SOUTH AFRICA: 3rd Time A Charm With Lategan Safaris

[FB1416]

Just returned from our 3rd Safari with Bennie and Carien and somehow it just keeps getting better. Despite some weather issues, we had an epic two-week adventure that ended with a couple of days of outstanding photography at Kruger National Park. We had a group of four couples including my longtime hunting buddy Darrell (the hat), my old friend Paz, and my youngest son all with better halves. We arrived in London from Dallas and did a private black taxi tour to see some sites. Afterwards, we flew to Johannesburg where we were met by Afton and transported to their beautiful lodge. I can't say enough about their hospitality, and we thoroughly enjoyed their new Kudu room as the rain came down. Would recommend to anyone going on safari to stay here as the atmosphere will have anyone in the mood to go hunting. The next morning, we hopped a short flight to Bloemfontein where we were met by Eben and Marco from Lategan Safaris and we were off to the ranch for welcome drinks and to shoot rifles. After an excellent dinner, drinks and cigars by the fire, we were ready for our first day of hunting four days after we had left.

 

[Muntjacer23]

Next time you are in London you 100% need to book yourself a day of stalking for Muntjac deer or Roe deer. There will be outfitters who can accomodate within a couple of hours of London, well worth it!!

 

[FB1416]

Day 1: Woke up to a slow-steady rain, something it has never done when I have been in Africa. They have have had a ton of rain and tracks were a loblolly. Thank goodness for Toyota Cruisers.Headed out on home ranch to look for Eland. Eben, my PH, said he knew there were two good bulls on ranch, but he personally had not seen them in over a year. Found a group in some low hills and did a quick stalk, but no shootable bulls. Shifted gears and went to back part of their original property (they have just acquired the adjacent property which was free range with several large hills) which is a large plateau that drops down to the Orange River. It is extremely rugged and we spent a couple of hours glassing for Kudu. Some small bulls, but again no shooters.

So off we went to a flatter part of ranch to look for Golden Wildebeest. We found two groups both with multiple good bulls and we put a slow stalk on the closer of the two group. As we crawled through the mud to a little rise above the herd, I realized we were so close you could hear their stomachs ruminating. We peered through a bush and I got on the sticks on my knees and located the biggest of three bulls. They were not more than 45 yards away. All of a sudden, something stirred them a little and they intermingled and moved, but did not spook completely. I found the bull again (so I thought) and he was facing me. I put the cosshairs on him and was waiting for him to turn. I heard Eben say to take him, straight on I thought? As I was starting the squeeze, he said again "Take him, take him through the bush". Wait, what bush? Turns out, I was on the wrong bull. By the time I corrected my mistake and settled on the right bull, they took off.

Dang, hunting only four hours and already screwed up. We decided to try the upper group, but bumped them with a failed stalk. It was now getting close to lunch and we decided to try one more time for the original group. This time, Eben led us in expertly, he has a talent for successful stalks, and I lined up the big bull again as the rain started again. At the shot, Eben said hit, but as the herd ran off we lost him. We could now see the heard about 500 yards away as they ran up a little ridge and turned into the brush. Eben said he thought my shot was a little far back and did not know if I hit the lungs. CRAP! Into the Cruiser we went to look for him and as we rounded the little rise there is a shallow dip that runs through where the herd was and ends in a small dam (pond). Eben sent our tracker Thabaung out to look up the draw just in case. We had just started off, when we could see Thabaung signalling. We looked and sure enough the Wildebeest had run down and crashed dead straight into the pond. My shot had been good enough after all. After Eben had to wade in and winch him out, their were smiles all around. Excellent first morning.

 

[FB1416]

That afternoon after lunch we were lazing around the camp getting ready to go back out around 2 pm. As the time was drawing near, I exited our chalet and saw my son and his wife coming out from the beautiful overlook that provides and outstanding view of the bottom of the ranch as it drops off to the Orange River. I ask them what they had been doing and they stated, "Watching the Eland". What? We were supposed to be hunting Eland that evening, so quickly made my way to the overlook and sure enough, there were 5 Eland bulls feeding contentedly in the flat below. One looked good to me, but I said Eben will probably say he needs another year. As I exited the path from the overlook Eben and my son's PH Cain, were exiting the main lodge. I told them about the Eland and off they went to have a look. All of a sudden Eben came sprinting back and said that is the bull we were looking for. He hadn't seen him in over a year and here he was feeding right below the camp. We quickly exited the gates and made our way around the rocky drop-off from the plateau that the lodge sits on. Twenty minutes later, we settled in on the bull. My first shot clearly broke his front shoulder, and he only ran a short way and stopped. We ran a short distance and in hurrying too much, I did not lower the sticks and snapped off a too quick miss. How do you miss an Eland???? I calmed my nerves, steadied the crosshairs and promptly dropped him with a third shot. What an Eland. I had wanted one with longer horns and he was everything I could have hoped for. My son and Cain had actually watched the hunt from the overlook.

To top off a fantastic first day we took a drive to the new property in the back. We had not been driving 10 minutes when Eben screeched to a halt and said there was a good Kudu bull following a couple of cows just a little way up a large hill that was in front of us. He looked and me and I replied, "Let's do it".
We drove past the Kudu and made a perfect stalk back in around the hill. We settled in with the Kudu about 160 yards above us and oblivious to our presence despite the fact we had baboons barking at us from the top of the hill. Just as I settled the crosshairs on his shoulder, Eben said to wait a minute. After a few moments, he said it was definitely a shooter, but he thought we could do better with it being the first day. It was still a very satisfying end to a GREAT first day!

My friend Darrell had also scored on a Black Wildebeest and my son on a Springbok on Day One!

 

[FB1416]

Day 2: We headed out to another ranch to look for Black Impala. We met a young man whose father was the foreman of the ranch and headed out. We went up an extremely rocky hill, just after day broke to a very heavy fog. We saw some beautiful Bontebok up on top of the hill. We made our way down and as the fog began to lift, started glassing. Eben nearly immediately spotted two males coming out of a field, one of which he said looked like a good one. We started down the very steep and rocky hill. We settled in just as the two impala reached the cross-fence. I put the crosshairs on the bigger of the two and squeezed off what I thought was a good shot. The impala ran to the top of the field and then turned right and off into the fog. Eben said he thought I hit it too far forward in the brisket. We searched the field, thought we maybe found a couple of specks of blood, but not much. As we reached the top of the field, my dejection started to set in. I had never lost an animal in Africa and really had never even had a long track on one. As we were pondering what to do, the fog lifted more and sure enough there stood now three Impala still in the field about 250 yards away. I quickly sat down and got on the sticks, forced myself to hold steady, and fired off a round that hit solid in the shoulder. The ram ran about 50 yards and collapsed. Turns out my first shot had been a clean miss. Another fairly quick, but successful hunt.

 

[DJStang]

Congratulations! Your great story telling and pictures accentuate the experience to the readers. Great trophies as well. Eland is on bucket list for my next trip to Africa.

I took my son on his first Cape Buffalo hunt back in May, along with my wife for plains game. But can't articulate the adventure as good as you have.

 

[FB1416]

Day 2 Cont.: That afternoon we set out for a ranch that Eben said was his go to place for Kudu. We got a rather late start and did not arrive until around 4 pm. As we entered, the right side was dominated by large, rugged hills. The left side was pastureland which ended in a bowl surrounded by low-lying hills. As we were glassing from the front of the ranch, Eben and Thabaung said they saw what appeared to be a large bull with 5 cows in the scrubby brush just in front of the aforementioned bowl on the left-side of the ranch. Dang, I have to invest in better optics before I go back as I could not even see the bull. Off we went through the pastureland. We drove all the way to the back and parked around a small hill that happened to be infested with baboons. We were still a long way off and with it getting late, my better half decided to stay as it would be a quick march and be entertained by the baboons. We took off fast, through some fairly open terrain and across a creek bottom and finally we approached the thick, green scrubby flat where the Kudu were feeding. We were glassing them and I could see the bull, and he looked huge. All of a sudden Eben looked at me and said, "Is that something you would be interested in?". I just shot him an incredulous look, like what? He repeated, "Is that something you would be interested in sir?". Dumbfounded, I ask "What are you talking about?" He then replied, he only has one horn. After he stated it would be 1/2 price, I was more than interested, but in reality, I always like non-typical animals. So, we continued on and visibility went to next to nothing in the thick undergrowth. It seemed we went on forever and I thought surely that we were about to come out on the other side of this brush. At this point we paused and Eben sent Thabaung up above us as we were now in the bowl surrounded by low hills. Not a minute later as we headed West, I heard a sharp sound. At first, I did not realize what it was, then I heard it repeated. Instantly Eben took off back to the North towards the hills as it was the cows sounding the alarm. As I was trying mightily to keep up, he all of a sudden threw the sticks up and pointed down a narrow lane. Just as I sat the gun in the sticks and looked through the scope, I could see two of the cows going up the hill. As I lowered my view, there was the bull, pausing just for a second and looking back at Thabaung just before he headed up after them. It turned out to be a fatal pause. I placed an actual good shot into his shoulder at around 230 yards. We watched as he stumbled and ran into two or three bushes before he crashed down dead. To take an animal as majestic as an old Kudu bull just as the sun was setting, not much is better! Two awesome days down!

 

[FB1416]

Just as a kicker, Eben said he had never taken a Kudu on that side of the ranch.

 

[FB1416]

Day 3: I needed to slow down a little or my list of animals, not to mention my wallet, would run out way before 10 days had elapsed. I told Eben I would not mind shooting an Impala, but it had to be really nice one, as I had shot an average one on my first Safari. He said he knew a ranch that the owner did not really keep up much anymore, but if we saw an Impala, it had a chance to be a giant one. Let's Go! We arrived a little late and spent most of the morning walking and glassing these cool, nearly canyons this ranch had on it that dropped off from the flat plateau above. We also ran into some guys herding up cattle off the backside of the ranch. There was a big hill that ran down the middle of the property and as we rounded it around 10:30 that morning, we had not seen a single Impala! As a matter of fact, we really had not seen much of anything except tons of Ostriches. On the other side of the mountain, it was a pretty open plain. All of a sudden, we saw a small group of mixed Blesbok. There were two common, one white, and two really big Yellow. The Yellow was on my list of extra animals, so Eben looked at me, and as usual I said let's do it (I know, no willpower). We made a perfect stalk, and settled in, the Blesbok completely impervious to our presence. I had been shooting just a little to the left so I thought I would be smart and aim to the right. I did, and hit right where I aimed, a little far back. However, the blesbok was hit hard from the 300 H & H and could not move much, so a quick finishing shot ended matters. He was a beauty measuring 17 1/2 inches. I took the rest of the day off and just relaxed and enjoyed the view, a drink & cigar at the ranch.

As a sidenote, I forgot to mention my Kudu was free-range as was the blesbok. Also on this day, Darrell scored on a really nice Copper Springbok and my son on a nice Impala. My other friend Paz, also got on the board with a nice Black Wildebeest.

 

[FB1416]

Day 4: Took a break and went with my son and his wife to hunt for Kudu. Even though we hunted hard in the mountains, no luck. Such is hunting! We did jump a massive warthog, and my son took a shot at around 450 yards but missed. Still a great day just to be hunting!

Day 5: Eben suggested we go to another ranch around 4 hours West to hunt my Sable. He said the terrain was completely different, that it was more classical Africa with rolling grasslands and camel thorn trees located just East of Kimberley. Off we went! The Makhulu ranch is huge and full of animals including hippo, crocs, rhinos, and lions. It is a large, well-run operation. We arrived early afternoon and as we were driving it spotted a couple of Sable bulls. Once we were situated in a very nice chalet which was very close (and I mean close) to the lion enclosure we headed out in one of their open-air game vehicles. We located the Sable we had seen and turns out there were not two bulls, but six. Two were shooters and we made a wide circle around them to start our stalk. We piled out of the vehicle and started out. As we were stalking, I glanced to the right and there were two rhinos about 70 meters away. Oh well, focus! Eben then signaled to me with his index and middle fingers off set. What? He whispered his right horn was an inch lower than his left, did I still want him? I guess I am not that picky and assured him it made not the least difference to me. That is his attention to detail though. As we got close, the brush got scarce. We crawled the last 30 meters or so only to see our target bull had bedded down. We waited and waited some more. Eben finally made a grunt sound to force the bull to stand up. No luck! Again, same result! Finally, on the fourth attempt which was basically a yell, the bull stood and one well-placed shot dropped him in his tracks. I will say this was not the hardest hunt, but a Sable is an icon, the "Prince of Africa" and I feel any trophy collection is not complete without one. We spent the evening with the wonderful host of the lodge (can't remember her name) and had coffee after a great T-Bone steak dinner with the owner. There were a couple of other groups at the lodge, one from the USA, and another from Denmark. It was a beautiful lodge, and overall great experience to see something new. We had break-fast the next morning and headed back to Lategans.

Also, while we were driving to Makhulu, my son scored on a wide Kudu where he had to lay on top of the mountain and shoot down on him. My friend Darrell took advantage of my absence and talked his PH into a little night hunting for jackel. No luck there, but he did score on a porcupine. Before we returned the next morning, he scored on a Nyala whose left horn measured nearly 28 inches.

 

[Miletic]

Day 4: Took a break and went with my son and his wife to hunt for Kudu. Even though we hunted hard in the mountains, no luck. Such is hunting! We did jump a massive warthog, and my son took a shot at around 450 yards but missed. Still a great day just to be hunting!

Day 5: Eben suggested we go to another ranch around 4 hours West to hunt my Sable. He said the terrain was completely different, that it was more classical Africa with rolling grasslands and camel thorn trees located just East of Kimberley. Off we went! The Makhulu ranch is huge and full of animals including hippo, crocs, rhinos, and lions. It is a large, well-run operation. We arrived early afternoon and as we were driving it spotted a couple of Sable bulls. Once we were situated in a very nice chalet which was very close (and I mean close) to the lion enclosure we headed out in one of their open-air game vehicles. We located the Sable we had seen and turns out there were not two bulls, but six. Two were shooters and we made a wide circle around them to start our stalk. We piled out of the vehicle and started out. As we were stalking, I glanced to the right and there were two rhinos about 70 meters away. Oh well, focus! Eben then signaled to me with his index and middle fingers off set. What? He whispered his right horn was an inch lower than his left, did I still want him? I guess I am not that picky and assured him it made not the least difference to me. That is his attention to detail though. As we got close, the brush got scarce. We crawled the last 30 meters or so only to see our target bull had bedded down. We waited and waited some more. Eben finally made a grunt sound to force the bull to stand up. No luck! Again, same result! Finally, on the fourth attempt which was basically a yell, the bull stood and one well-placed shot dropped him in his tracks. I will say this was not the hardest hunt, but a Sable is an icon, the "Prince of Africa" and I feel any trophy collection is not complete without one. We spent the evening with the wonderful host of the lodge (can't remember her name) and had coffee after a great T-Bone steak dinner with the owner. There were a couple of other groups at the lodge, one from the USA, and another from Denmark. It was a beautiful lodge, and overall great experience to see something new. We had break-fast the next morning and headed back to Lategans.

Also, while we were driving to Makhulu, my son scored on a wide Kudu where he had to lay on top of the mountain and shoot down on him. My friend Darrell took advantage of my absence and talked his PH into a little night hunting for jackel. No luck there, but he did score on a porcupine. Before we returned the next morning, he scored on a Nyala whose left horn measured nearly 28 inches.

Detailed reportage. Congratulations on a beautiful hunt

 

[TigerBob]

The Lategans are great people. I took my dad hunting with them back in 2015 and have nothing but great things to say about them. 100% recommend. Sounds like you had a great trip as well.

 

[FB1416]

I will get back and finish hunt soon.

 

[FB1416]

Sorry for the delay.
Day 6: Spent driving and and just relaxed at the ranch. In the afternoon, we did a brief ceremony for my father, whom we took to Africa in 2023. He passed last year and we spread some of his ashes off a scenic plateau. Just as we completed it five kudu cows came up out of the bottom and just stared at us. It was really special.

Day 7: After a little confusion on logisitics, Darrel and I headed off with Eben to another ranch pretty close to the coast from East London to hunt for me a Bushbuck. The girls decided to stay at camp, little did we know Marco would convince them to start hunting as well. The terrain change was dramatic. Large hills, but the foliage was much greener and thicker. Even though the camp was rustic, it was quite comfortable with a covered open cooking area, nice fire pit, three bunkhouses, and a covered outdoor shower. It was nestled beautifully between two hills in a narrow valley.

We started out around 2:30 as it was a four hour drive to the ranch. Just as we started up the first hill, the Cruiser screeched to a halt. Eben said big impala, I looked at Darrell and said, you take this one. He made an excellent dowwnhill shot and impala down not 15 minutes into hunting. We continued up the hill and rustled an old baboon out of his resting place at the top. Just as we started down we saw another good impala with a large group. As we tried to get into position, they bumped and we quickly went to the Cruiser and went all the way around the little bowl to cut them off. We got out and I could see impala making there way down the hill through the brush. I put the scope on a very small opening and as the ram stepped into it I snapped a shot off. Quick shooting, but I heard Darrell say he went straight down. Two good impalas in less than an hour.

We then drove a couple of miles to another section of ranch where the topography completely changed again. This was pastureland, with some thickly wooded draws. We saw a ton of game, including an outstanding common reedbuck and a bunch of waterbuck. We made two stalks on bushbuck, but neither was big enough to take. As the full moon rose over camp as we had finished off stuffed Eland filets (was actually my eland), we sat by the fire with drink anf cigar and just contemplated if it gets any better?

 

[FB1416]

Day 8: Spent all day stalking for the elusive bushbuck. Had two long, fruitless stalks and never did see a shooter. Same looking for my friend a waterbuck. Lots of mediocre bulls, but not what we were looking for. As the sun set, it looked like the bushbuck would allude me as we were supposed to head back to main ranch in the morning. When we got back to camp that night, Eben said he was going to call another nearby place and said we would give it one last try.

Day 9: As dawn broke we were overlooking a planted field at the aforementioned ranch. Anticipation was high, but as the sunrise came and went, disappointment started to set in. We saw some doe and a couple of small rams, but that was it. Eben said let's have a quick drive through the main ranch. The property was thick with brush which had overtaken everything. We had not been driving 15 minutes when we came over a small rise with an irrigated strip next to a horrendously thick dry gulch which ran alongside a hill covered with what if you called jungle, you would not be off by much. Eben slammed on the brakes,turned the Cruiser off and let us roll back down the rise. Out of the Cruiser we went and halfway up a small hill that ran adjacent to the irrigated strip. We could make out the buahbuck ram and doe in the thick brush next to the gulch. We got set up and waited! Finally the ram stepped out. The shot was about 230 and through the irrigation piping. I squeezed off and he immediately disappeared into the nearly impenetrable gulch. Wasn't 100% sure on shot even though Eben said hit. He asked for my rifle as he said bushbuck were prone to charge in really thick stuff. He went in and we walked the other side of gulch to see if he came out of the gully. If he made it to the hill, I doubted we would ever find him. After about 10 agonizing minutes Eben let out a shout. He had found the ram only about 40 yards up the gully. Got my bushbuck after all! We returned to ranch to find both our ladies had scored on springbok!