SOUTH AFRICA: TIA

[Sourdough]

Well after all that Jazz let me know if you are around Pretoria so I can buy you and your wife a drink to laugh about it.

Thanks Frederik, really appreciate that.

 

[Desperatezulu]

Glad you made it with your sanity and gear intact - it was a close run thing for a while!

Hope things continue to go smoothly here in SA

 

[Sourdough]

Back from the shooting range.

Fiancé was up first with her 6.5 Creedmoore, 100yards off the bench. Two shots confirmed she was two inches high. Difference in the heat probably. I adjust the scope and two more shots and all was good. Next was her shooting off sticks, still at a hundred, but now ringing a small gong which she did.

We moved to 50yards. Out came her 375 Ruger with open sights off sticks. First shot on paper right where it should be. Second was on the small gong and she rang it and sent it spinning.

Very proud of her. Other than a rabbit she killed with her 22 pump this will be the first animals she’s taken. Wow, how fortunate to start your hunting in Africa.

My turn. First the Holland & Holland 375 H&H on paper off sticks. One shot verified sight in. Then rang the gong.

Next the WJ Jeffery 475 No 2 Jeffery (that’s a mouthful).

Open sights, 50 yards on sticks ringing the small gong. Boom and the gong appears to explode. It’s gone. Actually it just separated it from the tow strap it was bolted too. There were smiles all around. I think the biggest was from the tracker. He said “that gun will knock the Buffalo right to the ground”. I smiled knowing the reality of Cape Buffalo.

I next let the PH shoot. He walked to within “I have to save you distance” and fired. The smile said it all.

All in all a great morning. And my fiancé is loving it here. Even all the quirkiness with old farm houses.

First impressions for her is “this is where I want to live”. But we have almost a month to see and experienced more. Be interesting to see what she thinks then.

 

[Frederik]

Back from the shooting range.

Fiancé was up first with her 6.5 Creedmoore, 100yards off the bench. Two shots confirmed she was two inches high. Difference in the heat probably. I adjust the scope and two more shots and all was good. Next was her shooting off sticks, still at a hundred, but now ringing a small gong which she did.

We moved to 50yards. Out came her 375 Ruger with open sights off sticks. First shot on paper right where it should be. Second was on the small gong and she rang it and sent it spinning.

Very proud of her. Other than a rabbit she killed with her 22 pump this will be the first animals she’s taken. Wow, how fortunate to start your hunting in Africa.

My turn. First the Holland & Holland 375 H&H on paper off sticks. One shot verified sight in. Then rang the gong.

Next the WJ Jeffery 475 No 2 Jeffery (that’s a mouthful).

Open sights, 50 yards on sticks ringing the small gong. Boom and the gong appears to explode. It’s gone. Actually it just separated it from the tow strap it was bolted too. There were smiles all around. I think the biggest was from the tracker. He said “that gun will knock the Buffalo right to the ground”. I smiled knowing the reality of Cape Buffalo.

I next let the PH shoot. He walked to within “I have to save you distance” and fired. The smile said it all.

All in all a great morning. And my fiancé is loving it here. Even all the quirkiness with old farm houses.

First impressions for her is “this is where I want to live”. But we have almost a month to see and experienced more. Be interesting to see what she thinks then.

Enjoy it I will send you a PM with my phone number when you get thirsty.

 

[AZDAVE]

Bruce helped us with all the mess in 2021 Namibia trip. He is know as the mayor of Joberg airport for a good reason. Have a great safari.

 

[fourfive8]

TIA is right. Glad you made it after that veritable nightmare. Gracy has always been good to me and I had the same phone tag issue with other agents when I "tested the water" a couple of years ago. Bruce is the man- good to hear he is still the mayor of JNB. Good luck on your safari!

I am becoming convinced, the general public and certainly the younger generation, are all suffering a form of ADD as a result of staring at and living in a cell phone in between 20 second CNN "news" bites continually running in some form of subliminal expression in the background. I remember reading 1984 in junior high school, '62 or '63, thinking that's far in the future and unlikely. Well, here we are!

 

[fourfive8]

... at about the same time I also read Brave New World. I don't know who came closer seeing the future, Orwell or Huxley? Creepy how close both were in their visions of the future.

 

[AZDAVE]

@fourfive8 don't forget animal farm, read those three and have the same thoughts as you.

 

[Sourdough]

The first part of our “Safari” has been about seeing and living as rural South Africans. We are three days into that. Oh it’s 3:38am so you know something good is coming your way. TIA, this is Africa.

Day one. The PH and his family are where we are staying, an adjacent farms house. We are all sitting outside chatting, A rolling blackout hits. Lasted less than a hour. It was now dark so we said our pleasantries and each family headed to their respective residences.

When we went back inside we noticed that although the power was on the A/C wasn’t working. I found the breaker box and of course the labels were all in Afrikaans. No help there. There was one tripped but when I reset it two others tripped. So I put everything back the way it was and called the PH. He came over and turned all the breakers off then reset them in a particular order. The second a third turned on were breakers for the ground wire. I’ve never even heard of such a thing. Well that fixed it and the A/C was back on.

 

[Sourdough]

Day 2. After a hot sweaty day traveling to various towns (I’ll post more about this shortly) shopping and seeing the surrounding area, I’m in the shower cleaning.

I’m covered in soap and busy washing my crack and all of a sudden I have no water. I call out to my fiancé and she heads to the kitchen frantically looking for a pot to collect what water remains in any tap.

Unknown to her our PH is sitting in a chair in the living room. As she speeds by with whatever water she has found he says “is something wrong?”. A little surprised not knowing he was there she told him I was all soaped up and there was no water.

He works at sourcing the problem while I stand naked in the shower with the soap drying. Finally he finds the problem and in a few moments I’ve got water again.

Seems the farm hands had shut off the water that fills the tank that services the house and the tank ran dry. They did that while they were running the irrigation system. TIA.

 

[Sourdough]

Day 3. Today. Here comes the good one. Buckle up boys and girls.

It’s 2:45am. We are sound asleep. All the windows are closed and locked (kind of) as are the security bars that are over all.

My fiancé is awakened by a flashlight being shined in through the window. Next she heads a voice calling out through a sliding door that apparently hadn’t been locked.

She gently wakes me so I don’t freak out. “There’s a guy trying to get in and asking to be let in .” She knows it’s too early for it to be our PH, it’s still a couple of hours till he arrives.

Im groggily getting my self together. She hollering at the intruder. The intruder is hollering back. I’m up and my fiancé says “he’s not leaving get your gun”.

So I grab my 375, which I kept right next to the bed for just such an occasion. I chamber a round, take it off safe, my finger on the outside of the trigger guard. I head to the living room where this guy is.

From just around the corner I holler “who are you and what do you want?” He responds but I can’t really make out what he is saying, one because he had an accent, and two because I don’t have my hearing aids in.

It sounds like he is saying he’s from a security company but I can’t be sure. And if he is why is he here at 2:45am.

I advance and round the corner with the 375 at low ready, prepared to “harvest my first species”. [please please please quit saying you are harvesting an animal, it makes us appear as ashamed of what we do]

As I get nearer the security grate I can now make out more of what the intruder is saying. But he is still shining is flashlight at me so I can’t see him. I tell him to turn the flashlight off which he does. I advance closer. He puts his hands in the air and says “my hands are nowhere near my weapon”. I can see he has a Glock on his belt. And I can see he is a white guy so my level of “orange” fades a bit.

He tells me he is from PPS, a private security response company. I can see the headlights of his car but can’t tell what kind it is. He goes on the explain that the alarm system has gone dead and he responded. I told him I knew nothing about that. He asked if he could come in a check the system. At 3am? Yea that’s not happening. I said no, but he could come back during the day. He said great and then asked if he could close and lock the sliding door. I told him we didn’t have the key (which may or may not have been true). He closed the door and while lifting it trying to see if he could get the lock to catch. I’m at low ready the entire time. He turns around and leaves. I take the round out of the chamber, push it into the magazine and transition back to my continuous alert state of yellow.

 

[Sourdough]

Some thoughts. If PPS is a private security firm that responds to alarm incidents, they will be the company we will hire when we buy our property here. They actually respond unlike law enforcement back in America or here- this folks just write tickets and reports. The exception in America is Sheriffs. They are the only useful law enforcement as they actually protect us the citizenry and are the highest law enforcement in the US. I’m afraid I stand with ANTFIA on thinking law enforcement agencies, especially the FBI, should be disbanded- but for a different reason. Of course as stated I want to keep the Sheriff’s, they actually do their job protecting us, including protecting us from rouge government agencies. Okay I’ll get off my soapbox.

And folks for Heaven sakes maintain your places. None of this would have happened had the owner done maintenance which would have included replacing the battery in the alarm system. Since we’ve been here we have heard a beeping sound coming from the alarm panel from time to time. I now know what that was.

Well it’s day four, a hunting day. We will see what Africa has in store for us. After all, This Is Africa!

 

[Andrew62]

I am sorry for all of your drama, I wish you the best over the next month you are there in Africa.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Ah, Load shedding. You are getting the full experience. Good luck hunting today!

 

[TKessel]

All I can say is “wow”

 

[Grz63]

Hey, did you cross à black cat, some days ago ? What à story. !! Bon courage..

 

[Sourdough]

Yesterday as we were driving around I spotted this big old black impala with two busted off horns. A fighter for sure that was still running all his does. A perfect trophy to take and mount. I told my fiancé about it and she was all for it.

So this morning we contacted the farm (ranch) owner and he said before it had broken off its horns he was really big, and sure we could hunt it. So we started.

We drove the roads cut thru the bush veld for about 30 minutes until we spotted a herd of about 20 female impala in dense cover. Figuring there had to be a male with them we positioned ourselves to watch.

We glassed them for about 20 minutes. No make. We moved the bakkie a bit to watch from a different angle. No luck. As the herd moved back into the thick bush we started driving again and that’s when I spotted him. My fiancé got on the gun. Initially he was facing away from us. My fiancé could see his head, neck and about 2 inches off the top of his back. Now most of us could interpolate where the shoulder was and take the shot through the grass. This being the first animal she’d ever hunted other than a rabbit she refused to take the shot unless she was certain she could kill it. Even after it turned to face her she didn’t feel comfortable. Of course eventually he ran off to join the women.

Back on the hunt we went. Never found the females but there he was about 20 yards off the track looking at us. Seemingly waiting for my fiancé like he knew it was his time and wanted someone who appreciated him to take him, and that was my fiancé.

She lined up for a chest shot. A shot on her first big game animal, her first African animal. She was so excited I saw her get within a half inch of the scope, but knowing the suppressed 308 would have almost no kick, and knowing she was wearing ballistic shooting glasses I said nothing.

She squeezed the trigger and the impala exploded onto gyrations indicative of a heart shot going only about ten feet.

The PH and tracker checked to be sure he was dead, then we went over. She got down with the impala embracing him while her emotions flooded out. The PH and tracker walked away to leave her to her feelings. She stayed with it for about five minutes. A truer sportsman I have never met. She chose him, and took him the way she wanted, on her terms. I couldn’t be prouder. What a gift I have in her.

Once in the skinning shed she watched the whole process, even getting down to hold the heart and lungs in her hand to see how the bullet had done its work.

Excellent morning.

 

[Philip Glass]

We are feet dry. An hour and a half to go. A $2,500 voucher from Delta for each of us came to our emails. Just dumped a cup of coffee all over myself, my seat and my cubicle. And seconds later while I was trying to clean up I knocked over the cup again dumping the remainder. I’m blaming it on sleep deprivation.

When the crap starts rolling downhill.....
But, but, you are in Delta One. Let me sit in Delta One and you can pour a cup of coffee on me!
I bet you have smooth sailing from here on and $5k in your pocket.

 

[Philip Glass]

That is why I will never fly again. If I can't drive I won't go. I guess Africa is out the airline screwed me out of $ 6000

Wow. Ive heard this before And it makes me sad. Where is your sense of adventure? Traveling is part of the adventure for me. Take it as it comes.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

Wow. Ive heard this before And it makes me sad. Where is your sense of adventure? Traveling is part of the adventure for me. Take it as it comes.

my wife says we are not lost we are on an adventure!