- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
- 1,538
- Reaction score
- 3,759
- Media
- 23
- Member of
- SCI
- Hunted
- Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Uganda
I just completed a 10 day hunt with Dalton & York Safaris. My PH was Johnny Russell. Targeted animals were tuskless elephant and buffalo, animals taken were tuskless elephant, land based hippo and impala.
I stayed in their Ume camp, all aspects of camp were very nice. My particular chalet did not have a front wall, it was open to the great wilds of Africa. Many nights I would hear elephants just yards from my chalet, saw 2 younger male lions walking just outside of camp one night when we were returning from our days hunt. The chalets have nice stand fans that were super helpful in the heat.
My days were up at 4:30, breakfast at 5, leave camp at 5:30. Something I appreciated was every morning before we started for the day, Johnny would say a prayer. Johnny is 36, a couple of his guides have been with him for 10-12 years, something I find pretty amazing.
On most days when we left camp at 5:30, we did not return to camp until 7:30, so I was not in camp a great deal. Lunch times were out in the field, Johnny would find us a shady spot with some breeze to keep the mopani flies at bay. And truthfully, the mopanis on this trip were not bad at all, this time I took AirPods and a head net, after eating lunch I would sit back in my chair, listen to some music, and was never bothered by the mopanis.
I want to say this about hunting in the Omay, this was my second time to hunt this area, it is a huge area, and you will drive many miles, several mornings we drove
1 1/2 hours to villages to ask about what wildlife they had seen, this was not a problem for me, but if driving long distances is not for you, or not being in camp over lunch is not for you, then I suggest considering somewhere other than the Omay.
During my stay I saw around 100 elephants and 100 buffalo. I did take an old tuskless cow right at sunset on Day 6, I took a land based hippo on Day 8, and on 2 occasions I did pass on taking the breeder bull from a herd, it was an old dagga bull or bust for me. I believe it was Day 2 we were following 4 super old bulls with 2 of them being very wide, but we were never able to close the deal.
Airtags, if you are not using these you really need to consider using them. Upon arriving to Johannesburg from Harare, the SAPS office said my gun had not arrived. They were adamant it was left behind in Harare, I pulled out my phone, showed them it was there at the JNB airport. If I had not have had this to show them, I do believe they would have made zero effort to go find my gun. I believe a 4 pack of Airtags can be bought for under 100.00.
Gracy Travel, besides their periodic updates, notice of schedule changes, here is where their service stands out for me. A day or two before I was to fly out, Hannah emailed to say that my bags would be booked from Pit-Newark-JNB. I would get my bags at JNB, rebook them the next day on Airlink to Harare as I was overnighting at City Lodge. This was what I was used to, so no biggie. When I checked in at Pit, they booked my bags to Harare. I took pics of the bag tags and sent to Hannah, she said she would message her people in JNB, and they would be sure my bags made the connection at JNB. When I landed in JNB, I was met by a representative right off the plane, took me to the short line at immigration, they explained all was sorted with my baggage. On my way back home Hannah said they would ship my bags from Harare to Pit. At check-in, they would only book my bags to JNB, so I messaged Hannah, she had a representative meet me off the plane in JNB, helped me collect my bags and helped get me to the check in desk. Seriously, for the 300.00 they charge for their services, this is absolutely the smartest thing any of us can do. Perhaps you prefer another TA, that is fine, just make sure they are familiar with Africa and traveling with firearms.
I realize many of you have traveled to African countries other than South Africa, but for those of you who have not, and are considering doing so, please go, but please know you will need to exercise a bit more patience than traveling to South Africa only. On this particular trip, when going into Zimbabwe, I was on the same flight as @ Cajun Hunter, it took us almost 2 hours to get through Customs and gun control, ridiculous!! If you have not already experienced this process, you just have to see for yourself how it is possible for it to take 6-8 people to count 30 rounds of ammunition!! Also, you just needed to be there when they pull out a fellow hunters double rifle out of his case and set it down on the metal baggage trolley…….YIKES!!
Most of us are aware that Dalton & York are owned by Dalton Tink and York Mare, but there are also 2 other professional hunters you can hunt with. Again, I hunted with Johnny Russell, and if I book to go hunt with D&Y again, I’ll ask for Johnny. He is a class guy, mild mannered, works his tail off to be sure you are happy with the meals, asked me on 2 occasions if there were anything he could do to improve my hunt. I have hunted with many professional hunters and Johnny Russell is a good of a man as I have ever hunted with!
Our very own @ Towserthemouser has a wonderful video showing the very same camp I was hunting out of with professional hunter Johnny Russell. It is truly a must-see video.
Highlights of my hunt were seeing the abundance of crocs, buffalo and elephant. I was also very fortunate to have seen an albino cape buffalo calf, has anyone ever seen an albino buffalo before? Having @ Cajun Hunter and his wife move to the camp I was in for the past 4 nights was a real delight. Listening to York tell stories those 4 nights was also wonderful.
I have taken many hunts and Dalton & York are the real deal, great area, great camp, I would definitely go back here!
Oh, yes, they have some super nice bushbuck here!!
I stayed in their Ume camp, all aspects of camp were very nice. My particular chalet did not have a front wall, it was open to the great wilds of Africa. Many nights I would hear elephants just yards from my chalet, saw 2 younger male lions walking just outside of camp one night when we were returning from our days hunt. The chalets have nice stand fans that were super helpful in the heat.
My days were up at 4:30, breakfast at 5, leave camp at 5:30. Something I appreciated was every morning before we started for the day, Johnny would say a prayer. Johnny is 36, a couple of his guides have been with him for 10-12 years, something I find pretty amazing.
On most days when we left camp at 5:30, we did not return to camp until 7:30, so I was not in camp a great deal. Lunch times were out in the field, Johnny would find us a shady spot with some breeze to keep the mopani flies at bay. And truthfully, the mopanis on this trip were not bad at all, this time I took AirPods and a head net, after eating lunch I would sit back in my chair, listen to some music, and was never bothered by the mopanis.
I want to say this about hunting in the Omay, this was my second time to hunt this area, it is a huge area, and you will drive many miles, several mornings we drove
1 1/2 hours to villages to ask about what wildlife they had seen, this was not a problem for me, but if driving long distances is not for you, or not being in camp over lunch is not for you, then I suggest considering somewhere other than the Omay.
During my stay I saw around 100 elephants and 100 buffalo. I did take an old tuskless cow right at sunset on Day 6, I took a land based hippo on Day 8, and on 2 occasions I did pass on taking the breeder bull from a herd, it was an old dagga bull or bust for me. I believe it was Day 2 we were following 4 super old bulls with 2 of them being very wide, but we were never able to close the deal.
Airtags, if you are not using these you really need to consider using them. Upon arriving to Johannesburg from Harare, the SAPS office said my gun had not arrived. They were adamant it was left behind in Harare, I pulled out my phone, showed them it was there at the JNB airport. If I had not have had this to show them, I do believe they would have made zero effort to go find my gun. I believe a 4 pack of Airtags can be bought for under 100.00.
Gracy Travel, besides their periodic updates, notice of schedule changes, here is where their service stands out for me. A day or two before I was to fly out, Hannah emailed to say that my bags would be booked from Pit-Newark-JNB. I would get my bags at JNB, rebook them the next day on Airlink to Harare as I was overnighting at City Lodge. This was what I was used to, so no biggie. When I checked in at Pit, they booked my bags to Harare. I took pics of the bag tags and sent to Hannah, she said she would message her people in JNB, and they would be sure my bags made the connection at JNB. When I landed in JNB, I was met by a representative right off the plane, took me to the short line at immigration, they explained all was sorted with my baggage. On my way back home Hannah said they would ship my bags from Harare to Pit. At check-in, they would only book my bags to JNB, so I messaged Hannah, she had a representative meet me off the plane in JNB, helped me collect my bags and helped get me to the check in desk. Seriously, for the 300.00 they charge for their services, this is absolutely the smartest thing any of us can do. Perhaps you prefer another TA, that is fine, just make sure they are familiar with Africa and traveling with firearms.
I realize many of you have traveled to African countries other than South Africa, but for those of you who have not, and are considering doing so, please go, but please know you will need to exercise a bit more patience than traveling to South Africa only. On this particular trip, when going into Zimbabwe, I was on the same flight as @ Cajun Hunter, it took us almost 2 hours to get through Customs and gun control, ridiculous!! If you have not already experienced this process, you just have to see for yourself how it is possible for it to take 6-8 people to count 30 rounds of ammunition!! Also, you just needed to be there when they pull out a fellow hunters double rifle out of his case and set it down on the metal baggage trolley…….YIKES!!
Most of us are aware that Dalton & York are owned by Dalton Tink and York Mare, but there are also 2 other professional hunters you can hunt with. Again, I hunted with Johnny Russell, and if I book to go hunt with D&Y again, I’ll ask for Johnny. He is a class guy, mild mannered, works his tail off to be sure you are happy with the meals, asked me on 2 occasions if there were anything he could do to improve my hunt. I have hunted with many professional hunters and Johnny Russell is a good of a man as I have ever hunted with!
Our very own @ Towserthemouser has a wonderful video showing the very same camp I was hunting out of with professional hunter Johnny Russell. It is truly a must-see video.
Highlights of my hunt were seeing the abundance of crocs, buffalo and elephant. I was also very fortunate to have seen an albino cape buffalo calf, has anyone ever seen an albino buffalo before? Having @ Cajun Hunter and his wife move to the camp I was in for the past 4 nights was a real delight. Listening to York tell stories those 4 nights was also wonderful.
I have taken many hunts and Dalton & York are the real deal, great area, great camp, I would definitely go back here!
Oh, yes, they have some super nice bushbuck here!!
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