First of all, thanks to the many members here who answered countless questions from a newbie, you were are wonderful.
My oldest son and I completed our first African Safari in April. After much research and many questions, we had a member on here, Tom Addleman with Hunting For Adventure hook us up with Kanana Safaris in Botswana. Tom is a wonderful booking agent and has hunted the places he has available and is a wealth of knowledge and more than willing to share. Lori Spears with Travel Express, another member and Safari enthusiast, handled all the booking arrangements and was a tremendous help as well. Also, Air 2000 was invaluable to us in getting our firearms through to our final destination.
We put together our own package with Kanana Safaris for a 10 day plains game hunt, they were more than willing to work with us on days and species. When we arrived in camp just outside Ghanzi, the camp was wonderful, the tents were large and spacious setting on concrete slabs with bathrooms and showers attached,very comfortable beds and overlooked the main pan in the area. The lodge was very lovely and we watched the birds and animals come in to drink at breakfast and dinner. Our PH, JP Bekker was wonderful, very knowledgeable, friendly and was more than happy to share that knowledge with a couple of newbies. The trackers, Martin and Morlin were outstanding and our hosts Jason and Claire Bridger were so gracious and friendly it felt like home.
After getting sighted in the next morning we were off, and within about an hour and a half I had a fine Zebra stallion down, my first African animal! I was shooting an old Belgium Browning in .375 H&H with 300 gr Partitions and it really did the trick. We hunted the rest of the day and saw an abundance of game, many species. Put the stalk on several and after final stalking into a waterhole late in the evening my son and I both took wonderful Gemsbok about 30 seconds apart! It was incredible. My son broke the neck of his and it dropped instantly, I broke the off shoulder on mine,missed the second shot and then hit it just behing the last rib raking forward into the off shoulder anchoring it for good. Day 2 we hunted hard, saw lots of game and made several stalks, but just couldn't seal the deal, not that we really cared, lol, this was the dream of a lifetime.
Day three was a great day, took a beautiful Blue Wildebeest fairly early in the morning, I'll never forget the sight of him staring at us quite belligerently, snorting and tossing his head so hard he was almost hopping, the sun shining off his beautiful coat, man what a sight! The rest of the day we stalked several Kudu and Eland, but there were so many eyes watching we kept getting busted. Finally, on the way back to camp, we saw a small bunch of Eland laid up in some brush, put a stalk on them and I had a beautiful Eland bull down within 30 minutes, although after the shot I thought a Gemsbok was going to run over us, lol.
The next morning my son took an Ostrich at about 110 yards, beautiful big old bird, extremely wary creatures. I think this was the longest shot my son had to take the whole hunt. His Pre 64 Winchester in .300 H&H magnum with 200 gr Partitions dropped everything he shot like you pulled the rug out from under it. Later that morning I took an old Warthog at about 110 yards, poor old fella never knew what hit him. The trophy of the day came that after noon when we stalked into a waterhole, we thought we ended up spooking the Kudu we were trying for, but suddenly Martin, our tracker, spotted a great Kudu behind some trees unaware of us. JP got my son set up on the sticks and he made the 80 yard shot, again breaking it's neck and dropping it instantly. It was a beautiful bull with fabulous ivory tips, my son couldn't stop smiling. Looking at the smile on his face made it all worthwhile.
The next morning it was my turn for Kudu. We soon put a stalk on a monster of a bull, I got set up on the sticks at about 125 yards and suddenly I had "Buck Fever", I couldn't catch my breath, was panting like a locomotive, shaky as heck. Kept telling myself, don't look at the horns, so I looked at his neck, my God it was HUGE, just made me worse, I totally missed a broadside shot! Oh well, at least I didn't wound him. That has never happened to me before in 45 years of hunting. Fortunately, we stayed at it and close to sunset Martin and JP spotted a couple of cows across a valley and after glassing, we spotted a bull hidden just above and behind one of the cows. These guys eyesight was amazing, it was nearly half a mile away and they saw it without binoculars. After circling around we got behind it, made a good stalk and I hit him solid breaking his shoulder, but he bolted and ducked into some brush before I could get off a second shot. JP tracked it and we jumped it about a half a mile further up and after a fast 30 second "run and gun" we had it down. truly a tough, majestic animal they are!
The next day, my son went after Giraffe with my .375. After finding and stalking an old bull with slightly mashed knobs, from fighting, my son hit him high in the shoulder and I instantly shot with his .300 just behind the foreleg, it made two strides then began to stumble and it was down! It was good he used my .375, his .300 hit a rib, broke it but deflected upwards and lodged in the shoulder, the bone structure on these things are like a tank!
The next day found us chasing Waterbuck for my son. We hunted most of the morning without much luck finding a bull, many females and young, but no bull. Finally we decided to stalk into a waterhole. We saw so many Kudu, Gemsbok and Wildebeest it was amazing. Finally we set up in the blind at the waterhole where about 30 minutes later a Blue Wildebeest came in behind us, winded us and then spent the next 30 minutes loudly telling everything around we were there! JP and I both tried so hard to talk my kid into shooting it just to shut it up, lol, but no go, he wanted his Waterbuck. Finally the Wildebeest left and we settled in to eat. About an hour later my son spotted an animal coming in and it was a Waterbuck! It warily came in and finally stopped to drink no more than 25 yards away, the shot was good dropping it with a broken shoulder but it was off and running in a flash. JP and I were both yelling shoot! My son shot two more times and dropped it about 60 yards away, man what a beautiful animal!
The last day we drove the cattle operation side to see if we could crop some animals out of there, saw several, but just didn't connect. After an afternoon truffle hunting, we found some, we headed back to camp for an early evening and packing for the next days departure.
These folks fed us so well, we had Zebra, Kudu, Eland, Giraffe, Gemsbok and the list goes on! The meals were served in a walled enclosure around a fire pit where we talked about the day, had a relaxing drink ate ate like kings. The folks at Kanana were truly wonderful in every regard and I will definitely hunt with them again and would not hesitate a second to recommend them for a fantastic plains game safari. I can't thank them enough for making my dream hunt come true. So much goes on behind the scenes to make a great safari, food, lodging, camp staff, skinning and preserving trophies, setting up trophy shots, transporting the game, etc. These folks did it all so professionally, Jason, Claire, Martin, Morlin and Will thank you again for making my dream hunt a reality.
My oldest son and I completed our first African Safari in April. After much research and many questions, we had a member on here, Tom Addleman with Hunting For Adventure hook us up with Kanana Safaris in Botswana. Tom is a wonderful booking agent and has hunted the places he has available and is a wealth of knowledge and more than willing to share. Lori Spears with Travel Express, another member and Safari enthusiast, handled all the booking arrangements and was a tremendous help as well. Also, Air 2000 was invaluable to us in getting our firearms through to our final destination.
We put together our own package with Kanana Safaris for a 10 day plains game hunt, they were more than willing to work with us on days and species. When we arrived in camp just outside Ghanzi, the camp was wonderful, the tents were large and spacious setting on concrete slabs with bathrooms and showers attached,very comfortable beds and overlooked the main pan in the area. The lodge was very lovely and we watched the birds and animals come in to drink at breakfast and dinner. Our PH, JP Bekker was wonderful, very knowledgeable, friendly and was more than happy to share that knowledge with a couple of newbies. The trackers, Martin and Morlin were outstanding and our hosts Jason and Claire Bridger were so gracious and friendly it felt like home.
After getting sighted in the next morning we were off, and within about an hour and a half I had a fine Zebra stallion down, my first African animal! I was shooting an old Belgium Browning in .375 H&H with 300 gr Partitions and it really did the trick. We hunted the rest of the day and saw an abundance of game, many species. Put the stalk on several and after final stalking into a waterhole late in the evening my son and I both took wonderful Gemsbok about 30 seconds apart! It was incredible. My son broke the neck of his and it dropped instantly, I broke the off shoulder on mine,missed the second shot and then hit it just behing the last rib raking forward into the off shoulder anchoring it for good. Day 2 we hunted hard, saw lots of game and made several stalks, but just couldn't seal the deal, not that we really cared, lol, this was the dream of a lifetime.
Day three was a great day, took a beautiful Blue Wildebeest fairly early in the morning, I'll never forget the sight of him staring at us quite belligerently, snorting and tossing his head so hard he was almost hopping, the sun shining off his beautiful coat, man what a sight! The rest of the day we stalked several Kudu and Eland, but there were so many eyes watching we kept getting busted. Finally, on the way back to camp, we saw a small bunch of Eland laid up in some brush, put a stalk on them and I had a beautiful Eland bull down within 30 minutes, although after the shot I thought a Gemsbok was going to run over us, lol.
The next morning my son took an Ostrich at about 110 yards, beautiful big old bird, extremely wary creatures. I think this was the longest shot my son had to take the whole hunt. His Pre 64 Winchester in .300 H&H magnum with 200 gr Partitions dropped everything he shot like you pulled the rug out from under it. Later that morning I took an old Warthog at about 110 yards, poor old fella never knew what hit him. The trophy of the day came that after noon when we stalked into a waterhole, we thought we ended up spooking the Kudu we were trying for, but suddenly Martin, our tracker, spotted a great Kudu behind some trees unaware of us. JP got my son set up on the sticks and he made the 80 yard shot, again breaking it's neck and dropping it instantly. It was a beautiful bull with fabulous ivory tips, my son couldn't stop smiling. Looking at the smile on his face made it all worthwhile.
The next morning it was my turn for Kudu. We soon put a stalk on a monster of a bull, I got set up on the sticks at about 125 yards and suddenly I had "Buck Fever", I couldn't catch my breath, was panting like a locomotive, shaky as heck. Kept telling myself, don't look at the horns, so I looked at his neck, my God it was HUGE, just made me worse, I totally missed a broadside shot! Oh well, at least I didn't wound him. That has never happened to me before in 45 years of hunting. Fortunately, we stayed at it and close to sunset Martin and JP spotted a couple of cows across a valley and after glassing, we spotted a bull hidden just above and behind one of the cows. These guys eyesight was amazing, it was nearly half a mile away and they saw it without binoculars. After circling around we got behind it, made a good stalk and I hit him solid breaking his shoulder, but he bolted and ducked into some brush before I could get off a second shot. JP tracked it and we jumped it about a half a mile further up and after a fast 30 second "run and gun" we had it down. truly a tough, majestic animal they are!
The next day, my son went after Giraffe with my .375. After finding and stalking an old bull with slightly mashed knobs, from fighting, my son hit him high in the shoulder and I instantly shot with his .300 just behind the foreleg, it made two strides then began to stumble and it was down! It was good he used my .375, his .300 hit a rib, broke it but deflected upwards and lodged in the shoulder, the bone structure on these things are like a tank!
The next day found us chasing Waterbuck for my son. We hunted most of the morning without much luck finding a bull, many females and young, but no bull. Finally we decided to stalk into a waterhole. We saw so many Kudu, Gemsbok and Wildebeest it was amazing. Finally we set up in the blind at the waterhole where about 30 minutes later a Blue Wildebeest came in behind us, winded us and then spent the next 30 minutes loudly telling everything around we were there! JP and I both tried so hard to talk my kid into shooting it just to shut it up, lol, but no go, he wanted his Waterbuck. Finally the Wildebeest left and we settled in to eat. About an hour later my son spotted an animal coming in and it was a Waterbuck! It warily came in and finally stopped to drink no more than 25 yards away, the shot was good dropping it with a broken shoulder but it was off and running in a flash. JP and I were both yelling shoot! My son shot two more times and dropped it about 60 yards away, man what a beautiful animal!
The last day we drove the cattle operation side to see if we could crop some animals out of there, saw several, but just didn't connect. After an afternoon truffle hunting, we found some, we headed back to camp for an early evening and packing for the next days departure.
These folks fed us so well, we had Zebra, Kudu, Eland, Giraffe, Gemsbok and the list goes on! The meals were served in a walled enclosure around a fire pit where we talked about the day, had a relaxing drink ate ate like kings. The folks at Kanana were truly wonderful in every regard and I will definitely hunt with them again and would not hesitate a second to recommend them for a fantastic plains game safari. I can't thank them enough for making my dream hunt come true. So much goes on behind the scenes to make a great safari, food, lodging, camp staff, skinning and preserving trophies, setting up trophy shots, transporting the game, etc. These folks did it all so professionally, Jason, Claire, Martin, Morlin and Will thank you again for making my dream hunt a reality.
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