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February of 2023 my wife was the successful bidder on a 10 day hunt with Van Wijk Safaris at the Maryland Bowhunters Society Banquet we attended. The hunt included a Blue Wildebeest and a Blesbok. It also included an observer. My wife won the auction for me to hunt Africa for my 60th birthday and she said she had no interest in going. My buddy, Walt, was at the table with me and he quickly said he would join in. He had hunted Africa before with this same outfitter. It would be my first time ever hunting Africa.
Well, it was scheduled for June 2024. I had 16 months to plan. Being an absolute newb I discovered this site. The help this community has offered me has been invaluable. I hope thankful to each and every one that helped me along the way. My list was finalized. I would definitely add a Kudu. The Kudu has long been my "bucket list" animal. If I left Africa with only one animal, I prayed it was a Kudu. I also added a Zebra, a Gemsbok, an Impala, and a Honey Badger to the Blue Wildebeest and the Blesbok giving me a "hopefuls" list of 7.
The one part of your safari that you want to be non-remarkable is the flights. The Baltimore to Atlanta to Johannesburg on Delta went off without a hitch. My PH, Andries Van Wijk, had his PH buddy Adrian at the airport waiting to pick us up. Hand shakes were exchanged, bags were loaded, and we headed off on the 3 hour journey to the lodge.
I knew what the lodge would look like due to my planning, but it exceeded my expectations.
We arrived at the lodge about 11:30 PM. Andries was up to greet us. We woke up early the next day to sight in the Marlin .308 that I would be using. Rather than travel with my own rifle (after hearing some horror stories) I had decided to use one of Andrie's rifles. The first 3 shots from the .308 formed little Mickey Mouse ears that made one hole. Andrie's exclaimed, "Let's go hunt".
Day 1-
Walt and I boarded Andrie's tricked out Safari Truck and off we headed to the bushveldt! For 16 months I had been wondering what my first ever African animal would be. I had dreamt about it. I would soon find out. We entered the concession with Andries, Walt, Adrian, and I in the back of the truck. Our driver was Brought, a local South African tracker who would prove to be hero like in my eyes due to his tracking skills. We were driving along and came upon a herd of 7 zebras. Andries made a plan to dismount the truck and proceed on foot to get closer as the wind was in our favor. After about a 15 minute stalk (scaring a duiker up along the way!) we were at 155 yards. One zebra was signicantly darker than the others. Andries informed me that was the Stallion. They were amongst some trees but the herd stallions vitals were visible through a gap in the trees. Andries placed the shooting sticks up. Now... shooting sticks... something I was nervous about as they were new to me when this hunt was planned. I had went over to Walt's and practiced on shooting sticks for an afternoon, but I still felt a little uneasy on them. I placed the suppressed .308 on the sticks. I found my target in the Maven 2-10 scope. I squeezed the trigger. WAY left I thought. I was just getting ready to tell Andries I missed when I heard a loud and distinct 'THUD". I loved shooting this .308 with the suppressor as this thud would be heard after every shot. Upon hearing the thud I knew I didn't miss, but I was not happy with the shot. It ran off and after about 30 yards it disappeared out of sight in the trees. We started walking to where Andries saw it last. There was no blood. I was extremely nervous as I knew I made a bad shot. I was so disappointed in myself. Here I am, finally in Africa, I get my first shot and I might have blown it. Andries looked back at me, I apologized for the shot. He told me to calm down and we kept walking. After another 10 yards he stops. He turns around and looks at me with a sullen look on his face. I am positive it is bad news. He extends his right hand and says "Congratulations". Lying just ahead of him, within our view, was my Zebra.
Now for 16 months I had been looking at all the pictures that Van Wijk puts on their FB page. Every picture was outstanding. Little did I know how much work they put into it. The animal was turned so that the non shot side would be facing so that the sun was behind the photographers back. Brought, Andries, and Adrian all grabbed machetes and pangas and started clearing out the entire area in front of the animal so that there was a "clearing". After about 3 guys working for 10 minutes, they were happy. About 50 pictures were taken.
The Zebra is loaded into the truck. We all load back into the truck as well. While Brought is driving, Andries asked me how I am going to have it mounted so that the skinners knew how to prepare it back at the lodge. I told him that I had not decided yet between a rug, of this really cool looking 3D wall art pedestal that I saw on this very site. He then informs me that this particular concession owner really wants to reduce his number of zebras. He offers me an incredible deal on a 2nd zebra. Just then guess what we see, more zebras! This was a group of 5. I decide to take one. Andries asked which one I liked. I had just downed a very dark stallion. I now wanted a bright white on that contrasted with the deep black. I told him which one I liked the best. It was a Mare on the far right. We advanced until I was within 90 yards. I place the gun on the rest and squeeze it off. "THUD". This time I feel really good about the shot. All the zebras bolt. They one I shot runs 40 yards with its mouth open and then crashes in the dirt.
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Here is a shot of me and Andries Van Wijk, my favorite PH in the world, with my 2nd zebra. Notice the debris knocked down in front of it where the clearing was made. Now... a very unique quality on this zebra. I have named her #7.
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This distinct #7 on this zebra determined that this would be the one turned into the wall mount so that this #7 is clearly visible to all. The Stallion will be a rug. So Day 1 is over. The answer to my 16 month question of what my first ever African animal would be has been answered. It was a Zebra. And my second African animal.... was a Zebra. Back to the lodge where we are served an incredible 4 course meal. I thought this was a special meal as it was our first night there. As it would turn out, every night in the lodge would yield a meal equally spectacular. On the Menu was was Red Hartebeest sausage and WIldebeest strips.
Day 2-
We wake up early, have a quick breakfast and load up into the truck with the same crew. We enter the concession. Early on we saw Giraffe, zebra, Blue Wildebeest, Fervet Monkeys, Steenbucks, Sables, Impala, Black Impala, and Baboons. I absolutely love the amount of animals you see in a given day over there. An hour into the day we see 3 kudu cows on our right. As I am looking at the mere height and size of these Kudus, Adrian says, "The Bull is in the back behind the trees". We all turn our head to the front. There he is. A Kudu bull. A NICE Kudu bull. To my amazement he walks out of the trees walking very slowly towards us. At 55 yards he turn to his left (our right) and is walking in the middle of a clearing. A perfect God given shot. I have him in the scope. But if I know one thing, I know I need Andrie's approval to shoot any animal. I was told by others to expect to be told "No" by Andries about 100 times. I was ready for this. With the Zebra it didn't matter as much as their is no SCI scoring or judging to be done. But now we are talking Kudu. Andries is intently judging the animal through his binos. I hear him say "He's close." I am hoping for the word as he looks huge to me. Andries has finally reached a decision. "Shoot him", he says. The Kudu is now out of the clearing and has entered some trees following the cows. He is proceeding uphill and quartering away from me. He stops between 2 trees and I have a perfect shot at 70 yards. The .308 goes off. "THUD". He does not run away but yet walks slowly away in the same direction as if nothing happened. He stops in another clearing. I shoot a 2nd time. "THUD". He walks away again, but this time goes only 20 yards and piles up. We walk up on him. This happened so quickly. I now realize my bucket list animal has been achieved. And it is only day 2 of my Safari. I actually get emotional. I kneel down, place my hand on this magnificent animal, and offer him my gratitude for his sacrifice. I am not embarrassed to tell you that the guys see I am getting quite choked up and give me a minute.
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Me and my Safari Buddy Walt.
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A different angle of my Kudu Bull Trophy.
This Kudu expired up a hill in some thick stuff. There is no dragging an animal of this size. Out come the machetes and pangas. A road is made to get the truck up to the Kudu. Boulders are placed in holes so the wheels wont fall in them. It is at least a 30 minute operation just to get the truck to the kill site.
We finally load the magnificent animal into the truck. Andries tells us to get in the back of the truck with the animal because we are still hunting. We drive away and I find myself continually looking at the animal that is sprawled all over me in the truck. My dream like gaze is broken when I hear Andries say, "We will find your Blesbok out of this group". I look up and there are 18 Blesbok 90 yards to our front in a huge open field. They are staring at us. Andries says I will have to take this shot from the truck because if we get down they are going to bolt. I bring up the rifle and rest it on the rack over the cab. Andries throws up his binos and starts his survey. He finds my shooter. He explains to me which one it is. I find it in the scope. I remember my first thought being that his horns were so white compared to all the other ones. I focus in on him. Yep - excellent horns for a Blesbok - he will score well. Fire. Thud. But.. for the first time, the animal does not run or walk off. He just drops in place. High fives are exchanged all around. We drive up to where he lays. I extricate myself from the Kudu and get off the truck. I walk up to my Blesbok. He is magnificent.
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Day 2 is over. My Bucket List day. I have my Kudu and also add a really nice Blesbok.
Impala Schnitzel for dinner.
Day 3. So... What I haven't told you. Walt was there as my "Observer". But, as I said before, he had hunted with Andries before. When I won the hunt and it was decided Walt would go with me, he reached out to Andries and told him that he wanted to hunt a Cape Buffalo! Day 3 was Walts Buffalo day. I took nothing that day. But Walt.... Walt took quite the beast.
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Blesbok Meatballs and beef carpachio for grub.
Day 4 -
Early in the morning we saw one heck of a warthog from the truck. Now Warthog was not on my list, but it was a back up. Upon talking to Andries and Adrian early on I learned that the Gemsbok population in this areas has been decimated. There is a certain tick in the area that they are not resistant to. Gemsbok thrive in other areas of South Africa here this tick is not present, but there would be no Gemsbok for me on this trip. I decided part of the money I had set aside for a Gemsbok would go to a warthog. The truck is parked. Adrian and Walt stay in the truck while Brought, Andries and myself set out on foot for this trophy warthog. We start up a VERY steep embankment of sheer rocks. At this point let me tell you something about me. A few years ago I weighed 336 pounds. As a Retired Army guy I was disgusted at how bad I let my physical shape deteriorate. I started a diet/work out regimen. I left for this hunt at 246 pounds. Still, no doubt, over weight - but in a much better position that I would have been previously. With that said, this warthog stalk took it out of me. It took just about everything I had to stay up with the fleet footed Brought and the never tiring Andries. But this stalk was worth it. Not because of a warthog it would produce, but to see Brought in action. First off I had no idea how he was tracking a warthog over rocks. Sand, dirt, loose soil? Sure. But rocks? I would later find out that he can tell when a rock has been stepped on. When the rock moves ever so slightly there is now a slight gap between the sand (that used to be around the rock) and the rock. Brought can see these imperceptible gaps that tell him the rock was recently stepped on and moved ever so slightly. We scale up these rocks and it leads to a plateau. Of rocks. Brought has at least 10 left or right decisions and he makes the right decision veery time as we eventually see this warthog again. But he is far off now. We have been walking for about 40 minutes. I have no idea how much ground I covered. But I am leaning over and winded. I start to walk again and Andries says "Be still. Brought hears Wildebeest running." What? I am sure this is a "show" being put on for me. I listed as intently as I can. I hear nothing. Brough is putting fingers up behind his ears and is making a running motion with his arms. About 2 or 3 minutes later you will never guess what we saw. About 15 Blue Wildebeest came running past us about 300 yards out. Now not only did Brough hear animals running, but he correctly identified what type of animals they were. Unbelievable. Andries gets on the radio and tells Adrian to drive the truck to us. We water up and load up to see if we can find these Wildebeests. About 5 minutes later we do. A familiar game ensues. I start looking at the bunch with the scope while Andres is judging with his binos. This time his decision is super quick. He tells me there is an absolute trophy of a blue wildebeest in the heard and talks me through where he is. I see him. I lose my breath for a second when I see those horns. Not only super wide, but the horns come back on top so far. They are all leaving the area and are quartering away hard at 175 yards. They are not stopped but are not moving quickly. I engage the trigger on the .308 and the WildeBEEST drops in place. While me and Walt are celebrating Andries yells that the shot was too high. He is struggling to get back on his feet. We approach closer. All his buddies run off. He is still trying to get up. Andries tells me when I have a good shot to put another one him. I do so and the thrashing stops. He's done.
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Me and Brought - The guy who heard him running from who knows how far away.
My new Trophy Blue Wildebeest is loaded into the truck and we set off again. We are driving for awhile and I see an absolute hammer of a sable. Sable was my backup to my Kudu. The budget will not allow for both. But I am super happy to have my Kudu and the Sable gets a pass. We then come to a big water hole. On the side of it is a hippo! A real live Hippo on the land. I take about 100 pictures of it. Man I love Africa! We clear the water hole and see some Impala on our left. Andries identifies a shooter. Try as I may, I just can't get a shot off. They are close enough but they are in some thick trees and they are moving back and forth a lot. We wait it out but a shot never presents itself. On we go. We spot 3 Impala rams. They are only 40 yards away, on our right. This is another instance where there was no time to get off the truck. Andries tells me immediately to shoot the one on the far right. I see him in the scope. I am just about to pull the trigger.... "No No. There is a 4th one. Far left. Take him." I swing the gun around. Perhaps the impala reacted to this movement, I'm not sure but as soon as the crosshairs settle on this newly discovered Ram and I pull the trigger, he turns. I do not hear a thud because we are only 40 yards away and the thud would have been cover up by the rifle sound still at that close of a range. Andries lets out a less that reassuring sound. He had seen the last second turn that I did not. We are a little worried about this one. But, fear not, a mere 30 yards from where I shot him he is stone cold dead. A long gash along his side where the bullet went down his flank as he turned.
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Kudu Tenderloin and Garlic potatoes.
Day 5-
So one of the many things I have learned through this site is, "Take what Africa gives you." Sure you may have a list when you go to Africa. You may think you know what you want but be flexible if something truly amazing plays out. Day 5 was just that day. We enter the concession and see a very dark very old Bull Giraffe that had seen before. He is truly amazing and I got close enough to get some really good pictures of him. About 10 minutes after seeing the giraffe I see animals running off to my right. They are far away. Andries announces they are Red Hartebeest. I am struggling to see them as they are in excess of 300 yards away now. I hear Andries say to Adrian "I am pretty sure that's him." I have no idea what that means. We set out in their direction and close the gap a little. I can see now that there are 3 Red Hartebeests. We close to 145 yards but they are still walking away rather quickly. Andries excitedly tells me to shoot the one in the middle. Now, a Red Hartebeest was not on my list. I considered them. Infact I think they look kind of cool and, to me, resemble a Dr Seuss character. But Andries has not shown this much excitement about any other animal up to this point. I put the gun up and find the middle one. They are walking away hard at 165 yards. I don't even take the time to loo at horns I just pull the trigger. I immediately yell "Too far left!" I felt like I rushed the shot. That, and they weren't still and at 165 when I shot. Andries exclaims, "You hit him, reload!". All 3 of them run away to the left. And fast. I take a 2nd shot while they are running full tilt. Probably an ill advised shot on my part (Andries did not tell me to shoot) as I missed completely. I chamber a 3rd round. My Hartebeest stops at exactly 250 yards. Andries, without skipping a beat, tells me to line his shoulder up half way between the horizontal center line in the scope and the one below it. He is still. This time I am not rushed. I squeeze the trigger. Thud, and a drop. He drops in place at 250 yards. This is the longest I have ever shot an animal. At this point all I know is that I have a Red Hartebeest. Adrian asked Andries "Was that him?" Andries says "Yes. Without a doubt". As it turns out Andries had decided that if this particular Red Hartebeest made it throught the winter hunting season without getting shot, Andries was going to take him for the lodge. Andries explained to me that he is an SCI Gold Medal animal and each horn will probably go 25" making him a Rowland & Ward. He shook my hand. I thanked him. He said I would probably enjoy it more than he would have. A true gentleman and friend.
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Later, measurements would bare it out. He is, in fact, an SCI Gold and A Rowland & Ward. A top 3 Red Hartabeest ever taken at Van Wijk Safaris.
Day 6-
Blind day. Today was the day I was going to get my Warthog. And were going to sit in a ground blind as long as it took. We settled into the blind about 9:00 AM with plans to stay until 4 PM. We started seeing warthogs immediately. They would come in in groups of 3-5. Every warthog we saw was a "No" from Andries. There was big hop in particular with bright blond hair on its back. Its tusks were huge, but it was a sow. At one point a troop of baboons came in 50-60 strong. They put on a show for us for about 3 hours! There were 2 large males battling for dominancy. These baboons fought with each other, kicked each other, made love with each other. I felt like I was watching a movie for 3 hours. I saw at least 20 felonies occur! I filmed a bunch of it and will never forget the show I got to see that day. At one point we had 50-60 baboons and 10 warthogs at the feed in front of the blind. All in all we saw at least 40 warthogs; probably more. at 3:00 I was reminded we were going to leave at about 4:00. I made a a statement that I felt our patience was going to be rewarded. At 3:15 yet another warthog came in. This one looked big to me, but others had as well. I heard Andries say, "Shoot that one." I must have fired within a second of hearing that as I was anxious and didn't want him to change his mind. I shot him at 45 yards. He snorted, turned to his left, ran for only about 25-30 yards, and did a head over heels dust roll. Done.
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So at this point I have hunted 6 days and 8 animals down. The Gemsbok and the Honey Badger are the only 2 animals on my list I don't have. As mentioned earlier, the Gemsbok was not in the cards. I had tried for the Honey Badge for 2 night sits with no luck so far. We had badgers coming into the bait pile consistently on most nights for 2 weeks before I showed up but the elusive honey badger had proved to be just that. We take day 7 off and go to the Pilanesberg National Park. And boy am I glad we did. What an amazing day. We had some great spottings including a leopard, a cheetah, and black rhinos. I was told all 3 were excellent spottings. Of course, in addition, we saw thousands of animals to include 60 inch kudu, elephants, hippos, crocs, just about everything Africa has to offer.
Day 8 -
Another day off from hunting. We visited the "table guys" as Andries likes to call them. Zimbabwean wood carvers who pedal their goods in town. I purchased a big Wildebeest wood carving, salt and pepper shakers made from Impala leg bones, and a warthog tusk bottle opener and wine cork screw. We spent the rest of the day in town hitting the souvenir shops and had a very nice relaxing day supporting the local economy in Vaalwater. That night Andries said, "Well we haven't hunted in 2 days. What do you want to do tomorrow." By now I had a 3rd unsuccessful night at the honey badger pile. There was one species of animal in particular that I kept seeing that was absolutely beautiful that I wanted to add to my list. How about we go for a Golden Wildebeest I said. "Excellent" was Andries response.
Day 9-
We set out for a Golden Wildebeest. We started seeing them rather quickly as Andries has access to one concession in particular that has a bunch of them. We see a pretty good Nyala bull that almost has me change my mind from a Golden to a Nyala! We see our 3rd herd of Golden Wildebeest and it is determined that there is a shooter among the ranks. There are about 10 Wildebeests, (all bulls!) in this grouping. They are consistently shuffling behind trees, clear of trees, in front of each other, behind each other, etc. Eventually a bull steps out from behind a tree alone but he is staring at me, facing us. He is precisely 122 yards away. Andries tells me to take the frontal shot and put it just inside of his left shoulder (right shoulder as facing us). I squeeze. "THUD". He runs off to our right in obvious discomfort. We give it awhile as it was not a broadside shot. After some time it is decided we shall look for him. We see absolutely no blood. I start to worry (kind of like my 1st zebra of the trip). We are grid searching an area and after about 20 minutes still have not found him. At one point I hear Andries whistle. Brought and I go to him. He is bent over at the waist looking intently at the ground "Man that's a lot of blood" he says. I look exactly where he is looking but I see nothing. "Where?" I ask. "Over there on top of your Wildebeest", he stands up and points 15 yards away to my Golden Wildebeest laying dead in the Golden grass.
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Me and Adrian with my GW. Notice my appropriate shirt.
We board the truck. We are heading back to the lodge. I am very melancholy. What an amazing safari it has been. Absolutely exceeded my dreams. But I am a little sad knowing that it is over. I have one day left and am wondering what we are going to do the nest day. After dinner (we dined on Walt's Cape Buffalo tenderloin - I will never understand how a 2100 pound animal can be so tender), I say to Andries "What are we going to do tomorrow?" He tells me he wants to go back out and look for another Golden Wildebeest. Although I was very happy with the one I got, he says we can do better. He says we will only shoot one if it is spectacular. A deal is reached. I get to head back out to the bush tomorrow!
Day 10-
We head to a new concession that we had not visited before. We arrive around 9 AM. Rather quickly we see a herd of Goldens 6-8 strong. Andries judges them. "Nope," We drive on. After an hour or so we see a lone bull. He stands up from under the shade tree he was lying under. To me, he looks huge. Andries says he is close but still thinks we can do better. At 11:00 we see 2 bulls. Andries immediately says, "The one on the left. He is your bull". They are exactly 89 yards away. The bull on the right is in a clearing. My bull is in very tall grass. After about 2 minutes my bull starts walking towards the clearing. Here lies one of those African moments etched in my mind. Much like I will never forget that majestic Kudu walking across that clearing on Day 2, I will never forget watching this Golden Wildebeest walk towards his place of death. The sun hit that Golden Mane on his back perfect, and, for an instant, there was a burst of Goldenness in the scope. It was absolutely beautiful. He walked into that clearing. Stopped perfectly broadside, placed his right (facing me) foot forward, and turned his head to look at me. As if to say, "Here I am. Take me." What a pose he struck. Before I pulled the trigger a rush of emotion hit me. I came to peace that tis would be my last African animal. And I was Ok with it. I pulled the trigger. He jumped into the air and ran away on 3 legs. We would find him a mere 30 yards from where I hit him. It was a perfect shot of a perfect animal on a perfect day with the perfect people all set in place by a perfect God.
So there it is. A hunt Report that I anticipated writing for 16 months. To my fault I have talked about the animals and not enough about the people. I showed up and met Andries Van Wijk as a client. I believe that I left there with him as a lifelong friend. I would not want to do this again without Andries. A true hunter, a gentleman, smart, funny, kind, family man. His make up as a person combined with the concessions that he has access to makes choosing him a no brainer. I have talked to others that hunted with larger operations that hunted with an employee PH. Maybe they saw the owner, maybe they did not. At Van Wijk safaris you are hunting with the owner. You are eating dinner with him, his wife, his son, and his Mom. The Chef (Mr. Noku) is the most talented man in the culinary arts I have ever met. The lodge, which is stunningly gorgeous, holds about 30 I think. Walt and I were the only 2 there until our next to last day when 4 others showed up. He will not let you shoot undersize animals. As discussed, my Red Hartabeest is SCI Gold. My Blue Wildebeest is SCI silver, it missed Gold by 1/4 of an inch. My Blesbok is Silver, it missed Gold by 5/8 of an inch. My Golden Wildebeest is Bronze. If you want to hunt with Andries Van Wijk of Van Wijk safaris send me a PM and I can put the 2 of you in touch.
Well, it was scheduled for June 2024. I had 16 months to plan. Being an absolute newb I discovered this site. The help this community has offered me has been invaluable. I hope thankful to each and every one that helped me along the way. My list was finalized. I would definitely add a Kudu. The Kudu has long been my "bucket list" animal. If I left Africa with only one animal, I prayed it was a Kudu. I also added a Zebra, a Gemsbok, an Impala, and a Honey Badger to the Blue Wildebeest and the Blesbok giving me a "hopefuls" list of 7.
The one part of your safari that you want to be non-remarkable is the flights. The Baltimore to Atlanta to Johannesburg on Delta went off without a hitch. My PH, Andries Van Wijk, had his PH buddy Adrian at the airport waiting to pick us up. Hand shakes were exchanged, bags were loaded, and we headed off on the 3 hour journey to the lodge.
I knew what the lodge would look like due to my planning, but it exceeded my expectations.
We arrived at the lodge about 11:30 PM. Andries was up to greet us. We woke up early the next day to sight in the Marlin .308 that I would be using. Rather than travel with my own rifle (after hearing some horror stories) I had decided to use one of Andrie's rifles. The first 3 shots from the .308 formed little Mickey Mouse ears that made one hole. Andrie's exclaimed, "Let's go hunt".
Day 1-
Walt and I boarded Andrie's tricked out Safari Truck and off we headed to the bushveldt! For 16 months I had been wondering what my first ever African animal would be. I had dreamt about it. I would soon find out. We entered the concession with Andries, Walt, Adrian, and I in the back of the truck. Our driver was Brought, a local South African tracker who would prove to be hero like in my eyes due to his tracking skills. We were driving along and came upon a herd of 7 zebras. Andries made a plan to dismount the truck and proceed on foot to get closer as the wind was in our favor. After about a 15 minute stalk (scaring a duiker up along the way!) we were at 155 yards. One zebra was signicantly darker than the others. Andries informed me that was the Stallion. They were amongst some trees but the herd stallions vitals were visible through a gap in the trees. Andries placed the shooting sticks up. Now... shooting sticks... something I was nervous about as they were new to me when this hunt was planned. I had went over to Walt's and practiced on shooting sticks for an afternoon, but I still felt a little uneasy on them. I placed the suppressed .308 on the sticks. I found my target in the Maven 2-10 scope. I squeezed the trigger. WAY left I thought. I was just getting ready to tell Andries I missed when I heard a loud and distinct 'THUD". I loved shooting this .308 with the suppressor as this thud would be heard after every shot. Upon hearing the thud I knew I didn't miss, but I was not happy with the shot. It ran off and after about 30 yards it disappeared out of sight in the trees. We started walking to where Andries saw it last. There was no blood. I was extremely nervous as I knew I made a bad shot. I was so disappointed in myself. Here I am, finally in Africa, I get my first shot and I might have blown it. Andries looked back at me, I apologized for the shot. He told me to calm down and we kept walking. After another 10 yards he stops. He turns around and looks at me with a sullen look on his face. I am positive it is bad news. He extends his right hand and says "Congratulations". Lying just ahead of him, within our view, was my Zebra.
Now for 16 months I had been looking at all the pictures that Van Wijk puts on their FB page. Every picture was outstanding. Little did I know how much work they put into it. The animal was turned so that the non shot side would be facing so that the sun was behind the photographers back. Brought, Andries, and Adrian all grabbed machetes and pangas and started clearing out the entire area in front of the animal so that there was a "clearing". After about 3 guys working for 10 minutes, they were happy. About 50 pictures were taken.
The Zebra is loaded into the truck. We all load back into the truck as well. While Brought is driving, Andries asked me how I am going to have it mounted so that the skinners knew how to prepare it back at the lodge. I told him that I had not decided yet between a rug, of this really cool looking 3D wall art pedestal that I saw on this very site. He then informs me that this particular concession owner really wants to reduce his number of zebras. He offers me an incredible deal on a 2nd zebra. Just then guess what we see, more zebras! This was a group of 5. I decide to take one. Andries asked which one I liked. I had just downed a very dark stallion. I now wanted a bright white on that contrasted with the deep black. I told him which one I liked the best. It was a Mare on the far right. We advanced until I was within 90 yards. I place the gun on the rest and squeeze it off. "THUD". This time I feel really good about the shot. All the zebras bolt. They one I shot runs 40 yards with its mouth open and then crashes in the dirt.
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Here is a shot of me and Andries Van Wijk, my favorite PH in the world, with my 2nd zebra. Notice the debris knocked down in front of it where the clearing was made. Now... a very unique quality on this zebra. I have named her #7.
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This distinct #7 on this zebra determined that this would be the one turned into the wall mount so that this #7 is clearly visible to all. The Stallion will be a rug. So Day 1 is over. The answer to my 16 month question of what my first ever African animal would be has been answered. It was a Zebra. And my second African animal.... was a Zebra. Back to the lodge where we are served an incredible 4 course meal. I thought this was a special meal as it was our first night there. As it would turn out, every night in the lodge would yield a meal equally spectacular. On the Menu was was Red Hartebeest sausage and WIldebeest strips.
Day 2-
We wake up early, have a quick breakfast and load up into the truck with the same crew. We enter the concession. Early on we saw Giraffe, zebra, Blue Wildebeest, Fervet Monkeys, Steenbucks, Sables, Impala, Black Impala, and Baboons. I absolutely love the amount of animals you see in a given day over there. An hour into the day we see 3 kudu cows on our right. As I am looking at the mere height and size of these Kudus, Adrian says, "The Bull is in the back behind the trees". We all turn our head to the front. There he is. A Kudu bull. A NICE Kudu bull. To my amazement he walks out of the trees walking very slowly towards us. At 55 yards he turn to his left (our right) and is walking in the middle of a clearing. A perfect God given shot. I have him in the scope. But if I know one thing, I know I need Andrie's approval to shoot any animal. I was told by others to expect to be told "No" by Andries about 100 times. I was ready for this. With the Zebra it didn't matter as much as their is no SCI scoring or judging to be done. But now we are talking Kudu. Andries is intently judging the animal through his binos. I hear him say "He's close." I am hoping for the word as he looks huge to me. Andries has finally reached a decision. "Shoot him", he says. The Kudu is now out of the clearing and has entered some trees following the cows. He is proceeding uphill and quartering away from me. He stops between 2 trees and I have a perfect shot at 70 yards. The .308 goes off. "THUD". He does not run away but yet walks slowly away in the same direction as if nothing happened. He stops in another clearing. I shoot a 2nd time. "THUD". He walks away again, but this time goes only 20 yards and piles up. We walk up on him. This happened so quickly. I now realize my bucket list animal has been achieved. And it is only day 2 of my Safari. I actually get emotional. I kneel down, place my hand on this magnificent animal, and offer him my gratitude for his sacrifice. I am not embarrassed to tell you that the guys see I am getting quite choked up and give me a minute.
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Me and my Safari Buddy Walt.
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A different angle of my Kudu Bull Trophy.
This Kudu expired up a hill in some thick stuff. There is no dragging an animal of this size. Out come the machetes and pangas. A road is made to get the truck up to the Kudu. Boulders are placed in holes so the wheels wont fall in them. It is at least a 30 minute operation just to get the truck to the kill site.
We finally load the magnificent animal into the truck. Andries tells us to get in the back of the truck with the animal because we are still hunting. We drive away and I find myself continually looking at the animal that is sprawled all over me in the truck. My dream like gaze is broken when I hear Andries say, "We will find your Blesbok out of this group". I look up and there are 18 Blesbok 90 yards to our front in a huge open field. They are staring at us. Andries says I will have to take this shot from the truck because if we get down they are going to bolt. I bring up the rifle and rest it on the rack over the cab. Andries throws up his binos and starts his survey. He finds my shooter. He explains to me which one it is. I find it in the scope. I remember my first thought being that his horns were so white compared to all the other ones. I focus in on him. Yep - excellent horns for a Blesbok - he will score well. Fire. Thud. But.. for the first time, the animal does not run or walk off. He just drops in place. High fives are exchanged all around. We drive up to where he lays. I extricate myself from the Kudu and get off the truck. I walk up to my Blesbok. He is magnificent.
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Day 2 is over. My Bucket List day. I have my Kudu and also add a really nice Blesbok.
Impala Schnitzel for dinner.
Day 3. So... What I haven't told you. Walt was there as my "Observer". But, as I said before, he had hunted with Andries before. When I won the hunt and it was decided Walt would go with me, he reached out to Andries and told him that he wanted to hunt a Cape Buffalo! Day 3 was Walts Buffalo day. I took nothing that day. But Walt.... Walt took quite the beast.
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Blesbok Meatballs and beef carpachio for grub.
Day 4 -
Early in the morning we saw one heck of a warthog from the truck. Now Warthog was not on my list, but it was a back up. Upon talking to Andries and Adrian early on I learned that the Gemsbok population in this areas has been decimated. There is a certain tick in the area that they are not resistant to. Gemsbok thrive in other areas of South Africa here this tick is not present, but there would be no Gemsbok for me on this trip. I decided part of the money I had set aside for a Gemsbok would go to a warthog. The truck is parked. Adrian and Walt stay in the truck while Brought, Andries and myself set out on foot for this trophy warthog. We start up a VERY steep embankment of sheer rocks. At this point let me tell you something about me. A few years ago I weighed 336 pounds. As a Retired Army guy I was disgusted at how bad I let my physical shape deteriorate. I started a diet/work out regimen. I left for this hunt at 246 pounds. Still, no doubt, over weight - but in a much better position that I would have been previously. With that said, this warthog stalk took it out of me. It took just about everything I had to stay up with the fleet footed Brought and the never tiring Andries. But this stalk was worth it. Not because of a warthog it would produce, but to see Brought in action. First off I had no idea how he was tracking a warthog over rocks. Sand, dirt, loose soil? Sure. But rocks? I would later find out that he can tell when a rock has been stepped on. When the rock moves ever so slightly there is now a slight gap between the sand (that used to be around the rock) and the rock. Brought can see these imperceptible gaps that tell him the rock was recently stepped on and moved ever so slightly. We scale up these rocks and it leads to a plateau. Of rocks. Brought has at least 10 left or right decisions and he makes the right decision veery time as we eventually see this warthog again. But he is far off now. We have been walking for about 40 minutes. I have no idea how much ground I covered. But I am leaning over and winded. I start to walk again and Andries says "Be still. Brought hears Wildebeest running." What? I am sure this is a "show" being put on for me. I listed as intently as I can. I hear nothing. Brough is putting fingers up behind his ears and is making a running motion with his arms. About 2 or 3 minutes later you will never guess what we saw. About 15 Blue Wildebeest came running past us about 300 yards out. Now not only did Brough hear animals running, but he correctly identified what type of animals they were. Unbelievable. Andries gets on the radio and tells Adrian to drive the truck to us. We water up and load up to see if we can find these Wildebeests. About 5 minutes later we do. A familiar game ensues. I start looking at the bunch with the scope while Andres is judging with his binos. This time his decision is super quick. He tells me there is an absolute trophy of a blue wildebeest in the heard and talks me through where he is. I see him. I lose my breath for a second when I see those horns. Not only super wide, but the horns come back on top so far. They are all leaving the area and are quartering away hard at 175 yards. They are not stopped but are not moving quickly. I engage the trigger on the .308 and the WildeBEEST drops in place. While me and Walt are celebrating Andries yells that the shot was too high. He is struggling to get back on his feet. We approach closer. All his buddies run off. He is still trying to get up. Andries tells me when I have a good shot to put another one him. I do so and the thrashing stops. He's done.
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Me and Brought - The guy who heard him running from who knows how far away.
My new Trophy Blue Wildebeest is loaded into the truck and we set off again. We are driving for awhile and I see an absolute hammer of a sable. Sable was my backup to my Kudu. The budget will not allow for both. But I am super happy to have my Kudu and the Sable gets a pass. We then come to a big water hole. On the side of it is a hippo! A real live Hippo on the land. I take about 100 pictures of it. Man I love Africa! We clear the water hole and see some Impala on our left. Andries identifies a shooter. Try as I may, I just can't get a shot off. They are close enough but they are in some thick trees and they are moving back and forth a lot. We wait it out but a shot never presents itself. On we go. We spot 3 Impala rams. They are only 40 yards away, on our right. This is another instance where there was no time to get off the truck. Andries tells me immediately to shoot the one on the far right. I see him in the scope. I am just about to pull the trigger.... "No No. There is a 4th one. Far left. Take him." I swing the gun around. Perhaps the impala reacted to this movement, I'm not sure but as soon as the crosshairs settle on this newly discovered Ram and I pull the trigger, he turns. I do not hear a thud because we are only 40 yards away and the thud would have been cover up by the rifle sound still at that close of a range. Andries lets out a less that reassuring sound. He had seen the last second turn that I did not. We are a little worried about this one. But, fear not, a mere 30 yards from where I shot him he is stone cold dead. A long gash along his side where the bullet went down his flank as he turned.
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Kudu Tenderloin and Garlic potatoes.
Day 5-
So one of the many things I have learned through this site is, "Take what Africa gives you." Sure you may have a list when you go to Africa. You may think you know what you want but be flexible if something truly amazing plays out. Day 5 was just that day. We enter the concession and see a very dark very old Bull Giraffe that had seen before. He is truly amazing and I got close enough to get some really good pictures of him. About 10 minutes after seeing the giraffe I see animals running off to my right. They are far away. Andries announces they are Red Hartebeest. I am struggling to see them as they are in excess of 300 yards away now. I hear Andries say to Adrian "I am pretty sure that's him." I have no idea what that means. We set out in their direction and close the gap a little. I can see now that there are 3 Red Hartebeests. We close to 145 yards but they are still walking away rather quickly. Andries excitedly tells me to shoot the one in the middle. Now, a Red Hartebeest was not on my list. I considered them. Infact I think they look kind of cool and, to me, resemble a Dr Seuss character. But Andries has not shown this much excitement about any other animal up to this point. I put the gun up and find the middle one. They are walking away hard at 165 yards. I don't even take the time to loo at horns I just pull the trigger. I immediately yell "Too far left!" I felt like I rushed the shot. That, and they weren't still and at 165 when I shot. Andries exclaims, "You hit him, reload!". All 3 of them run away to the left. And fast. I take a 2nd shot while they are running full tilt. Probably an ill advised shot on my part (Andries did not tell me to shoot) as I missed completely. I chamber a 3rd round. My Hartebeest stops at exactly 250 yards. Andries, without skipping a beat, tells me to line his shoulder up half way between the horizontal center line in the scope and the one below it. He is still. This time I am not rushed. I squeeze the trigger. Thud, and a drop. He drops in place at 250 yards. This is the longest I have ever shot an animal. At this point all I know is that I have a Red Hartebeest. Adrian asked Andries "Was that him?" Andries says "Yes. Without a doubt". As it turns out Andries had decided that if this particular Red Hartebeest made it throught the winter hunting season without getting shot, Andries was going to take him for the lodge. Andries explained to me that he is an SCI Gold Medal animal and each horn will probably go 25" making him a Rowland & Ward. He shook my hand. I thanked him. He said I would probably enjoy it more than he would have. A true gentleman and friend.
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Later, measurements would bare it out. He is, in fact, an SCI Gold and A Rowland & Ward. A top 3 Red Hartabeest ever taken at Van Wijk Safaris.
Day 6-
Blind day. Today was the day I was going to get my Warthog. And were going to sit in a ground blind as long as it took. We settled into the blind about 9:00 AM with plans to stay until 4 PM. We started seeing warthogs immediately. They would come in in groups of 3-5. Every warthog we saw was a "No" from Andries. There was big hop in particular with bright blond hair on its back. Its tusks were huge, but it was a sow. At one point a troop of baboons came in 50-60 strong. They put on a show for us for about 3 hours! There were 2 large males battling for dominancy. These baboons fought with each other, kicked each other, made love with each other. I felt like I was watching a movie for 3 hours. I saw at least 20 felonies occur! I filmed a bunch of it and will never forget the show I got to see that day. At one point we had 50-60 baboons and 10 warthogs at the feed in front of the blind. All in all we saw at least 40 warthogs; probably more. at 3:00 I was reminded we were going to leave at about 4:00. I made a a statement that I felt our patience was going to be rewarded. At 3:15 yet another warthog came in. This one looked big to me, but others had as well. I heard Andries say, "Shoot that one." I must have fired within a second of hearing that as I was anxious and didn't want him to change his mind. I shot him at 45 yards. He snorted, turned to his left, ran for only about 25-30 yards, and did a head over heels dust roll. Done.
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So at this point I have hunted 6 days and 8 animals down. The Gemsbok and the Honey Badger are the only 2 animals on my list I don't have. As mentioned earlier, the Gemsbok was not in the cards. I had tried for the Honey Badge for 2 night sits with no luck so far. We had badgers coming into the bait pile consistently on most nights for 2 weeks before I showed up but the elusive honey badger had proved to be just that. We take day 7 off and go to the Pilanesberg National Park. And boy am I glad we did. What an amazing day. We had some great spottings including a leopard, a cheetah, and black rhinos. I was told all 3 were excellent spottings. Of course, in addition, we saw thousands of animals to include 60 inch kudu, elephants, hippos, crocs, just about everything Africa has to offer.
Day 8 -
Another day off from hunting. We visited the "table guys" as Andries likes to call them. Zimbabwean wood carvers who pedal their goods in town. I purchased a big Wildebeest wood carving, salt and pepper shakers made from Impala leg bones, and a warthog tusk bottle opener and wine cork screw. We spent the rest of the day in town hitting the souvenir shops and had a very nice relaxing day supporting the local economy in Vaalwater. That night Andries said, "Well we haven't hunted in 2 days. What do you want to do tomorrow." By now I had a 3rd unsuccessful night at the honey badger pile. There was one species of animal in particular that I kept seeing that was absolutely beautiful that I wanted to add to my list. How about we go for a Golden Wildebeest I said. "Excellent" was Andries response.
Day 9-
We set out for a Golden Wildebeest. We started seeing them rather quickly as Andries has access to one concession in particular that has a bunch of them. We see a pretty good Nyala bull that almost has me change my mind from a Golden to a Nyala! We see our 3rd herd of Golden Wildebeest and it is determined that there is a shooter among the ranks. There are about 10 Wildebeests, (all bulls!) in this grouping. They are consistently shuffling behind trees, clear of trees, in front of each other, behind each other, etc. Eventually a bull steps out from behind a tree alone but he is staring at me, facing us. He is precisely 122 yards away. Andries tells me to take the frontal shot and put it just inside of his left shoulder (right shoulder as facing us). I squeeze. "THUD". He runs off to our right in obvious discomfort. We give it awhile as it was not a broadside shot. After some time it is decided we shall look for him. We see absolutely no blood. I start to worry (kind of like my 1st zebra of the trip). We are grid searching an area and after about 20 minutes still have not found him. At one point I hear Andries whistle. Brought and I go to him. He is bent over at the waist looking intently at the ground "Man that's a lot of blood" he says. I look exactly where he is looking but I see nothing. "Where?" I ask. "Over there on top of your Wildebeest", he stands up and points 15 yards away to my Golden Wildebeest laying dead in the Golden grass.
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Me and Adrian with my GW. Notice my appropriate shirt.
We board the truck. We are heading back to the lodge. I am very melancholy. What an amazing safari it has been. Absolutely exceeded my dreams. But I am a little sad knowing that it is over. I have one day left and am wondering what we are going to do the nest day. After dinner (we dined on Walt's Cape Buffalo tenderloin - I will never understand how a 2100 pound animal can be so tender), I say to Andries "What are we going to do tomorrow?" He tells me he wants to go back out and look for another Golden Wildebeest. Although I was very happy with the one I got, he says we can do better. He says we will only shoot one if it is spectacular. A deal is reached. I get to head back out to the bush tomorrow!
Day 10-
We head to a new concession that we had not visited before. We arrive around 9 AM. Rather quickly we see a herd of Goldens 6-8 strong. Andries judges them. "Nope," We drive on. After an hour or so we see a lone bull. He stands up from under the shade tree he was lying under. To me, he looks huge. Andries says he is close but still thinks we can do better. At 11:00 we see 2 bulls. Andries immediately says, "The one on the left. He is your bull". They are exactly 89 yards away. The bull on the right is in a clearing. My bull is in very tall grass. After about 2 minutes my bull starts walking towards the clearing. Here lies one of those African moments etched in my mind. Much like I will never forget that majestic Kudu walking across that clearing on Day 2, I will never forget watching this Golden Wildebeest walk towards his place of death. The sun hit that Golden Mane on his back perfect, and, for an instant, there was a burst of Goldenness in the scope. It was absolutely beautiful. He walked into that clearing. Stopped perfectly broadside, placed his right (facing me) foot forward, and turned his head to look at me. As if to say, "Here I am. Take me." What a pose he struck. Before I pulled the trigger a rush of emotion hit me. I came to peace that tis would be my last African animal. And I was Ok with it. I pulled the trigger. He jumped into the air and ran away on 3 legs. We would find him a mere 30 yards from where I hit him. It was a perfect shot of a perfect animal on a perfect day with the perfect people all set in place by a perfect God.
So there it is. A hunt Report that I anticipated writing for 16 months. To my fault I have talked about the animals and not enough about the people. I showed up and met Andries Van Wijk as a client. I believe that I left there with him as a lifelong friend. I would not want to do this again without Andries. A true hunter, a gentleman, smart, funny, kind, family man. His make up as a person combined with the concessions that he has access to makes choosing him a no brainer. I have talked to others that hunted with larger operations that hunted with an employee PH. Maybe they saw the owner, maybe they did not. At Van Wijk safaris you are hunting with the owner. You are eating dinner with him, his wife, his son, and his Mom. The Chef (Mr. Noku) is the most talented man in the culinary arts I have ever met. The lodge, which is stunningly gorgeous, holds about 30 I think. Walt and I were the only 2 there until our next to last day when 4 others showed up. He will not let you shoot undersize animals. As discussed, my Red Hartabeest is SCI Gold. My Blue Wildebeest is SCI silver, it missed Gold by 1/4 of an inch. My Blesbok is Silver, it missed Gold by 5/8 of an inch. My Golden Wildebeest is Bronze. If you want to hunt with Andries Van Wijk of Van Wijk safaris send me a PM and I can put the 2 of you in touch.
