SOUTH AFRICA: BOWHUNT: 2023 Bos en Dal SAFARIS Hunt Plus A Lot More...

[AZDAVE]

That waterbuck is special, tell your daughter congratulations. It is always nice to have the primary goals done early and then just relax and see what the African bush gives you.

 

[Gemsbok Gangsta]

The usual disclaimer.. if youre logging in on your computer (vice the app on your phone), its obvious I have a relationship with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS that goes beyond just being another loyal client (although I am very much that too).. I have acted as the outfitters US Representative for the last few years.. You can see the banner below each of my posts.. So.. I bottom line up front.. I admit I am positively biased..

BUT... I will also say that having hunted with numerous outfitters across South Africa and the rest of the world, there is a reason I agreed to work with Gerrit at Bos en Dal as opposed to anyone else.. I sincerely love the location, the staff, and everything about the operation.... I have a "day" job that compensates me very well (many of you that frequent AH know me personally and know what I do for a living, etc).. I dont need, nor do I make any money from the relationship I have with Bos en Dal, and YES, I do pay for the animals I hunt there, likely at a similar rate that any of you could negotiate if you choose to hunt at Bos en Dal. I dont act as the Bos en Dal US Representative because of any motivation that the relationship might get me something personally.. I do it because I have become genuine close friends with the owner, his family, and his team, and I know they take extremely good care of everyone I refer to them (I generally take at least 1-2 other hunters with my family every year, and have other friends hunt with Bos en Dal each year when we arent in camp as well).

So.. now that all of that is handled... onto the 2023 Bos en Dal Hunt Report!

We planned a longer trip than normal for us this year, and booked 2x weeks in South Africa (our normal trips are 9 days including travel). While we definitely wanted to hunt, we also wanted to spend some time this trip playing tourist in Cape Town, as well as make some time to visit an orphanage we have developed a relationship with while in country (more on that later).. This year the hunt party was supposed to be myself, wife, youngest daughter, a good friend, his wife, his daughter, and @roverandbrew .. Unfortunately the good friend/wife/daughter had to cancel at the last minute due to a medical situation, which was super disappointing, but thankfully he has gotten everything sorted out already and we're already talking dates for him and the family to join us on our 2024 hunt (@Bos en Dal SAFARIS has become a bit of an annual pilgrimage for us since 2019).. @roverandbrew did make the trip however, and we had a great time spending a week with him in camp (I wont steal his thunder in case he wants to post his own hunt review at some point, but may mention him occasionally through this one )..

We really didnt have much of a "plan" for this years hunt... I really only had one objective.. I wanted to take something fairly large and notably tough with my bow (maybe a zebra or a blue wildebeest, etc).. Ive been practicing with my bow pretty intensely for about 4 months at this point and really wanted to see what it could do with it being properly tuned and with it shooting proper "africa" arrows... My 2017 hunt with a bow was a little disappointing as I just wasnt rigged up correctly, and while I did kill a wildebeest on that trip, the shot simply didnt get the desired penetration, which ultimately resulted in a LONG 2 day track to find the downed animal.. I hoped for much better performance on this trip.. @Bos en Dal SAFARIS ran a Buff Cow special last year as the herds have gotten HUGE and there is a need to cull a few off, so that was my wifes primary objective.. she wanted to take a cow... and then our youngest, still a fairly new and inexperienced hunter, either wanted a blesbok or a springbok.. whichever we could find that would offer up a relatively easy shot at a reasonably close range (inside 125 yards if possible)... other than those three things we just thought we'd "take whatever the bush provides" and be happy with it, and had no other real list to worry about..

The flights over on Qatar Airways were as always pretty uneventful.. They have been a super reliable and high quality choice out of Dallas for several years at this point.. DFW Airport on the other hand was a complete shit show on our departure day.. Im not sure who shat in the coffee cup of every TSA agent and airport employee that morning, but they clearly got ALL of them.. Im pretty used to Texans being friendly, easy going people as a rule.. but Im certain we didnt deal with one pleasant person that afternoon.. Im equally surprised that I didnt end up in the DFW jailhouse for choking out a couple of people before we got on the plane.. it was sincerely that bad.. (to the point of being almost surreal).. Even the people in the American flagship lounge were frankly assholes (we flew on Qatar as they are code shared with American.. but actually booked our flights through American)..

All of that said, once we were on the plane, things shaped up nicely and were a breeze for the rest of the way to Johannesburg...

We arrived at Jo'berg at OH MY GOD IT'S EARLY (330 AM).. Thankfully we all got a little sleep on the plane and werent too terribly bad off, because Gerrit made it clear when he sent the WhatsApp message to me saying he was at the airport standing by to pick us up.. "We're going hunting today!".. Once we grabbed our bags (bows had no problem making the trip in their respective Pelican and SKB cases), we set off for Afton House to pick up @roverandbrew ... @roverandbrew was loaded up in the mini-bus by 430 and we were unpacking our bags in our rooms at @Bos en Dal SAFARIS by 615...

We all grabbed a quick bite to eat for breakfast, sucked down a couple of cups of coffee, and we're off to hunt... @roverandbrew took off to the rifle range to confirm zero with his PH Rikus, and my wife and I took the bows out for a few practice shots to confirm everything was still in order while the youngster napped for a few hours in the lodge (she didnt sleep quite as much or as well as my wife and I did)... We then headed out to one of @Bos en Dal SAFARIS new bow blinds to see what we might see..

Shortly after getting into the blind (huge, spacious, and SUPER QUIET with a nice bench in the back to sit on, etc) a herd of 6 young sable bulls pulled in for a snack.. In another 12-24 months ALL of these bulls are going to be wonderful trophy animals. The smallest of the group had to already be pushing 38"+ and the largest were already over 40".. they were all still just a wee bit young though to consider taking and needed another year at a minimum (still some brown in the coats, etc).. several other species tried to come into the area over the next few hours, but the sable were definitely the dominant species and werent having any of that.. they ran off a few kudu cows, a couple of young wildebeest bulls, and a handful of impala over the course of the morning.. The only animals that the sable didnt seem to be troubled by were a pair of warthog females with their two piglets.. they were fun to watch running around the feed of the sable eating and drinking... we patiently waited to see if a big tusker male might show up, but none came to the hole....

About noon we decided to call it and head back to the lodge for some lunch.. while traveling back to the lodge we saw a really nice, but young bushbuck standing in some reeds not far from the road... like the sable, in another year or two he is going to be an awesome trophy for someone (hopefully me! )...

Lunch was filling (as always).. still a little punch drunk and tired from the flights over, we hung around the lodge until about 230 and then decided to grab the rifles and drive around a bit to see what might step out on us.. Typically we bring our own firearms, but this year knowing that we were going to go to cape town for a few days on the back end of the trip we didnt think it would be worth the hassle of trying to haul them all over the country, so we opted to use camp rifles.. For the buffalo, Gerrit lent us a fine CZ550 in 375 HH.. For PG we had access to a couple of different rifles.. when hunting with Gerrit we used his Musgrave 7x57.. when hunting with Frikke we used his Ruger in 30-06..

Things were a little slow for the first hour that we were out.. It was particularly cold this year (in the low 30's most mornings and high 60's most afternoons) and the animals seemed a little sluggish during the middle of the day... which made the next wildlife encounter extremely surprising... around 3PM while driving the main property, we rolled past what initially looked like a big black stick on the side of the road... closer inspection revealed that it was not a stick, but was instead a 5' python trying to sun himself... 6x hunts in SA in the June - July time frame.. and probably 20x trips to southern Africa in general during their winter, and I have never seen a snake of any sort during cold months... it was a pretty cool thing to experience.. Gerrit was tempted to pick it up and put it in the truck I think.. but I think my wife would have shot him just before shooting the snake if he did

After about 330 things started to pick up quite a bit.. We spotted a huge nyala in the field.. Im pretty sure it was north of 27" with a massive body... but Nyala wasnt on the menu for this trip.. I took a really nice one last year, and the wife took a really nice one the year before.. We also saw several herds of zebra and wildebeest over the next few hours.. The better half got out on a couple of wildebeest stalks but got busted.. We finished the day around 530, with the sun just a few minutes from setting spotting a really nice blesbok that our teen was interested in.. She got in a really nice stalk and was able to close the distance to 113 yards, but wasnt able to get a good angle on him as he was down in a little gully with grass as high as his shoulders all around him.. We finally called it a day just before 6PM... had a HUGE dinner and enjoyed hearing about @roverandbrew taking a Rowland Ward quality Blesbok earlier in the day (again, wont steal his thunder.. I'll let him tell the story if he so chooses).. Everyone was completely bushed from the flights though.. so we turned in relatively early (about 9PM I believe), planning on hitting the bow blind right at sun up the next morning...

Day 2 reporting to follow after I get some lunch (we're sitting at City Lodge in Joberg now waiting on our flights home )...

I bet these were the Sable that were released when I was there in 2019!!

 

[ILDRHNTR]

Glad you achieved what you went for. Great animals and fantastic stories. Thanks for sharing. Look forward to any more of the hunt you’re willing to share. Congrats!

 

[Altitude sickness]

What did he charge you?

 

[mdwest]

I bet these were the Sable that were released when I was there in 2019!!

Based on their age/maturity, I'd guess the same... when we were there in 2019 there was a bachelor herd of young guys (maybe 6-8 of them) that would bed down not too far from the lodge.. you would see them each night when coming in from the afternoon hunt...

The ones this year were probably 3-4 years older, about the same size group though.. but, a pretty far distance from where we were seeing them back in 2019 (hanging out on the far opposite corner of the main property..

All that said, Sable is something else that @Bos en Dal SAFARIS has A LOT of right now.. there is a group of really big boys running around on the Neuport property across the back road.. and we saw several single and pairs of big males at different times during the week.. LOTS of bulls that are old and mature enough, with 40" or better horns on them running around right now.. Unfortunately none of those were hanging out with this group... or I might have been very tempted to try to take one with the bow.. (even though I had not planned or budgeted for that lol)...

 

[mdwest]

Days 5 and 6 -

Honestly, not a whole lot to tell in terms of hunting on the last two days... We saw A LOT of animals (the property is teaming with pretty much everything right now.. but having achieved everyones primary objectives early, we were taking it pretty easy the last few days and werent inclined to really pursue anything in particular.. we were just looking to see what the bush might provide with no real plan in place... but... Day 6 is where the "plus a lot more" part of the story kicks in..

On the 5th day, we went back to the bow blind again first thing in the AM.. as stated above we saw A LOT of animals.. a pair of waterbuck females came in early and got amazingly close to the blind for a fairly long period of time (less than 10 meters).. a small herd of impala with 1 really nice ram came in shortly behind the waterbuck, but took off before actually coming all the way in (maybe they winded us?).. 3 additional waterbuck cows then joined the first 2... all 5 pretty much hung out until we were ready to leave for lunch...

A group of 7 "pincher" impala came in by about 1030AM.. they were a lot of fun to watch.. none were shooters.. I'd guess the entire bunch to be 2 years old.. they screwed around acting like an unruly group of teenagers for about an hour before leaving..

About the time the impala left, I got excited, a group of 7 zebra were seen at about 200 yards making their way to the blind.. zebra was the other "test" hunt I really wanted to do with my bow.. if I could get total pass through on a zebra, that would give me all the confidence I ever needed in its capability.. Once they got close we realized it was a group of 3 young males (maybe 2-3 years old) and 2 mature females (definitely shooter sized)... but each of the females had a young foal in tow.. I'd guess one of the foals was 3 months old tops.. the other was a little older (6 months?).. that took the females off the hit list... but we really enjoyed watching the little babies running around, watching their mothers take protective stances with them and keep the young males from assing around too close to the babies, etc..

About 1140 me decided we'd stay in the blind until noon and then head back to the lodge for lunch... That plan got rapidly re-adjusted though lol..

About 1145 we heard a LOUD commotion on top of the tin roofed blind.. we assumed either a bird or a lizard of some sort had gotten on the roof and was scratching around... 2 minutes later we saw a little head poke through the corner where the roof meets the wall... everything happened so quickly after that, I cant be sure if our visitor was some sort of squirrel, weasel, or a rat... but... he decided to join us... he ran straight into the blind, trying to hold onto the wall and run across the front of the structure.. lost his grip, and fell 2 inches from my wifes lap (36" from me)...

All four of us (Gerrit, my wife, I, and the squirrel/rat/weasel) screamed, jumped up, and then the fight was on! lol..

Gerrit positioned himself by the door.. I dont know if he intended on grabbing the squirrel-rat or helping to escort it out of the blind lol... I started trying to stomp on it, and the wife just continued to shuffle around trying to avoid the entire fray...

The entire squirrel-rat encounter only lasted a couple of seconds.. but at that point we were laughing so hard and making so much noise that it was pointless to stay in the blind.. it was time to go get something to eat and make a plan for the rest of the day lol...


After lunch we decided to give our daughter a shot at a hartebeest.. there are several nice bulls on the Nauport property owned by Bos en Dal.. about 330PM we finally spotted a group that had 3 very nice quality bulls and about a half dozen mature ladies.. we played cat and mouse with them for about an hour but never could get our daughter positioned for the shot (every time she got within 150 yards, they'd move on.. they were on to us from the moment we started stalking them... this herd didnt get old and mature for no reason.. they were smart...)...


6x South African safaris under my belt during the June-July time frame.. another thing I have never experienced (in addition to the snake mentioned earlier) is rain.... but man did we get it in spades that night... rain started coming down about 7PM.. and we had a full blown storm that continued to pour until about 4AM.. that put the kabosh on sitting by the fire that night, but we all had a nice time hanging out in the lodge together, telling stories of the day, and then slept like babies through the storm over the evening..


Something I havent mentioned prior... Gerrits new "ride"... In previous years we have hunted out of a VW Amarok (fancy bakkie!) or a Toyota Hi-Lux depending on what PH we are with...

Gerrit had a single cab Land Cruiser converted earlier this year to a hunting truck... Having 3x hunters in the vehicle along with 2x PH (buffalo hunt).. this truck was just about as perfect as could be.. With the elevated seats in the rear, observing game, etc was easy.. there was plenty of room for a large group (family all hunting together, etc) and all of the associated gear, guns, bows, etc.. and like any Land Cruiser, there is nowhere it couldnt go, etc.. It also made communication between everyone much easier as well, while providing plenty of protection from wind, cold, heat, etc.. Wonderful truck!

 

[mdwest]

Day 6 - Final hunting day

Once again we start the morning in the bow blind, and go back to the blind where I had taken the wildebeest earlier during the week hoping the same herd returns and maybe I can get a shot on a second one.. it was super cloudy with extremely high winds, and the ground was still very wet from the previous nights storm.. bow hunting was definitely going to be a challenge..

We sat in the blind for a couple of hours and saw no wildlife.. it was just too cold (storm also brought in a pretty significant cold front.. temps dropped probably 10 degrees overnight).. too windy, and too dark.. about 930 a flock of egyptian geese flew into the nearby dam... I was tempted to take a shot at one with the bow.. but they were all 50-60 yards away, presented a small target, I'd definitely lose a $25 arrow and a good broadhead, and I certainly wasnt going into the water to recover the goose (if I could hit it at all).. so I passed..

A few more hours passed with no activity.. about 1215 a huge flock of guineas came in (50+).. 5 minutes after that a couple of kudu cows came in, each with a calf... We sat for another 10 minutes and decided it was time to go back to the lodge, warm up a bit, and see if we could figure out a better plan for the afternoon hunt..

About 2PM we headed back out.. it was still cold, and overcast.. but the winds had died down a bit.. with nothing in particular in mind, we decided to just drive the property and maybe get out on foot for a bit and see what the bush might provide..

within just a few minutes of hitting the road a herd of wildebeest were spotted about 300 yards out.. we drove past them about another 300-400 yards, and then Gerrit and my wife got out (leaving the daughter and I behind) and put on about a 1 hour stalk trying to close the gap and get a shot off, but had no luck.. almost immediately after deciding to move on from the wildebeest, we spotted a herd of blesbok that we had seen every day for the last 6 days.. this particular herd has been staying in the same general area at Bos en Dal for as long as I have been coming to the property.. the location, near a spot called "Four Ways" is a long open field thats about 500 meters in length and probably 200 meters wide with tall grass and a handful of trees here and there.. The blesbok there are very wary and always keep a distance any time they hear or see a vehicle.. Since 2019 Ive never seen them any closer than about 250 yards from the road that runs along either side of the field.. typically when they hear a vehicle coming they move to the opposite side and will be 300-400 yards away...

this time they were only about 150 yards from us... so we drove past for a few hundred meters.. and the teenager and Gerrit got out... the intention was to stalk in using the wood line for concealment and see if they could get close enough for a shot.. The blesbok were too smart for us that day though.. by the time they made it back to the edge of the wood line the herd was 300-350 meters away, and watching closely... every attempt they made to get closer resulted in the herd moving an additional 20-50 yards further out..

Additional attempts were made to hunt wildebeest and hartebeest that day.. but no success.. we were outsmarted by the beests each time we tried..

About 530PM we decided to call it a day and headed back to the lodge to drop off some gear and pick up some cash... a much anticipated moment was going to occur in the next few hours..

If you have hunted at Bos en Dal before, you know that Friday nights are big family braai nights (a highlight of the hunt!).. with cash in hand we headed over to Gerrits fathers property (located across the primary Bos en Dal hunt property.. just a 10 minute drive from the lodge) to have dinner...

The food and conversation at a braai never disappoints.. but this one in particular was exceptional.. there were probably 15+ people present.. and enough food to feed 30 was prepared.. we ate and ate and ate until I think all of us felt like we were going to pop..

Among the guests was a lady named Anet Dreyer Kruger... An absolutely INCREDIBLE photographer and artist..

This could drag into a LONG, LONG story... but the short version is.. at DSC this year my wife and I were looking at some of the art on display and were considering commissioning some work... the prices however for frankly some artists that are not particularly known (although they do outrageously good work) were astronomical.. I dont know if any of you guys happened to see a large sized oil painting of an elephant at DSC that was primarily done in black and white (maybe 4'x5' in size.. framed)... the asking price for that piece was $28,000... the vast majority of the art that I considered to be high quality was at a minimum $5K and scaled up to about $12K depending on the artist, size and complexity of the work, etc..

While I appreciate nice paintings, etc.. I am not an art collector or connoisseur.. I dont really care about "investment" value.. I just want something that I enjoy looking at..

While I am willing to pay for the time/effort involved to do high quality work.. I'd much prefer to spend $5k-$28K on a hunt than I would a painting if Ive got that sort of money just laying around to spend... So, I chose to pass on buying any of the art available at DSC.. .

Gerrit and his wife however noticed that my wife and I were taking quite a bit of interest in the art on display at DSC.. and mentioned that they knew a great artist in South Africa that could do every bit as quality of work.. that specialized in wildlife and portraits.. that they thought would be a fraction of the cost to do something similar..

So they put me in touch with Anet in late January...

over the course of about a month Anet and I worked out what sort of painting we were looking for, what sort of color scheme, size, etc.. etc.. and settled on an approximated price (which was indeed a fraction of the asking prices at DSC)... she agreed that she'd have the work complete by the time we hunted in July and that we could inspect the painting then, and if we liked it, we could purchase it...

So.. at the braai, we had the great unveiling... Gerrit and his wife, Yolandi had already seen the painting a few days before and had told me they thought we'd be blown away by it...

We were indeed blown away... It is absolutely PERFECT for our home and is exactly what we wanted (and again, a fraction of what others wanted to be paid for similar quality)... and is a unique, one of a kind piece of art..

If youre not familiar with the story of Amarula (the famous elephant.. not the drink )... you can find his story here: https://www.pilanesbergnationalpark.org/media/amarula-south-africas-most-famous-elephant/

and here: https://www.sapeople.com/2022/02/09/africas-most-famous-elephant-amarula-has-passed-away-at-65/

Anet had photographed Amarula before he died and thought turning the photo into an oil painting (modified based on the parameters established when we commissioned the piece) would be a perfect fit..

She was right.. it is absolutely perfect.. and the quality of work vs the amount paid, frankly is probably the best deal I have ever been given on any accoutrement in our home.. this is a piece we will quite literally cherish forever..

If any of you are interested in art.. I cannot recommend Anet highly enough.. She was wonderfully easy to work with.. very fair in pricing.. and the quality of the work (the pic simply does not do the actual painting justice) is incredible.. we will absolutely be working with her again in the future.. If anyone would like her contact info, shoot me a PM and I'd be happy to provide it..

 

[AZDAVE]

WOW is all I have to say about that picture!

 

[mdwest]

After the 6th day, the hunt portion of our trip was over.. it was time to head back to Jo'berg and catch a flight to Cape Town.. this year we decided it was time to play tourist for at least a few days (5) and enjoy the other side of the country for a little while...

Our flight wasnt until 6PM that night, and Bos en Dal is only about a 90-120 minute drive to the airport in Jo'berg.. but we had quite a bit to accomplish before catching the scheduled domestic flight..

Once again, this could result in a LONG story.. I'll try to keep it as brief as possible.. if you want to know more, feel free to PM and/or call and I can fill in more blanks...

Here goes my attempt to keep this to a page or two rather than the novel this part of the story could result in...

So... one of the practices my wife and I typically participate in when we hunt in South Africa, is we coordinate with the outfitter to take us either to a local school or an orphanage in the area while we are in camp.. We typically bring things like bibles, personal hygiene stuff, some toys, a few soccer balls (deflate them to pack them, and re-inflate them with a hand pump prior to delivery), etc.. and will also make a small cash donation (few hundred bucks) and also bring them some of the spoils from our hunt (meat) as a donation..

Last year when we were visiting, Gerrit coordinated a visit for us at the Lighthouse Childrens Home in Rustenberg, South Africa..

While we have done this sort of thing several times prior (as part of my career, I have spent a significant amount of time in the developing world and have done this sort of thing several dozen times all over Africa, Central/South America, Asia, the Middle East, etc)... but this particular place really touched our hearts.. @pattesonfamily was with us on our hunt in 2022.. he and his wife were equally touched... In a nutshell, Elsa, the founder/director of Lighthouse opened the doors in early 2020 and took in about a dozen kids... 2 months later COVID hit.. fast forward to today, they have 60+ kids residing at Lighthouse.. and have been surviving on a shoestring since inception.. rapid influx of kids (and they cant take care of all that come to their doors), COVID drying up donations and volunteers, etc.. has made things incredibly difficult for them..

What we saw really amounted to a handful of women dedicating their lives to trying the absolute best they could to rescue as many children as they could from truly horrible life situations... and they were seriously struggling (the most recently received child last year when we were there was an infant, approximately 6 weeks old, that had been abandoned in a public toilet.. one of the toddlers we saw was a victim of extreme abuse.. his mother, a drug addict, had cut the toes off of his feet before releasing him to lighthouse, etc..etc..)..

We ran through our typical routine... we brought them some bibles, some toys, gave them some money, and played with the kids for a couple of hours.. but also realized we really needed to do more...

So.. when we got home.. @pattesonfamily , my wife, and I decided we'd turn what has for years been a very informal activity/action into something more formal, and give ourselves a tool by which we could render more support... specifically to target Lighthouse (at least initially) and help them get on their feet...

We collectively formed a 501(c)3 named the 4 Kids Foundation (an obvious play on "For Kids"... @pattesonfamily and his wife have four kids, and my wife and I have four kids).. and began making donations between each of our companies (no intention of the 501(c)3 actually every becoming anything "public" or growing it beyond being a tool/vehicle for our own personal and our own company's charitable donations...

As we have told close friends and family members about what we saw, and what we're doing about it however, 4 Kids has grown a little bit.. we now have a couple of volunteer leaders that are helping to take the reigns on a few things, and a handful of additional dollars beyond what @pattesonfamily and my family and companies provide have come in.. and we've got some plans to grow it a bit further beyond just cash donations as well (working with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS on a program where some cull hunt meat will get donated each year, working with a group of US military SOF veterans to potentially provide medical, dental, facility maintenance aid each year, etc..)..

Anyway... back to the primary story...

We spent from July 2022 (when we first met Elsa and visited Lighthouse) to July 2023 trying to figure out the best way we could provide some assistance to the orphanage.. Over the course of the year we pulled together funding to put a new roof on one of her buildings, to help build a new shower/bathroom area for the boys (put in the plumbing, put in the tile, etc), and we brought her about 300 lbs of fresh wildebeest meat as well as some other much needed supplies (baby formula, diapers, etc)...

If hitting the local villages/towns when youre in Africa isnt part of your typical hunting trip.. I highly encourage you guys to do it the next time you go over.. Americans (and most Europeans) really have no understanding of "poverty"... we think a guy living in the projects, in a 750 square foot 2 bedroom cinderblock apartment with heat and air-conditioning, that drives a 20 year old beater car, and is limited to having just 4 sets of clothes, 1 set of shoes, and eating rice and beans 4 nights a week is impoverished... the truth is... thats middle class living in many places in the world.. not to sound like Sally Struthers.. but you'd be amazed how much of a difference $20 makes in the world of some of these kids.. its literally the difference in whether or not they can go to school.. or whether or not they eat.. or whether or not they have a place to sleep at night... (and still have comparatively a horrible existence materially compared to most of our "poor"..).. 20 minutes in a little tribal/village school house or a South African/Namibian/Tanzanian Orphanage will change your perspective of the world.. and while it will break your heart.. it will also inspire you.... The one constant I have seen all over the world when I have done this is... these kids are among the happiest kids on the planet... they own NOTHING.. so they appreciate EVERYTHING.. they arent caught up in the bullshit our kids are.. they arent saddened because they dont have the newest version of the iphone, or the latest edition of Air Jordans on their feet, etc.. simply giving them 20 minutes of your time and letting them know that someone in the world actually gives even a tiny bit of a damn about them brings them extreme joy... They'll play with a $3 soccer ball from Wal-Mart for hours upon hours... and will think you gave them the keys to the entire kingdom when you hand them the ball..

These orphanage/school visits we do are indeed heart wrenching at times (seeing a kid with no toes that you know the mom got high and cut off is something that imprints in your mind forever).. but they are also the highlight and among the best moments of every trip we make... Being able to see the roof we helped put on the house, the new bathroom that has been built, and watching the kids go absolutely bananas when they saw us bringing in huge bags of fresh meat for them to eat.. makes it completely worth it...

 

[mdwest]

In addition to spending some time with Lighthouse and discussing 2024 plans to assist, visiting the kids, etc.. we also made a little time to hit a local elephant sanctuary thats very close to @Bos en Dal SAFARIS before making our way to the airport..

This was a very cool and very affordable experience.. we were able to directly interact with 4 elephants (2 bulls and 2 cows) that were being rehabilitated (no intent on setting them back into the wild.. they were too imprinted by humans at this point.. but all 4 were rescues of some sort or another)..

We were able to hand feed them, walk with them, touch them, etc.. the guide assigned to our tour was obviously extremely knowledgeable and gave us tons of information that honestly I never knew about elephants.. the sanctuary was another wonderful experience, and a great way to cap off the @Bos en Dal SAFARIS portion of our trip before heading to Cape Town for a few nights of fine dining, shopping at the Waterfront, Paragliding, Wine Touring, Penguin and Seal watching, etc...

 

[mdwest]

short video of the bow shot on the wildebeest...

(thanks again to all of the guys that provided info and insight in the recent archery threads... the bow and arrow each performed perfectly.. I couldnt have asked for anything more from either..