SOUTH AFRICA: Hunt With White Lion Safaris

Randall, I am enjoying your story. That Hartebeest is a beauty and has really nice colour. I am booked to hunt with White Lion safaris in May and the anticipation is killing me.

You will have a great hunt. Food and hospitality is second to none. Isn't a ride around and shoot so plan on plenty of walking but it's beautiful country. We flew from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein. Had hunters came in the day we left that drove in from Johannesburg that wish they had flown. 6 and a half hours drive or a 45 minute flight and hour and half drive. round trip from Johannesburg was $250 pp.
I will continue the story when I get back to work in a week.

6/4/16 Saturday

Looking for gemsbok for Hunter. Climbed a couple hills to glass with no success. Heading back to the lodge for lunch when we come across a big warthog. I get on the sticks and shoot and miss. He runs off and we go and look for sign. Find a piece of meat where I nicked him but no blood. Saw Blue wildebeest, impala, blesbok, and 2 female bushbuck.

After lunch and a nap we head back out. Climb a area that gemsbok like and come up on a herd of springbok. We make a stalk and get within 75 yds and Hunter get a nice ram. We pack him out to the truck and take off. Stop and stalk to a valley over look and find a herd of 4 red hartebeest. I decide to take one. We locate the bull in the group but he's facing me at about 250 yds. Wait for him to turn but he's locked on to us. Ricus tells me to shoot him in the front chest. I miss but he runs up hill and turns broadside. I shoot again and hit him but a little far back. He starts walking slowly up the hill and I miss 3 times. down to my last bullet so we take off to get closer. Take my last shot and Ricus takes a shot and we lose track of him. It is right at dark so we head up to look for him. Find blood on a trail and start following trail but lose blood. backtrack and find last blood. Ricus hollers that he found him. He had left the trail and start going up hill then fell. After a few pictures we gut him and leave a shirt and cap on him to keep the jackals off. We will return in the morning with help to retrieve him. Head back to lodge and ate waterbuck and gemsbok grilled back strap that was most excellent.

6/5/16 Sunday

Woke up early this morning to go retrieve my hartebeest. After we retrieved it, we went back to the lodge for breakfast and eat breakfast. Had a chance to walk through the salt shed, hide room and meat locker then headed back out. Climbed a mountain for gemsbok and found one but He saw Ricus first and left. Came across 2 big warthog but both had broken tusk. Came back to eat a dish called bahbutany ( a Malaysian dish of yellow rice with ground meat and a ton of different seasonings) that Ricus's wife Nelia and her mother had cooked for us. It was very good.

After lunch and some fatigue management we are at it again. We head down to walk along the river looking for impala. Walk along and we come across a female warthog. Get Ricus's attention and he comes back with the sticks. I get set up in case and here comes a big male with good tusk. He stops about 75 yds and Ricus gives me the go ahead. He runs about 150 yds and piles up. Ricus goes and gets the truck while Hunter and I take a few pictures. We load him in the truck and head back and drop him off at the skinning shed. After dropping him off we head back to the mountain that we found the gemsbok on this morning. We are driving down the road when I look up the side of the mountain and there is a bull gemsbok looking at us. Slam on the break and get Hunter set up. He shoots and hits him. He shoots him twice more before he falls. Two animals in less than an hour. We go up and take pictures and gut him then leave him covered with a shirt for jackal protection. We will retrieve him in the morning so no one breaks a leg in the dark among these rocks. Head back in for another awesome meal

6/6/16 Monday

Our last day we wake up early to retrieve Hunters gemsbok. We cut him in half and carry him down to the truck and off to the cleaning shed. After breakfast we head out looking for impala. We find a big ram but get busted. Saw eland and 3 big male warthog with good tusk. We ride by the onion fields and find the male bushbuck I was hunting. I will have to come back for him! After lunch and a nap we decided to take it easy on the evening hunt and do some jackal calling. We called in a herd of cows. It was a great hunt. We took 2 warthog, 2 blesbok, 2 springbok a red hartebeest and a gemsbok on our first African hunt. we didn't get impala but saw some nice rams just couldn't get a shot.
Great hunt, food and host. We fly out in the morning to Johannesburg to meet me wife and daughter coming in from Paris so we can continue with our adventure in Zimbabwe.

Ricus drove us into Bloemfontein the next morning to fly out at 7 am. Landed in Johannesburg at 8am and waited until Wife and daughter got in at 2pm. After eating lunch we checked into our next flight and done a little shopping until our flight. Left Johannesburg at 7pm and got to Harare Zimbabwe at 9pm. After going though customs we meet our driver Frank and he takes us to the woodlands guest lodge where we will me with our Guardian angel Terry, who will be taking us to Charundu tomorrow to continue our safari.

6/8/16 Wednesday

Terry drives us from Harare to Charundu. Six hour drive with a check point every 20 miles it seems like. Terry takes no bull off them and we get through without having to pay anything. We arrive in Charundu and meet up with my buddy Charles and his wife Linda at Tiger Safaris and load up into 2 boats and head down the Zambezi river to meet with our professional guide Craig from nature way safaris. After a hour of dodging hippos and elephants in the river we meet up with Craig and his jr guide Mano. After loading everything in jeep we take off to camp in Manno Pools National park. We started seeing tons of game. Saw a bull kudu and 2 cows, herds of impala, female bushbuck, baboon, elephant, zebra, guinea fowl, helmeted guinea fowl(endangered species), mongoose, dwarf mongoose, warthog, hornbill. After a hour drive we arrive at camp after dark. Get set up in our tents and eat supper. After a few drinks its time for bed. Craig warns us not to worry about anything brushing against tents at night because hippos come out of the river to feed and some get close. I get awaken at 3 am by my wife.
Wife. Something is right outside the tent.
Me. hippo, be quiet and go back to sleep.
Wife. no serious wake up
Me. I know. (raise tent flap over window and have a hippo 5 feet outside of window) see now be quiet before he gets mad and flattens the tent.
So from that night on my wife's cot has me jammed between her and the tent wall cause she didn't want nothing to get her.

randallhebert said:

.................. Amazing what a little harassment will do for your shooting. ..........

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Very true.

randallhebert said:

Me. I know. (raise tent flap over window and have a hippo 5 feet outside of window) see now be quiet before he gets mad and flattens the tent.

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WOW

6/9/16 Thursday

0600 we wake up and have fresh hot water in a stand out side the tent. All the comforts of home in the bush. I could defiantly live here. We get up and go out of the tent and get a good look around. A pod of hippo in the river. 12 foot croc swimming by. Big water buck bull and impala ram over there. The bush coming to life. 50 years old and never have seen anything as beautiful. Eat a quick breakfast and go for a game drive. Baboon to numerous to count. Impala every where. Have a bull elephant walk out of the bush and crosses behind the truck so close you can see the hair on his body and smell him, and never even pays us no mind. Craig shows us a elephant skull, different angels of shots that you would take and difference between a bull and cow skull . Leave there and come across 2 cape eland bulls. Drive some more and get out to take a walk to see what we can find for lion spoor as this was the one animal my daughter wants to see. We come across a bull elephant and Craig tells us to stay tight and he is going to check his attitude. He tells us how the bull is going to act with his head high and twisting, ears out and here he comes. He stops about 20 feet from us and kicks dust then turns and walks away looking over his shoulder like okay don't make me come back here because if I do it won't be pretty! I have video on my phone but I can't get it to the computer. This is when you realize that your not in Kansas anymore Toto.
We continue walking and come across some lion spoor and start tracking. Go about a hundred yards and find where the lions ( 2 lioness, a male and cubs) have eaten a baboon. The meat was still on the skull piece with wet blood and no ants so it was very fresh. Tracked some more but lost the trail in the long grass! Heading back to camp for lunch we come across a herd of buffalo which is the first that Craig has seen this year as the water holes are drying up and they are moving to the river. After lunch we take a nap and head back out for the evening drive. Elijah our driver takes us about 2 mils down river from camp and we start walking back to camp. Find monitor lizard tracks and start trailing it when we come across a 5 foot croc up on the bank 10 feet above and 50 feet from the river. (Side note. I had been telling Charles that I wanted to catch a croc while there. I'm a nuisance gator hunter where I live and catch live gators all the time and release them away from people. Biggest to date is 11' 11". The way you catch them is to tap them on the end of the nose and they raise there head up. This allows you to reach under there bottom jaw and close there mouth. You can hold there mouth closed with two fingers as there power is closing not opening. Then you tape there mouths shut with electrical tape. Once you have the sharp end secure you tie the feet together and do what you want.) I walk up and slap this croc on the nose and he spins around and runs off the bank with legs going 90 miles an hour, hits the bottom, runs to the water and skids across until he sinks. Craig can't believe what I just did then I tell him what I do at home, and he starts laughing. Says he will have the best story to tell everyone about the crazy coon A55 that tried to catch a croc. Get back to the camp and have a few drinks, supper, few more drinks and bed. Have seen hippo, elephant, baboon, impala, crocs, eland, maribu stork, ground hornbill, grey hornbill, buffalo, waterbuck and a colony of bee eaters. Hell of a first day. Can't wait for tomorrow.

I will be away from my computer for the next 23 day hunting alligators so I will continue when I get back.

Good luck in the swamp.

Back from vacation/work. Harvested 322 alligators in 14 days.

6/10/16

we ride around looking for lion spoor again this morning. Find the tracks of a lone male. We follow them around but loss them when he gets in the long grass. We find a dead impala that has a few bite taken out of him from a small leopard. It looks like he was killed fighting another impala from the puncture wounds. On the way back to camp we spotted a spotted hyena, water buck, impala, baboon, elephant, buffalo, hippo and crocs.
After lunch and a nap we headed out on a canoe trip down the Zambezi. Floated about five miles back to camp coming within a few feet of hippos several times. We never got in between them and deep water so they never acted up. they would just go under and let us pass. Also floated around a couple 12 to 14 foot crocs. Came around a island and ran into a herd of elephants just getting out of the river. It was a very relaxing float.

6/11/16

Our last day in camp we head out looking for lion again. We found fresh spoor from a pride of at least 5 lions but lost them when a herd of buffalo crossed there trail. Went back to dead impala and it had been eaten on some more with fresh leopard tracks but we were out of time. We had to catch a boat at 1 PM.
Driving out we had a young elephant charge the truck while we were driving. The driver stopped the truck and the elephant stopped, turned and started walking away. We started driving again and here he comes, trumpeting and raising hell. Stopped. He turned around. Drive off here he comes. Funny as hell. Get back to Tiger safaris boat launch and meet up again with Terry and Nelson. We drive from Charundu to Kariba and spend the night at a crocodile farm. This is a grasshopper we found.

6/12/16

We wake up and have breakfast then get a quick tour of the crocodile farm. Very clean and well organized place. After tour we head back to Harare to fly back home. We stay at The woodlands again then fly back home on 6/13. We do the shopping scene and head to the airport. Flew from Harare to Joberg to Doha then to Houston. Wish we could have stayed another week or three but work is calling. Will definitely be back. Maybe even early retirement and move there.

Thanks for sharing more pics and about the trip

randallhebert said:

Back from vacation/work. Harvested 322 alligators in 14 days.

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How about expanding on this also!!!!

Very much enjoyed reading this. Thanks!

Great report- thanks for sharing. I agree with @reedy0312, lets hear some more about these alligators!

I have 3 friends that were drawn for one of our local refuges to hunt alligators for a 3 year stretch. I hunt them and we split proceeds. I get 18 tags off of land I have access to hunt. Two of the hunters had 101 tags and one hunter had 102 tags. We started hunting on 9-10-16 and finished on 9-23-16, which was kind of slow. Two previous years I tagged out in 10 days. Long days starting at 5 am and finishing up at 6 and 7 pm. our largest was 10' 4" with a couple more at 10'. plenty of 9 footers and 8 footers.

Just received notice that my mounts are ready and being crated.