SOUTH AFRICA: A Lot Of South Africa With Bronkhorst Safaris

[Hunt anything]

This hunt started off at the Alabama 2024 SCI banquet. My wife slipped off and purchased a hunt with Phillip Bronkhorst safaris while I was off socializing.
It was a tremendous shock when she informed me we would be headed back to South Africa in the near future. She had planned for our youngest daughter and her husband to accompany us but life being what it is these days it looked doubtful that either of them would be able to make the trip. My son in law is in the navy and was deployed overseas and couldnt get leave and my daughter was working for the CDC and was fired in the early days of DOGE. My wife and I talked it over and decided we would help her pay for the trip and she was able to go with us, I cut down my trophy list to make it happen and I am elated that I did . She had an absolutely incredible time. She had a very good eye for photography and took some amazing pictures.
We booked for mid August 2025 and have recently returned. We flew Delta without a hitch and all flights left on time and we arrived early to each destination.
The trip was for 7 days hunting including a half day of bird hunting and some fishing along with 3 sightseeing days.
I’m still playing catch up on the farm and will start with the hunt soon!

 

[RLD]

This hunt started off at the Alabama 2024 SCI banquet. My wife slipped off and purchased a hunt with Phillip Bronkhorst safaris while I was off socializing.
It was a tremendous shock when she informed me we would be headed back to South Africa in the near future. She had planned for our youngest daughter and her husband to accompany us but life being what it is these days it looked doubtful that either of them would be able to make the trip. My son in law is in the navy and was deployed overseas and couldnt get leave and my daughter was working for the CDC and was fired in the early days of DOGE. My wife and I talked it over and decided we would help her pay for the trip and she was able to go with us, I cut down my trophy list to make it happen and I am elated that I did . She had an absolutely incredible time. She had a very good eye for photography and took some amazing pictures.
We booked for mid August 2025 and have recently returned. We flew Delta without a hitch and all flights left on time and we arrived early to each destination.
The trip was for 7 days hunting including a half day of bird hunting and some fishing along with 3 sightseeing days.
I’m still playing catch up on the farm and will start with the hunt soon!

Looking forward to your stories and some of those photos!

 

[Firebird]

Excited for more!

 

[Pablo]

We are waiting!
Your WhatsApp updates were driving me crazy!

 

[Hunt anything]

We are picked up at O.R. Tambo by my PH Tom Dreyer. Tom informed us we would head down to the Free State to hunt some of the open country game.
I was a little confused by this. The package Charlotte bought was for 4 animals and 2 hunters. Since the son in law couldn’t come I told them I would just hunt an impala and blue wildebeest and pass on the common springbok and black wildebeest. Since they already had it set up I’m not going argue, I’ve shot a Kalahari springbok but not a common springbok or a black wildebeest. Those common springbok sure are small even compared to a Kalahari springbok.
AM day one.
After a delicious breakfast we head out , check the rifle and are immediately into game. Springbok here, zebra there and black wildebeest everywhere. Even some audad up in the hills that bisect the 4,000 hectare property. We are busy glassing and Tom says “that’s a very good springbok” we spend a few minutes studying the terrain and plan our approach. There’s a dam around 300yds from the small herd of springbok. We crouch, crawl and duck walk to the dam where I can get into a prone position. This 61 year old fat man was glad to lie down for a second to catch my breath! Tom says the ram is at 250yds so I put the crosshairs about 4” below the back and squeeze off a round. We hear the bullet hit but I can see it’s hit low, later we would learn he was closer to 350yds as opposed to 250. I had screwed around and neglected to get my 4457 for a rifle permit and was using a camp .270. So I was very unfamiliar with the round I was using. I had shot a .270 years ago but always 130gr not the 150gr this rifle was sighted in for. After a quick follow up I get to admire what I see as a very good common springbok.
We take the grip and grins and the search for a black wildebeest begins. It doesn’t take long to find a mixed herd of wildebeest, a couple of mature bulls, cows and calves. They make the mistake of going over a hill so Tom and I can ease up over the hill and pull off the shot. Anyone that has hunted black wildebeest knows they could be the goofiest animals in the world other than teenaged boys. They were doing their thing, running here and there and then back over there. Tom points out a good bull and at around 200yds he is down at the shot, he tries to get up and an insurance shot anchors him right there. I had never really wanted a black WB but I’m glad I was able to hunt one of the great conservation stories in Africa!

I apologize for my choppy writing style but they didn’t teach much style in environmental health or wildlife class.

I had made up my mind to not be too picky on this trip, I didn’t want to take anything away from the experience for the girls by becoming trophy obsessed.
PM hunt soon.

 

[Hunt anything]

Day one, PM.
After a delicious lunch back at camp we head back out for red hartebeest. This is on a neighboring property and it has a different variety of game, sable, roan, gemsbok among others and a beautiful herd of hartebeest, it numbers 150 -200 strong, calves, bulls in all age classes and cows many of which appear to be gravity.
Same type of terrain, mostly flat with a few rises to aid in the stalk. We get to around 150 yds but the chosen bull has broken away from the main herd with a few cows. He finally clears and at 180yds he goes down at the shot. Hartebeest have grown on me over the years since I shot a Lichtenstein hartebeest way back in 2014. They are very interesting animals to me.
One of the highlights of this hunt was the spotting of a half dozen blue cranes, the South African national bird. They are a baby blue color and have wonderfully long tertiary feathers that almost drag the ground. They way too far for pictures but great to see.
It’s back to the skinning shed and off to another property to look for a tsessebe. I’ve always wanted a tsessebe since I saw my first back in 2018. This property is much different than the other 2 properties. It is very hilly covered with some trees and brush.
Once on the property we pass an absolute stud of a roan. 30+ inches!
We see some very nice fallow deer bucks but most have started dropping their antlers. We see lechwe, hartebeest, sable and three tsessebe bulls. We get around a herd of hartebeest and at around 60 yds the biggest bull has his head stuck in a bush and at the shot he does that mad dash of an animal that has been hit in the lungs, his run lasts about 50yd and goes down in a great cloud of dust.
Unfortunately this is not the tsessebe I wanted, I wish we would’ve spent more time looking for a better one. Tom says he’s probably around 13” a decent representative bull with a beautiful coat and will still make a beautiful wall pedestal mount. No real regrets, I pulled the trigger. He is worn down quite a bit and his teeth are worn with poor body condition, actually a good bull to take out from a herd health perspective.

Tomorrow we change camps and go to Phillips main camp in the Limpopo. About a 6 hour drive. Not much left to hunt, impala, blue wildebeest and bushbuck.

 

[Pablo]

No wonder your budget took a hit the first day!

 

[Firebird]

Interesting to me how those tsessebe are always playing in the mud-some nice animals, too bad you didn’t have roan on your list!

 

[Hunt anything]

Interesting to me how those tsessebe are always playing in the mud-some nice animals, too bad you didn’t have roan on your list!

I’ll get into it later in the report but when we were in Kruger they (tsessebe) would spend more time in the mud than elephants.
Shot all of the roan I will ever need in 2021.

 

[Hunt anything]

Day 3, a travel day from the Free State up to Phillips main camp in the Limpopo just outside of Laphalale.
It was a nice drive other than the traffic around Johannesburg. Most of the water we passed had some waterfowl on it.
Cape shovelers, yellow-billed ducks, southern pochards and Egyptian geese mostly. Many farms had game, springbok, black wildebeest were most prevalent.
We are greeted at camp with a cocktail and hot towel, shown our tents and enjoy a good supper. We are tired of travel and are happy to be in one place for a few days.
Phillips camp is a tented camp that is extremely comfortable, you can lie in bed and listen to the night creatures at night and the birds in the morning. Bush babies abound around the camp and a neighboring property has some lions an can be heard from time to time along with the jackals and bush babies.
A few pictures around camp.
Going to sleep in tomorrow, too much travel and will be out after wildebeest or impala in the afternoon.

 

[Hunt anything]

It’s a small world! While winding down after the long travel day and a great dinner we are getting aquatinted with the family that will be leaving in the morning after a very successful safari including a tremendous buffalo.
After the mother asks where we are from and when I say Alabama she says she grew up in Alabama. I ask where and it turns out we both grew up in Auburn, she immediately goes into a rendition of “War Eagle”, even though in the early 70’s Auburn was a quaint little college town we didn’t know each other. She moved to San Antonio in the mid 70’s.
Their daughter in law and my daughter got along very well, both hold master’s degrees in infectious diseases and sat around talking bugs all night.
The family that came in the next day were also from Alabama, Birmingham in this case, they are a great bunch of people. They had hunted the Free State while we traveled and pretty much shot the place flat. The grandson at 6 years old even got his first ever game animal, a lechwe.
The family was grandparents, son, daughter in law daughter and 2 grandchildren.
Phillip has a very family friendly camp and everyone got along extremely well.
They had hunted highlight of the night was as per tradition in Phillips camp, when a hunter takes their first animal they have to get up on a stump and tell the details of the hunt. It was a pleasure to watch young Kye tell his story of his lechwe! I would love to post a picture of this ceremony but I didn’t get permission from Kyes father to post a minor’s photo.
We spend our morning wandering around camp taking pictures and watch as the workers put a new thatch roof on an observation building overlooking a water hole behind camp. The water hole is visited by a nice group of sable that includes an absolute toad of a bull, warthog and mongoose.
PM day 4
We spend the afternoon looking for a blue wildebeest, we see several golden wildebeest bulls but no “regular” colored bulls. Lots of Guineas, frankolin, doves and other bird life.
We also see giraffes, roan, sable, gemsbok, nyala, kudu, warthogs and blesbok. Tomorrow we will travel about 30 minutes to another property that’s supposed to have good numbers of impala and wildebeest.

 

[Hunt anything]

Day 5
We leave camp after a hearty breakfast at daylight and head to a property about 30 minutes away. After meeting with the farm manager we head into the property and quickly come upon a herd of wildebeest, lots of cows and calves but the only bull is a beautiful golden bull. About another mile down the road we spot 3 bull wildebeest, 2 golden and one regular, Tom declares the bull is a good one and we are out of the truck to circle around to get the wind right but a stray eddy gives us away and we find the running tracks and head back to the truck.
During the morning we find one more small group of bulls but the fickle wind gives us away. Just before lunch we spot a very good impala ram. To me he has perfect shape with good length and a nice flair at the points. Off of the truck to make a stalk, we get to around 60 yds and the ram is facing away. All that I can see is those wonderful horns and an eye as he is looking back at us, he ambles off and we pursue him for about half an hour with glimpses of him and a couple of others but he never gives a clear shot. Finally the wind gives us away and it’s back to the truck for lunch and a short siesta.
I spot a small owl with a kill in a tree and get a couple off fuzzy pictures of a pearl spotted owlet along with some other birds, kudu and giraffe around a waterhole.
After lunch we’re on the move again, no more wildebeest but plenty of game and birds to look at. We see plenty of impala but no big rams . Finally around 4:00 we see a beautifully shaped ram with decent length but nothing like the ram we saw earlier. After a quick discussion I decide to try and take him. We get to around 50 yds and see the ram in the thick bush. Tom says it’s the correct ram and I agree but I can only see his neck and horns so I carefully squeeze off the shot and the bush explodes with several more rams. We had stalked into the middle of a small herd of rams. It was so thick we couldn’t even see if the ram was down. We make our way to the spot and he is down, beautiful shape and decent length. When we get back to the truck with the ram my daughter chimes in “we had one run by the truck that was a lot bigger” what are daughters for? To bring dad back down to earth I guess. Nonetheless he is a very pretty impala and I really like him.
We catch up with the farm manager again and he relays the whereabouts of a herd of wildebeest and we head over there but it looks like the same herd we glassed first thing in the morning with the golden bull.
On the trip home we see an aardvark, first one I’ve seen, definitely a sturdy looking critter.
A blurry long range picture of the golden bull, probably a good thing I’m not into the designer animals or this one would be a great candidate for the memories room!
This farm had a training program to train anti-poaching dogs, which looked like a great program. Gotta love this warning sign!

 

[Hunt anything]

Day 6, one full day!
Out early after wildebeest again. Staying on Phillips home farm this morning. We haven’t gone far when we see a mixed herd of wildebeest, about half and half golden and blue. Tom and I make a couple of approaches but can’t find a shootable blue. We make one last attempt but bump them and we go to find some more.
After another 20 or so minutes we see 3 bulls and after parking the truck we ease back to where we saw them but they have moved on. We take up the tracks and after about 100 yards the bulls are coming back towards us. All 3 are about the same size so Tom tells me “if you get a shot take it, don’t wait on me” I don’t have a clear shot at any of them so I take a few steps to my left and a bull clears. At the shot the bull shows no indication of being hit but I feel confident in the 40 yd shot. He runs to the left and the other 2 bulls run right. Tom and I take up the track and after about 40yds we pick up a little blood , staying on the track we find more and more blood and start picking up some chunks of lung. The bull crosses the road and I wait there while Tom goes and collects the truck, tracker John and the girls. John practically runs on the track and after about 200yds he turns with a huge smile and points to my very nice wildebeest bull.
Charlotte comes up and takes one look at the bull and asks my plans for him. I tell her that I’m going to skull mount both wildebeest, she gets a funny look on her face and says “you have to mount him, his coat is too pretty not to” I’m not in a arguing mood so I say wall pedestal it is . Gotta love a wife like her!
PM day 6, afternoon on the river coming soon.

 

[Pablo]

Very pretty hide!

 

[Hunt anything]

Afternoon of day 6.
We spent the afternoon on the Pallala river fishing for bass, I wasn’t too fired up about bass fishing, I’m more of a saltwater guy. Everyone in camp piled on the the pontoon boat and we spent what could’ve been the most relaxing and enjoyable days I’ve spent in Africa
My daughter and I each caught a bass, we kept the bass alive to help stock one of the many water sources that Phillip is developing on his property. In total we caught 6 or 8 bass.
It was a fantastic place for bird watching, fish eagles, osprey, black crakes, 2 species of bee eaters and Egyptian geese to name a few.
Tonight Tom and I are going out to look for bushbuck on a potato farm that sits along the river.

 

[Pablo]

It IS very relaxing for everyone. We didn’t catch much, but I wasn’t serious about it either. The sunset was spectacular!