We have been back almost two months after ten days in the Eastern Cape, after five years in the making. I was originally going to post here immediatly, but after a very busy few months befoe and stll busy post trip catch up, I will try to do our once in a lifetime trip some justice here.
I am primarily a Northern New York woods hunter, spending most of my fall in the thick woods of the Tug Hill region., hunting close and snowy. I have been very fortunate to have done a fair bit of Eastern Canada black bear hunting, and a couple Newfoundland moose hunts. Despite a lifetime of reading (Ruark, Hemingway, O'Connor and Keith,etc) of Africa and Africa hunting, I never dreamed it was possible until I discussed this with an acquaintance at an auction. My wife Darlene had always had an interest in going to Africa for wildlife viewing, but again, didnt think it was in the cards. After coming home and researching it, we realized that it was much more doable than we both thought. After looking in to a few outfitters, Jono contacted us and put together a package that was wonderfully affordable for us mixing ten days split between hunting a modest package. We do not have a large house, and budget limiting, I was happy to hope for impala, warthog and kudu. After discussing this with Darlene, I asked...."is there a trophy that YOU want ?" Without skipping a beat..."I want a Zebra Rug".
Uh, Okay,!
Originally planned for three years out, then delayed by Covid for two, last year we had lost the excitement of the planning, and realized we were only five months out when Jono McHugh with Kingsview Safari shook us awake that we were still on board! Luckily, pretty much everything was in order with us...vacation times, passports, etc., and we had arranged with our travel agent ( Travel Express) tentative plans and lined up a trophy shipper/broker.
We had all our covid essentials taken care of, had a quality camera for wild life pics, and I spent plenty of time shooting off sticks at distance. We had times of doubt as to if we should go through with it...poor economy, household repairs, old vehicles...etc., but ultimately we both decided we owed this to ourselves. We had never been away on a honeymoon or a travel vacation. We owed ourselves this, and had prepared for it.
With some regret, I chose to use Jonos rifle. As new as we were to international travel, we were both very apprehensive about the airports, routines, etc. and chose to simplify as much as possible.
We looked into many different activities for Darlenes days, and were very dissapointed when one by one we discovered most of them were shut down due to Covid or other reasons. For this reason, I was very concerned for Darlene enjoying the trip as much as I . She has happily tagged along on other hunts, but this will have been for the longest amount of time with literally no escape. She would be observing with my hunts as possible, and we had several day activities which I knew she would enjoy(It was her choice to go surf fishing for shark!).
Travel Express, before, during and after the hunt proved invaluable in assisting us with arrangements, travel questions, etc. More on this later. We arranged shipping with Trophy Shippers.
Our day of departure from Syracuse arrived, and after driving about four hours to Newark for our United flight, despite our innocence and ignorance of airline/check in routines, everything went painlessly. We arrived in Johannesburg april 19 p.m., and went through terminal procedures painlessly. In the main arriving foyer at the airport outside arrivals, we were met by Joseph from the Afton Safari Lodge, who gathered his group together and delivered us to the Lodge. The drive in the dark through Jburg almost felt like a Mad Max movie....campfires under bridges, very dark, spooky...foreign...
We arrived at the Lodge to be greeted and assigned our room, which was very comfortable. Despite being located in the middle of the sprawling city, Afton has a very large patio/garden with a pool, plenty of room to stretch your legs. Eight foot stone walls with razor wire surround you....and all houses in the city. Despite that, we felt very secure, and the city at night was amazingly quiet, compared even to our small village we live in. We had a wonderful evening with gin and tonics, a bodacious steak dinner with sides, and great excited conversation with other travelers. Afton has a very nice but limited selection of local gifts also.
After a wonderful night sleep and a big breakfast, we were delivered back to the airport and assisted to boarding. The two hour flight to Port Elizabeth was unevenful, but I marveled at the SA terrain beneath us when we were low enough to admire it.
Port Elizabeth airport is tiny...just a local airport, with no arrival routines. We left the plane and easily found Jono waiting for us outside. To say we had an animated excited conversation on our two hour drive to Southey Houke (sic? would be an understatement. Jono can certainly hold up his end of a conversation, and Darlene is always telling me I talk too much (too many years in sales). I will never forget the look on her face as she saw her first African wildlife...her favorites, giraffes!
We arrived at our home for the next five days, Southeys Houke, with our hostess Lynne Wicks (husband Lionel would stop in, but was himself guiding hunts). We were thrilled with our drive in to spot kudu, impala and springbuck. It was a true country retreat. Very comfortable and private cottages with a main lodge/kitchen to relax in, and wonderful west facing porches to enjoy the endless African sun downs. We had never been made to feel so at home so quickly. Happily for Darlene, a swarm of pudgy Jack Russells adopted us, helping her with her longed for Rottweillers back home.
After getting settled in, we fired a few shots from Jonos Marlin .270 to ensure all was right, and headed out to do some " scouting". I somewhat anticipated this...I had read several times of the PWH smoothly breaking the ice on game with an impala or similar species. We easily found feeding impala below us, and after a slow stalk found a good buck which I tracked throught the acacia until he stopped and turned a bit providing a good behinid the should shot, for a clean kill. Good going Jono!
Unfortunately, the beautiful sunset back lit pictures Jono took were lost when his memory card crashed, so all I h
ave is my crummy picture from the cleaning shed. But I have a beautiful should mount coming!
Not enough can be said about the wonderful South African hospitality and food. Familiar, but oh so different than our boring American diet, with plenty of game meat (we had over the length of our stay, Kudu, impala, springbuck, warthog sausage several different ways, ostrich (The Best!) and of course biltong...which puts our jerky to shame!.
The next morning I was delighted to see beautiful Springbucks outside our cottage, and a young blue wildebeest at a watering hole across from the lodge. You could almost always guarantee seeing warthogs there too. AFter a filling continental style breakfast (ham, sausage, cheese, fruit, toast/rusks, hardboiled eggs) we departed before the sun cleared the hills for a morning drive to see what the area offered, with Darlene tagging along. We were delighted to spot several beautiful but young Kudu, one playing peek aboo with us, at one time curiosity bringing him to within about thirty yards...great camera range. After lunch Darlene stayed in to nap and visit with our hostess, while Jono Elvis(our tracker/skinner extroardinaire) and I headed to the hills.
Jono early on established my criteria for a trophy. I consider myself a modest hunter, with sole qualifications being a good representation taken cleanly. And even though I have practiced extensively at distances up to 200 yards (and in the field taken game out that far cleanly) I am most comfortable ....hell, put them in my lap!
As far as trophy priorities, mine was of course kudu, but I said Darlenes was her rug, so for now ...that would be..targets of opportunity of course excepting. I was also honest with Jono about warthog...I had shot pigs before, and honestly, unless it was exceptional I didnt care if I shot one or not. More on that later....
The next two days we chased zebra. Along the way here and there we spotted kudu, but nothing to follow up on. Spotting from a distance, hoofing it , crawling on our butts, knees and hands, crab style, etc. Our second day turned in to a very unseasonably hot day which I am not used to, but we put over five miles in that morning chasing those silly striped critters. setting up several times to shoot only to have some loopy kudu stumble into us and ruin the plan. It was almost comical how one critter near us might go buggy and lilterally set off a wave of motion of critters along the hillside which would take fifteen minutes to get to the zebra. Of course the zebra had no idea why everyone else was moving, but just like a Walmart crowd...hey, lets follow them!
Anyway, after two long days chasing zebra, I asked Jono of we could take a break for Kudu, etc. By that time, after spotting several Nyala, I had added one of those to our list too, but in the hot weather they dissapeared.
The next morning we headed out to the hills to spot again, and with shadows still long Jono found a kudu bull worth looking closer at. A heavy rain the night before had cooled things off and made the baked clay underfoot very slick, but we slowly worked our way down hill where Jono found our bull bedded the other side of some thick acacia..his horns standing above them, with cows around him. We set up waiting for him to stand in a soft warm drizzle. I had the rifle positioned on the sticks when after almost an hour he stood in turned in one smooth motion dissapearing into the brush. Rats! Twice more we found him, twice more he moved again before we caught up with him, very nicely broadside . One shot from the .270 with a solid boilermaker hit, and we had him. Luckily Elvis was spotting us from the hill, as he bolted into the brush, but he didnt go far and the shot was perfect behind the shoulder, mid chest.
Darlene was up on the hill with Elvis and joined us for a few pictures. Nice start to the day. With help from some of the farms hands we got him loaded into the "Rhino", the camps heavy hauler off road vehicle and got him back to the skinning shed for Elvis to start on. We were curious about all the flying insects that were out, to be informed that they were termites. They leave their mounds after in massed flights after heavy rains. Jono mentioned they were commonly eaten by the locals, as well as him as a kid. "What do they taste like?" "Peanut butter". Okay, lets try some. Jono not so gracefully proceeded to snare a few out of the air, showing me how to remove the wings, pop em in and crunch! Hmmm! They do taste like peanut butter, and not at all unpleasantly. Over thenext few days I snared a fair number while hiking about. It would certainly take a whole bunch to fill you up!
With the cooler weather and rain, we were now seeing nyala. We drove about scouting, and proceeded to hill top overlooking the lowerlands along the Fish River. Near the end of a distand field Jono spotted a group of Nyala with some prospects in it. Moving closer and stalking in, Jono found a group of three with a nice bull in the middle. So far I was lucky with relatively close shots, and again this was true...around 80 yards or so. The bull dropped to the shot and my shot felt good, but while I was covering him after a minute or two he again stood shakily, going down for good with a 2nd shot. As the hunt progressed, I realized at the end I had a tendency to shoot high on the animals. I think it is because habitually with white tails, I usually aim a bit high behind the shoulders to take out both lungs and leave my (the deers) delicious heart intact, but with the Nyala, kudu and warthog...and I think many other plains games, the lungs are placed decievingly lower in the chest due to the spine/shoulder/hump anatomy. Oh well, lessons learned.
Anyway, the nyala was a truly beautiful specimen with long lovely ivory tips. Originally we were only planning shoulder mounts for the impala and kudu, but now our old limited walls in the house were going to be critter challenged....
Really not enough can be said for how much we enjoye our company, accomodations, food etc. at Southey's Houke. Waking up relaxed, the excitement of seeing what might be outside, our wonderful meals ( I love lamb, but seldom have it at home. I was delighted to have it several times over the week, each time it being more delicious). Game was served most days in one form or another. Each eveninig was spent on the veranda watching the amazing sun sets, and the incredibly clear night skies showed us the southern cross and Orion...who is a winter constellation at home. Jono and the Wickes were fascinating conversation, even if it was to them the daily challenges of the white farmer/hunter in an increasingly hostile and difficult way of life, which very sadly is likely coming to pass. Poor Jono did a wonderful job keeping this New Yorker educated with my constant questions on everything from the local schools, geography, edible bugs etc. to the difficulties of simply practicing the increasingly challenging occupation of professional outfitter. Along with outfitter, Jono and his supporting team (including Elvis and Jono's wife Justine.)) Jono was guide, outfitter, chauffer (sic?) , entertainer, coach, teacher, chef, logistics expert, counselor and much more!
Having gotten my Kudu, nyala and impala, the next day was slated for a trip to nearby Pumba game preserve for a private tour and brunch, which we were greatly looking forward to, with one more day after to again pursue Darlenes zebra rug. For now, this is all I have time to post, and time allowing will repost with the 2nd half of our adventure.
I am primarily a Northern New York woods hunter, spending most of my fall in the thick woods of the Tug Hill region., hunting close and snowy. I have been very fortunate to have done a fair bit of Eastern Canada black bear hunting, and a couple Newfoundland moose hunts. Despite a lifetime of reading (Ruark, Hemingway, O'Connor and Keith,etc) of Africa and Africa hunting, I never dreamed it was possible until I discussed this with an acquaintance at an auction. My wife Darlene had always had an interest in going to Africa for wildlife viewing, but again, didnt think it was in the cards. After coming home and researching it, we realized that it was much more doable than we both thought. After looking in to a few outfitters, Jono contacted us and put together a package that was wonderfully affordable for us mixing ten days split between hunting a modest package. We do not have a large house, and budget limiting, I was happy to hope for impala, warthog and kudu. After discussing this with Darlene, I asked...."is there a trophy that YOU want ?" Without skipping a beat..."I want a Zebra Rug".
Uh, Okay,!
Originally planned for three years out, then delayed by Covid for two, last year we had lost the excitement of the planning, and realized we were only five months out when Jono McHugh with Kingsview Safari shook us awake that we were still on board! Luckily, pretty much everything was in order with us...vacation times, passports, etc., and we had arranged with our travel agent ( Travel Express) tentative plans and lined up a trophy shipper/broker.
We had all our covid essentials taken care of, had a quality camera for wild life pics, and I spent plenty of time shooting off sticks at distance. We had times of doubt as to if we should go through with it...poor economy, household repairs, old vehicles...etc., but ultimately we both decided we owed this to ourselves. We had never been away on a honeymoon or a travel vacation. We owed ourselves this, and had prepared for it.
With some regret, I chose to use Jonos rifle. As new as we were to international travel, we were both very apprehensive about the airports, routines, etc. and chose to simplify as much as possible.
We looked into many different activities for Darlenes days, and were very dissapointed when one by one we discovered most of them were shut down due to Covid or other reasons. For this reason, I was very concerned for Darlene enjoying the trip as much as I . She has happily tagged along on other hunts, but this will have been for the longest amount of time with literally no escape. She would be observing with my hunts as possible, and we had several day activities which I knew she would enjoy(It was her choice to go surf fishing for shark!).
Travel Express, before, during and after the hunt proved invaluable in assisting us with arrangements, travel questions, etc. More on this later. We arranged shipping with Trophy Shippers.
Our day of departure from Syracuse arrived, and after driving about four hours to Newark for our United flight, despite our innocence and ignorance of airline/check in routines, everything went painlessly. We arrived in Johannesburg april 19 p.m., and went through terminal procedures painlessly. In the main arriving foyer at the airport outside arrivals, we were met by Joseph from the Afton Safari Lodge, who gathered his group together and delivered us to the Lodge. The drive in the dark through Jburg almost felt like a Mad Max movie....campfires under bridges, very dark, spooky...foreign...
We arrived at the Lodge to be greeted and assigned our room, which was very comfortable. Despite being located in the middle of the sprawling city, Afton has a very large patio/garden with a pool, plenty of room to stretch your legs. Eight foot stone walls with razor wire surround you....and all houses in the city. Despite that, we felt very secure, and the city at night was amazingly quiet, compared even to our small village we live in. We had a wonderful evening with gin and tonics, a bodacious steak dinner with sides, and great excited conversation with other travelers. Afton has a very nice but limited selection of local gifts also.
After a wonderful night sleep and a big breakfast, we were delivered back to the airport and assisted to boarding. The two hour flight to Port Elizabeth was unevenful, but I marveled at the SA terrain beneath us when we were low enough to admire it.
Port Elizabeth airport is tiny...just a local airport, with no arrival routines. We left the plane and easily found Jono waiting for us outside. To say we had an animated excited conversation on our two hour drive to Southey Houke (sic? would be an understatement. Jono can certainly hold up his end of a conversation, and Darlene is always telling me I talk too much (too many years in sales). I will never forget the look on her face as she saw her first African wildlife...her favorites, giraffes!
We arrived at our home for the next five days, Southeys Houke, with our hostess Lynne Wicks (husband Lionel would stop in, but was himself guiding hunts). We were thrilled with our drive in to spot kudu, impala and springbuck. It was a true country retreat. Very comfortable and private cottages with a main lodge/kitchen to relax in, and wonderful west facing porches to enjoy the endless African sun downs. We had never been made to feel so at home so quickly. Happily for Darlene, a swarm of pudgy Jack Russells adopted us, helping her with her longed for Rottweillers back home.
After getting settled in, we fired a few shots from Jonos Marlin .270 to ensure all was right, and headed out to do some " scouting". I somewhat anticipated this...I had read several times of the PWH smoothly breaking the ice on game with an impala or similar species. We easily found feeding impala below us, and after a slow stalk found a good buck which I tracked throught the acacia until he stopped and turned a bit providing a good behinid the should shot, for a clean kill. Good going Jono!
Unfortunately, the beautiful sunset back lit pictures Jono took were lost when his memory card crashed, so all I h
Not enough can be said about the wonderful South African hospitality and food. Familiar, but oh so different than our boring American diet, with plenty of game meat (we had over the length of our stay, Kudu, impala, springbuck, warthog sausage several different ways, ostrich (The Best!) and of course biltong...which puts our jerky to shame!.
The next morning I was delighted to see beautiful Springbucks outside our cottage, and a young blue wildebeest at a watering hole across from the lodge. You could almost always guarantee seeing warthogs there too. AFter a filling continental style breakfast (ham, sausage, cheese, fruit, toast/rusks, hardboiled eggs) we departed before the sun cleared the hills for a morning drive to see what the area offered, with Darlene tagging along. We were delighted to spot several beautiful but young Kudu, one playing peek aboo with us, at one time curiosity bringing him to within about thirty yards...great camera range. After lunch Darlene stayed in to nap and visit with our hostess, while Jono Elvis(our tracker/skinner extroardinaire) and I headed to the hills.
Jono early on established my criteria for a trophy. I consider myself a modest hunter, with sole qualifications being a good representation taken cleanly. And even though I have practiced extensively at distances up to 200 yards (and in the field taken game out that far cleanly) I am most comfortable ....hell, put them in my lap!
As far as trophy priorities, mine was of course kudu, but I said Darlenes was her rug, so for now ...that would be..targets of opportunity of course excepting. I was also honest with Jono about warthog...I had shot pigs before, and honestly, unless it was exceptional I didnt care if I shot one or not. More on that later....
The next two days we chased zebra. Along the way here and there we spotted kudu, but nothing to follow up on. Spotting from a distance, hoofing it , crawling on our butts, knees and hands, crab style, etc. Our second day turned in to a very unseasonably hot day which I am not used to, but we put over five miles in that morning chasing those silly striped critters. setting up several times to shoot only to have some loopy kudu stumble into us and ruin the plan. It was almost comical how one critter near us might go buggy and lilterally set off a wave of motion of critters along the hillside which would take fifteen minutes to get to the zebra. Of course the zebra had no idea why everyone else was moving, but just like a Walmart crowd...hey, lets follow them!
Anyway, after two long days chasing zebra, I asked Jono of we could take a break for Kudu, etc. By that time, after spotting several Nyala, I had added one of those to our list too, but in the hot weather they dissapeared.
The next morning we headed out to the hills to spot again, and with shadows still long Jono found a kudu bull worth looking closer at. A heavy rain the night before had cooled things off and made the baked clay underfoot very slick, but we slowly worked our way down hill where Jono found our bull bedded the other side of some thick acacia..his horns standing above them, with cows around him. We set up waiting for him to stand in a soft warm drizzle. I had the rifle positioned on the sticks when after almost an hour he stood in turned in one smooth motion dissapearing into the brush. Rats! Twice more we found him, twice more he moved again before we caught up with him, very nicely broadside . One shot from the .270 with a solid boilermaker hit, and we had him. Luckily Elvis was spotting us from the hill, as he bolted into the brush, but he didnt go far and the shot was perfect behind the shoulder, mid chest.
Darlene was up on the hill with Elvis and joined us for a few pictures. Nice start to the day. With help from some of the farms hands we got him loaded into the "Rhino", the camps heavy hauler off road vehicle and got him back to the skinning shed for Elvis to start on. We were curious about all the flying insects that were out, to be informed that they were termites. They leave their mounds after in massed flights after heavy rains. Jono mentioned they were commonly eaten by the locals, as well as him as a kid. "What do they taste like?" "Peanut butter". Okay, lets try some. Jono not so gracefully proceeded to snare a few out of the air, showing me how to remove the wings, pop em in and crunch! Hmmm! They do taste like peanut butter, and not at all unpleasantly. Over thenext few days I snared a fair number while hiking about. It would certainly take a whole bunch to fill you up!
With the cooler weather and rain, we were now seeing nyala. We drove about scouting, and proceeded to hill top overlooking the lowerlands along the Fish River. Near the end of a distand field Jono spotted a group of Nyala with some prospects in it. Moving closer and stalking in, Jono found a group of three with a nice bull in the middle. So far I was lucky with relatively close shots, and again this was true...around 80 yards or so. The bull dropped to the shot and my shot felt good, but while I was covering him after a minute or two he again stood shakily, going down for good with a 2nd shot. As the hunt progressed, I realized at the end I had a tendency to shoot high on the animals. I think it is because habitually with white tails, I usually aim a bit high behind the shoulders to take out both lungs and leave my (the deers) delicious heart intact, but with the Nyala, kudu and warthog...and I think many other plains games, the lungs are placed decievingly lower in the chest due to the spine/shoulder/hump anatomy. Oh well, lessons learned.
Really not enough can be said for how much we enjoye our company, accomodations, food etc. at Southey's Houke. Waking up relaxed, the excitement of seeing what might be outside, our wonderful meals ( I love lamb, but seldom have it at home. I was delighted to have it several times over the week, each time it being more delicious). Game was served most days in one form or another. Each eveninig was spent on the veranda watching the amazing sun sets, and the incredibly clear night skies showed us the southern cross and Orion...who is a winter constellation at home. Jono and the Wickes were fascinating conversation, even if it was to them the daily challenges of the white farmer/hunter in an increasingly hostile and difficult way of life, which very sadly is likely coming to pass. Poor Jono did a wonderful job keeping this New Yorker educated with my constant questions on everything from the local schools, geography, edible bugs etc. to the difficulties of simply practicing the increasingly challenging occupation of professional outfitter. Along with outfitter, Jono and his supporting team (including Elvis and Jono's wife Justine.)) Jono was guide, outfitter, chauffer (sic?) , entertainer, coach, teacher, chef, logistics expert, counselor and much more!
Having gotten my Kudu, nyala and impala, the next day was slated for a trip to nearby Pumba game preserve for a private tour and brunch, which we were greatly looking forward to, with one more day after to again pursue Darlenes zebra rug. For now, this is all I have time to post, and time allowing will repost with the 2nd half of our adventure.
