FINAL PART
May 27: Day 8 of hunt
Since we all had a late night last night with the big Eland, we decided to take the day off from hunting. The only thing missing on our wish list was Bushbuck and an Impala for Elise. We also thought a couple of Springbuck would be nice, so we made plans for tomorrow to go to another concession. For today, we decided to go be tourist in nearby Grahamstown.
Having heard Elise talking about her plans to go to graduate school, Wik asked her if she’d be interested in seeing what Rhodes University was like. Wik made a few phone calls and an official campus tour was lined up. We met with a university representative and he loaded us into a golf cart and gave us a tour of the campus. After the tour, we had a nice lunch at an off campus, college pub called “The Rat & Parrot.” Rhodes University nickname is Rhodian, which students and locals morph into Rhodent, which I’m guessing is where the Rat came from. Not sure about the parrot part, but I’m sure alcohol was involved. Also know that several pubs in the UK use this same name.
While still in Grahamstown, we also got a tour on Connock’s Butchery. This is another business owed by the Coetzee family and it was doing a brisk business the day we visited. If you think about it, it’s a business that dovetails nicely with a South African hunting operation. In fact, I saw firsthand when we saw my Eland from the night before hanging in a meat cooler. In addition to game meat, they process locally raised beef, pork and sheep.
We returned to the lodge late in the afternoon and Elise was really concerned about getting an Impala. So with about an hour of daylight left, we loaded up and went out to find a good Impala. Wik quickly spotted one and set up a stalk for he and Elise. X, the tracker with us, and I hung back. We couldn’t see the Impala and we also couldn’t see the large Waterbuck that was very close to them. What I could see, in the opposite direction, were 3 good looking Sable. So I was content to watch the Sable through the binos until I finally heard the shot. X and I moved forward and could see Wik and Elise high fiving. The one shot kill was from 150 yards and the Impala was quite impressive.
Like several of our dinners during our hunt, we had a nice South African braai that night.
May 28: Day 9 of hunt
Up early and an hour drive to a new concession to look for Springbuck. We drove north to Fort Beaufort, then turned west to Adelaide and Bedford. The land was a bit flatter and much more open. The farm we hunted was near the Cookhouse wind farm. You don’t realize how large those big windmills are until you are up close to them. We stopped at the beautiful farmhouse and the owner invited us in for coffee and told us about some of the history of the place. We spent the entire day there, saw tons of game, plus cattle, sheep and horses. The wind was blowing hard (probably why they put windmills here) and we attempted a few 400 yard type shots at Springbok, but didn’t connect. We could have taken numerous Blesbuck, Zebra or Wildebeest, but weren’t interested in those and we had already accumulated a sizeable trophy fee tab. We headed back to the lodge for the evening, glad we got to see another part of the eastern cape.
May 29: Day 10 of hunt
Wik had offered us a tempting change of pace for today. Wik’s parents, John and Amanda, live in Port Alfred, maybe 40 km from the lodge. They have a deep sea fishing boat and Wik said if we wanted to go fishing, we could do that. We decided we’d just hunt the morning and if we bumped into a Bushbuck, one of us would take it. We kept bumping into large Kudu, Nyala and Waterbuck, plus Warthog and passed. So that ended our very successful and fun hunt. We spent the afternoon packing, as we had to get on the road at 5am the next morning for the 2 hour drive back to Port Elizabeth.
May 30: Travel day
Up early, a quick breakfast and on the road to Port Elizabeth. Wik got us there right at 7am, check in was quick and easy and our flight to Joburg left on time. We had about a 4 hour layover in Joburg and then a 6 hour flight back to Lagos. Elise spent a couple of day there and then flew back to the US.
Final Comments:
Our 10 day plains game hunt with Wik Coetzee and Game4Africa Safaris was outstanding. Game4Africa is a sponsor on AH and this hunt was advertised on here and that’s how I booked it. We took 9 very nice trophies, stayed in luxurious accommodations and ate like a king. We also drank a wee little bit.
Game4Africa is equipped with top notch equipment, from well maintained, late model Toyota Land Cruisers (I counted 5 at the lodge). As mentioned before, the rifles for rent were Sako with Swarovski scopes. Oh, the 375 H&H had a Schmidt and Bender. I liked it at the end of the hunt when Wik gave me a 6 pack of beer to give to the two trackers, X and Mike. They more than earned it. Prior to the hunt, Elise and I got matching olive green Carhartt jackets. We decided to give them to Mike and X to show are appreciation of all the hard work and the skill they contributed to our successful hunt.
Another thing I appreciated was the simplicity in the billing. No VAT or special fees, bar tab or anything extra. Added up the trophy fees, added the day rate and gun rental fee, less the deposit and that was it. Pretty simple and very fair!
This was my 4th safari and the first in South Africa. The Eastern Cape is beautiful country and certainly has a lot of Kudu, as well as other game. I always have a dilemma about returning to a place I’ve already hunted, because I want to see more of Africa. However, I think we’re going to have to return here in a couple of years and probably bring the rest of the family. We came as first time clients and left as good friends.
