Planning First Safari

[WI-2021]

We stayed at Afton House this last trip. Had them do the rifle permits and arrange VIP services (VIP not nessasary, especially if going with experienced friends). Afton took the rifles and hunting clothes to store while we boarded a flight to Victoria Falls. THAT was a great side trip and easy to arrange flying out and back into Joburg. We did 5 days but 3 would suffice.

Does your Outfitter regularly drop off and pick up clients in Joburg? If he does he should be able to get your guns picked up and taken to his camp. If not, can they meet you as you start your tourist trip? Most have a wife, extra PH, or extra person who runs such errands. If your Outfitter is not focused on service to his clients, you are booking with the wrong outfit. Africa is all about service to the client. When you make a reasonable request, even some not so reasonable.... The expected response is "we will make a plan".

I've also stored guns at a hotel. The manager of the Protea Hotel on the outskirts of Polokwane, Limpopo stored my rifle case in his wine cellar.

And I've hauled rifles with in the back of a rental car and a pickup truck both touring Kruger and driving the Garden Route. Gets old dragging heavy cases in and out every night but it can be done.

As for Kruger National Park. You CAN take rifles and ammo through with you. You need to declare it with an accurate round count as you enter. Be sure they accurately count and record the ammo. Have the info verified yourself beforehand. They lock your cases with cables. Then as you exit they confirm the round count, verifying you didn't shoot anything, and cut the cables off.

South Africa is VERY tourist and hunter friendly.

Thanks for the info. The outfitter generally picks up clients in Joburg, so it's likely that it would be pretty simple for them to haul my rifle to their camp as well. I haven't asked them yet. We're starting to get into the detailed planning now and this will be a topic of conversation soon.

Assuming that I do end up taking the rifle, I'll probably also look into having the outfitter pick up a 5/8"-24 suppressor for me. I know I can take my own, but considering my location, it's sometimes difficult to avoid flying from or through Chicago, and obviously if we end up on United we'll be going through Newark. I'd rather not roll the dice since cans are illegal in both states.

As far as other preparations, I got my last Hep A shot. The only recommended vaccinations that I don't have at this point are typhoid and yellow fever which I'll contact the nearest travel clinic about next week.

 

[WI-2021]

Might as well resurrect this thread. We'll be flying out two weeks from tomorrow. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

I elected to not take my rifle due to the nature of this trip; hopefully I don't regret that decision. Per the outfitter, I'd have to haul my own rifle around the country for the first week, since we won't actually be going to the lodge during that time while we're playing tourist. Assuming I end up going back for a second trip, it will be more of a pure hunting trip instead of tourism and a little hunting, so I'll take a rifle then. Of the handful of people I know who have hunted Africa no one has only gone once, so I'm assuming there will be a second trip, though convincing the better half may be a challenge.

We're flying Delta, MKE-ATL-JNB. I'm definitely not looking forward to the flight, but hopefully it won't be too bad, and a safari is on the other end of it, so that helps. We'll be spending the first night at a Holiday Inn just south of O.R. Tambo, then getting picked up the following morning.

My plan for the hunting is impala, waterbuck, and blue wildebeest. It remains highly likely that I'll take something else too, but that will be a game-time decision.

As far as other preparations, all vaccinations have been completed, we have malaria pills, and I think we have all the other bases covered as far as things we'll need. I'd hope that malaria wouldn't be too much of a concern at this time of the year, but better safe than sorry. The typhoid vax pills kind of messed me up for a couple weeks, but I guess it's better than actually getting typhoid, the vaccine was bad enough, I don't want to catch the real thing. This weekend's plan is to finalize what we'll be taking for clothing and hosing it all down with permethrin.

It's kind of weird to be this close to the trip after tentatively planning it for three years and dreaming about it for far longer.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Enjoy.

 

[WI-2021]

Enjoy.

Thank you. I'm honestly surprised by how nervous I am. This is a new experience for me, usually I'm pretty relaxed heading into a vacation.

 

[thi9elsp]

Have a blast. I'm wheels up June 25 Tampa ATL Joberg, overnight at City Lodge, then to Vic Falls the. next day. You will have a great time. Remember, take what Africa offers while you're out hunting!

 

[Pablo]

Have a great trip! You will be planning a second hunt on the drive back to the airport!

 

[Trogon]

Don't sweat the small stuff and be patient with the whole process. And have a great time! Requesting a long hunt report when you return and settle back in.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Renting the rifle will work out fine. Your lodge won't be giving you junk. Less stress this way.

 

[Hyde]

I just returned from 2 weeks in Eastern Cape. I too am a lefty. I didn’t want the hassle of taking guns since it was my first safari. My outfitter didn’t have a left hand rifle available, but to be honest, I prefer a right hand rifle when shooting off of sticks. I feel like I can run the bolt and get back on the gun a little faster since I’m not using my trigger hand to run the bolt. It worked out perfectly for me.

If I were going after dangerous game, then I would definitely take a left hand gun and my own ammo. Good luck on your trip!

 

[WI-2021]

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. We'll see about a hunt report. Out of the two week trip there will only be three days of hunting. That was a bit disappointing initially, but most of the group has been there several times before and wants to do the tourist thing this time. They all assure me that three days will be enough time hunting since I'm after relatively common animals. While I'd like some nice trophies I'm not looking to have my name in the record books, so I suspect they're correct.

As far as the rifle goes, I'm basically treating it as hunting with a single shot. I've been practicing off of sticks, mostly shooting a rimfire spinner. My tripod is similar to the one they use, but it will be in my checked bag for use with the camera anyway just in case. I've been mostly a woods hunter all my life, so I'll keep my shots to relatively close range where I'm confident, especially with the loaner rifle and no real ability to quickly fire a follow-up shot. Assuming the rain holds off, I'll be heading to the range to practice some more after work today.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

Thanks to everyone for the well wishes. We'll see about a hunt report. Out of the two week trip there will only be three days of hunting. That was a bit disappointing initially, but most of the group has been there several times before and wants to do the tourist thing this time. They all assure me that three days will be enough time hunting since I'm after relatively common animals. While I'd like some nice trophies I'm not looking to have my name in the record books, so I suspect they're correct.

As far as the rifle goes, I'm basically treating it as hunting with a single shot. I've been practicing off of sticks, mostly shooting a rimfire spinner. My tripod is similar to the one they use, but it will be in my checked bag for use with the camera anyway just in case. I've been mostly a woods hunter all my life, so I'll keep my shots to relatively close range where I'm confident, especially with the loaner rifle and no real ability to quickly fire a follow-up shot. Assuming the rain holds off, I'll be heading to the range to practice some more after work today.

Before noon of the first day of my first safari I had taken a bronze medal blue wildebeest, silver medal blesbuck, and very respectable impala ... in just three shots. You should do okay with three days to hunt.

 

[WI-2021]

I'm back from the trip as of last night and am off today to recover from the sleep deprivation. Wow, it was a great trip! I'll work on a report as time permits; it will probably be a while since the entire trip was jam-packed with new experiences for us. As I mentioned earlier, my hunting trip was somewhat hijacked into a touring trip, but it was definitely a good way to go for a group with a lot of first-timers and non-hunters. Both my wife and I were first-timers, and she's a non-hunter, so that was a cause for concern. As it turned out, we had nothing to be worried about.

I'll lead off this abridged report with a big shout-out to the crew at Wild Game Safaris; they had everything planned out perfectly and adapted on-the-fly to a pretty substantial trip delay to still fit almost everything in and give us a great trip. In addition to hunting, they focus on touring to keep the non-hunters entertained. For example, on the morning I got my waterbuck, our group also had people on a ziplining trip and golfing. They have a full-time tour guide on staff for those things rather than just having a PH act as a guide. The food and accommodations are great, and the tours were educational and fun. I don't have any basis for comparison, but overall I'd highly recommend them for a group like ours with a mix of first-timers, Africa veterans, hunters, and non-hunters.

The trip started off terribly. We were scheduled to fly Delta MKE-ATL-JNB on 6/27. We left MKE and were diverted to Charleston due to a severe storm in Atlanta. After sitting on the tarmac in Charleston for about three hours, we were able to get into ATL, but the JNB flight that night was cancelled. We ended up spending the night in line at the airport trying to get rebooked to JNB. The best they could do was routing us through Paris to JNB with us arriving the morning of Wednesday, 7/2 instead of the original plan of arriving the evening of Saturday, 6/28. We were able to get a hotel near the airport and went to the Georgia Aquarium and the Coca-Cola Museum to pass some of the time. Fortunately it was a two-week trip; otherwise we'd have probably just flown home. On the plus side, I guess I can say I've been to Europe now, even though we didn't leave the airport. I bought a refrigerator magnet to commemorate my first European vacation.

Once we touched down in JNB the fun started. By that time, WGS had reworked our itinerary to compensate for the lost days. We didn't miss too much, but some of the days got a little long as a result. They also adjusted our pricing appropriately due to the lost days. The touring lasted until Sunday morning 7/6, when we arrived at the lodge. In that time, we did the Panorama Route, Blyde Canyon boat tour, a hot air balloon ride, Moholoholo Rehab Center, Hoedspruit Endangered Species Center, a game drive, and some other things. To be honest, it was kind of a blur sometimes since we were all pretty sleep deprived from the travel.

Shortly after arriving at the lodge, we hit the range to "check zero" on the rental rifles. Unsurprisingly, my rental rifle, a suppressed Sako .308 with a 3.5-10 Leupold, was dead on. Funny how that happens. Oddly, we shot off a bench to check zero. I was expecting that they'd have us shoot off sticks to see if we knew WTH we were doing with sticks. I'd been practicing off of sticks, so I was comfortable, but with so many first-timers, I was surprised that they didn't want us to prove we could do it. That said, I fired one shot and we left to go hunting, so maybe the rest of the group spent more time on the range. I forgot to ask.

My wife rode along with me, the PH, and the tracker that first afternoon. I wasn't sure what to expect and neither was she. Shortly after arriving at the concession, we got on the track of a Blue Wildebeest bull. She waited in the truck with the dog while myself, the PH, and the tracker stalked it for about 1.5 hours. We got within 50 yards about three times, but it busted us before we could get a shot. It was pretty thick brush and my first experience dodging thorns. The last time it busted us it kept going, so the tracker went back to get the truck while the PH and I kept walking.

As we were walking down one of the paths, a decent impala ram stepped out on the path in front of us between 120-140 yards (or maybe meters), spotted us, and froze. The PH set up the sticks and said "shoot it in the shoulder" so I did. Actually, a little high and forward, but it dropped on the spot. As we were taking pictures, the tracker arrived with the truck and my wife. I had been hoping the impala would be my first African animal, mainly due to the first-timer pressure of paying the trophy fee if you hit it. Starting with a lower cost animal helped some with the pressure. A one-shot kill on a rather long (for me) shot off the sticks was also a confidence booster.

After loading the impala in the truck, we were back on the hunt. About an hour later, we spotted a small herd of Golden Wildebeest with one nice Blue mixed in. A Blue was on my list, and it being the only one in the herd sure simplified target identification. The PH and I hopped off the truck to go after them. Needless to say, they saw us immediately since we were only about 100 yards away. They didn't run for it right away, but were getting ready to. I had a shot at the blue right there, so the sticks went up right in front of the truck and I put the crosshairs on its shoulder. He started to turn away to run right as the trigger broke and I hit him a little further back than I wanted, but angled forward. As he took the hit, he spun the rest of the way around and ran. The hit was fatal, but at that moment I wasn't sure exactly where I hit him. I got off the sticks and loaded another (world-record speed for a lefty operating a RH bolt action) and shot again as he went through a small clearing. That one missed; not sure if it was just a poor shot or I hit a branch, but I missed. One clearing left before he's out of sight.... I loaded another and hit him again on the run and quartering away. I heard that one hit, but not sure where. Shit. The PH, tracker, dog, and I got on the trail. We found him, dead as true love, between 50 and 75 yards from where I hit him the second time. The PH referred to Wildebeest as the realtors of the animal world.... it you give them a chance, they'll show you the entire property. Fortunately this one didn't get a chance. More pictures, load him up, and the first day's hunt is done.

I was the only one in the group to shoot anything the first day. It was quite the introduction to African hunting and my wife got to see the Wildebeest portion of the show. She was rather bored waiting in the truck during the first Wildebeest stalk though. She didn't ride along on the rest of the hunts since there were other outings on the other days, but she wanted to see what it was all about.

 

[WI-2021]

On the second hunting day most of the hunters in the group went to a different concession. Since I was already on the board, the primary focus was finding a good giraffe bull for another member of the group. Secondary focus was a Waterbuck for me, since that was also on my list. By this point, I'd also decided I was open to a Blesbuck, since the outfitter had offered some discounts. I figure that if I get one, we'll do a painted skull mount of it; my wife can choose how to paint it.

It was cold and windy that day by African standards, and all the PH's and trackers were freezing. While giraffe was the primary focus, I ended up being the first one off the truck stalking a Waterbuck. That didn't last long. The wind shifted and he was gone. Due to the weather, the animals weren't very active and we didn't see much that morning. In the afternoon we went to another concession. It had warmed up some but was still rather windy. We split up and promptly spotted a herd of giraffe with a good bull in it. We radioed the other truck and they headed our way. After they arrived and started their stalk we headed off to continue the quest for a Waterbuck. The only ones we saw that afternoon were cows. We did spot a herd of Blesbuck standing in the road maybe 500-600 yards away. It seems that those damn things are always standing in the road. Off the truck we go.

As we're weaving our way through the brush toward the herd of Blesbuck I hear shots from the other group in the distance. The PH is on a mission and seems to be utterly unphased by the thorns. I'm struggling to keep up, but I do. Every once in a while we weave back toward the edge of the road to get eyes on the herd. They're still there. Eventually we get to about 110-120 yards. There are 4-5 of them in the road. "Can we get a little closer?" "No, shoot the second one from the right just behind the shoulder." She was quartering away. The sticks go up.

At that point, I made what was probably the worst shot of my hunting career. Maybe I could blame the sticks, but probably not. We were using traditional sticks that day rather than the trigger stick I'd used the day before and my practice had been off of a tripod more similar to the trigger sticks. I was out of breath. The first shot hit way too far back. I definitely gave it a stomach ache, but didn't touch the heart or lungs. Neither I nor the PH saw the impact, but we heard it.

We get up to where they had been standing. No blood and a shitpile of tracks. The PH asks "which one did you shoot?" I think "oh shit," but respond "the second one from the right." He says "okay, just want to make sure we're following the right tracks." There might have been 20 animals in that herd.... "How the hell do you know which track is which?" "Experience." Off we go, presumably following the correct tracks, because there's still no blood. Maybe 100 yards later, here's the first spot of blood. Sure enough, we're on the right tracks; how the hell do they do that? Experience, I guess.

The PH and I wait while the tracker goes back to the truck for the dog. The brush is pretty thick and we're just standing there chatting. A while later the tracker comes back with the dog, an absolutely fearless little Jack Russell appropriately named "Hunter" who had become my little buddy by this point. The tracker weaves around some brush as he approaches and spots the Blesbuck through an opening in the brush. It had been standing a little under 100 yards from us the entire time. We get to where he's at, find a half decent shooting lane and set up the sticks. She's (yes, a Blesbuck ewe) facing mostly away from us with her head turned to the side. "Shoot her in the neck." Of course, I pulled that one a little too, but not as bad. I should have just gone for the Texas heart shot. That one went in the ribs and right back out into parts unknown. I'd been aiming far back in the neck, so I didn't pull the shot much more than an inch, but enough that it didn't do much good.

The Blesbuck is off again, but hurting bad, and now the dog is on it. She didn't go far and the dog had her at bay. We're running to catch up. We get to about 30 yards and get the sticks up. I'm on the sticks waiting for the dog to get clear. A few seconds later The PH gets the dog's attention and he gets clear. The third shot goes right into the shoulder and finishes the job.

The Blesbuck is down, but I'm a little rattled by my piss-poor shooting. We load her up and find out that the other hunter had gotten her giraffe. We head over that way. Good God, those things look even bigger on the ground. They had to cut the lower legs off to fit the giraffe in the tandem axle trailer. We throw the Blesbuck into the trailer too, where it looks positively tiny, and continue the quest for a Waterbuck.

We didn't see any Waterbuck bulls that afternoon. As we're riding around, the PH tells me that if a Waterbuck busts you on a stalk, they tend to keep going, and I might want to reconsider my previous stance against shooting from the truck if we have an opportunity. Maybe not the best timing for that conversation, since I'd just botched two shots on the Blesbuck. I'm wondering how much of that is true and how much of that is a lack of confidence in my shooting ability. I tell him I'll consider it, but it will be a game-time decision.

 

[WI-2021]

Tuesday, hunting day three: It's just as cold, just as windy, and now it's raining too. The two previous days we'd been on various concessions south of Louis Trichardt, but today we'll head northwest to the other side of the mountains where it's supposed to be warmer with no rain. WGS has access to something like 26-28 concessions. This one is a potato farm that has some good Waterbuck.

I'd figured out by now that anytime my PH said how long it would take to get somewhere I needed to multiply that by 1.5-2. The concession was an hour away, so an hour and 45 minutes later we arrived. As expected, it was quite a bit warmer and there was no rain. We stop at the processing facility to let the property owner know we're there and let him know that we'd like to buy some potatoes for the lodge on our way out.

I'm still thinking about the horrid shooting I'd done on the Blesbuck and nervous about botching a shot on a Waterbuck. Being a working farm, at least part of this concession is much more open than the previous concessions we'd been on, so a longer shot opportunity is definitely a possibility. My game-time decision is that, if we see a shooter in the open field I'll shoot from the truck, but if we're in the brush, I want to try stalking again, even if that means multiple stalks. Waterbuck is the last animal on my list and I have two days. I'm also open to substituting another animal if we get into Wednesday afternoon and continue to strike out on Waterbuck. The great thing about a first trip to Africa is that there are so many animals I'd still like to hunt, so it's not hard to choose a substitute animal. A Golden Wildebeest or Zebra would compliment my Blue Wildebeest nicely, but I'd still prefer a Waterbuck.

As it happened, all the handwringing about my shooting and the general lack of Waterbuck bulls the first two days was for nothing; the decision was pretty much made for me. We quite quickly found a bachelor group of Waterbuck bulls grazing in a field with some young Eland. Per the PH, three of them were shooters. I'd guess we were about 125 yards away. Of course they know we're there and are watching us. There's no way we're getting closer or getting out of the truck without them running, so it's either shoot from the truck or keep driving and find another one. I shot from the truck, which kind of felt like shooting a really big whitetail from a stand back home.

We were in the back of the truck of course, and the truck was facing the animals, so I rested the rifle over the cab and evaluated the three shooters through the scope while the PH did the same through binoculars. We quickly agreed upon which bull was best. I held on the shoulder and touched of the shot. This time I saw the impact right where I was aiming and so did the PH. He didn't go down instantly, so I reloaded. The shot alerted the others, but none ran; something I've experienced in the past when shooting whitetails with a suppressed rifle. I was ready to shoot again, but the PH said it was unnecessary. The Eland were now milling around in front of and behind my Waterbuck, so I didn't have a shot anyway unless they got clear. By the time they did, it was obvious that the Waterbuck wasn't going anywhere, so I didn't shoot again. He went down where he stood, so we headed over to get photos and load him up.

I figured they weren't kidding when they said he was a big one when the tracker insisted on getting in on some of the photos. I happily obliged and have some nice pics of myself, the tracker, Hunter, and the Waterbuck. I may end up framing one of them. We headed back to the lodge and measured the Waterbuck when we got back to the skinning shed. The results were 29" and 28.5." I'm not sure how that rates, but I'm more than happy with him. The waterbuck is the only animal that we measured right away; I still don't know measurements on the others and I really don't care too much; it was more about the experience.

Eventually I'll have to get around to posting some photos, but I have way too much to do today. Time to run off and unpack and do laundry. More to come....