SOUTH AFRICA: 1st Safari With Global Safaris

[cagkt3]

Ok, so this is a little overdue. I've been swamped at work and I've been putting this off for a while, but I'm sitting in an airport waiting so it's as good a time as any to start. We originally won this hunt during a Friends of the NRA dinner in April of 2017 on a silent auction. After discussing options with a local US rep and the outfitter we picked our time and began the wait.

Outfitter: Global Safaris
PH: Ronald Barnard
Location: Limpopo Province, near Thabazimbi
Species Taken: Blue Wildebeest, Blesbok, Impala, Gemsbok, Kudu, Zebra, Waterbuck, Nyala, Black Impala, (Warthog)
Species Seen: Above plus Giraffe, Golden Wildebeest, Sable, Duiker, Steinbuck, Vervet monkeys, Baboons, Red Hartebeest, Eland, Jackal, Bushbuck, Ostrich, Reedbuck, Cape Buffalo

Travel Day(s)
We were flying out of DFW, so the day prior I decide to do a varmint competition. Stayed up all night - we didn't have much luck, got our 5 grey fox but no bobcat which was the primary goal. Anyways, I got a couple hours sleep and off we drive to Ft Worth. Up the next morning and head to the airport. We flew Emirates, and the check in was super easy. You do have some paperwork to get done ahead of time, but @Travel Express will take care of all of that for you. Jennifer booked everything for us and it was well worth it!! Back to check in - they spotted me as I walked up, said right this way, and the supervisor had all my paperwork printed out and ready to go. They escorted me to security for a quick check, locks back on and away we go.

Flights were great, really good service and food, excellent entertainment, etc. Little longer travel time than Delta, but I would use them again.

We arrive and get through customs no issue, had an airport employee come up and let me know they had gotten my rifle already and it was waiting for me at the SAPS office (I was the only hunter and had my camo backpack on). Called Africa Sky as I was a little confused on the airport layout, and thought they might be waiting by baggage claim after customs. Got that situated and we exit to the arrival hall to be greeted by Gilbert. We breeze through SAPS after a quick serial number check, and head to the lodge.

Upon checking in, we grab a drink and head the room to eat as they had made us each a plate since we missed dinner (arrived around 10pm). We try to get some sleep and manage a few hours anyways. Up the next morning for some wonderful breakfast and wait for our PH Ronald to pick us up about 9am.

 

[cagkt3]

Day 1

So Ronald picks us up for the ~3 hour drive to camp. My wife attempts to kill him with the age old "Death by Question"....she was unsuccessful but gave it a hell of a try! In all seriousness it was a great drive, we got to see very little of Johannesburg but the country we drove through was pretty. A lot more farmland than I had imagined. After passing through a few small towns, including Thabazimbi we arrive at camp - Lentegeur Game Lodge. We drop our bags and meet the family - Rene (Owner/chef/Ronald's mom), Carolien (chef/camp manager/Ronald's better half), Tyson (bulldog, the wife's new best friend) and Max (Rene's dog). We have a great lunch and try to get a nap in.

Tyson relaxing

Max

We head out about 3pm to check the rifles. The wife is up first and no problems. My turn, and not so good. I got frustrated and probably pulled some shots also, but long story short 11 shots later and I'm good to go. We head out for our first game drive and it doesn't disappoint. We see tons of wildlife, from blue wildebeest to a small kudu buck, to a giraffe and her calf. We hopped off a few times to ckeck tracks and waterholes, but no luck the first night. Back to camp for a great steak and some fantastic wine. We turn in early still trying to adjust.

Firepit

Lodge at night

 

[billc]

By the list of what you took it seems you had one hell of a hunt. Can't wait to see all the pictures

 

[cpr0312]

Looking forward to more! Agree with Bill, based on the 10 species taken list, looks like you had a great time!

 

[cagkt3]

Day 2

Up around 6 am for breakfast. We head out around 7 and check a few waterholes and see what is moving. Unfortunately it started raining last night and still is off and on. We set up in a bush blind hoping something will come but Ronald soon decides it is a waste of time with all this rain. So we head out in search of a blesbok or impala for the wife in an area of the ranch that is more open. We come upon some blesbok and proceed to chase them around for about 2 hours. She had several stalks, but between the wind swirling a little bit and the grass being nearly as tall as the animals, she isn't successful. We did see a large herd of sable pretty close up which was neat. They had a breeding program here and they had sable everywhere. We decide to head back to the other side of the ranch and see if we can't catch some zebra or blue wildebeest finally coming out of the thick stuff as the rain lets up a little.

1st Stalk

Sable

As we are heading back, Ronald spots a blue wildebeest bull up by a blind up ahead. We quickly pull off and decide to get closer as Ronald thinks he might be a good one. We are 300+ yards off, and we start weaving in and out of the bush along the road. The bull is unaware we are there, but he is walking away from us down the road and those guys can cover some ground when you are walking slowly to avoid making noise! Finally we get to about 175 yds and he heads off in the bush....only to step right back out and stops broadside. Up goes the sticks and bang, good hit but he's off. We move up the road and find blood, and proceed to track for about 100 yds and there he lays. First African animal!!

Amazing experience for me. Ronald and the tracker Owen head off to find a path to the road, while Karel (driver/tracker) and my wife drive up as we left them behind. I take a moment to thank God for this opportunity and the animal. I will always remember that moment. Enough emotional BS...this bull had some really cool bosses (I know, I'm biased). They were pretty worn/beat up. The shot was good, bullet was lodged under the skin on the far side (180 gr Swift A-Frames out of a Remington 700 in .30-06 Springfield).

We head back to the skinning shed and watch the team of skinners (Thaba, Moses, Owen, Karel and another gentlemen that I cannot read my own writing to tell you his name) go to work with utility knives and they are done about 20 minutes later. Really fun watching those guys work.

Tyson also enjoys their work

We eat lunch and take a nap as the rain starts back up again. Apparently we brought rain with us, but it is much needed and I'm in Africa so I don't care a bit. We decide to just call it a day, and just enjoy camp. We have another group of 3 that joins us tonight.

 

[cls]

Great stuff, looking forward to the rest of the report.

 

[buckmarkhunter]

Can’t wait for the rest of this. I have a buffalo hunt with Global and Ronald in April 19. Nice read so far.

 

[TRAVEL EXPRESS]

Thanks for sharing your photos and experience.............

 

[Nyati]

Good going, so far !

 

[TTundra]

Great write up so far. Looking forward for more to come!

 

[Shootist43]

A good read so far, looking forward to "the rest of the story."

 

[Neale]

Thanks for the report so far. It is very green, when did you do your hunt?

 

[cagkt3]

Day 3

Up early for breakfast, but the rain continues to come down! We were not far from the Krokodilrivier (Crocodile River) and it soon swelled and was over the banks in certain spots. Crazy amount of rain.

Anyways, since we were going to get rained out again today (forecast for rain until late afternoon/evening), we decided to head out to Zebula - a resort/golf course/animal park. We got there after a 1.5 hr drive and headed in for a quick snack and checked out a few animals.

Blesbok near the entrance

Meerkat

After our snack we head off to do an elephant interaction. It was a really cool experience being that close to these animals - they are just immense. The trainers shared a lot of info about elephant behavior and showed us how they are able to work with the animals. The wife was even brave enough to climb up on one for a ride when the rain briefly subsided. I stayed on the ground, took pictures, and looked wistfully at a nice warthog that was walking around in complete confidence that he would not be shot at....damn him anyways!

Momma and calf

Feeding time

They show us the elephant's famous memory (and smell) - took 3 people's shoes, mixed them up, and asked the elephant to return them one by one to the right person

Us

Nice warthog

Ride away

After the elephants, we load up and drive back. We stop in Thabazimbi for a late lunch as we are starving, and get to experience a nice little power outage right as we order. Thankfully the backup generator kicks in and I get some pretty decent wings. Back to camp and finally the rain has moved out, and we decide to head out for a drive. We get a pretty close encounter with the giraffes again and see a few other animals but nothing worth chasing.

Slightly crappy phone picture, but they were only 50-60 yds away.

We end the night as usual, with a great meal and some beverages. One thing both my wife and I enjoyed was the meals being self serve, buffet style. There was always great food, and lots of it. They were very accommodating of my wife's food needs (non-dairy). We also prayed together before every dinner which we also enjoyed.

 

[cagkt3]

Thanks for the report so far. It is very green, when did you do your hunt?

Sorry! Should have had that in the first post. We hunted the 21st to the 30th of March.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Good stuff so far.

 

[cagkt3]

Day 4

Back to hunting as the rain decide to finally head out for good - at least for the continuous stuff. We had a few more light showers the rest of the time, but nothing that kept us from hunting.

We decide the wife needs to get an animal in the salt, so we head back out after her blesbok. With all the rain, it seems as if the tall grass in the open areas has grown even taller! We proceed on our game drive until we finally spy some blesbok off in the thick grass. Only problem is they are not staying still for long. We repeat the process for a bit - glass them, stop the truck, get ready, off they run. Finally, we catch a break as they stop while crossing the road in front of us to take a look at about 235 yds. The wife steadies herself and makes a great shot, ran about 15 yds on pure adrenaline and fell over. The look on her face is priceless, as she asks if she got him. She is really dedicated to making clean shots and making sure the animal does not suffer. As we hurry up to get pictures the animal's brain give a few last twitches to it's legs. This prompts my wife to say what became a running joke between us and Owen - "He's still running!!"

Her first African species

We head back to the shed, and go ahead and break for lunch and our nap.

We spend the afternoon out looking for zebra, which was quickly becoming my wife's nemesis. She was a little hesitant about taking a zebra to start with, but little did she know that would change over the course of the next week!

 

[cagkt3]

Can’t wait for the rest of this. I have a buffalo hunt with Global and Ronald in April 19. Nice read so far.

You will have a fantastic time! Ronald and his family are great people, and they run a good camp.

 

[WAB]

Day 1

So Ronald picks us up for the ~3 hour drive to camp. My wife attempts to kill him with the age old "Death by Question"....she was unsuccessful but gave it a hell of a try! In all seriousness it was a great drive, we got to see very little of Johannesburg but the country we drove through was pretty. A lot more farmland than I had imagined. After passing through a few small towns, including Thabazimbi we arrive at camp - Lentegeur Game Lodge. We drop our bags and meet the family - Rene (Owner/chef/Ronald's mom), Carolien (chef/camp manager/Ronald's better half), Tyson (bulldog, the wife's new best friend) and Max (Rene's dog). We have a great lunch and try to get a nap in.

Tyson relaxing
View attachment 229839

Max
View attachment 229838

We head out about 3pm to check the rifles. The wife is up first and no problems. My turn, and not so good. I got frustrated and probably pulled some shots also, but long story short 11 shots later and I'm good to go. We head out for our first game drive and it doesn't disappoint. We see tons of wildlife, from blue wildebeest to a small kudu buck, to a giraffe and her calf. We hopped off a few times to ckeck tracks and waterholes, but no luck the first night. Back to camp for a great steak and some fantastic wine. We turn in early still trying to adjust.

Firepit
View attachment 229786

Lodge at night
View attachment 229787

Africa Sky is the only way to go. Gilbert is first rate, makes everyone feel like they are his best friend!

 

[cagkt3]

Day 5

We awake for breakfast and get some pictures of the camp mascots - a few waterbuck cows and their young. They came in to drink nearly every morning and every evening, and it was pretty cool seeing them so close.

We hunt in the morning, but the sprinkles come and go and it seems like the rain has still slowed the activity down some.

After lunch we head back out, and fairly quickly we come upon some Impala and the giraffes again. We turn on a cross road, and stop as Ronald says we should have a look. We walk back the the intersection and peek out slowly....and the impala are still there! It seems like the giraffe, who were rather unfazed by us driving past I guess, have given the impala a sense of security. Up go the sticks and the wife takes aim.

I told my wife I would tell everyone she is aiming at the giraffe and missed completely but if you look to the right side of the giraffes, you will see the impala.

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She makes a good shot and he's down. She's very excited, and we hurry again for pictures as the light rain starts up again. After that it's off to the shed and we decide to call it an afternoon.

Happy wife

The giraffe stuck around for pictures!

He's no monster, but she was thrilled with him

South African lap dog

 

[cagkt3]

Africa Sky is the only way to go. Gilbert is first rate, makes everyone feel like they are his best friend!

Gilbert is a super nice guy. I'm on the look out for a set of Texas Longhorns for his car