Breakfast was on the table at 6 am. As the week wore on I was wondering if Tucker (aptly named) our chef was a cannibal and fattening me up for the next hog roast Barbie ! In all seriousness the food was great and the portions substantial, too substantial.
After breakfast and a couple of cups of strong coffee I was contemplating the next 5 days in “the gentleman’s study”.
Was I fit enough ? Since Dempsey had advised me that you need to be fit, fit I had been pounding the trails nearly every day. 10-15kms
. The first couple of days were hard. But as the days wore on it got easier rapidly. Then I realised I needed to load up with a rifle and binoculars. That left me with a fantastic blister on the ball of one foot !
Did I have the bottle to crawl up to within spitting distance (ok,you’d have been a world class spitter) of a herd of buffalo and shoot one ? I can now quite understand that it might not be for everyone.
We loaded up the bakkie, water, soft drinks, Mrs Balls Chutney crisps, I became fond of them. Of course rifles, ammunition, binoculars etc.and away to the first watering hole.
Büffel pan to give it its Afrikaans name was the first stop. 150 yards out we stopped and walked down quietly. At this point I noted the seriousness of this game. The PH was carrying his 458 with no sling. Those of us in the know will understand that hunting buffalo in the bush your rifle is always in your hands. There was also a buffalo bull wounded 3 weeks previously that had not been recovered despite getting a helicopter in to search.
Not much sign so we drove off to check and see if buffalo had crossed any tracks. We saw some likely tracks and a discussion was held between the PH’s and Eric as to whether we should track. Eventually on one set of tracks the decision was made. Off we went.
Holy Mother ! Ok, you do not have to be able to walk 10-15 kms a day. If you can it will help but you do have to be capable of walking an hour or two or more bent over at the waist or crawl.Those of us distinctly pear shaped are advised to hunt somewhere else !
We got onto buffalo a few times but the wind was not in our favour. A cold front was moving in and it was all over the place. Mind you to be working our way closer to a thicket purportedly holding buffalo and then see it shake and hear the clatter of hooves heading away certainly gets the juices flowing.
We broke for lunch and repeated the form, checking waterholes looking at tracks crossing the sand. The knowledge of these people, trackers and PH’s is phenomenal. Buffalo, bulls cows, calves, impala, hyena, zebra, giraffe, leopard, baboon, they were all there. Eventually I was able to recognise and identify some but imho buffalo seem to walk backwards, just a personal opinion.
One the way back to camp I shot a “ community “ impala ram. Meat from the culling program on the reserve is shared with the local tribe under a complicated system I had no real interest in but was happy to contribute some meat.
Monday night the cold front moved in and a strong wind obliterated all tracks. It was full moon virtually so the animals traveled a lot at night. Tuesday was a washout. The buffalo seemed to have departed for pastures new. Not a sign. They may have drunk early and eaten and bedded down early as animals get more cautious in strong winds as predators can get closer.
. He was collecting a lot of firewood every day !
. We head off to see if we can cut off their tracks. A couple of kicks later we rounded a corner to see a youngish buffalo bull on the side of the track unaware of us. Tyler stuck the front off the Toyota in as far as possible into the bush and we bailed out. The bull gave an early morning snort and headed into the bush.
. Along the way we picked up Eric the tracker for the week and 480 kms later arrived at the Blouberg reserve. I settled in, unpacked my meagre possessions and we took a Brno 375 out and I popped a round out of it. Perfect ! The day was drawing to a close so an early dinner and off to bed for a 6 am start.
