McKenzie Sims
AH enthusiast
- Joined
- Dec 11, 2019
- Messages
- 328
- Reaction score
- 829
- Media
- 13
- Articles
- 4
- Member of
- Safari Club International, GSCO
- Hunted
- South Africa, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Cameroon, Ethiopia. Outside of Africa. Pakistan, Azerbaijan ,Tajkistan, Turkey, Spain, New Zealand, Australia , Argentina, Across the US, and numerouse provinces in Canada
A story of mine published in the May-June 2026 SCI Safari magazine.
Prizes Of The Orange River
A Northern Cape hunting experience
As we land in Kimberly South Africa located in the Northern Cape province the sun was fading fast, and the day will be all but gone by the time we hit the road to camp. I had already been in Africa for 10 days but for this portion of the trip I was going to be hunting with Johann Badenhorst of Almansdam Safaris at two of his camps one being along the Orange river, the other in the Kalahari.
The drive to camp was in the dark but upon reaching the property we were welcomed to see a big Aardwolf standing next to the two-track leading into to camp what a great welcoming sight! Being in the dark I couldn’t take in the full sights of camp but rolling up and walking into the newly renovated camp instantly gave me a feeling I was in the right place, incredible dining area, outside Lapa with detached chalets would be our home for the next few days.
After a few stories around the fire and an incredible meal it was off to bed to get ready for our first day in this new to me area. 5:30am wake up some rooibos tea and off we went at 7am, its August and the dead of winter is starting to slowly wane off to spring but it’s a very chilly morning on the back of the Landcruiser. The rising sun is a welcoming sight as it brings some warmth with it. Our main goal for day one was to search for a few species id not taken on any previous safaris and that being, Bontebok and Kalahari Springbok. Bontebok translated from Afrikaans means “Colorful Buck” They are a beautiful antelope part of the Damaliscus Genus related to and often miss identified by many to be a blesbok. However, the Bontebok is classified as a separate subspecies of antelope, The Bontebok has and overall color that is a rich dark brown that has a purple sheen to it compared to the blesboks reddish brown with no purple gloss to it. The Bontebok have two more distinctive ways to identify them. They have a white rump patch that circles the base of the tail as the blesbok has only a faded patch on each rump cheek that does not circle the tail. The horns of the bontebok are a uniform black, with no rubbed ivory ridges and the rings fully circle the horns as the blesbok have the rubbed ivory ring tops and the rings are only on the front of the horns. The bontebok was nearly whipped out during the pioneering days of South Africa but due to conservation minded farmers the population has been back up to huntable numbers that continue to grow. I had seen a small group of Bontebok once in the Eastern Cape in 2022 and was amazed at how spectacular they were, with it being not so hard to convince me to want to hunt any given species in Africa, a Bontebok was high on my list.
Photo I took in 2022 in the Eastern Cape of a couple Bontebok.
Now this camp that Johann has in the Northern cape along the Orange river was spectacular the camp was recently remolded giving it a very modern feel and comfort to it while overlooking the river that at the time was dry but soon when the summer rains hit would be chuck full of water adding to the amazing views. We hadn’t gone far from camp when we glassed up our first group of Bontebok, a couple young rams together down in a small grass filled depression. They looked almost brown, purple in color with the early morning light giving them a very dark hue. Nothing of age and size in this group so we carried on with the morning, we glassed over a few more species that called this farm home including Golden Gemsbok, and Kalahari Springbok before we caught 3 sable bulls down on the banks of the orange river. Sable are an amazing animal and is always such a treat to see one, let alone 3 bulls down on the beautiful sand river. The morning progressed we continues to see game, more Springbok, a lone Kudu bull along the river and a good group of Roan that were busy clambering up one of the hills that are spread out across the property. It was about mid-morning, and we had just finished glassing the Roan when we glassed another group of Bontebok off in the distance as we got closer, we kept looking but never could turn up a big mature male with them, it turned out to be a group of just females and young. Making a big swoop around the hill the Roan had just vanished over, Johann spotted a lone dark Bontebok that looked almost jet black out in the flat. Johann was for sure this would be a male, but just how mature and big we would have to get closer to see. Unloading from the truck with shooting sticks and my 308 we set off to close the gap and get a better look at the ram. As we moved in closer using the bush to our advantaged 3 Springbok emerged to the left of the Bontebok and had us pegged, we stopped and stood still hoping they would just move off and not blow out of there. They didn’t necessarily walk away but they didn’t take flight like a 747 and leave the country so the Blesbok ram was only alarmed for a few short seconds then continued with his feeding, our stalk continued. We closed the gap set up the shooting sticks, Johann confirmed it was a ram and one we should take. Now started the waiting game to get a shot. He moved in and out of the Senegalia Mellifera known as Blackthorn, he fed out to the left giving me a 160-yard shot, steady on the sticks I squeezed the trigger at the shot the ram stood up on his hindlegs and lunged forward giving the signs of a well-placed shot. Within ten yards he was down and we had our first animal in the Norther Cape for the trip, a beautiful, mature Bontebok ram a species I’d never taken before.
After some photos we loaded up the ram and as we were close to the skinning shed dropped him off so he could be taken care of. It was too early for lunch, so we headed out from the skinning shed in search of a very nice Springbok ram Johaan had seen and even sent me pics of just a few days prior to my arrival. Now as I mentioned we had seen Kalahari springbok earlier in the day while searching for the Bontebok. For those who don’t know the Kalahari (hofmeyri) is a separate subspecies of the Springbok family (Antidorcas marsupialis) Kalahari’s being 25% larger in the body from the South African Springbok and has larger horns on average than any other springbok. They have distinct coloration differences from the South African Springbok on the face, body and rump. It is fawn in color with the lateral band being dark brown almost black with face strips that are a thin dark brown while the forehead color extends in front of the level of the eyes.
Safari club international recognizes 5 currently hauntable springbok species, subspecies and color variations. Kalahari springbok, South African Springbok, White Springbok, Black Springbok, and Copper Springbok. Even though today with the extensive game breeding and color variations there are many others that have come about in the last 10 years. The springbok slam is a highly sought after accomplishment within the serious African hunter fraternity. The slam includes the Common ( South African or Kalahari) Black, White and copper springbok with some folks pursing all 5 of the most known species being Kalahari, South African, Black, White, and copper on two previous safaris I had managed to collect the South African, White, and Black springbok meaning I only need a copper to finish the slam but a Copper and a Kalahari to complete all 5. As I’ve said it doesn’t take much to convince me to want to purse an African species, not just for the fact of completing a check list to say I did it or brag that I’ve done it but because I have an extreme obsession for the amazing continent of Africa and all the game that calls it home. So here we were looking for a big beautiful long wide flaring horn Springbok ram. How hard could it be I’m sure there weren’t any other rams around that looked like the monster Johann had sent me photos of via what’s app just days before. Oh, how wrong I was. Upon getting into the area, he had seen the ram along with one female and one smaller ram we found a large herd of them between 30 and 40 animals, not wanting to just completely count the group out we disembarked from the truck to get closer and see what this big group was made of. We spent some time slowly moving in the thick cover with the group never getting to see the full herd all at once and rams were running in and out chasing one another and on several occasions Johann thought he might have seen “our ram” but soon we got to close and got busted by a small sub group that took the large group on a run out to the middle of a much more open flat. We quickly moved to the brush line to get a better look and what we found were two very big rams standing next to each other in the middle of the herd one was the ram he had scouted out but what one was he to be exact we could not tell at the distance of 4oo yards. We watch the springbok slowly move out further into the opening when soon one of the big rams and three other springbok split off and went in a separate direction, this was a good sign. After bumping the Springbok, we wanted to give them time, so we broke for lunch along the Orange river.
our cook Machiel met us with and unbelievable spread of roosterkoek buns and Impala burger patties what a splendid lunch it was. After letting our wonderful lunch digest and watching the Appie (PH in the making) dig out the truck from the deep sand he managed to sink it in on our arrival to our lunch area we swung by camp got some more water, much needed sun block and back out we went in search of our big Springbok ram. It didn’t take long to find a big ram accompanied by another smaller ram, but the question was, is it the ram we were looking for? We worked our way into the two bedded rams and setup on the sticks the rams stood up and we carefully looked them over he was sure a big ram but while we studied the photos Johann had taken a few days earlier through his binoculars we come to the conclusion that this wasn’t our ram so the search continued we located the big bunch gave them a glance over and marked them off as the ram wasn’t with them. The afternoon sun was beginning to make its final dip, and sunset would be soon to follow and just when we thought we would have to pick up the search in the morning we found him. He was with a single female laying out in some lower scattered black thorn brush we didn’t have a lot of cover, but we set off trying to close the gap. We closed the gap from 260 yards to just 50 yards as the ram was bedded, we knew he would be getting up soon to feed as the sun continued to sink and after just a few short minute wait the ram got up to feed and when he presented me a shot I took it, hitting him perfect he did a semi half circle and was down. We walked up on this incredible ram sporting horns over 16” and doing the classic pronk one does just after it dies the erected dorsal hair, and the cotton candy smell is something you must experience.
With the Springbok and the Bontebok in the salt it would be time to move our focus to Cape Buffalo. But that’s a story for another day.
Cheers, Mckenzie
Prizes Of The Orange River
A Northern Cape hunting experience
As we land in Kimberly South Africa located in the Northern Cape province the sun was fading fast, and the day will be all but gone by the time we hit the road to camp. I had already been in Africa for 10 days but for this portion of the trip I was going to be hunting with Johann Badenhorst of Almansdam Safaris at two of his camps one being along the Orange river, the other in the Kalahari.
The drive to camp was in the dark but upon reaching the property we were welcomed to see a big Aardwolf standing next to the two-track leading into to camp what a great welcoming sight! Being in the dark I couldn’t take in the full sights of camp but rolling up and walking into the newly renovated camp instantly gave me a feeling I was in the right place, incredible dining area, outside Lapa with detached chalets would be our home for the next few days.
After a few stories around the fire and an incredible meal it was off to bed to get ready for our first day in this new to me area. 5:30am wake up some rooibos tea and off we went at 7am, its August and the dead of winter is starting to slowly wane off to spring but it’s a very chilly morning on the back of the Landcruiser. The rising sun is a welcoming sight as it brings some warmth with it. Our main goal for day one was to search for a few species id not taken on any previous safaris and that being, Bontebok and Kalahari Springbok. Bontebok translated from Afrikaans means “Colorful Buck” They are a beautiful antelope part of the Damaliscus Genus related to and often miss identified by many to be a blesbok. However, the Bontebok is classified as a separate subspecies of antelope, The Bontebok has and overall color that is a rich dark brown that has a purple sheen to it compared to the blesboks reddish brown with no purple gloss to it. The Bontebok have two more distinctive ways to identify them. They have a white rump patch that circles the base of the tail as the blesbok has only a faded patch on each rump cheek that does not circle the tail. The horns of the bontebok are a uniform black, with no rubbed ivory ridges and the rings fully circle the horns as the blesbok have the rubbed ivory ring tops and the rings are only on the front of the horns. The bontebok was nearly whipped out during the pioneering days of South Africa but due to conservation minded farmers the population has been back up to huntable numbers that continue to grow. I had seen a small group of Bontebok once in the Eastern Cape in 2022 and was amazed at how spectacular they were, with it being not so hard to convince me to want to hunt any given species in Africa, a Bontebok was high on my list.
Photo I took in 2022 in the Eastern Cape of a couple Bontebok.
Now this camp that Johann has in the Northern cape along the Orange river was spectacular the camp was recently remolded giving it a very modern feel and comfort to it while overlooking the river that at the time was dry but soon when the summer rains hit would be chuck full of water adding to the amazing views. We hadn’t gone far from camp when we glassed up our first group of Bontebok, a couple young rams together down in a small grass filled depression. They looked almost brown, purple in color with the early morning light giving them a very dark hue. Nothing of age and size in this group so we carried on with the morning, we glassed over a few more species that called this farm home including Golden Gemsbok, and Kalahari Springbok before we caught 3 sable bulls down on the banks of the orange river. Sable are an amazing animal and is always such a treat to see one, let alone 3 bulls down on the beautiful sand river. The morning progressed we continues to see game, more Springbok, a lone Kudu bull along the river and a good group of Roan that were busy clambering up one of the hills that are spread out across the property. It was about mid-morning, and we had just finished glassing the Roan when we glassed another group of Bontebok off in the distance as we got closer, we kept looking but never could turn up a big mature male with them, it turned out to be a group of just females and young. Making a big swoop around the hill the Roan had just vanished over, Johann spotted a lone dark Bontebok that looked almost jet black out in the flat. Johann was for sure this would be a male, but just how mature and big we would have to get closer to see. Unloading from the truck with shooting sticks and my 308 we set off to close the gap and get a better look at the ram. As we moved in closer using the bush to our advantaged 3 Springbok emerged to the left of the Bontebok and had us pegged, we stopped and stood still hoping they would just move off and not blow out of there. They didn’t necessarily walk away but they didn’t take flight like a 747 and leave the country so the Blesbok ram was only alarmed for a few short seconds then continued with his feeding, our stalk continued. We closed the gap set up the shooting sticks, Johann confirmed it was a ram and one we should take. Now started the waiting game to get a shot. He moved in and out of the Senegalia Mellifera known as Blackthorn, he fed out to the left giving me a 160-yard shot, steady on the sticks I squeezed the trigger at the shot the ram stood up on his hindlegs and lunged forward giving the signs of a well-placed shot. Within ten yards he was down and we had our first animal in the Norther Cape for the trip, a beautiful, mature Bontebok ram a species I’d never taken before.
After some photos we loaded up the ram and as we were close to the skinning shed dropped him off so he could be taken care of. It was too early for lunch, so we headed out from the skinning shed in search of a very nice Springbok ram Johaan had seen and even sent me pics of just a few days prior to my arrival. Now as I mentioned we had seen Kalahari springbok earlier in the day while searching for the Bontebok. For those who don’t know the Kalahari (hofmeyri) is a separate subspecies of the Springbok family (Antidorcas marsupialis) Kalahari’s being 25% larger in the body from the South African Springbok and has larger horns on average than any other springbok. They have distinct coloration differences from the South African Springbok on the face, body and rump. It is fawn in color with the lateral band being dark brown almost black with face strips that are a thin dark brown while the forehead color extends in front of the level of the eyes.
Safari club international recognizes 5 currently hauntable springbok species, subspecies and color variations. Kalahari springbok, South African Springbok, White Springbok, Black Springbok, and Copper Springbok. Even though today with the extensive game breeding and color variations there are many others that have come about in the last 10 years. The springbok slam is a highly sought after accomplishment within the serious African hunter fraternity. The slam includes the Common ( South African or Kalahari) Black, White and copper springbok with some folks pursing all 5 of the most known species being Kalahari, South African, Black, White, and copper on two previous safaris I had managed to collect the South African, White, and Black springbok meaning I only need a copper to finish the slam but a Copper and a Kalahari to complete all 5. As I’ve said it doesn’t take much to convince me to want to purse an African species, not just for the fact of completing a check list to say I did it or brag that I’ve done it but because I have an extreme obsession for the amazing continent of Africa and all the game that calls it home. So here we were looking for a big beautiful long wide flaring horn Springbok ram. How hard could it be I’m sure there weren’t any other rams around that looked like the monster Johann had sent me photos of via what’s app just days before. Oh, how wrong I was. Upon getting into the area, he had seen the ram along with one female and one smaller ram we found a large herd of them between 30 and 40 animals, not wanting to just completely count the group out we disembarked from the truck to get closer and see what this big group was made of. We spent some time slowly moving in the thick cover with the group never getting to see the full herd all at once and rams were running in and out chasing one another and on several occasions Johann thought he might have seen “our ram” but soon we got to close and got busted by a small sub group that took the large group on a run out to the middle of a much more open flat. We quickly moved to the brush line to get a better look and what we found were two very big rams standing next to each other in the middle of the herd one was the ram he had scouted out but what one was he to be exact we could not tell at the distance of 4oo yards. We watch the springbok slowly move out further into the opening when soon one of the big rams and three other springbok split off and went in a separate direction, this was a good sign. After bumping the Springbok, we wanted to give them time, so we broke for lunch along the Orange river.
our cook Machiel met us with and unbelievable spread of roosterkoek buns and Impala burger patties what a splendid lunch it was. After letting our wonderful lunch digest and watching the Appie (PH in the making) dig out the truck from the deep sand he managed to sink it in on our arrival to our lunch area we swung by camp got some more water, much needed sun block and back out we went in search of our big Springbok ram. It didn’t take long to find a big ram accompanied by another smaller ram, but the question was, is it the ram we were looking for? We worked our way into the two bedded rams and setup on the sticks the rams stood up and we carefully looked them over he was sure a big ram but while we studied the photos Johann had taken a few days earlier through his binoculars we come to the conclusion that this wasn’t our ram so the search continued we located the big bunch gave them a glance over and marked them off as the ram wasn’t with them. The afternoon sun was beginning to make its final dip, and sunset would be soon to follow and just when we thought we would have to pick up the search in the morning we found him. He was with a single female laying out in some lower scattered black thorn brush we didn’t have a lot of cover, but we set off trying to close the gap. We closed the gap from 260 yards to just 50 yards as the ram was bedded, we knew he would be getting up soon to feed as the sun continued to sink and after just a few short minute wait the ram got up to feed and when he presented me a shot I took it, hitting him perfect he did a semi half circle and was down. We walked up on this incredible ram sporting horns over 16” and doing the classic pronk one does just after it dies the erected dorsal hair, and the cotton candy smell is something you must experience.
With the Springbok and the Bontebok in the salt it would be time to move our focus to Cape Buffalo. But that’s a story for another day.
Cheers, Mckenzie
