Travis Dove
AH member
We absolutely had a BLAST at Kuche Safari!! When we landed in Johannesburg South Africa my family and I had no idea on what to expect, this was our first vacation out of the country together, our first trip to South Africa, and our first hunting safari. This trip by-far exceeded our greatest expectation. From the first step from the airplane to the three-hour road trip to Kuche Safari we all were just blown away about the amount of game animals you would see on the side of the road. There were wart-hogs, monkeys, zebras, gemsbuck, and giraffes, everywhere you looked!!! Every once in a while, you would see a kudu or a sable hiding in bushes out on the side of the road. Just the ride to the hunt camp was an awesome adventure!!! Our driver was explaining the different aspects of the country and the huge powerplants you would see driving to our destination. He explained the different cultures that are in South Africa and how the people of the country operated. Truly fascinating. {A little weird being on the other side of the road… but you do get used to it pretty fast.}
Once we got to our lodge, we were totally burnt-out on traveling, however we wanted to get started early the next morning, so we mustard up enough energy to go site in our rifles. Of course, our guides were ready to go and had us and our rifles zeroed in, in no time. (Our guides were wonderful they all took extremely good care of us from day one.) Finally, we were all ready to go to bed. (I do recommend some sleeping pills, and possibly and extra day to get used to the new time zone, Jet Lag is very real). Each of us got our own rooms and they all had clean showers and plenty of space to stretch out and reconnect back to the states with a good Wifi connection.
The next morning, we all got up early and met in the lodge for a quick bite to eat. In the Lodge there was a huge collection of trophy animals that really got our minds pumped about what animals we wanted to go after that day! It made the morning even more exciting!! We all loaded up and got into our trucks and headed out to the land of Africa, we were all on a family hunting Safari!! It really does not get any better than that!!
The hardest part of the entire hunting trip is to have patience… there were so many quality animals and they were so fun to hunt you did not want to shoot too quick and have the moment over before you knew it!! My father had a hard time with this… he had a Huge Kudo and a Water Buck down the first day… My brothers and I just shook our heads and laughed!! We all agreed it was tough to hold back because of the great quality of animals!!
Over the next five days my family and I hunted hard. We got up every morning, had a quick breakfast and headed out to the African bush. Our guides took excellent care of us we were all very appreciative of the how well they helped us field judge our animals. All four of our guides knew exactly how to accurately field judge. This was one of my concerns going to Africa is to shoot something that was way less than average. This was not the case, we all shot great specimens of our animals. I shot a 38 ¼ Bull Gemsbuck and my older brother shot a 39” cow gemsbuck, my younger brother shot a massive wildebeest, my father hot a 53” Kudu. And we all shot other animals that we were all very happy with!!
In the evening we would all get together at the lodge share our stories, have a wonderful meal of game that was killed from the previous day, and discuss our big game plan for the next day. The food was amazing, and the hospitality was second to none. We really could not have been happier with the way the entire trip went. (outside of going through Bayete Group, don’t do that!! ) Koos and his amazing staff are truly remarkable and have built an incredibly unique business where people just want to come back, again and again, and get more of the adventure. I can say that for my entire family we are all looking to go back to Africa and specifically to Kuche Safari. 2022 here we come!! Stay healthy my friends, and if you have any questions feel free to PM me, I will be happy to give you some pointers on South Africa and a few of the things we learned along the way. (Did I mention don’t go through Bayete Group?…) just wanted to make sure…. Once this Covid crap is at bay, and we can get back into South Africa, just give Kuche Safari a call, they will without a doubt take care of you, (without going through a middleman…)
Once we got to our lodge, we were totally burnt-out on traveling, however we wanted to get started early the next morning, so we mustard up enough energy to go site in our rifles. Of course, our guides were ready to go and had us and our rifles zeroed in, in no time. (Our guides were wonderful they all took extremely good care of us from day one.) Finally, we were all ready to go to bed. (I do recommend some sleeping pills, and possibly and extra day to get used to the new time zone, Jet Lag is very real). Each of us got our own rooms and they all had clean showers and plenty of space to stretch out and reconnect back to the states with a good Wifi connection.
The next morning, we all got up early and met in the lodge for a quick bite to eat. In the Lodge there was a huge collection of trophy animals that really got our minds pumped about what animals we wanted to go after that day! It made the morning even more exciting!! We all loaded up and got into our trucks and headed out to the land of Africa, we were all on a family hunting Safari!! It really does not get any better than that!!
The hardest part of the entire hunting trip is to have patience… there were so many quality animals and they were so fun to hunt you did not want to shoot too quick and have the moment over before you knew it!! My father had a hard time with this… he had a Huge Kudo and a Water Buck down the first day… My brothers and I just shook our heads and laughed!! We all agreed it was tough to hold back because of the great quality of animals!!
Over the next five days my family and I hunted hard. We got up every morning, had a quick breakfast and headed out to the African bush. Our guides took excellent care of us we were all very appreciative of the how well they helped us field judge our animals. All four of our guides knew exactly how to accurately field judge. This was one of my concerns going to Africa is to shoot something that was way less than average. This was not the case, we all shot great specimens of our animals. I shot a 38 ¼ Bull Gemsbuck and my older brother shot a 39” cow gemsbuck, my younger brother shot a massive wildebeest, my father hot a 53” Kudu. And we all shot other animals that we were all very happy with!!
In the evening we would all get together at the lodge share our stories, have a wonderful meal of game that was killed from the previous day, and discuss our big game plan for the next day. The food was amazing, and the hospitality was second to none. We really could not have been happier with the way the entire trip went. (outside of going through Bayete Group, don’t do that!! ) Koos and his amazing staff are truly remarkable and have built an incredibly unique business where people just want to come back, again and again, and get more of the adventure. I can say that for my entire family we are all looking to go back to Africa and specifically to Kuche Safari. 2022 here we come!! Stay healthy my friends, and if you have any questions feel free to PM me, I will be happy to give you some pointers on South Africa and a few of the things we learned along the way. (Did I mention don’t go through Bayete Group?…) just wanted to make sure…. Once this Covid crap is at bay, and we can get back into South Africa, just give Kuche Safari a call, they will without a doubt take care of you, (without going through a middleman…)
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