SOUTH AFRICA: Symbol Safaris, Above & Beyond

Day 5- on the night of day 4 we had been surprised by my wife's dad and stepmom. They offered to chip in for an impala and blesbok for us as an early Christmas gift. We were quite happy to accept. After some discussion, it was decided I would try for blesbok, and she would try for impala. On the morning of day 5, the wife left for Port Elizabeth to do some shopping with her stepmom and Will's wife Tanya. Pierre and I headed out along with Ricardo to look for blesbok. After some glassing in various areas, we happened into a herd of maybe 20 or so. It is a bit overwhelming to try to figure out what a good one is in so many head. It was neat to see a white one in the group as well.

After a stalk, we cut them off coming across a road. I got a shot off at a bit over 120, and hit a few inches lower in the shoulder than I wanted. The chase was on. We say the wounded one split from the heard, and Ricardo and Pierre got me on him. Second shot that I hit (I missed a hasty follow up right after I made the first shot) staggered him. Pierre had grabbed his rifle, just to make sure we didn't get an escape. One shot, he stumbled down and I unfortunately had to put a finishing shot as he had his head up yet. The worst shooting performance of the week for me. Still unsure if it was nerves or what. Pierre was good natured about it, but I beat myself up a bit for it. But no matter what, we got the ram, he was quite nice and I was glad we didn't lose him.


I spent the remainder of the day relaxing, taking photos around the main lodge, and hanging out with some other members of our party.

Day 6- The entire camp opted for a trip to Addo Elephant national park. Don't have any of the pictures on hand from the day, but we managed to see elephant, a big male lion, kudu the size of which was hard to believe, warthog, zebra, hartebeest, and even a more unique sighting of a bustard (I think a Kori but cannot fully recall). The weather was a bit dreary, and it definitely seemed to affect the amount of wildlife out and about. It was chilly and windy enough the whole group voted for an indoor lunch at the Cattle Baron's in the park. After we got back, an evening of relaxation, and a fire out in the boma.

Day 7- It started out as a morning to go look for impala. It was a tougher morning for me, as it turned out one of the PH's could play guitar, and a bit of a late evening impromptu concern broke out where I suddenly ended up a lead vocalist. It was a great time, but I can say in all honesty I should have skipped the last 2 G&T's. Light breakfast, advil and coffee, bottle of water and I was back in action though.

We were driving to a higher point nearby on the main property, when all of a sudden Pierre hit the brakes and grabbed his binos. I grabbed mine as well to look off in the distance. A big, heavy horned old waterbuck was bedded down on a sunny hillside. We both sorta gasped at him. Then we kept driving. I could see the look on Pierre's face. After about a 1/4 mile, he stopped, looked at me, and said "Brandon, do you want to take a shot at that waterbuck?" Now this is definitely not something I had planned. I worked a second job to help get some extra money together for this. And I knew at full list price, a waterbuck was not in the cards. I said " I would need to know how much it would run me (as I honestly couldn't remember what one set for price)". He quickly grabs his cell phone and calls Will. Some Afrikans is exchanged, and I am told the amount. It was one of those take what the bush gives you moments. Looked at my wife, she smiled and nodded. Off we went.

Good long stalk, slow movements. Two zebra near the old bull watching us. We back up, come at a different angle. As we approach, see a young bull half blocking our path. Slowly change direction. Just as we get near, see the two zebras start to take off. The bull gets up and starts in front of us. I'm on the sticks with a hole in the brush to shoot through. He stops, faces us about 50 yards out for a second when he spots us. Base of the neck. Squeeze, hear the thud. We slowly walk up, he is 20 yards away, dead.

He ended up being old, tips worn down, thick gnarly bases. I was ecstatic.

The evening ended up being just as good, with my wife making a stalk on shot on a nice impala ram, not super wide but a deep sweep back. One shot, dropped.

Great report! Looks like you guys had a great time.

Thanks Rinehart! Yes, it was one of those things you couldn't help but enjoy. Already starting the wheels turning on when we can go back.

Day 8- Last day of hunting

The previous evening we had talked about some opportunities for culling. It was decided I would try for an impala ewe (although at one point in the day we did try two stalks for a ram, but to no avail) and a cull warthog.

The morning found us stalking a heard of impala. It was a jittery bunch. We finally got on a hill opposite of them, and one ewe made the error of stopping and looking back. We found a downed limb and I was able to lay down and rest the rifle. At 240 yards or so, one shot and down she went. I was excited, as being a guy from the eastern US who hunts whitetail, it was the farthest shot I had ever made.


We then moved on to a property a bit down the road to look for a possible impala ram. We saw a group of 4, all good. We took a good slow walk/stalk, looking for them. Unfortunately we only saw them one more time, and they gave us the slip.

I said to Pierre, "Let's try for a warthog" as we had seen plenty over there. We opted to slowly drive along, and I would try for a head shot off the truck. After we saw a few groups scoot away quickly, we finally bumped a group in an open area. I pulled the scope up, got a head of the trotting pig, and squeezed. It was about 220 yards. The one gent who was with us (a farm hand on the main property) yelled something to the affect of "F#$k me great shot man" when the pig fell like a stone. I hadn't made a head shot but had angled up through the pig at a quartering away angle and dropped the young boar. I apologized for the non head shot, and got a chuckle and a high five saying it was a damn fine shot and no worries.


That ended our hunting for the day. We spent the rest relaxing, taking more photos, and hanging out with our group and the PH's. A fire that night in the boma, more singing with Lammi topped it off after a grand dinner of grilled karoo lamb as an appetizer, pulled smoked warthog, blesbok fillet and impala filled with homemade potatoes au gratin and a salad. The Castle (I drank the light) flowed like water that evening for me.

Congrats on your safari, looks like yall had a great time!

Thanks Reedy. At the weeks end, our group had really done well. Besides what we hunted, some other members of our group took (I don't have their pictures unfortunately)-
Blue wildebeest, hartebeest, springbok, bontebok (really pretty to see), zebra, impala, warthog, bushbuck, gemsbuck, steenbok, kudu and waterbuck. There may have been more, we left a few days earlier and got in one day earlier than the rest.

We saw on our travels and hunting so many different species-
Baboon (forgot to put that tale in, I missed a long shot on one), giraffe, cape buffalo, elephant, vervet monkey, ostrich, red lechwe, black springbok, common springbok, gemsbuck, waterbuck, impala, jackal, bushpig, warthog, bushbuck, duiker, blue duiker (for about 5 seconds), steenbok, zebra, hartebeest, blesbok (both common and white), goshawk, various song birds, guinea fowl, francolin, ibis, mongoose, hyrax and so on. I was really wowed by the diversity.

Congrats on your hunt, looking for a nice bushpig like yours in a couple of months !

Thanks @Nyati the hunt was great fun. They actually asked that week if I wanted to try for a second one (they had another bait that a boar moved in on later in the week). I passed, but really (and I don't want to tempt too much fate) considered doing it again if I would go back in a few years just because it was that interesting a hunt to me. That area of the cape certainly has the pigs. There was actually a pig they saw twice in the daylight feeding on a pile of oranges not too far from the lodge. No one got a shot at him but they said the lack of rain was making them a bit bolder for a food with moisture. I hope you get a monster!