bull Nyala. The two we saw fully were both younger bulls. So we knew that the big boy had his head down feeding. All we could see was the top of his back. Dean told my wife to wait until he showed himself. Then he did and we heard a, “NO. Don’t shoot. That’s not him.” Both of us were confused. Where had this bull gone? Then, Nicole said, “Right there, across the river by that tree in the shade!” There he stood. It was him. Dean confirmed after glassing him. They repositioned the sticks and waited for the bull to present a good shot. At 11:35 am, the bull stood broadside at 100 yards facing to the left and my wife squeezed the trigger of her 30-06. The bull dropped in his tracks. She had spined him. Dean instructed her where to put the Coups de Grace shot and she did so quickly. The bull expired where he lay. Then the fun started. We had to cross the Mkuze River (Yes, there’s crocs in there), to get to him. So while I provided security with my .375, Dean, my wife, and Michael crossed the river. Once across, Dean pulled security and I came across myself. We got to the Nyala, who measured 25 ¼” & 25 ½” respectively, and prepared him to re-cross the river back to the truck. We placed him onto the pole-less litter, ran a ratchet strap through the handles, and myself, Dean, and Michael drug him back across the river. Once across the river, then the drag up the side of the mountain began until we got to a place where we could get the truck in. We got him back to camp and then prepared to set out to try and track down the Bushbuck or Kudu. We saw a couple of smaller Bushbuck and smaller juvenile Kudu bulls, but nothing worth pursuing.
The following day (Day 2) had us hunting hard in both the mountains as well as the flatter plateau where the impala, wildebeest, Buffalo, and Bushbuck liked to frequent. We put on lots of miles on the truck, our feet, as well as on our butts glassing the mountains. I talked with Dean that night and I told him, as much as I want that monster Bushbuck, let’s find a good shooter and if we eventually find him, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. (If any of you have taken your significant others hunting, you know where to read between the lines on this one. HAHA). Dean shook his head in understanding what I was saying. That afternoon, as we were riding up to the top of the plateau, I heard Michael, our tracker, say, “Bosbok, shoot!” I had already talked with Dean and knew what that meant. As the Bushbuck took off up the side of the hill, pulled up my gun and was met with nothing but sun in the glass. I said, “No shot.” Dean immediately hit the gas and we pulled up about 150 yards or so. We tried to make a small push on the Bushbuck but he slipped through our fingers again.
The 3rd day, we were met with a cold snap in the morning and super thick fog up on the plateau. The hunt was on again for the Bushbuck. We drove and drove but only saw a couple of impala and a giraffe. It was like everything had shut off. Then at 9:30 am, we came back to the road off of a trail and we heard Michael snap his fingers and motion to back the truck up. “Bosbok,” he said. None of us could see where he was talking about. Even Dean couldn’t see him. So Dean got out and Michael pointed to where he was. Dean threw his binos up, and said, “That’s a shooter. He’s at 150 yards exactly.” That’s all I needed to hear. I pulled up the .375 and put the crosshair dot where I though the front leg was in all the tall grass. All I could see was his head and the upper third of his back. I exhaled and squeezed the trigger. I heard the thump of the bullet smack and the Bushbuck disappeared. He had dropped in his tracks. Then I heard in the most loving way, Dean say, “Michael, I could kiss you right now!” We all got a chuckle out of that. We headed up to the Bushbuck measuring 11” & 10 7/8” respectively, and retrieved him and headed back to camp. We took an early lunch that day and then headed out for the rest of the afternoon trying to find the elusive Grey Ghost. We did everything we could. Driving around, glassing, walking the river bottoms and kicking everything out but a Kudu, posting and driving dense spots, but nothing yielding any results. So we headed back to camp for the night.
The next morning, Dean said he had a gut feeling we needed to go check a part of the property he had seen Kudu on before. We pulled up and glassed the mountainside. We glassed and glassed, then I heard Dean say, “There he is!”. He talked me on to where the Kudu was. We threw the binos on him and shot a distance, 1,750 yards. Just shy of 1 mile. I had the .300 Win Mag with today for the possibility of a longer shot across a mountain valley or canyon. This was essentially our last day of big game hunting. No more messing around. We snuck through the densely forested mountainside while keeping an eye on the Kudu. We closed the distance to about 350 yards or so. Dean asked me how I felt about a shot from here. I told him I would prefer 250 or less if we can do it. I didn’t want to have to chase a wounded Kudu through the mountains. We pressed on and came to a very small opening in the trees. Dean threw up the sticks and I put the rifle on it. I pulled my head off the rifle, shot one more range and dialed the DOPE on the gun, 2.25 MOA up. No crosswind. I put the crosshairs right on the Kudu. He was facing straight away and facing up the hill. I had no shot. I patiently waited for probably a solid 3-4 minutes for him to make a move. Then he stepped out of the shadows and into a wide open slot. There he was, at 256 yards walking broadside. He stopped!!! I exhaled, and pulled the trigger with the crosshairs low, right on the backside of his leg. I knew I wanted a heart and lung shot. THWAP!!! It was a good hit. He ran 30 yards or less and then pummeled into the rocky mountainside and began tumbling down. This was it! The Spiral Slam that I wanted to accomplish together with my wife was complete!!! I watched him tumble down the mountainside in my scope and come to rest just short of a thick undergrowth. The reticle was locked on him just in case. He never twitched. Then I heard Dean say, “He’s done.” I came off the scope to see Dean with a huge smile on his face and an outstretched hand saying, “Congratulations! You did it!” I gave a big hug to my wife and we set off to the other side of the valley to see the Kudu. Unfortunately, when we came up on him, he had some ground shrinkage. He was a lot smaller than anticipated. He measured 42”. However, he was a mature bull that was done growing. Dean still felt horrible. “I can’t make mistakes like that,” he said. I told him, “Don’t worry about it. Things happen. We busted our @$$es to get to this point and you’ve never lead us astray. Not one time. So I’m not upset about it.” The fact he felt that way and still does to this day, just shows the pride and professionalism he holds himself to. We had to call for some help for this one just due to where it ended up. The guys showed up, quartered him up, and we took him down the mountain and back to camp. We were done with our big game portion of the Safari. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and driving around other properties looking for Big 5 members and taking photos.
The next day was scheduled to head even farther East, about 2.5 hours, to chase after Pygmy Geese. This is the smallest goose in the world. It’s not much bigger than a Green-winged Teal. When we arrived we were greeted by the landowner and another guide. They lead us down to the water where the Pygmy geese were just loafing about. The other guide slipped the canoe into the water and we decided to let my wife go first. They skulled out trying to sneak up on the birds like the olden days of the Chesapeake Bay commercial duck hunters. The birds weren’t having it. They would pick up, circle around, and fly to another part of the pond. This went on for about 20 minutes or so. Then, we were looking the through the binoculars and I saw my wife pull up. One shot and she had a bird down. I was over the moon for her. Well, the land owner wasn’t waiting for them to get back. He grabbed a second canoe, tossed it in the water, and he and I were off chasing the pint sized goose. Now the birds had been shot at. They weren’t having it at all. As we paddled around, he says, “Hippos here,” and pointed to a water trail through the lilies. I asked him, “How many?”, to which he replied, “About 30.” I don’t get scared about much after having been through the military, but it will definitely give you a little more pucker factor knowing there are hippos in the water somewhere around you. After about 30 minutes of paddling, the landowner, in his best broken English said, “Let’s go back here. More birds back here.” I agreed and he started paddling. He hit some super thick lilies and the canoe wasn’t moving. Without saying a word, he dropped trou, and hopped over the side of the canoe. He started carving a path through the lilies and pulling the boat through. Once we got through, we found the Pygmys on the backside of a heavily weeded, lily pad area. They got up an pushed out of the area. The landowner said, “Let’s hide here.” He backed up the canoe to about a 6 foot tall reed type thicket. He hopped back out and started ripping up lily pads. After about 5 minutes, he had built a little mound. He said, “You stand here. I go hide over there.” So I hopped out and stood on the lily pad mound and he went about 50 yards away from me to act as a deterrent for flying Pygmys. About 5 minutes later I got buzzed by a pair of Pygmys. They were gone before I could even pull the gun up. I stood for about another 10 minutes and then I heard Dean shout, “On your left!” I’m looking for flying birds, but nothing to be found. Then, I peered about 15 yards in front of me through the reeds. There, on the water were a male and female Pygmy about 3-4 yards apart. I slowly pulled up my shotgun and slid it through the reeds and held the bead just above the head. They must have seen me and started paddling away. As soon as I saw the first wing come out to fly, I pulled the trigger. There, about 25 yards in front of me, lay the most gorgeous, and smallest, waterfowl species in Africa. I signaled to the landowner that I had a bird down in front of me. So he started paddling back to scoop me up. I hopped in and we paddled over to pick up the Pygmy. I grabbed the bird and we paddled back the same way we came. Once everything was complete, we made the 2.5 hour journey back to the lodge.
The day after was the final day for us hunting. I wanted to try for a bigger Kudu or the elusive monster Bushbuck. So we again hunted hard up and down the mountains and up on the plateau. We saw one bushbuck that wasn’t much bigger than the one I had previously taken and only a couple juvenile Kudu bulls. While the day ended in nothing harvested, it ended on an AWESOME first safari to Africa for my wife and I.
The next day we made the 7+ hour ride back to the first lodge to settle everything up after the hunt and prepare to head to OR Tambo for our flight home. Flying out of a foreign country is always interesting as I’ve had to do it many times and know what it entails. There’s always “different” rules. Getting through the ticketing agent was easy. When we got to the inspection station for the guns and ammo boxes, was were my time in other foreign countries came into play. After “inspection” of the SAPS forms, the cases got locked up. Then came the ammo box. While it was locked and totally within legal compliance, “rules” got made up as they came. Not surprising when a small “tip” and stating that all the boxes had a GPS in them took care of the “issue” and all of our luggage made it onto the plane. We flew home to Atlanta and got in early morning. The CBP agents were very cool and casual about inspecting our guns. I told them that I had the 4457s and Form 4s when needed. They checked that the SNs of the guns matched and didn’t even give thought to the suppressors. Better to be over-prepared than under. Questions about binos, scopes, cameras, etc., weren’t even given a second thought. This was a much easier customs process than even my returns from previous deployments, which was surprising. We gave ourselves about 3.5 hours from landing in ATL to our connector taking us back to Nashville, which was about the perfect amount of time. We weren’t scrambling to make our next flight and we weren’t sitting there bored out of our minds for a half a day in the airport.
What started out as a “simple” waterfowl trip, turned into an everlasting memorable trip. To say we’ll be back is an understatement!!!
If you want to see more photos and videos, you can click the YouTube link to the video I made.
If you want to learn more about the shots, their placements, and the follow-on ballistics complete with pictures and breakdowns, click the link to the article below.
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/shots-and-performance-of-barnes-bullets.106403/
For any other questions or comments, ask away.
HUNTING DATES: 10-22 AUGUST 2026
OUTFITTER: Legelela Safaris in South Africa
PH: Dean T. (Primary) & Archie G. (Secondary)
HUNTERS: Justin & Nicole
WEAPONS USED:
- Winchester M70 (PF) in .375 H&H – Riton Optics 3 Primal 4-16x44 and Bowers Group VERS 375 Suppressor / Ammo: Factory Barnes Vor-TX, 300 grain TSX
- Bergara HMR in .300 Win Mag – Vortex Venom 5-25x56 and SilencerCo Omega 300 Suppressor / Ammo: Factory Barnes Vor-TX, 180 grain TTSX
- Savage 110 High Country in .30-06 – Vortex Venom 4-16x44 and SilencerCo Omega 300 Suppressor / Ammo: Factory Federal Premium, Barnes 180 grain TSX
- Browning Gold 12 ga. / Ammo: Blaser ammo provided by PH. Size #4 lead.
- Weatherby SA-08 20 ga. / Ammo: Blaser ammo provided by PH. Size #5 lead.
PLAINS GAME:
- Eland
- Nyala
- Kudu
- Bushbuck
- Sable
- Gemsbok
- Impala
GEESE
- Egyptian Goose
- Spur-winged Goose
- Pygmy Goose
- Yellow-billed Duck
- Red-billed Teal
- South African Shelduck
- Cape Shoveler
- Cape Teal
- Hottentot Teal
- White-faced Whistling Duck
- Southern Pochard
- African Black Duck
- Knob-billed Duck
- White-backed Duck
- Fulvous Whistling Duck
SUSTAINMENTS:
- Taking our own weapons and ammo. The hassle isn’t what some make it out to be. Just need a little forethought and preparation
- Finding a PH that fits your hunting style and is a true professional in it for love of what they do, not just the money. Dean & Archie fit that to the letter. They were professional and up front with everything they did, good or bad. We weren’t just clients to them, and you could genuinely see that. My wife and I are very good at that just due to the nature of our jobs. For that, Dean will always be the PH I will call when I’m ready to go back.
- Always be prepared, even when it’s Africa. Very glad I looked at the weather and packed rain gear as well as cold weather gear.
- STUDY UP on shot placement. African animals anatomy is much different than those animals in the U.S. I studied hard on this and it made for effortless shooting and tracking.
- Being first timers and prior military, I over-packed as I am always used to being self-sustainable. You can easily get by with 2-3 pairs of pants, 3-4 changes of socks and underwear, 2-3 shirts, a hoodie, and a warmer jacket for the cool, August mornings (Their winter for those of you who have never been).
- You can never have enough range time. There’s always that doubt if I make a bad shot, not only for the animal suffering, but that’s a very expensive bullet the second you pull that trigger and wound the animal if you never find it. Always make the time to go to the range and take those awkward and more difficult shots whether it be distance, up or down steep angle, bad weather, or a combo of all three.
- South African Police don’t care how many weapons you bring in. If you and your spouse are travelling together, put all the weapons on one permit. It’ll save you $150 through the gun agent. Same with the 4457s. They don’t who has what as long as it’s all accounted for with who you’re traveling with. Saves on paperwork and less to keep track of.
This was the first ever trip to Africa for both my wife and I. The trip initially started off as an auction won waterfowl hunt through the Ultimate Waterfowlers Challenge Awards banquet. It quickly morphed into a waterfowl and plains game hunt.
Our trip started off in Nashville, TN then connecting in Atlanta, GA and then straight to Johannesburg. Check-in and flights went off without a hitch. Form 4457’s were completed about a month prior to leaving. We utilized Tracki brand GPS trackers (bought on Amazon) put in our 4 checked bags.
When we arrived at OR Tambo, we were greeted by Dean, our PH, right outside the customs gate. He walked us to the SAPS office to retrieve our guns and ammo box. Getting the guns was a fairly quick process as Reinier Linde, owner of Legelela Safaris, utilized an agent to expedite paperwork and ensure everything was in order upon arrival. The agent assisted us at the SAPS office and got us the guns quickly. The ammo box was another story. Almost an hour and a half later after everyone else had their guns and was gone, we finally found the ammo box. Thank goodness for the GPS. Once the SAPS folks found out there was a GPS in the box, then magically the short term amnesia went away and we found the box sitting behind the SAPS counter. From there, we were off to our first destination about an hour and a half southwest to hunt waterfowl for the next few days.
For those wondering what it’s like for waterfowl in Africa, the birds are generally all local birds. They hardly migrate, so they can get very wise, very quickly. As for species, I would compare the Egyptian Goose to our Canada Goose. They’re everywhere you go although not in the huge flocks like migrating Canadas. They’re very much like early season Canadas in pairs and small family groups up to about 20-25. The Yellow-billed duck is like our Mallard. Tons of abundance and they’re on just about every piece of water you see. The red-billed teal are like green-winged teal. They fly the same way and they’re found all over the place. Those ducks easily and willingly decoy. Everything else, you have to work for.
The first two days of waterfowl reminded me of hunting in North Dakota with a strong north wind growing up as a kid. The temps hovered between 4-6° C (35-40° F); it rained constantly dumping about 2 inches of rain in 48 hours; and winds were sustained between 15-20 mph with gusts up to 30-40mph. Definitely no what I had envisioned for Africa but wasn’t surprised having had visited other parts of the world during my military service. I was used to hunting like this from hunting in the states but our two PHs were less than happy about the weather. That said, the busted their backsides to get us our birds. We hunted hard, got absolutely soaked both days (even with rain gear), and came away with a bunch of birds. Day 3 saw the rain move out but still had some stronger winds. We mostly did spot and stalk jump shooting, flight line pass shooting, as well as some decoying hunts. The first three days saw us harvest the Egyptian Goose, Spur-winged goose, Yellow-billed duck, Red-billed teal, Shelduck, Cape Shoveler, Cape Teal, White-faced Whistling Duck, Southern Pochard, and African Black duck.
On Thursday, we packed up and traveled to our first Plains Game location about 3 hours WSW from our first waterfowl location. We got there early in the afternoon, got settled in and headed out that afternoon to try and get on some plains game. The first area we got to, we immediately saw a Sable and decided to put a stalk on it. After a short track (maybe ½ mile), we lost the sable but came across a bull Kudu and a herd of Impala. I handed off my rifle to my wife because I wanted her to shoot the Kudu if it was a shooter bull. While she was waiting for the Kudu to step out, the herd of impala came through and a ram stepped out and we heard our PH say, “Holy $hit!!!”. We knew for a PH, who does this day in and day out, to say that, we knew it had to be big. We passed on it waiting for the Kudu to step out. The Kudu stepped out but it was smaller than what we were looking for, so we passed on it. We went to some other areas and found a herd of Gemsbok. We stalked and tracked them until the sun went down but could never get a clear shot. We head back to camp for the night.
Day 2 found us up bright and early headed to a local farmer’s pond to try and cross off a couple more of our waterfowl species. My wife and I harvested a couple more Shelducks, White-faced whistling ducks, and yellow-billed ducks. Then we had a HUGE surprise. We had two Hottentot teal dive in and sit down about 5 yards from me. They immediately got up and flew across the dirt driveway to the other pond about 40 yards from me. Dean hollered to go after them. So I snuck up and shot a beautiful drake and a hen. Unfortunately, they both dropped stone dead in the water with no boat, dog, or other way to get to them. So Dean, being the professional he is, dropped down to his skivvies, and waded out to retrieve the birds. Again, these PHs busted their backsides for us. Upon getting back to camp, we quickly swapped out the shotguns for the rifles and got hot on the trail of the same Gemsbok herd we had chased the night prior. At 9:16 that morning, we finally had a bull step out at 117 yards and give my wife a broadside shot with her 30-06. She took one shot, a total pass through, and the bull ran about 70’ish yards or so before expiring. That bull measured 34 ½”. After photos were taken we headed back to camp to refit. That afternoon, we headed back out on the property to see what else we could see. We ended up finding a herd of Eland. We saw a nice bull within the herd, so the stalk began. The stalk was through wide open plains with sparse trees and vegetation to use as concealment so we had to take it very slow. We began our stalk at about 800 yards or so and stalked up to 179 yards and I took the shot with my .375 H&H. The bull was standing broadside facing to the left. The first shot hit about 1/3 of the way up the body in line with the back of the leg. Unbeknownst to us, the bullet hit a rib and ricocheted at a 45° to the right, cutting the stomach, and lodging underneath the opposite side of the hide about halfway back on the animal. As soon as the bull turned to go, Dean said to put another one in him. It was a steep quartering away shot but I put another one in right behind the left shoulder taking out the lungs and bottom of his heart, and having the bullet lodge inside the meat of the opposite shoulder. The bull ran about 30-40 yards before expiring at 2:30 pm. He had everything I wanted; a nice droopy dewlap, a thick mop on his head, and nice, deep curls measuring 30 ½”. After heading back to camp, we drove around the rest of the day looking for Sable and Kudu but never were able to get them. We chased 3, 50+” gorgeous Kudu until the sun went down but weren’t able to get a shot off.
Day 3 had my wife and I splitting up. She went with our other PH, Archie, chasing after the big Kudu we saw the night before and I went with Dean going after my Sable. After driving around we found a couple of different sable but they weren’t exactly what I was looking for. Then, while looking at a herd of Cape Buffalo, Dean looked to the right and saw two sable bedded down. We drove up the road, took a hard right and got downwind of the resting Sable. We hopped off the truck and began the stalk. As we stalked, Dean pulled up the binos and all I heard was, “That’s the one we want.” Dean estimated the Sable to be at the 40” mark. He was big bodied, and jet black. We closed the distance to 89 yards. Dean threw up the sticks and I set my .375 on them and waited for the two to stand up. The first one that stood up was a young, almost brown male. As he walked the solid black one stood up but was facing almost directly away. He took about another three or four steps and then stood perfectly broadside. At 9:25 am, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and when the crosshair dot stopped on the line just behind the shoulder, I squeezed the trigger. You heard the thump of the bullet hitting the hide and the sable reared up on his hind legs. Upon getting up to his hind legs, he spun 180° and planted face first into the dirt. The shot took out the lungs and the heart. This bull measured 39” and had some nice secondary growth as well as split ear, most likely from fighting. So he definitely had some character. We went back to camp with the Sable and meet back up with my wife. They hadn’t had any luck that morning tracking down the Kudu. After lunch we split back up and I decided that I would go after that Impala Ram that we had seen on Day 1 at this location while my wife went back out after the Kudu. As luck would have it, her truck stopped about 300 yards away from camp. There sat one of the big Kudu’s from the night before. As soon as the truck stopped to glass it, he took off. We pulled up and the decision was made that my wife and Archie were going to go after the Kudu on foot. We drove past and I wished her good luck. About 200 yards down the road, Dean and I saw the massive Kudu standing in the wide open. I told him, “I don’t want to shoot it. I want her to.” He agreed and we pressed onward to go find the Impala. Upon arriving to the other part of the property, we drove around until we spotted a herd of Impala. There the monster stood within them. We quickly tried to maneuver downwind with the truck but the herd kept pushing from us. We made the decision to dismount and start tracking on foot. This area was very dense with brush and foliage which made tracking difficult. Every time we got close to the herd, they would spot us and push even farther ahead. This happened about 5 or 6 different times. We made the decision to try and flank them instead of directly following them. What do you know, it worked. We got within shooting distance of the herd. The females took off and I got up on the sticks with my .375. The ram stepped out next to a tree standing broadside looking right at us. I heard Dean say, “That’s him. Shoot when you’re ready.” I took a deep breath, locked the reticle on just above the front leg, breathed out, and squeezed. The shot went off and I heard the smack of the bullet on the hide. The ram took off like a bat out of hell like nothing had happened. We walked up to the tree where he stood and the first thing I saw on the ground was bright, red blood. I knew I had lunged him. We traced drips and sprays of blood for 87 yards and found him piled up on the other side of a downed tree. He ran in almost a complete circle and ended up expiring about 30-35 yards from where he stood when the shot impacted. Dean guessed that he would go 24” when we first saw him 3 days ago. Well, now he was on the ground so we pulled out the tape in the field and measured him. One horn was 23 ½” and the other was 23 ¾”. A ROWLAND WARD sized Impala!!! Once we got him back to the camp, the rest of the afternoon was spent chasing around Vervet Monkeys trying to get a nice male but to no avail. However, if you had ever wanted to get a good laugh, watching a 36 and 40 year old man trying to chase monkeys on foot to get them up trees I guarantee would have been quite comical. When we got back to camp that night, we spoke with Archie and my wife. They never saw the Kudu again. However, according to my wife, they walked halfway to Joburg and back chasing him. LOL
The following day had us pack up and head to our second location to chase Nyala, Bushbuck, and Kudu. This location was about 7.5 hrs due East and only about 2 hours from the East Coast of Africa. During our journey, Archie got a call, and had to go back to Joburg to pick up another hunting party due to an unfortunate family circumstance with another PH. So Dean, myself, and my wife continued onward from the sparse, flat plains to the densely, forested mountains located along the Mkuze River. We arrived around 3 pm, quickly settled in and then drove around the rest of the evening to see what we could see. While we were driving around, we spotted a monster Bushbuck. Dean estimated he would go 14-15, maybe even 16 inches. He only watched us for a split second before vanishing into thing air. We quickly drove around to see if we could see him but to no avail. The grass was waist to chest high and he was gone. The rest of the night was uneventful, so we returned to camp to prepare for the next morning.
Day 1, the next morning at the new location, had us down into the valleys and cliffs of the mountains doing a lot of glassing looking for Nyala for my wife. At about 10:30 we were at an overlook glassing some Nyala by the river. Then I heard Dean say, “Big Kudu, right here.” I looked over the ledge and there stood an estimated 49” bull Kudu. My wife was right next to me, so I pulled her over, got her gun on the sticks, and dialed the dope on her gun for what was going to be a steep angled down shot. She was having trouble finding the Kudu. Meanwhile, I had him in a perfect broadside shot while with my .375. I opted to pass as I really wanted her to shoot the Kudu. By the time she saw him, he had stepped into a patch of trees and was facing straight away. All he had to do was take one step left or one step right and she was pulling the trigger. Due to us being up on the overlook, the wind must have swirled and he caught wind of us. He bolted along the riverbed. We pursued as fast as we could but not fast enough. There’s a reason they’re called the Grey Ghost and he proved why. Disappointed, we went back to the truck and continued on searching for our quarry. As we drove along, Michael, our tracker, spotted a Nyala a long ways off near the river. Dean and Michael talked it over and we drove around to where we could get a good elevated look at him and a subsequent shot. We parked the truck and walked down to the overlook. There we saw not one, not two, but three bull Nyala. The two we saw fully were both younger bulls. So we knew that the big boy had his head down feeding. All we could see was the top of his back. Dean told my wife to wait until he showed himself. Then he did and we heard a, “NO. Don’t shoot. That’s not him.” Both of us were confused. Where had this bull gone? Then, Nicole said, “Right there, across the river by that tree in the shade!” There he stood. It was him. Dean confirmed after glassing him. They repositioned the sticks and waited for the bull to present a good shot. At 11:35 am, the bull stood broadside at 100 yards facing to the left and my wife squeezed the trigger of her 30-06. The bull dropped in his tracks. She had spined him. Dean instructed her where to put the Coups de Grace shot and she did so quickly. The bull expired where he lay. Then the fun started. We had to cross the Mkuze River (Yes, there’s crocs in there), to get to him. So while I provided security with my .375, Dean, my wife, and Michael crossed the river. Once across, Dean pulled security and I came across myself. We got to the Nyala, who measured 25 ¼” & 25 ½” respectively, and prepared him to re-cross the river back to the truck. We placed him onto the pole-less litter, ran a ratchet strap through the handles, and myself, Dean, and Michael drug him back across the river. Once across the river, then the drag up the side of the mountain began until we got to a place where we could get the truck in. We got him back to camp and then prepared to set out to try and track down the Bushbuck or Kudu. We saw a couple of smaller Bushbuck and smaller juvenile Kudu bulls, but nothing worth pursuing.
The following day (Day 2) had us hunting hard in both the mountains as well as the flatter plateau where the impala, wildebeest, Buffalo, and Bushbuck liked to frequent. We put on lots of miles on the truck, our feet, as well as on our butts glassing the mountains. I talked with Dean that night and I told him, as much as I want that monster Bushbuck, let’s find a good shooter and if we eventually find him, we’ll cross that bridge when we get there. (If any of you have taken your significant others hunting, you know where to read between the lines on this one. HAHA). Dean shook his head in understanding what I was saying. That afternoon, as we were riding up to the top of the plateau, I heard Michael, our tracker, say, “Bosbok, shoot!” I had already talked with Dean and knew what that meant. As the Bushbuck took off up the side of the hill, pulled up my gun and was met with nothing but sun in the glass. I said, “No shot.” Dean immediately hit the gas and we pulled up about 150 yards or so. We tried to make a small push on the Bushbuck but he slipped through our fingers again.
The 3rd day, we were met with a cold snap in the morning and super thick fog up on the plateau. The hunt was on again for the Bushbuck. We drove and drove but only saw a couple of impala and a giraffe. It was like everything had shut off. Then at 9:30 am, we came back to the road off of a trail and we heard Michael snap his fingers and motion to back the truck up. “Bosbok,” he said. None of us could see where he was talking about. Even Dean couldn’t see him. So Dean got out and Michael pointed to where he was. Dean threw his binos up, and said, “That’s a shooter. He’s at 150 yards exactly.” That’s all I needed to hear. I pulled up the .375 and put the crosshair dot where I though the front leg was in all the tall grass. All I could see was his head and the upper third of his back. I exhaled and squeezed the trigger. I heard the thump of the bullet smack and the Bushbuck disappeared. He had dropped in his tracks. Then I heard in the most loving way, Dean say, “Michael, I could kiss you right now!” We all got a chuckle out of that. We headed up to the Bushbuck measuring 11” & 10 7/8” respectively, and retrieved him and headed back to camp. We took an early lunch that day and then headed out for the rest of the afternoon trying to find the elusive Grey Ghost. We did everything we could. Driving around, glassing, walking the river bottoms and kicking everything out but a Kudu, posting and driving dense spots, but nothing yielding any results. So we headed back to camp for the night.
The next morning, Dean said he had a gut feeling we needed to go check a part of the property he had seen Kudu on before. We pulled up and glassed the mountainside. We glassed and glassed, then I heard Dean say, “There he is!”. He talked me on to where the Kudu was. We threw the binos on him and shot a distance, 1,750 yards. Just shy of 1 mile. I had the .300 Win Mag with today for the possibility of a longer shot across a mountain valley or canyon. This was essentially our last day of big game hunting. No more messing around. We snuck through the densely forested mountainside while keeping an eye on the Kudu. We closed the distance to about 350 yards or so. Dean asked me how I felt about a shot from here. I told him I would prefer 250 or less if we can do it. I didn’t want to have to chase a wounded Kudu through the mountains. We pressed on and came to a very small opening in the trees. Dean threw up the sticks and I put the rifle on it. I pulled my head off the rifle, shot one more range and dialed the DOPE on the gun, 2.25 MOA up. No crosswind. I put the crosshairs right on the Kudu. He was facing straight away and facing up the hill. I had no shot. I patiently waited for probably a solid 3-4 minutes for him to make a move. Then he stepped out of the shadows and into a wide open slot. There he was, at 256 yards walking broadside. He stopped!!! I exhaled, and pulled the trigger with the crosshairs low, right on the backside of his leg. I knew I wanted a heart and lung shot. THWAP!!! It was a good hit. He ran 30 yards or less and then pummeled into the rocky mountainside and began tumbling down. This was it! The Spiral Slam that I wanted to accomplish together with my wife was complete!!! I watched him tumble down the mountainside in my scope and come to rest just short of a thick undergrowth. The reticle was locked on him just in case. He never twitched. Then I heard Dean say, “He’s done.” I came off the scope to see Dean with a huge smile on his face and an outstretched hand saying, “Congratulations! You did it!” I gave a big hug to my wife and we set off to the other side of the valley to see the Kudu. Unfortunately, when we came up on him, he had some ground shrinkage. He was a lot smaller than anticipated. He measured 42”. However, he was a mature bull that was done growing. Dean still felt horrible. “I can’t make mistakes like that,” he said. I told him, “Don’t worry about it. Things happen. We busted our @$$es to get to this point and you’ve never lead us astray. Not one time. So I’m not upset about it.” The fact he felt that way and still does to this day, just shows the pride and professionalism he holds himself to. We had to call for some help for this one just due to where it ended up. The guys showed up, quartered him up, and we took him down the mountain and back to camp. We were done with our big game portion of the Safari. The rest of the day was spent relaxing and driving around other properties looking for Big 5 members and taking photos.
The next day was scheduled to head even farther East, about 2.5 hours, to chase after Pygmy Geese. This is the smallest goose in the world. It’s not much bigger than a Green-winged Teal. When we arrived we were greeted by the landowner and another guide. They lead us down to the water where the Pygmy geese were just loafing about. The other guide slipped the canoe into the water and we decided to let my wife go first. They skulled out trying to sneak up on the birds like the olden days of the Chesapeake Bay commercial duck hunters. The birds weren’t having it. They would pick up, circle around, and fly to another part of the pond. This went on for about 20 minutes or so. Then, we were looking the through the binoculars and I saw my wife pull up. One shot and she had a bird down. I was over the moon for her. Well, the land owner wasn’t waiting for them to get back. He grabbed a second canoe, tossed it in the water, and he and I were off chasing the pint sized goose. Now the birds had been shot at. They weren’t having it at all. As we paddled around, he says, “Hippos here,” and pointed to a water trail through the lilies. I asked him, “How many?”, to which he replied, “About 30.” I don’t get scared about much after having been through the military, but it will definitely give you a little more pucker factor knowing there are hippos in the water somewhere around you. After about 30 minutes of paddling, the landowner, in his best broken English said, “Let’s go back here. More birds back here.” I agreed and he started paddling. He hit some super thick lilies and the canoe wasn’t moving. Without saying a word, he dropped trou, and hopped over the side of the canoe. He started carving a path through the lilies and pulling the boat through. Once we got through, we found the Pygmys on the backside of a heavily weeded, lily pad area. They got up an pushed out of the area. The landowner said, “Let’s hide here.” He backed up the canoe to about a 6 foot tall reed type thicket. He hopped back out and started ripping up lily pads. After about 5 minutes, he had built a little mound. He said, “You stand here. I go hide over there.” So I hopped out and stood on the lily pad mound and he went about 50 yards away from me to act as a deterrent for flying Pygmys. About 5 minutes later I got buzzed by a pair of Pygmys. They were gone before I could even pull the gun up. I stood for about another 10 minutes and then I heard Dean shout, “On your left!” I’m looking for flying birds, but nothing to be found. Then, I peered about 15 yards in front of me through the reeds. There, on the water were a male and female Pygmy about 3-4 yards apart. I slowly pulled up my shotgun and slid it through the reeds and held the bead just above the head. They must have seen me and started paddling away. As soon as I saw the first wing come out to fly, I pulled the trigger. There, about 25 yards in front of me, lay the most gorgeous, and smallest, waterfowl species in Africa. I signaled to the landowner that I had a bird down in front of me. So he started paddling back to scoop me up. I hopped in and we paddled over to pick up the Pygmy. I grabbed the bird and we paddled back the same way we came. Once everything was complete, we made the 2.5 hour journey back to the lodge.
The day after was the final day for us hunting. I wanted to try for a bigger Kudu or the elusive monster Bushbuck. So we again hunted hard up and down the mountains and up on the plateau. We saw one bushbuck that wasn’t much bigger than the one I had previously taken and only a couple juvenile Kudu bulls. While the day ended in nothing harvested, it ended on an AWESOME first safari to Africa for my wife and I.
The next day we made the 7+ hour ride back to the first lodge to settle everything up after the hunt and prepare to head to OR Tambo for our flight home. Flying out of a foreign country is always interesting as I’ve had to do it many times and know what it entails. There’s always “different” rules. Getting through the ticketing agent was easy. When we got to the inspection station for the guns and ammo boxes, was were my time in other foreign countries came into play. After “inspection” of the SAPS forms, the cases got locked up. Then came the ammo box. While it was locked and totally within legal compliance, “rules” got made up as they came. Not surprising when a small “tip” and stating that all the boxes had a GPS in them took care of the “issue” and all of our luggage made it onto the plane. We flew home to Atlanta and got in early morning. The CBP agents were very cool and casual about inspecting our guns. I told them that I had the 4457s and Form 4s when needed. They checked that the SNs of the guns matched and didn’t even give thought to the suppressors. Better to be over-prepared than under. Questions about binos, scopes, cameras, etc., weren’t even given a second thought. This was a much easier customs process than even my returns from previous deployments, which was surprising. We gave ourselves about 3.5 hours from landing in ATL to our connector taking us back to Nashville, which was about the perfect amount of time. We weren’t scrambling to make our next flight and we weren’t sitting there bored out of our minds for a half a day in the airport.
What started out as a “simple” waterfowl trip, turned into an everlasting memorable trip. To say we’ll be back is an understatement!!!
If you want to see more photos and videos, you can click the YouTube link to the video I made.
If you want to learn more about the shots, their placements, and the follow-on ballistics complete with pictures and breakdowns, click the link to the article below.
https://www.africahunting.com/threads/shots-and-performance-of-barnes-bullets.106403/
For any other questions or comments, ask away.
