SOUTH AFRICA: Tiny 10 In East Cape

[Green Chile]

I just returned from the last hunt of the season in East Cape, South Africa. It was my first time to that area and it was a great trip. As usual, I learned a lot and will be sharing those thoughts in this hunt report.

For the last few years, I’ve been going to Africa twice a year but I thought this year I was not going to be able to go at all due to saving for a new house. I met my financial goal a little earlier than expected and my good friend, Dieter called and said are you sure you’re not coming this year? I said well, if we could make it fit in this narrow window, I could do a short trip of about 1 week. Dieter got on the phone and begin checking his connections as neither of us had hunted this area before. We decided on 3 weeks notice that the trip was possible and we would target Tiny 10 species and maybe caracal with dogs.

Due to the very short notice of this trip, I approached it quite a bit differently than any of my previous trips. For one, it was too late to get permits started for bringing my own rifles. Maybe I could have rushed the process but I was very busy with work and didn’t have the time to add any more complexity than was absolutely necessary. So for the first time, I rented guns from the outfitter. Now many of you do this on a regular basis, but it was my first experience using unfamiliar guns in Africa. I had done the same early this spring when hunting in Argentina but this time was a better experience than in Argentina. I didn’t really know what I would be using but was told that the guns were in good condition with good optics and ammo. So I could put that subject out of my mind until arriving to hunt.

Because I was not traveling with guns, it opened my travel options considerably. I normally would recommend a travel agent for hunting travel but with only 3 weeks until the trip and no gun paperwork, I did some online research and was pleasantly surprised to find tickets from DFW to Jo’burg through London for about $1k. I’m used to paying around 2x that amount for seating in coach. This flight was with American Airlines in partnership with British Airways. That route breaks it up almost equally into about 10 hours for each of the 2 legs of travel to Jo’burg. I normally travel direct from Atlanta to Jo’burg so this was a different experience. My layover would be about 6 hours in London so not really enough time to do anything away from the airport. Plus, it was a last minute trip that didn’t have extra time for sight seeing. Also, as you may be aware, the good folks of England are charging for electronic permits to visit their country now and I was looking for a simple trip.

I have to admit, it was quite a luxury traveling without guns but an odd feeling as well. It felt like I was doing something very wrong by not checking a gun at the counter! The travel was uneventful besides the fact that I don’t sleep well on planes and I really dislike airline food. So I don’t eat or sleep much on these long flights.

I left Sunday night for London and thankfully everything was on schedule and the airports were back to normal after a chaotic week before that at airports across the USA. I relaxed in the international side of Heathrow for a few hours and enjoyed a meal of fish & chips at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant. My second flight was overnight and I loved that it arrived early morning in Jo’burg instead of late in the day. Well, we had some delays but I landed around 9am instead of 7:35am. For a short time, it looked like my checked bag had not made the last flight. Nothing came out on the conveyor and the AirTag tracking showed it still in London. Then it updated and showed it was somewhere in JHB. They found it in a back room for some reason and we were back in business. It’s not really Africa unless something odd happens! Dieter had driven down from Limpopo and we both checked our bags for the domestic flight to Port Elizabeth.

The outfitter met us in Port Elizabeth and we had about a 3 hour drive to the lodge. I was very curious to see this place and it did not disappoint. The buildings were newly made this year and they were finishing up a few things like the parking area. They have big plans for this operation and I look forward to seeing where it goes!

 

[Green Chile]

I took a quick shower and there’s nothing quite so luxurious as a shower after 2 days of travel! The guys had the rental guns out and there was a nice selection. I picked a Tikka 300 WSM with a Swaro 3-18x scope and it was suppressed. I shoot a 300 win mag often but was curious to try the 300 WSM for the first time. They had some hanging steel at 200 meters behind the lodge so we took a few shots and verified that it was in good shape. We also checked the shotgun for close shots on duiker and we were good to go.

After that, we had time before dinner to drive a couple of hours around the property to get a sense of it. This property is privately owned by a family that has established a conservancy legally. The full combined property totals 200k hectares…that’s 1/2 million acres! It was amazing to look across the valley and ask is the boundary that mountain range behind it? The answer was no…2 mountains past that. Geez…this is one big property and it’s all low fenced.

On the initial drive we saw impala, springbok, blesbok, Cape bushbuck, fallow deer, kudu, zebra, ostrich, sable and Cape buffalo. Their breeder bull is still young but 49 inches and of nice conformation! It should be noted that besides buffalo and sable, which are being bred for size, everything else here is loosely managed with no importation of additional genetics.

We had a good dinner that evening in the lodge with an interesting incident. The cook came out to announce the meal and when he got to the entree he said “…and for the main course we are having roast chicken and warthog chops.” He turned and left and the outfitter was shaking his head beside me at the table. I said what did I miss and he said, I don’t know why he is so damn dramatic…it’s just plain pork chops not wart hog! I couldn’t quit laughing.

I ask about the plan for hunting caracals with dogs and the outfitter says they have 10 different trained dog packs across the conservancy and local areas. The dog handlers run their pack each day of the week and rest them on weekends. These 10 dog packs take a combined total of 800-900 caracals and jackals each year! When I asked if they see much variance in those totals he said it’s been about that many every year for some time now. We don’t see the numbers dropping or increasing so it requires that much just to stay even with the population and birth rate. He said the dog packs will run each weekday at around 3am for most of the morning. Since you are focusing on T10, we will try to radio you if we get a hot track. If you can get to it within an hour, we will try. If you are further, we will proceed without you.

That evening we got a quick rest as we would be leaving at 4:30am to drive to a coastal area for blue duiker. I was definitely ready to get some sleep after 2 days of travel but as usual…I didn’t need an alarm to wake up for hunting in this new and interesting area. A new hunt in a new area? Let’s go!

 

[gillettehunter]

Great start. Looking forward to the rest of your hunt report. Massive area to hunt.
Bruce

 

[AZDAVE]

I have been looking forward to your report for this hunt. Great start by the way.

 

[skydiver386]

Something tells me this hunt report is going to include a lot of pics.

 

[Hunt anything]

Looking forward for the next installment!!

 

[Green Chile]

The next morning we were up early to drive to an area for blue duiker. We left the house at 4:30am for the 3 hour drive to this new and interesting area in the East Cape. We drove down the mountains into some very large pineapple fields. At the lower elevation of the fields there was the most interesting, super dense creek bed. From 10 feet away, the vegetation looked impenetrable. This is where we hunted the blue duiker.

Pineapple fields...

I will say that there is something about the duikers that just fascinates me. All of the little antelope are interesting but the duikers just have a different look. Observing them up close is never boring or dull. I was late in life to really get to know them and that’s a regret that I freely admit here. As much as I love DG, the little guys are just incredible. They walk around on tip toes like they are living in a minefield. They run like they are overdosing on Red Bull energy drinks. They stop before coming into an opening with one foot held up…just quivering…like they are walking across a grave yard. Even up close, I will put the binos on them just to watch their nose wrinkle and to see their intensity under magnification. They are truly addictive. I have my red duiker already, which is a real monster. I love looking at them.

We were going to do a combination of sitting near a pile of pineapple scraps and still hunting slowly through the jungle creek. Before diving into the brush, the farm manager said oh and by the way, there are buffalo down in the creek. Huh, and all I have to play with is this 12 gauge shotgun.

We sat for the morning near the bait pile but the winds were shifty. The only thing to come in was an Nyala who caught us with her bark and a group of monkeys. Now the monkeys had our attention as often the duikers will follow and use the monkeys for security. They also feed below them as monkeys drop fruit, etc above them. If the duikers were with this group of monkeys, they stayed back out of sight. The wind wasn’t our friend that morning and swirled often.

Bait pile and direction of travel for duikers on game camera...

For lunch that day we drove back into town and ate at the oldest pub in the Southern hemisphere…the Pig & Whistle Inn, circa 1832. Food was good basic pub food but I passed on the lamb liver and went with chicken strips, chips and calamari. I don’t recall ever coming out of the field in Africa and having lunch at a pub!

After lunch we drove back to the same blue duiker location while passing a Cape cobra along the way in the path. That’s the bad part of late season hunting; you are much more likely to encounter snakes than during peak season of June-August. Keep that in mind if you are hunting duikers as you will be in the bushes. Mind your feet and hands and where you sit!

The wind had shifted and steadied in a different direction from the morning’s set. We adjusted accordingly and sat till dark but saw northing. It doesn’t feel right. We are too open and are not seeing anything moving. They might be winding us but I think we are just too open as we are not seeing any plains game moving. We will have to rethink our plan this evening. A full day without seeing the target animal is not a good start and we all agree on that. Day one had rushed by with no opportunities.

That night we stayed in a hotel (which I have never done in the middle o a safari) and had a relaxing dinner getting to know the local PH better. Luke McNaughton is a young PH in his first full year of work. His twin sister works for John X Safaris. My instinct is that he is a young but growing talent and that turned out to be correct over the week of working together. He’s an intelligent, hard-working PH and if you get a chance to hunt with him, don’t hesitate! He’s going to have a great career.

 

[Osama Mahdi]

The lodge is new with big room. Great writing as usual.

 

[slam8031]

Green Chile I stayed in the same lodge chasing my portion of the tiny 10 this past June. Fantastic new lodge and good people. I got a vaalie at that lodge before heading east for duiker, oribi and greysbuck. Great write up !!

 

[Green Chile]

Did you hunt with Willem or Luke? Awesome place as you said and more to come soon on vaalie!

 

[slam8031]

Willheim. My regular outfitter ph took me there and then we also went to the Indian Ocean and.spent the night at Aldo park for chasing grysbuck.

 

[Green Chile]

Ok, day 2…we went back to the pineapple fields for one more attempt on the blue duiker before moving to a different setup & plan. This day was more stimulating as we were going still hunting for duikers in the jungle creek where the buffalo live.

The day before we had driven through a hole carved through the jungle creek and wondered if it could be walked. The wall looked impenetrable! Today we found out it wasn’t as the buffalo have pushed paths into the interior for shade and security. It was a whole different world inside of it…cool and damp, leafy and green…while outside the sun is pounding down with no shade around.

I wasn’t sure that we could get catch a blue duiker in their bedroom but we knew the bait setup wasn’t working so let’s try? Our thought was we might bump them and they hesitate or look back enough to give us a chance to verify which one is the male. As many of you know, the duikers pair up male and female. Females often have horns but much shorter than the males. There is nothing illegal about shooting a female blue duiker but of course, you want to get the male and leave the female for breeding. Incidentally, I don’t know of anyone (pro or client) who has observed a baby duiker in the wild. Anyone?

So we dive into the jungle like creek bed with a shotgun and a pistol, wondering if we will find the buffalo or the duikers. It was easy to see sign of the buffalo, both tracks and droppings and they had pushed pathways through the interior and eaten large amounts of the vegetation. It was impossible to see any spoor of the duikers. They are so lightweight that they don’t seem to leave visible spoor. A full grown male only weighs 8-12 lbs while females are slightly larger. Several attempts of going upstream and downstream were made but we saw no sign of the duikers. We did see warthogs and nyala...surprisingly no bushbuck.

About mid-morning we heard that the outfitter had driven over to meet us and more importantly, he had the oribi permit! I really felt that this last minute, end of season hunt could never secure an oribi permit. There just aren’t that many of them but props to Willem for getting one from another farmer. Not only that but Willem had scouted and knew where a good one was located.

So we left the jungle creek to meet him about 30 min away. He said I know the main area the oribi has been in lately and if he’s still there, we should get a shot. It was literally that simple. We entered a large field and as we crested a rise, the pair of oribi were about 200 meters in front of us. A quick check to separate male from female and I setup and took the shot of just under 200 meters with the 300 WSM. The hit was audible and the oribi spun in place and went down. Wow…that was easy but only because we had the permit and we had the scouting and with a bit of luck, they were in the same area. Beautiful older oribi with secondary growth…and we're on the board now at day 2.

 

[AZDAVE]

Glad you were able to secure the oribi permit! Props to the outfitter

Sometimes it is just right when a plan comes together. I had to lowcrawl almost a 1/4 mile to get into position for a shot on my oribi.

 

[Green Chile]

Thanks Dave. This was the only easy shot of the week and it’s getting ready to get much more difficult. I will take a little luck when I get it. I was shocked to get the permit also so late in the year.

 

[MontanaPat]

nice oribi, congratulations. Looking forward to reading the rest

 

[gillettehunter]

Good looking Orono. Congrats on getting him. My last trip to Africa in June I killed several Blue Duikers when they called them in. It seems like calling might work in your 2nd day scenario. So the question really is did they have someone who could call Blue Duikers?
Bruce

 

[Green Chile]

Great question Bruce. We didn’t try calling but talked about it. I learned later that this first duiker place was a backup plan we used due to a death in the first plan’s family. It’s not the end of our blue duiker story but is the end of that location. They are there but we didn’t see any. We are getting ready to climb mountains.

 

[Fatback]

I always enjoy the through write ups that @Green Chile does. Exciting, informative and insightful to be sure. Looking forward to seeing how this one unfolds.

 

[Green Chile]

Very kind…thanks and I love sharing the info! If it helps anyone have a better experience than it’s worth it. I’ve got some highs and lows to share for sure. This is real hunting and some of it kicked my butt.

 

[Green Chile]

After taking photos of the oribi, we drove the 3 hours back to camp through a different road. I really enjoyed seeing the topography of the East Cape. Many of you have seen it of course. It’s a popular location but all of my hunts have been much further north until now. This was a new area and species to both me and Dieter. I was also looking forward to getting back to the ranch and hunting there. There was so much new ground to see. What a beautiful property.

We rested a bit in the heat back at the lodge and then in the early evening, we scouted some more area looking for Cape bushbuck on the mountain slopes. We saw buffalo, female bushbuck, zebra and some nyala but nothing caught our interest. Much of what we saw was up high on the slopes as we drove midway up on little narrow trails cut by bulldozer into the sides of the mountain. It's not a relaxing drive if one is afraid of heights! I think some recoveries would require technical gear and ropes. Steep stuff!

At this point, I asked PH Luke if there was anything on the property that he found particularly interesting or special. He said there is a monster springbok that no one has been able to take. I said if we see him, let’s take a look. There were springbok of all color variations spread across the ranch. I was a little surprised to see some of the springbok up so high on the slopes.

Tomorrow we climb the mountains for Vaal rhebok!