SOUTH AFRICA: First South African Safari & Fantastic Time With Bos en Dal SAFARIS

[DeadEyeDickless]

@kdenn and I just got back from our first African safari a couple weeks ago with @Bos en Dal SAFARIS. I’m sure several of you have already seen his write up and so I’ve decided to give my perspective as a first timer, huntress and wife and try not to be too redundant!

Ken and I started researching our trip about a year ago with him joining this forum and myself soon after, soaking in all the advice and living vicariously through others’ hunt reports.
It’s through this forum that we met @Mark Biggerstaff and learned about Bos en Dal Safaris. Over a lengthy phone call one evening he told us all about the outfitter and what we could expect if we chose to go with them for our first trip. We were really glad to learn that Bos en Dal only takes one hunting party at a time! We didn’t want our first trip to be bogged down by strangers offering “advice” or potentially being obnoxious…. After all, Ken says if there has to be an asshole in camp- he wants it to be him!

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

Being able to speak to someone about their personal experience really helped solidify our choice to choose Bos en Dal! Once we talked with Gerrit and finalized our dates and a tentative list of hopeful trophies it was finally real and the countdown was on! In the last couple months leading up to our Safari suddenly everything Ken and I did or bought was discussed using what I like to call the South African Animal exchange rate. One day at the gun store I was thinking of buying a higher end .22 for fun and was quickly reminded what combination of trophy animals my purchase would equate to! I’d mention concert tickets and was told we could get a warthog for that! It was pretty comical for those around us to hear our discussions playing out with animals for cash! We used more advice from the forum and used Henry for gun permits and went to get our 4457s filled out couple months ahead of time. We spent several evening shooting off sticks in preparation. We made and edited packing lists, laid everything out- the house looking like a sporting good store, and truth be told still over packed even though we tried not to! We had been seeing some airline horror stories in the day’s leading up to our flight and were worried we could be delayed or worse. Luckily though, we departed Louisville headed for Newark without a hitch, had a long layover at the United Polaris Lounge and was on our way with a great tailwind promising to have us in Joburg ahead of schedule.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

Once in Joburg, we were greeted and collected by Henry’s man before finding Gerrit and Rikus of Bos en Dal to gather our rifles. A little serial number issue caused a temporary moment of grief but was soon remedied in a way that suited the SAPS and my anxious hunting partner! We arrived late to the lodge but Gerrit’s MIL had prepared a great dinner and we ate and planned the next morning’s events. The lodge at Bos en Dal is great looking with modern furniture, comfortable furnishings, with a great dining and living space. The guest rooms are large and private with a great shower and even a tub if you want to soak after a long day! They have a really unique fire “pit” although it’s not really a pit, more of an elevated surface which is great for propping your feet up on while enjoying a beverage around the fire.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

Next morning it was off to the shooting range. Ken had Gerrit purchase a Freyr and Devik suppressor for my .300WSM and it was there waiting for me to put it on and re-zero. On a side note, this suppressor turned out to be pretty sweet! Very light weight with great recoil and sound reduction, think I preferred it to the Silencerco one I used back home. Being a female hunter/shooter I will say there was a little extra internal pressure on myself to show our PH that I knew how to use my equipment and that he didn’t have to worry for his/our safety etc. There’s nothing worse than being treated like a bobble head but at no time did Rikus, Gerrit or any of the other fellas make me feel as if I were any less of a hunter because of my gender! I was always treated with the same level of respect as they showed Ken! I think this is a really important note to make for any other hunting couples whose wives may be apprehensive about participating in a hunt!

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

After getting the rifles lined out we headed out to begin our hunt! Even though we had an ideal list of animals we were open to whatever the bush provided and it wasn’t long before we were on our first stalk on a group of impala. It was pretty surreal to finally be following along behind the PH who was carrying the sticks I had brought knowing that any minute he was going to throw them up and it was on me to get the first animal of the safari in the salt!

 

[Cbourg]

Great report so far and nice impala to start it off! Congratulations

 

[Randy F]

Enjoying your side of the story. Keep it coming.

 

[BourbonTrail]

Nice ram and nice rifle!

 

[VertigoBE]

This looks like another great adventure in the making! Keep it coming!

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

After shooting the impala we drove around a bit and saw lots of other game but nothing for the taking. Evening ended with a great dinner and a sit by the fire.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

Day 2 on Saturday morning we have a small bite and some coffee then you’d again. Ken is feeling a bit left out at this point and is itching to get a shot on something. We head over to another property see several common springbok and some copper. We find a herd of red hartebeest and make a nice stock on them. We manage to get with 40-50 yards but they were all female. It was still gratifying to be able to get that close without being busted but eventually one of the females sees us and blows and we enjoy watching them make their escape. We soon encountered a red hartebeest male needed down up a step hill. We make a stock and Ken shoots him, his first shot was probably enough but he sent another to be sure. When we made our way up to the beest it was clear that he had been injured and had a broken foreleg that was causing him to lose weight and we were even more satisfied knowing that we put the old fella out of his misery.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

As we are making our way out of that property we spot a male Kudu. Imagine my excitement! The number one animal on my list and he’s right there with his spirals glinting in the sun. I‘m a bit bummed when Rikus tells me he’s not the one I want; after all there wouldn’t have been anything to compare him with hanging on my wall and the first time you see some of these animals they all look good! But it’s only day two so I accept that he’s the expert. We get back over to the main property and continue to see what the bush would provide. It’s not quite lunch time when we see some zebra. I had mentioned wanting one for a rug so we decided to hunt a female so her hide would be prettier. We manage to get set up on them, but there’s quite a bit of bush they are moving through. Luckily there was an opening between a couple scrubby trees and when she stepped into the clear I let her have it. The group bolts off and she follows, we get on her blood trail and find her probably a 100 yards or so away. This was different from the impala shot I had made since she didn’t just drop in her tracks. I was apprehensive and excited following the blood trail not knowing what we would find but she was dead and we set about posing her for pictures. By now we had two animals down and we were late for lunch!!

 

[R.M.C.]

Sounds like a great time, thanks for sharing!

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

After lunch we head back out, we see lots of animals and make a few unsuccessful stalks on some blue wildebeest. We headed back in and enjoyed the cloudless sunset while we sipped libations around the fire with Gerrit, his family, and Rikus. They were having their traditional Saturday night braai, the fire was made larger so they would have some hot coals to cook over and we enjoyed talking until it was time to eat!

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

Day Three and it’s Ken‘s birthday. I won’t say that he deliberately planned to be there on his birthday but I’ll let you decide. We are out and spotting early. We are glassing for male Kudu. We had been seeing plenty of females and young ones so Rikus wants to see if the males come out on the mountain as the early morning sun starts to bathe everything in its orange glow. It was pretty chilly, maybe low to mid 40’s Fahrenheit. I was now glad that I had decided to bring some base layers and some gloves. We see several big females come out on the mountain to enjoy the morning sun but no shooter males…. the memory of the second day Kudu in the back of my mind.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

We move off the mountain and start looking for other animals on our lists, it’s about 9:00 in the morning and we see a nice herd of blesbok. It’s Ken’s birthday afterall so it’s only fair he gets to take a shot at one. They get set up and the first shot is a clean miss. The herd runs away. I can tell he’s disappointed but Rikus ensures us that we will get on them again. It takes a while before we finally locate them. They are definitely on high alert. It’s at this time I decide that it might be best if I wait at the truck. I’m thinking the less noise the better. I decide to climb up in the back of the truck so I can watch in the binos as they make their way. Before too long they are too far for me to see. A few minutes turned into 45 and I faintly hear a gunshot in the distance. It’s several more minutes before I see Ken and Rikus walking toward the truck. They tell me Ken missed again. I’m feeling bad for him until we pull up and get out and there is his Blesbok dead on the ground. Haha jokes on me I guess! We get our pictures and head back in for lunch. He’s pretty excited about his birthday blesbok and I was glad that their long stalk paid off!

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

After lunch we aren’t having much luck seeing anything else on our list so Rikus decides to try another property. Soon after we get there we see a nice Nyala bull. We decide to make a stalk on him since the nyala was high on Ken’s list. There were several impala near by and they kept busting us… snorting and blowing. Each time we thought we could get into range the impala got in the way. It was getting dusky out so we knew there wasn’t much time left and the nyala was using this group of Impala as his personal alarm system. He kept running with them making a clear shot impossible. Reluctantly we give up knowing time is against us. We get back in for dinner and they surprise Ken with a great birthday cake and home made ice cream.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

We had made a plan to start out early on day four to take another chance on the nice nyala bull. We get over to the other property just as the sun is coming up and we see several Nyala coming in. There are two nice bulls that we decide to get a closer look at. One is definitely a shooter so we make a short stalk and by 7:36am we are taking pictures. Ken is beyond excited! he made a great shot that had dropped the bull in his tracks. We take several minutes to admire how beautiful God made this creature while we wait for the skinner.

 

[DeadEyeDickless]

We head back to the main property. We had been seeing a nice male sable intermittently the last few days and I had even made an unsuccessful stalk on him once, but he was always very alert and ready to run. We have now come up on him in a fairly open area. We had joked around about being elephant ninjas walking around in the rocky terrain, and at times it seemed impossible to be quiet, but now was my chance to finally get a shot at the sable. Rikus tells Ken we’ve got to be “quieter than we’ve ever been papa” I laugh but realize how much pressure there’s going to be on me to make our effort count. We get somewhere around 160yards to the sable and I make a shot! The thud from the bullet is easily heard thanks to my suppressor. He bolts and disappears into a bit of thick bush. We follow and find him maybe 50 yards from where he had been! I’m ecstatic. It had seemed that he was going to evade me but Rikus, always the coach, reminded me that eventually the animals will make a mistake in our favor. we are now waiting for the skinner the second time today before lunch. We head in and aren’t disappointed with another delicious meal. After going back out we decide to go back up to the mountains to look for kudu yet again. We are surprised to find a small group of male blue wildebeest. It’s obvious that they are wanting to fight each other and Rikus sees a nice shooter and tells me that since they are more interested in each other that we might get a shot. They are not far away when we decide to make a stalk. It was going to be a short stalk so Ken decided to wait in the truck in order to be less distracting. We get maybe 50 yards away, and like they often do, he turns to face me and me blows. Rikus coaches me on a frontal shot and I make it. He bunches up then runs into the bush. We track him and find him maybe 75 yards away. Ken and I are thrilled with the day. Three animals on our list. Rikus says it’s a record for him too. We go in that night for dinner and it’s brandy and cokes and whiskeys all around.