SOUTH AFRICA: Lalapa Safaris

This was our fourth trip to Africa and the fifth different outfitter we'd hunted with so needless to say we were looking for something a little different than your typical South African plains game safari. We met Raymond Kemp and Edward Wilson at the Africa Hunting Show in Calgary and a small picture of a hunter with a Barbary sheep in their display caught our attention. After chatting with them for a while, it became obvious that the Eastern Cape was the perfect destination for an "off-the-wall" type safari and that Lalapa Safaris really specialized in both free-range and indigenous species. We booked a hunt for April 2016 that was to include vaal rhebuck, mountain reedbuck, barbary sheep, blue duiker, caracal, bushbuck and bush pig. We were to start out at Ray's main lodge near Cathcart and then move down closer to Grahamstown to finish out the hunt.

We flew Calgary to London to Johannesburg to East London and used Air 2000 t clear our firearms The trip went without a hitch. We spent one night in the City Lodge Hotel and would recommend it for a quick overnight stay.

Upon our arrival in East London, Edward picked us up and drove us the two hours to the lodge. After getting settled in and sighting in our .338WM, we headed out on Ray's main property for a look around. We saw loads of animals and did a stalk on a mountain reedbuck but decided to pass in the end. I almost took a monster impala, but he decided to run right at the last minute.



The following morning we drove about two hours to hunt vaal rhebuck. We started seeing them almost immediately but there was nothing Ray felt was worthy. We did see a monster mountain reedbuck but decided to continue after the vallies instead. We checked out a couple other properties and finally located a big male. After a couple hours of stalking, I put him down at 150 yards. He was magnificent. This was my first exposure to vallies and I really gained an appreciation for how tough they are to hunt and what a unique animal they are.



After returning to the main lodge, we headed out with Edward and just before dark we found a good reedbuck. We stalked to within 234 yards and I managed to put him down on the spot. It was a pretty amazing start to our Eastern Cape Adventure.

The following day we headed out to "scout" for Barbary sheep. Ray warned us that it could take three days to find a couple good rams so the plan was to check the area out and then return with camping gear for a couple days. While Barbary sheep are not native to South Africa, there is a large herd of over 1,000 animals that is now for all intents and purposes free ranging in the Stromburg Mountains. They were brought in from Chad in the early 1960s and kept behind high fence until Apartheid in 1994. At that point, the property was converted to a sheep and cattle ranch and the high fence was no longer maintained and the Barbary sheep rapidly expanded throughout the mountain range. It is tough, rugged country and hunting pressure is very low. Consequently, there are some good rams.

It took about 1.5 hours to drive to the ranch. You could see that at one time it had been a magnificent English country Estate but time had not been kind to it. Fallow deer were abundant in the low lands and we saw numerous good bucks. As we headed further up the mountain, the terrain became very rough and rocky. Vegetation was sparse but water was actually quite abundant and creeks flowed throw several draws. After climbing in the Land Cruiser for a couple of hours we parked and headed off on foot. A couple of trackers spotted a large herd of sheep so we went for a look. The rut was just kicking in and there were several large rams with the ewes. Ray picked out what appeared to be the best one and we made a stalk. At 80 yards Vanessa put the big ram down with the .338. We were shocked at how many sheep were actually below us. Edward counted 87 in total as they headed off and over another mountain.


Ray had a good idea where they were head so after dealing with Vanessa's ram we drove another hour or so and then climbed over two mountains before spotting the sheep again. They'd split into two groups and we were looking at about 20 but there was one exceptional ram in the group. We could also see blesbok, black wildebeest, mountain reeedbuck, fallow deer, vaal rhebuck and about a dozen Cape Mountain zebra that were directly between us and the sheep. Ray elected to head back to the truck. He was going to drive around the mountain and meet us near where the sheep currently were. We would continue on foot and try to get to the sheep.

As expected the zebra spooked and scattered the sheep. They all went over the next mountain. We decided to follow with the hope they stopped. We had to descend into a deep canyon and as we were coming up the other side, we ran right into the the sheep that had at some point returned. They ran across another valley and started up into the cliffs. We struggled to get up on a flat and I found the big ram and ranged him at 460 yards and he was still climbing. I found an anthill where I could rest the rifle and shoot prone from. I guessed the ram was now close to 500 yards so I settled the 500 yard crosshair on him and figured everything felt good. The big ram dropped right on the spot and tumbled a hundred or so yards down the hill.

It took quite a while to climb up to him but when we got there I couldn't have been happier. He was massive. Our three day sheep hunt had turned into one day. Free range Barbary sheep on the same continent they call home was pretty cool.

Great trophies and good shooting. You are certainly living up to your name. Look forward to the rest to the report.

Barbary sheep on my bucket list it's looks like you and your wife had a great hunt.

It was outstanding! I'll get some more up in a bit.

Good job TJ looks like a great place!

Nothing like chasing around in the mountains.

Congrats and thanks for sharing!

With our list complete at Ray's main camp and still two days to before heading for the coast, we decided to add a couple more species to the list. We'd brought our bows along and even though Ray wasn't set up for bow hunting for the season yet, we fixed up one of his blinds and sat a waterhole for a day. While we had piles of impala, eland and mountain reedbuck come in, we opted not to take anything the first day. It had been Vanessa's birthday a couple day's previous so I asked her what she'd like to hunt for a birthday present and she jumped at the opportunity to hunt black springbok. So, early the next day we headed to a neighboring farm that had a good population of black springbok. We played hide and seek with one exceptional ram for much of the morning and finally got in position on a high point above him around noon. Vanessa made a perfect 240 yard shot on the ram and she had her springbok and I was off the hook for a birthday present.


That afternoon we headed back to the bow blind and after a couple hours of sitting we had two big warthog come in. They drank for several minutes but wouldn't offer a shot. Finally they moved off and began to eat grass. The larger of the two finally offered a broadside shot at 36 yards and Vanessa took it. The big hog jumped the string and the arrow caught him quite far back but with the assistance of Penny the Jack Russel we found the big hog.


We celebrated that night and prepared to head toward the coast for the second leg of our journey.

Thanks for sharing! It always throws me off when I see barbary sheep on offer in Southern Africa!

Yep I'll say that was a monster Reedbuck

Beautiful Barbary sheep!

The following day we headed toward the coast with our new PH Ross. After a 2.5 hour drive we arrived at the Lalibela Big 5 Game Reserve. This would be home for the next 5 nights. Lalibela is a spectacular facility and has three lodges on site. We stayed at the Tree Top Lodge, a magnificent tented camp built right into the side of a hill. Lalibela itself is a photographic reserve and we were going to be hunting the surrounding cattle ranches.


After settling in and meeting our neighbours, a number of nyala, We ate dinner and then headed out to hunt bush pigs. They had two baits going, both with huge boars on them. Vanessa was up for bush pig and Ross went over the operation of the infra red equipped rifle with her. We heard a group of pigs coming in about 10pm but a last minute switch in wind sent them scurrying.

The following day we sat a blue duiker blind in the morning and had a good male make a brief appearance but offered no opportunity for a shot. We hunted bushbuck during midday and ended up passing on a great male at about 30 yards. A decision that would later haunt us. We also saw large numbers of kudu, nyala, waterbuck, impala, eland and zebra.. We saw some truly spectacular waterbuck and nyala and are still wondering why we didn't decide to add them to the list. That evening we sat the blue duiker blind again but had no luck. The blue duiker had been coming into water like clockwork before we arrived but some unseasonably hot temperatures seemed to have interrupted their schedule.


The following morning we sat a new blind for blue duiker and had a young male come in to five yards but we elected to pass on him. We sat the duiker blind for the remainder of the day but had no luck. These tiny antelope were proving to be extremely elusive.

The following day on the way to sit the blue duiker blind again, we got a call from the houndsman that the hounds were on a scent and we needed to get over there. When we got there, we received the bad news that the caracal had jumped from the tree ad been killed by the hounds. But, he had another houndsmen out looking for a scent so we drove to that location. We could hear the hounds working the trail in the bottom of a steep canyon so we all headed down to take up the trail. A couple hours later we finally caught up with the hounds and they had a great caracal treed right in the bottom of the canyon along a creek. Vanessa wasted no time shooting the big cat.

very nice !!

Great hunt report! Love the variety of animals. Never realized those sheep were in SA. Wow!

I especially like the photo of Vanessa with the shotgun over her shoulder behind the caracal. Very nice composition TJ!

We spent the remainder of the morning in the blue duiker blind but the little guy never made an appearance. In the afternoon we went looking for bushbuck and saw a great ram but just couldn't close the deal on him. It was back to the lodge for a quick dinner then out to the bushpig blind. We'd been sitting for about an hour when Ross could hear the pigs crunching corn about 70 yards away. Vanessa switched on the IR scope and there were seven pigs at the bait. It took a few minutes for the big boar to present a clear shot and then she dropped him on the spot. It was unquestionably one of the most unique trophies of the hunt.

Just got word today that our trophies are ready to ship. So far dealing with Splitting Image Taxidermy and Safari Cargo Systems has been very efficient and professional and the costs have been reasonable. Just over four months isn't too shabby at all!

Congrats on the bushpig!