Day 1 First sunrise of the trip
Saturday July 19, 2015
Kudu was first on the list and we headed out after an all-American breakfast of scrambled eggs, the meatiest bacon I have ever had and toast with homemade jelly (peach, fig). John Henry kept putting shredded cheese on his toast but I wasn’t feeling South African enough to try it. We would be going to a premiere ranch known for huge kudu, Mamba. The ranch shares its name with one of the world’s deadliest snakes and they are known to frequent the area, but it’s winter here now and hopefully they are all asleep, tucked cozily in their dens. The ranch is 18,000 acres with the Mamba River flowing through it. The flat bushveld is met by the rocky outcroppings of the Waterberg Mountains. Not Rocky Mountain style, more like West Texas, but don’t be fooled as I soon learned they were steep enough to make this coastal flatlander’s lungs burn like napalm. My home sits at 18 ft above sean level and teh steepest incline within 100 miles of me are sand dunes. The mountains ranged in elevation from 1,200-4,500 ft. Like our South Texas brush, everything growing over here has thorns and although we claim to have everything bigger in Texas, these thorns make ours look puny in comparison. During my first trip in 2007, I witnessed a hunter get yanked off the back of the truck driving down the road because a thorn had caught his shirt collar as we drove by. No Texas thorn tree was going to do that to a person.
Once we arrived to base camp, John Henry started up the old Land Cruiser which sputtered to life in a cloud of smoke. The beast sounded like it was breathing hard to get started this morning in the crisp 40 degree air, but after getting all our gear loaded we were off. Unfortunately it would be a foreshadowing of my own inability to inhale oxygen in this place.
The initial climb from camp was rocky and steep. John Henry promised the road would get smoother shortly, but my kidneys were praying for sooner rather than later. I was wearing more of my diet coke than I was drinking at this point. As promised, shortly we topped the ridge and came into a large flat, that appeared to have been burned earlier in the year. We immediately began seeing game and our first kudu bull was spotted within 10 minutes of leaving camp. It was official, the adventure had begun. Before pulling away from our first sighting, we had a leak in a rear tire. Within 30 minutes, our 1st flat. It’s another case of foreshadowing when you have to start numbering the flats during the trip. As Tony Markis says on Under Wild Skies Africa hunting show, it isn’t a proper safari until you’ve had a flat or been stuck. I surmised this meant we were already on a “proper safari”. This property is lightly hunted as I was only the 2nd hunter to be on it this season. The animals were aware of our presence but not overly alarmed until the Land Cruiser came rumbling to a stop. It’s nice seeing game in their natural behavior. I’m used to deer in over-hunted areas running like the Devil himself is on their tail at the first hint of danger. This area held impala, wildebeest, klipspringer, steenbuck, bushpig, leopard and did I mention BIG kudu? I soon learned the preferred hunting method would be to wait for the sun to clear the ridge tops casting a soft yellow light over the valley and mountainside. The horns of the kudu would then glow like Darth Vader’s light saber and boy did they.
We had spotted 11 kudu bulls before lunch, with several mature bulls but nothing over 50 inches. That’s a good week on most average safaris so I was excited to see what the remainder of the hunt would hold. We hiked up a short mountain (thankfully) to a small cabin overlooking a valley for lunch. We sat on the porch looking over miles and miles of South African bushveld eating kudu burgers. What a treat! I forgot why I was there and just drank in the goodness of it all.
The afternoon was similar to the morning; we were seeing game and especially kudu. We came across a very nice steenbuck, but didn’t have the right gun for the task so we passed. We wouldn’t make that mistake again. As we moved around the ranch, John Henry would recount the places were previous monster bulls had been taken: Clay, Lowell, Derek, Dave etc. It didn’t seem possible to me that big kudu were killed in these areas as the mountainsides seemed strangely open for big kudu to be hanging out. Another special stop included John Henry showing us a mound of “rocks” jutting up from the sand. It didn’t look to be anything speculator until we begun sifting through the clutter and located a couple of fragmented pieces of pottery. John Henry explained the pottery was thousands of years old and it dawned on me these were a trace of the ancient hunters that had been here before us. As tempted as I was to snag a souvenir, I returned the pieces to the pile for the next adventurer to discover. I might even leave a spent brass casing somewhere this trip so that hunters centuries from now might make a “discovery” themselves.
Then it happened as it often does in hunting, we rounded the corner in an area I would later name Pharaoh Valley (Valley of the Kudu Kings). Standing 60 yards off the road barely screened by the brush was a serious kudu bull. I immediately knew this was a special bull, three visible curls with the naked eye. We were in a standoff, neither the kudu nor I willing to make the first move. Out of my peripheral vison, I could see John Henry glassing the bull or as he says “glossing”.
It seemed like minutes but I dared not reach for the rifle without approval. Finally the bull slowly turned and melted back into the brush. I looked over at John Henry in disbelief- “around 53” he said, “we can do better…. I hope!!” Even John Henry doubted our decision to pass this bull. Lisa reminded me of something I always say to hunters that I guide, “Never pass on day one what you would shoot on the last day.” She really wasn’t helping the situation at the time as I prayed I wouldn’t have to eat my own words of advice before the trip ended. We finished our first day without clicking off the safety. In total we had spotted 21 kudu bulls, over 100 impala, steenbuck, klipspringer and a small group of bushpigs. It had to be one of the best hunting days of my career and not a single shot had been fired. Back at camp and a dinner of roasted leg of lamb and veggies. Then right between the main course and dessert, a strange noise
vibrated through me. "Did you hear that John Henry asked?" Yes but I didn’t know what it was-Lions!! Our lodge was only 600 yards from the Marakele National Park and lions were patrolling the perimeter. On my previous two trips we weren’t in an area that contained lions, but this national park had it all: lions, hyenas, elephants, buffalo; the smorgasbord of African wildlife.
Marakele National Park is home to the big five (elephant, lion, leopard, cape buffalo and rhino) as well as sixteen species of
antelopes and over 250 species of birds, including the largest colony of
Cape griffon vultures in the world (around 800 breeding pairs). The
Matlabas River runs through the park. Previous to its foundation as a National Park, it was home to naturalist
Eugene Marais. Marakele was founded as Kransberg National Park in 1994 with the purchase of 58 square miles, and was shortly after renamed to its current name. By 1999, the park had expanded to 260 square miles.
After dinner, I have a Castle Light, my preferred South African beer, and Lisa sipped an Amarula, a popular South African liquor made from the fruit of a marula teee. A few more tidbits on the subject from Wikipedi
: Only the female marula tree bears fruit. By mid-February, the yellow-skinned, white-fleshed fruits are ripe for plucking. Many wild animals, but especially elephants, are crazy about the succulent, nutritious fruit. They’ve been known to ram the tree to dislodge their favorite snack if none has fallen to the ground. It’s not only the flavor but also the folklore surrounding Amarula that adds to the marula fruit liqueur’s appeal. Though the belief that elephants purposely seek out the fermented marula fruits, and become 'drunk' from them is pure myth, the marula tree is the stuff of legend.
No need for help tonight- I was out like a light as soon as I hit the bed. The sunrise would bring another day and more opportunity.
