SOUTH AFRICA: First Safari With GAME 4 AFRICA SAFARIS

[Drywaller44]

This was the best 10 days of my life! It met or exceeded every expectation that I had going into the trip. So why did I do this trip in the first place, well I've been fascinated with the animals in Africa since I was a young child watching nature documentaries. Then my dad got me into hunting at a young age when he gave me my first pellet gun and I would go after squirrels. Later that turned into deer and turkey hunting in the Missouri hills. As a teenager I would watch hunting shows with him and anytime an Africa hunting show would come on like Tom Miranda or Jim Shockey I was enthralled. Growing up in rural Missouri just traveling outside of the United States seemed farfetched at the time, much less going on a hunting adventure to Africa. So here you have a guy who has never hunted outside of Missouri, I've never had to shoot an animal past 100 yards and I've never flown on an airplane, who about 2 years ago decided to go hunt in South Africa after listening to several hunting podcasts about Africa and finding this awesome forum. Thanks to all the contributors on this forum that helped make researching for this hunt simple and made me feel comfortable enough to step out of my comfort zone.

Outfitter: @GAME 4 AFRICA SAFARIS

Owner: Wikus Coetzee

Professional Hunter (PH): Don Laaks

Dates: April 30 2023 through May 9 2023

DAY 1

I flew Delta out of St. Louis to Atlanta, Atlanta to Johannesburg, overnighted at City Lodge and then jumped on Airlink to get to Port Elizabeth. All my flights were on time or early and I had no issues. Never having flown, navigating the airports was the scariest thing for me but it all ended up being simple. Overnighting at City Lodge was a great idea. It gave me time to get rid of the jet lag and I had a nice dinner and breakfast at their restaurant. Dinner ends at 10 and breakfast starts at 4 so you have plenty of time to eat even if your plane lands late or takes off early. So at noon on April 30 I landed at Port Elizabeth and Don my PH was there to pick me up. Dons a great guy and he was very easy to talk to. He's very knowledgeable about the Eastern Cape having lived there his entire life and is great at pointing out little things that you may overlook while hunting. He's always pointing out birds, plants, and tracks of animals so that you're learning about the area your hunting in.

So one of the reasons I chose Game 4 Africa was that they had large concessions but focus on small groups of hunters instead of just trying to bring in as many hunters as possible. This was evident as I was the only other hunter in camp the first 3 nights. There was only one other hunter there the rest of my trip and you'll never see them out when you're hunting. So when I arrived at the lodge we had my favorite meal of the trip. Blue wildebeest lasagna. Wow that was good, as was all the food. After lunch we went down to the range and sighted in the Sako 85 7mm Rem Mag. with Swarovski scope and a suppressor, that I was renting from them. That was my first time shooting with a suppressor and it was awesome. Don also had a pair of the quad sticks and they were way better than the tripod I had been practicing off of at home. Now I had been practicing up to 230 yards but I've never needed to shoot a deer over 100 yards at home so I wasn't the most confident in taking longer shots. Don recognized this immediately and started to build up my confidence in my shooting ability at the range by telling me we were going to break some records that week in distance and that if I just listen to him I would be fine. He was happy with how I shot off the sticks so the year of practice paid off.

We did a drive that evening and I was amazed at all the wildlife we saw. We saw zebra, impala, eland, waterbuck, nyala, kudu, warthog and vervet monkeys all in a short drive around the lodge. Once I saw an eland and a waterbuck in person, I knew I wanted to hunt those big beautiful animals. That evening we had a braai, as we did every evening cooking up a different tenderloin of a game animal. They were all fantastic but impala was my favorite. Every dinner was finished off with desert and I became a fan of their brandy and cokes and South African chardonnay. Tomorrow we are going to start our hunt targeting bushbuck at Mountain Top.

My package consists of:
Kudu
Waterbuck or Nyala
Red Lechwe or Eland
Bushbuck or Zebra or Black Wildebeest

 

[TKessel]

Looking forward to the rest of your hunt!

 

[Firebird]

Eagerly waiting for more-
Wildebeest lasagna is awesome!

 

[Andrew62]

Great start to your hunt report!! My hunting experience with Wik was just wonderful, he is a super great guy!!

 

[Drywaller44]

Yea Wik, his wife Britt, brother Colin, dad John and all the trackers and camp staff were very friendly and accommodating. It definitely has that small business, family friendly atmosphere about camp where you're more than just a number and they are more concerned with how your overall experience is instead of just trying to get you to kill the next animal. Don't get me wrong they'll put you on animals and you'll hunt hard but they aren't pushy about taking everything that steps out.

 

[Doug3006]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your safari! Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your hunt. @Jeff505 and I leave for SA in 19 days. We’ll have to meet up for dinner and drinks when we get back.

 

[Drywaller44]

Day 2

Now it's time for the real fun to start and why I traveled 20 hours by plane and another hour and half drive to the lodge. We had a delicious hot breakfast before every hunt, no matter if it was at 5 or 7. Then it was off to the Mountain Top property to look for bushbuck. We arrived a little before 7 just as the mist is starting to clear from the valleys. It's the most stunning property I've seen. It's mostly rolling plains until you reach their property and then its densely wooded, rocky hills as far as you can see all the way to the Great Fish River. This was my favorite place to hunt.

It wasn't long after getting out of the Land Cruiser before we glassed some kudu cows on a ridge to our left as we were hiking along a path. That's when it really started to set in for me that I'm actually in Africa with boots on the ground hunting these animals I've only dreamed of hunting. Then a couple troops of baboons start barking pretty close to us as they came down from their cliffs they sleep in. We didn't see any kudu bulls with the cows so we carried on towards a big rock outcropping ahead of us. While walking towards it we had a porcupine run out in front of us only 20 or so yards away. That was really cool as Don said they usually only are seen at night. Then we heard a bushbuck bark in the valleys below us as we got closer to the rock outcropping. This was an amazing start to the adventure, trying to take in all of these sights and sounds while controlling my heart rate was a bit difficult.

It took about half an hour of glassing at the rock outcropping before a bushbuck ram was spotted. He came out on a path below us for about 20 seconds and then disappeared not to be seen again. He wasn't a shooter though, a bit too young. Just a few minutes later we spotted a couple of kudu cows in a valley to our right and then a nice bull steps out behind them. Almost immediately Don says that's a nice bull and has me getting on the sticks. I'm almost in shock that this is actually happening this quickly. I guess I shouldn't be shocked, this is what I came here to do is to hunt but it was just happening quicker than I thought it would and I'm still just trying to get my head wrapped around that I'm actually in Africa hunting these amazing animals. So I get on the sticks and start following this kudu bull as he chases his cows. He's at about 220 yards broadside and Don starts whistling to get him to stop but the kudu just keeps on moving. He then turns to go up the hill and I do the worst thing possible. As he's quartering away I kind of freaked out thinking he's going to get into the thick brush and I'm going to lose my shot opportunity on this nice bull. So I rushed a stupid shot, while my heart was racing on a moving target. I tried a shot that I had told myself I would never take and did everything wrong and shot right in front of him. A clean miss thank God but what a terrible feeling afterwards. It was about the worst way to start out a safari but instead of dwelling on this missed opportunity I decided to really buckle down and focus on the basics that I had worked on for the last year.

Don still had confidence in me after this shot and that also really helped. He understood that the moment just got to me and now it was important that I shake it off. After the shot we could see a couple cows and a young bull that had been traveling with the group. There were about 10 kudu total in this group with the big bull I shot at. Don was confident that the big bull wouldn't leave his cows so we followed them and they stopped running and took to the brush about 400 yards away. We decided to wait them out. Over the next couple of hours we saw a few cows and the young bull moving slowly feeding in the brush, until finally we found the big bull I had shot at feeding. During the waiting Don had been going over on where he wanted me to hold for a shot at different distances. Actually pulling up kudu pics on his phone and showing me exactly where he wanted me to aim. I also took the time to focus on the kudu cows, trying to work on my breathing and keeping my crosshairs steady on them. I got pretty confident that if he stepped out broadside for me and wasn't moving that I could pull off the shot. So at 394 yards the bull I had missed stepped out in a clearing broadside and I hit him about an inch too low in the shoulder. It broke his leg and stunned him enough to where he was only able to walk slowly. He came about 20 yards closer and stopped again giving me time to put another bullet in him higher in his shoulder dropping him on the spot. I kept my gun trained on him for several seconds and then let out a huge sigh of relief and disbelief that I had just taken my first African animal. Not only that but it was one of my top targets and it was at a distance that I didn't think I would ever attempt to shoot an animal at. The only reasons I attempted the shot were because of Don's unwavering confidence in me, me getting comfortable holding steady after my miss and the bull giving me the perfect shot opportunity. I was able to keep calm for this shot and every shot after that first miss. The feeling of downing this first animal was unmatched the rest of the trip and is one of the best feelings I've ever experienced.

It was a really old bull. One of the oldest animals I shot this trip, probably wouldn't have made it another year. I loved the ivory on his tips and he had a nice hide as well. I couldn't be happier with this kudu. What a way to start a safari. Now the real work began though. It took us about 3 hours to get this guy back to the truck. Since I wanted to keep the hide we had to get him out whole and it was through some of the thickest terrain I've seen. We all pitched in to get this guy out and it made it that much more meaningful.

 

[Drywaller44]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your safari! Can’t wait to hear about the rest of your hunt. @Jeff505 and I leave for SA in 19 days. We’ll have to meet up for dinner and drinks when we get back.

Yes Doug, looking forward to meeting up with you guys when you get back. Can't wait to hear your stories and thank you both for all the help you gave me before my trip.

 

[Drywaller44]

Day 3

Today the plan was to target red lechwe on their plains concession called Reedsdale. It's actually right across the road from Mountain Top. The terrain is rolling plains with thicker trees in the low dips. Completely different from their other two main properties that I hunted. Red lechwe was my top target coming here so I was excited to try my luck at finding a nice bull. When we first arrived we spotted a bunch of springbok and a few red hartebeest. The red hartebeest really caught my interest and is an animal that would be near the top of my list next time. If they would have been in a better position to stalk we would have made an attempt at them that morning. After a flat tire that was changed very quickly we finally spotted our first red lechwe. Now we had been driving for 2 hours in this concession and hadn't spotted any yet, so while it is more open plains it's still a large concession and nothing is a given.

The red lechwe herd numbered about 20 and had a few bulls in it, so we drove past them up to the other ridge to take a better look glassing them with the spotting scope. We spotted a couple nice bulls in the group but the last one in the herd seemed to be noticeably bigger. So he was the target and about 900 yards away when we started our stalk. We had some thicker brush in between us and the herd so we used that to work our way towards them. I followed directly behind Don trying to hide behind him and relied on him to keep an eye on the lechwe. As we got closer to the herd the brush cover got thinner and the last 100 yards we had to cover open ground between trees working our way very slowly. We finally ran out of cover, so at 220 yards I set up on the sticks and got on the big bull of the group who was hanging back from the herd under a tree. He was quartering away from us so I calmed my breathing and Don told me to aim right behind his shoulder. I let the shot fly and hit him perfectly dropping him in his tracks. What a great feeling after missing my first shot yesterday. It's so satisfying seeing an animal drop immediately. The red lechwe is such a beautiful antelope with his black legs, shoulders and bit under his chin. He was just what I wanted a nice mature representative with good mass.

It was around 11 once we had the red lechwe loaded up so we had plenty of time to go look for something else. I came here very open on what I would take. I do have a budget that I wanted to stick close to but I was very flexible on the animals that I would take to get there. Being my first safari I was going to be happy with any mature animal. So we started looking for red hartebeest, gemsbok and warthogs. We never saw anymore red hartebeest that day but we did come up on a herd of gemsbok. Unfortunately they were out in the open with no good way to stalk them so we moved on. We did glass some warthogs and tried to put a stalk on them but we got busted. Just stalking in close to these animals is a blast though and makes it that much more rewarding when you do end up with one.

Around 3 we decided to make our way back over to the Mountain Top property. It's so nice having this concession across the road from Reedsdale. It's the complete opposite in terrain and takes no time at all to get over there. We were mainly looking to see if we could find a bushbuck in the evening but as soon as we started glassing one of the ridges we spotted a really nice warthog on the opposite ridge. Unfortunately he worked his way away from us and we lost track of him. So back to looking for bushbuck. We made our way over to another ridge and Don ended up spotting a warthog pretty close to us on our own ridge. Don said he's a shooter but just a decent one. More like a last day animal. So we pretty much forgot about him and continued glassing. We actually worked our way closer to where this warthog was but we were above him and he was behind a thicket. About 10 minutes later the warthog comes out looking straight at us this time and Don's voice changes saying actually that's a pretty nice one. I look down at the warthog and go "yup that looks pretty nice to me." So he gets me on the sticks and the warthog takes off. He was at 60 yards, he ends up running to about 115 yards and stops behind a bush. Lucky for me I have the height advantage and can see the top of his shoulder as he's quartering away and I place my shot right behind his shoulder dropping him in his tracks. 2 animals down immediately today and I'm riding on cloud 9. I'm so pumped up at this point and in disbelief at how well this is going. My top two targets are now in the salt and I added a warthog. If my hunt ended today I would be completely satisfied.

 

[209hunter]

Awesome report so far, looking forward to the rest of it! I love these first safari reports, they really help me research for my first safari one day.

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Excellent write ups on your adventures. And some beautiful photography and animals harvested. Congratulations!!! Looking forward to the rest of the adventure.

 

[PARA45]

Eagerly waiting for more-
Wildebeest lasagna is awesome!

Man, next time I go I'm going to have some words with Wik. I don't remember having the Wildebeest lasagna.

 

[PARA45]

What a great report, and so happy that you were able to hunt with Game 4 Africa. Wik & Don are great individuals. Don picked me up at the airport, and we chatted all the way to the lodge. We both had a lot in common like spearfishing and bowhunting.

BTW, that place where you took the picture of the kudu, I swear I went through there when we got my bushbuck out of Mountain Top. That place kicked my rear end. LOL!!!!!

Keep it coming, anxiously waiting for more.

 

[Fatback]

Congrats on what looks to have been quite a first trip to Africa. Looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Excellent start! Glad to hear the trip went well. Looking forward to the rest of your report.

 

[Rare Breed]

Day 2

Now it's time for the real fun to start and why I traveled 20 hours by plane and another hour and half drive to the lodge. We had a delicious hot breakfast before every hunt, no matter if it was at 5 or 7. Then it was off to the Mountain Top property to look for bushbuck. We arrived a little before 7 just as the mist is starting to clear from the valleys. It's the most stunning property I've seen. It's mostly rolling plains until you reach their property and then its densely wooded, rocky hills as far as you can see all the way to the Great Fish River. This was my favorite place to hunt.

It wasn't long after getting out of the Land Cruiser before we glassed some kudu cows on a ridge to our left as we were hiking along a path. That's when it really started to set in for me that I'm actually in Africa with boots on the ground hunting these animals I've only dreamed of hunting. Then a couple troops of baboons start barking pretty close to us as they came down from their cliffs they sleep in. We didn't see any kudu bulls with the cows so we carried on towards a big rock outcropping ahead of us. While walking towards it we had a porcupine run out in front of us only 20 or so yards away. That was really cool as Don said they usually only are seen at night. Then we heard a bushbuck bark in the valleys below us as we got closer to the rock outcropping. This was an amazing start to the adventure, trying to take in all of these sights and sounds while controlling my heart rate was a bit difficult.

It took about half an hour of glassing at the rock outcropping before a bushbuck ram was spotted. He came out on a path below us for about 20 seconds and then disappeared not to be seen again. He wasn't a shooter though, a bit too young. Just a few minutes later we spotted a couple of kudu cows in a valley to our right and then a nice bull steps out behind them. Almost immediately Don says that's a nice bull and has me getting on the sticks. I'm almost in shock that this is actually happening this quickly. I guess I shouldn't be shocked, this is what I came here to do is to hunt but it was just happening quicker than I thought it would and I'm still just trying to get my head wrapped around that I'm actually in Africa hunting these amazing animals. So I get on the sticks and start following this kudu bull as he chases his cows. He's at about 220 yards broadside and Don starts whistling to get him to stop but the kudu just keeps on moving. He then turns to go up the hill and I do the worst thing possible. As he's quartering away I kind of freaked out thinking he's going to get into the thick brush and I'm going to lose my shot opportunity on this nice bull. So I rushed a stupid shot, while my heart was racing on a moving target. I tried a shot that I had told myself I would never take and did everything wrong and shot right in front of him. A clean miss thank God but what a terrible feeling afterwards. It was about the worst way to start out a safari but instead of dwelling on this missed opportunity I decided to really buckle down and focus on the basics that I had worked on for the last year.

Don still had confidence in me after this shot and that also really helped. He understood that the moment just got to me and now it was important that I shake it off. After the shot we could see a couple cows and a young bull that had been traveling with the group. There were about 10 kudu total in this group with the big bull I shot at. Don was confident that the big bull wouldn't leave his cows so we followed them and they stopped running and took to the brush about 400 yards away. We decided to wait them out. Over the next couple of hours we saw a few cows and the young bull moving slowly feeding in the brush, until finally we found the big bull I had shot at feeding. During the waiting Don had been going over on where he wanted me to hold for a shot at different distances. Actually pulling up kudu pics on his phone and showing me exactly where he wanted me to aim. I also took the time to focus on the kudu cows, trying to work on my breathing and keeping my crosshairs steady on them. I got pretty confident that if he stepped out broadside for me and wasn't moving that I could pull off the shot. So at 394 yards the bull I had missed stepped out in a clearing broadside and I hit him about an inch too low in the shoulder. It broke his leg and stunned him enough to where he was only able to walk slowly. He came about 20 yards closer and stopped again giving me time to put another bullet in him higher in his shoulder dropping him on the spot. I kept my gun trained on him for several seconds and then let out a huge sigh of relief and disbelief that I had just taken my first African animal. Not only that but it was one of my top targets and it was at a distance that I didn't think I would ever attempt to shoot an animal at. The only reasons I attempted the shot were because of Don's unwavering confidence in me, me getting comfortable holding steady after my miss and the bull giving me the perfect shot opportunity. I was able to keep calm for this shot and every shot after that first miss. The feeling of downing this first animal was unmatched the rest of the trip and is one of the best feelings I've ever experienced.View attachment 533627View attachment 533628View attachment 533630

It was a really old bull. One of the oldest animals I shot this trip, probably wouldn't have made it another year. I loved the ivory on his tips and he had a nice hide as well. I couldn't be happier with this kudu. What a way to start a safari. Now the real work began though. It took us about 3 hours to get this guy back to the truck. Since I wanted to keep the hide we had to get him out whole and it was through some of the thickest terrain I've seen. We all pitched in to get this guy out and it made it that much more meaningful.
View attachment 533632

Reminds me so much of my trip there hunting with Collin!!! He coached me to make shots I never thought I could make! Wonderful! Congratulations!!!

 

[Drywaller44]

Day 4

Today we are hunting on Woodvale (Kudu Ridge Lodge) which is also where the main lodge is located. Since we're hunting on the lodge property I got to sleep in, breakfast was at 7. The Woodvale property is also very large. It's got a lot of hills with some very thick brush but not as thick as the Mountain Top. This property is very fun to hunt. Our main targets today are waterbuck, eland and nyala. Today we saw a ton of animals. While glassing the hills today we spotted 10 trophy kudu bulls and several younger bulls. Two of those bulls looked like they would be monsters in a couple more years, very deep curls. It's funny no matter what we are hunting it's hard for me not to watch the kudu bulls. They command your attention.

Around 10 we spotted a nice waterbuck bull about 700 yards away. We started to make a plan to stalk him but unfortunately he ended up moving up the hill and bedding down in a terrible spot. The way the wind was blowing and his position we just didn't really have a chance to stalk him. So we drove around to get on the ridge above him and tried to stalk down to him from there but it was a slim chance and we both knew it. It still felt better to attempt a stalk than just give up on him though and we ended up spooking him.

Around 1 we were glassing another ridge listening to the baboons down by the river and another troop of them in the far off cliffs. When we spotted a couple of waterbuck cows in the valley to our left. Just a minute later a waterbuck bull walked out from the brush in the valley in front of us moving to our right. So we moved to the right along the cliff to get a better position on him and really check him out. He was a nice trophy bull and we got the sticks set up. He was walking about 280 yards out but every time he would stop it was behind brush and I'm not risking a moving shot unless the animal is already wounded. I'm not sure if he noticed us or not but eventually he stopped behind a large tree and stayed there for about half an hour or longer. We eventually sent our tracker that day Sada to the left to start making some noise to see if we couldn't get him to move again. It ended up working after a few minutes and he came out to the right at 260 yards. Again he stopped twice behind bushes before finally giving me a nice clear broadside shot. I let my shot fly and ended up hitting him a little too far back behind his shoulder. A liver shot and on these animals that doesn't cut it. He did hang his head and was walking slow but this animals are tough. I could have possibly gotten a second shot into him but I couldn't pick him up in my scope again before he hit the thick brush along the stream. If I would have remembered to throw my scopes power down I could have picked him up much quicker.

So now we make a plan. We're going to leave our tracker Sada on top of the cliff with a walkie talkie, while Don and I go down after the waterbuck. We waited about half an hour before going down after the waterbuck. We started along the stream and ended up jumping him up. Now the fun really began, Sada was our eyes and guided us through the brush for the next 20 minutes trying to catch up to this waterbuck who wasn't able to move too fast and was hanging his head all good signs of a decent hit at least. He eventually crossed another stream into some of the thickest brush on this place and Sada lost track of him. We also lost his tracks in the stream, so we pulled back. Sada kept an eye on the opposite hill and said the waterbuck never went up the other side so we were hopeful he was bedded down along the stream. Now it was time to call in the tracking dogs. We had brought a younger dog with us that was still being trained so we had somebody from the lodge bring out two more experienced dogs. One a fox terrier named Rambo and a jack russell named Rocky. It took these dogs about 5 minutes to find my waterbuck. Once he was found we followed the dogs in and I was able to finish off the waterbuck along the creek with a shot to the chest. It was a very exciting hunt having to chase this waterbuck and finish him off but also really nerve racking. Ideally you want to make a good shot and drop them quickly but these animals are tough and if you don't make a perfect shot these tracking dogs are good at what they do.

 

[Rare Breed]

Beautiful water buck! Collin found me a beautiful one that I passed on since he was not on my list. At the time I did not know what to take when Africa offered it. Well done!!!

 

[Drywaller44]

Beautiful water buck! Collin found me a beautiful one that I passed on since he was not on my list. At the time I did not know what to take when Africa offered it. Well done!!!

Thanks, I'm really happy with the waterbuck. Everyone seemed to think he was my best trophy size wise. They're just awesome animals. So much fun to watch all of them that come out into their fields below the lodge.

 

[Lbarr265]

That is a dream waterbuck. Congrats, and I can’t wait for the rest of your story.