2025 South Africa trip is in the books, and Limcroma did not disappoint in the least. A little backstory, I had been trying to convince my wife to go to SA with me on a trip for almost a year before she finally agreed, her only stipulation was she wanted it to be a family trip. So I started kicking some tires and doing some research on here and through a few contacts and the best reviews I could find were for Limcroma for a family safari. So I got in touch with Guillaume at DSC, and he went above and beyond answering every question my wife could come up with and coordinating everything to make it happen. I highly recommend using Kasey at PWP Travel for all the logistics issues and paperwork. She was on top of everything the entire time, never took more than a few hours to reply (even when on her own Africa Trip,) and was beyond helpful in all of the preparations.
Travel was not as bad as expected, we did the direct flight from ATL to Jo'burg, and even with 2 kids it was manageable. We did, of course, hit a delay so that pushed back our arrival just a bit and limited the time we got to spend at AfricaSky but from what we saw of it, we were extremely pleased and the food/rooms were all fantastic. Wednesday morning started with a pickup and the ride into camp, which were all top notch. Transfer handed us off to our PH's 3/4 of the way into camp and we made the last leg of the journey in with them. Was an awesome chance to get to connect with our PH and set the table so to speak on what we were expecting and what could be expected.
Pieter was our PH and he surpassed every expectation we had by leaps and bounds. Asking a professional hunter to work with an entire family I am sure is tough to start but when that family, includes a 3 year old little girl, a mother in law who is not a hunter, and 9 year old boy I had some hesitancy that this was going to be doable, much less smooth. Well Pieter truly knocked it out of the park, he was great with every aspect of the hunt, from the planning, the execution, reading when to push and when to take it slow you can tell its not just about the hunt he is passionate about the animals and the outdoors in general, so getting to spend time learning what he looks for and what he is keying on with different animals and how they prep really made the hunt even more for me. We spent a lot of time chatting between stalks, and hearing about what else is tied up into the process that isn't just hunting. On top of that he spent so much time with my son just getting him comfortable and building confidence, talking through each shot. He answered every question my 3-year-old could come up with with a smile on his face, and we shared many many laughs throughout the hunt (More on those to come). When you make the kind of investment we do in these hunts, its so awesome to get more than just a "hunter" out of it and Pieter met that and then some. If you get "stuck" with this guy at Limcroma you won't be disappointed or lack for anything the enitre trip!
As far as camp goes, the lodging is top notch (we stayed at the 3 Rivers Lodge) and the food was out of this world. Every time we turned around chef Robert was throwing something else at us that was the "best meal" we had gotten yet. We loved all the game that was used in the meals, and the different ways each were used. Ravioli, Lasagna, Kudu burgers, Pizza, and Quesadillas topped the kids' list of food they ate there, and we got a ton of "can you cook this when we get back home" the whole trip so overall it was a hit!
Day 1
Now onto the hunting part since I feel like I hit on all the items that really needed extra highlights! We got into camp on Wednesday afternoon and ate a late lunch, got settled to our rooms, and sent a few rounds down range. After some minor tweaks, we took an afternoon ride to see what we could lay eyes on, get an idea of what we maybe after and prep for chasing the big target the old cape buffalo! We saw some great sables, a couple of beautiful golden wildebeest, to go with many other animals. After a few trips around to get a fresh drag on the roads for the next morning we headed back to camp with a plan in place to get after the buff's the next morning. We had camp to ourselves, so we enjoyed a quiet fire, a cold drink, and shared a few stories before dinner.
Day 2
After a quick breakfast, a quick conversation going back through the plan, Pieter, Dominic (tracker), and myself headed out to see what we could find on the buffalo. Full moons apparently wreak just as much havoc on hunting the big black beasts as they do on hunting the whitetail at home, so they had covered a ton of ground since the night before. We were able to get eyes on them early that morning and put a good stalk in on them. We closed to about 75 yards in some insanely thick brush, but a group of zebra busted us from the side. This would be as close as we would get to them on Day 2, not for lack of effort, but they seemed to be one step ahead for the day (this would prove to be a common theme). We started making the rounds to head in for lunch and we spotted a huge wildebeest, Pieter quickly glanced over at me and I could tell from his expression this was a good one we needed to get after. After a quick talk and watching him for a few minutes, he was content in the area, so since I had gotten one on my last visit over, we made a plan to run grab my wife and son and see if we could not put one of them on him. It worked out perfectly, he had left the area we saw but after an intense rock-paper-scissors battle Mom won out and got to take the first crack. After a bit of stalking we heard a shot ring out and it had found its mark, a big old wildebeest was first to come off the board and smiles abounded. Pieter filled us in with some details on what he saw to determine age outside of just horn size, and we took our pictures and shared a celebratory drink on the short ride back to camp. Another fantastic lunch, a quick nap, we gathered everyone up and took the whole family out for the afternoon session. The goal was to find Davis a good Zebra or a blesbuck to break the ice, spotted some beautiful zebra leaving a waterhole and feeding down a road and the stalk was on. We tiptoed, crawled, knelt behind bushes not near big enough, and worked our way into position slowly. It was an awesome first experience of an Africa hunt for my son and after some maneuvering and getting him comfortable on the sticks, he squeezed the trigger and the shot rang true. After some awesome tracking by our tracker we eventually caught up and saw the shot was a little back. We decided to give it the night since time had crept up on us and we could see the animal wasn't going far. A little disappointment but a lesson learned to say the least, and the excitement would follow soon enough. Another awesome campfire, cold drinks, and a wonderful dinner saw Day 2 come to a close.
Day 3
Pretty quiet day overall, we spent the morning tracking buffalo through the bush to no avail, they seemed to either be one step ahead, a little bit smarter, or maybe both all day! We would get on the tracks and either they would slip us, a herd of zebra would bust us, or they would cross a road into even thicker brush. The afternoon saw us on the trail again of the buffalo, but a chance encounter with some blesbuck sent Pieter and Davis off on another stalk and crawl. We got to about 60 yards again, and right as he was about to get a shot off, the last one in line got a wild hair and off to running they went! Another fun day in the bush full of lessons learned and another great set of meals and a campfire capped it off.
Day 4
Another Africa Sunrise breakfast and we set out on another set of freshly drug roads to see if we could lay eyes on the big beasts, and sure enough we did. It was my first time putting eyes on them on my own hunt and they did not disappoint. They stood in a small opening for us to look at for about 10 mins and get our plan together, just out of range for a shot we watched them head back into a thicket and got on the track. After a couple hours of slow walking, crawling, and sitting we were within about 50 yards and hoping they would soon lay down for the afternoon, but as had happened in the past few attempts, the wind shifted we noticed it about the times the big boys did and they were gone in flash. The frustration and disappointment was becoming evident and Pieter made a quick call to see if these guys had crossed a road or our tracks and get back on them in the afternoon. In the last hour or so we had before lunch he wanted to see if we couldn't scratch another plains game animal off the list, so we set off to pick up Mollie and Davis to see what we could get after. Mollie set out after a white blesbuck on a couple of stalks but no luck was had, just a second to late here and there and we just could not make it happen. We decide to head back in and grab some lunch and regroup for the afternoon and as we round a corner, one lone blesbuck is on his own, I once again see the excitement in Pieter and off they go after the blesbuck. Wind was perfect, they had great cover, and shortly after we had another trophy in the salt. Pictures, high fives, a few celebratory Castle Lights and we headed in for lunch. Pieter and Davis headed to the range to take some pracitce shots with a pellet gun on some cans and we spent some time relaxing around camp. The afternoon saw us head out for a new area to see if we could not cross paths with the buffalo and prep for the next morning. We crossed paths with some giraffes, gemsbok, sables, waterbucks and some beautiful wildebeest, but no luck on the buffalo. Lots of tracks, lots of fresh sign, so slightly renewed we headed back to camp with plan for tomorrow. Stories, drinks, campfires and dinner followed, it really is special to share that atmosphere with your family and to be able to reflect in the memories
DAY 5
Another overall pretty quiet day, breakfast, chase buffalo, lose buffalo, chase buffalo, and so on. We were determined to stay locked in on the buffalo for the day, so after a morning full of close calls and almost got him's we took a break for lunch, grabbed the family and set back out with some extra eyes to see if we couldn't track him down in the afternoon. Once again they stayed just a half a step ahead of us and seemed to have us on the ropes. A quiet ride back to camp with a cold Castle Light and we were already game planning for the next days attempt. Another camp fire, some good laughs about the close calls, and full bellies rounded up another great day in the bush.
DAY 6
Another overall quiet day of hunting, we spend the full day chasing cape buffalo through the thick bush and had no luck whatsoever!
Day 7
We took a much needed break from the buffalo to celebrate a birthday and let the kids enjoy some time away from hunting. After some talk Pieter highly reccomended the Walk With Elephants since we had the young kids, and it was a huge hit. Our youngest spent the majority of two hours, petting, talking to, hugging, and giving elephant commands (when prompted). It was an awesome ride in as well, seeing the landscape was a big checklist item for my wife and mother in law so it provided a great opportunity. Lunch on the ride back was spot on, and I could tell Pieter was itching to get back after some animals. We decided to take the opportunity to cross off a few plains game animals. We set off with Black Impala, Nyala, maybe a birthday Kudu on the list, but are options were open. After checking out some black impala, and some Kudu bulls, we spotted a very nice Nyala sneaking through some thick brush, Pieter quickly lit up and we knew it was go time. I had the Nyala pretty high up on my list, but Mollie had been a trooper dealing with me hunting buffalo almost every day so I looked at her and said go get him! Some chess playing, some manuevering and she put the smack down on him as the sun was setting. The excitement in her eyes was awesome, and seeing her step back a minute and take it all in, made it all worth it! The pictures, hugs, high fives and cold drinks all took place and we headed back to camp.
Day 8
With the anxiety growing still for the cape buffalo and us nearing the end of the trip with quite a few animals still on the list, I was beginning to get a little worried that this wasn't going to happen. We decided to spend the morning chasing some plains game for my son to get him back on track. Kudu was at the top of the list as a birthday surprise, but that was proving much tougher than he thought it would be. We chased and repositioned, put a few stalks on with no luck. We headed back for the truck when Pieter gives us the signal to stop and hold still, just in front of us in the bush, we spotted a beautiful Gemsbok. Pieter looks at me and we come to an agreement that we are going get Davis on this one, there wasn't much time for talking or judging on my end, but I could tell Pieter wanted this one and that was good enough for me. We repositioned to where the Gemsbok was heading, and it played out near perfectly. Davis got on the sticks, waited on the word and the shot was made. Great shot placement and within 40-50 yards we had another one in the salt! Pieter spent some time showing Davis what he saw that made him so excited on this old old bull and how he judged him. We spent a few minutes trading high-fives, hugs, fist bumps, took a few pictures and back to hunting we went. It was a pretty quiet morning after that. Another close call with a beautiful waterbuck sent us to lunch and to come up with another game plan for the cape buffalo. We decided over lunch to give a new concession a go, and off we went a little earlier. It was an area Pieter had never hunted so he wanted to get a little bit of an earlier start and have some time to get a feel of where we were hunting, so right after lunch we set out. We spent a lot of time riding, spotting, checking good-looking areas but no luck off the jump finding the big boys, until right at dark as we were headed out they were standing in the middle of the road. It was a fitting end to the day of what had been a losing affair to the cape buffalo at every turn. I will admit I was pretty defeated at camp that night, we had some great trophies in the salt, but the buffalo was kicking my butt and I hate loosing! Drinks were shared, another wonderful dinner, some great stories with those who had joined us in camp, and a plan for the next day was made. Even with all the losses, nothing beats being in Africa!
Day 9
We decided to stick with the same area we had seen the buffalo in the night before, and see if we could get an early spot on them. The brush was thick, and it was near impossible to get a consistent track on them, so finding them crossing was nearly impossible. We did some riding and came across them pretty early, and it seemed it was going to be another game of cat and mouse where we stayed on the outside looking in all afternoon. We would stalk and they would bust us, they would stop in the thickest cover they could find and we would have to reposition and come up with a new plan. We did this for going on 4 hours trying over and over to get them to give us a shot but no luck. They were antsy and the young bulls were just curious enough to get us close then break away. We took a walk back to the truck and I was prepping to have a conversation with Pieter on the ride back for lunch that we would just go shoot some plains game and leave the buffalo for next time, when we spotted them again. They were on the move from one thicket to another and we had a pretty good idea where they wanted to go to bed for the afternoon. We made our last move, got setup and the waiting game was on. We could hear them coming it seemed every step of the way, and they popped out of the brush walking right towards us. Pieter called the shot around 40 yards, placed it dead center chest as they walked to us and boom! Excitement ensued, the other two young bulls crashed off closer than I would have preferred, the target blasted by and crashed around 15 yards away under a tree, one follow-up shot and the bellow followed not long after. The adrenaline was still pumping and I could feel my hands shaking once it all set it in. This was something I could remember for years watching these hunts and saying I was going to do that and a dream had finally come true. Excitement abounded from myself, Pieter, our trackers, everyone was on cloud 9, as after 8-9 days of hunting and we had finally got it done. We got loaded up and made the ride back to camp and took some more pictures with the family and shared a celebratory drink and lunch. I am not sure you can fully describe the adrenaline and excitement that comes along with that hunt, it really is unmatched. With that off the board, we set out to finish off the plains game list in the afternoon. We did some riding around the concession where we took the gemsbok before in hopes of coming across the old Kudu we had been chasing prior. He was really unique in he had one time completely rounded off/broken and you could see he had been around the block a time or two. We rode, and rode, and rode some more with no luck, we made a turn and Davis piped up that he thought he had seen one in an opening, quickly backing up Pieter spotted 2 bulls and sure enough one of them was the old warrior we were after. They were onto us, but Pieter seemed to have an idea of where they were going so he sent the truck on ahead, and we doubled back to see if we could get infront of them. After a bit of walk, some waiting, and some maneuvering, they popped out and Davis was ready. A few seconds seemed like an hour and davis squeezed off a shot and 45-50 yards later we heard a crash in the brush. High fives, hugs, fist pumps, were all shared and we got some awesome pictures and got him loaded up. Another wonderful afternoon and a smile on Davis face for a memory he nor I will ever forget!
Day 10
Last day of hunting and we had a pretty good list of options on plains game, we set out with the approach of take what Africa gives us! I had a waterbuck high on the list, but I was really open to about anything we could get a shot on. We got on a great herd of white blesbuck to start off with and Mollie put a great shot on one, and it turned out to be an even more beautiful trophy than I imagined. Pictures ensued and we loaded up and kept after it. We came across some beautiful golden gemsbok but just could not get a shot on the one we really wanted so we kept moving and as we rounded a corner we came across an awesome red hartebeest that I could not pass up. We set out to get a quick stalk but he turned out to be pretty smart in his old age and he put us through the ringer walking. Finally, we caught up to him and got off a good shot. And another animal was off the list! We loaded them up and headed back to camp to drop those off, grab a quick lunch and get back after it! We set out that afternoon to see if we couldn't get on a black impala or another nyala, but no luck on finding one we liked, and the hunt ended. Another sunset that words can't describe, some time spent around the campfire, and another wonderful dinner and 2025 Africa came to a close.
I can not say enough good things about this trip as a whole, Limcroma really knocked it out of the park and exceeded all of my expectations. Transportation, accommodations, hunting, food, atmosphere, it is all wonderful. Already counting down ot the next trip!
Travel was not as bad as expected, we did the direct flight from ATL to Jo'burg, and even with 2 kids it was manageable. We did, of course, hit a delay so that pushed back our arrival just a bit and limited the time we got to spend at AfricaSky but from what we saw of it, we were extremely pleased and the food/rooms were all fantastic. Wednesday morning started with a pickup and the ride into camp, which were all top notch. Transfer handed us off to our PH's 3/4 of the way into camp and we made the last leg of the journey in with them. Was an awesome chance to get to connect with our PH and set the table so to speak on what we were expecting and what could be expected.
Pieter was our PH and he surpassed every expectation we had by leaps and bounds. Asking a professional hunter to work with an entire family I am sure is tough to start but when that family, includes a 3 year old little girl, a mother in law who is not a hunter, and 9 year old boy I had some hesitancy that this was going to be doable, much less smooth. Well Pieter truly knocked it out of the park, he was great with every aspect of the hunt, from the planning, the execution, reading when to push and when to take it slow you can tell its not just about the hunt he is passionate about the animals and the outdoors in general, so getting to spend time learning what he looks for and what he is keying on with different animals and how they prep really made the hunt even more for me. We spent a lot of time chatting between stalks, and hearing about what else is tied up into the process that isn't just hunting. On top of that he spent so much time with my son just getting him comfortable and building confidence, talking through each shot. He answered every question my 3-year-old could come up with with a smile on his face, and we shared many many laughs throughout the hunt (More on those to come). When you make the kind of investment we do in these hunts, its so awesome to get more than just a "hunter" out of it and Pieter met that and then some. If you get "stuck" with this guy at Limcroma you won't be disappointed or lack for anything the enitre trip!
As far as camp goes, the lodging is top notch (we stayed at the 3 Rivers Lodge) and the food was out of this world. Every time we turned around chef Robert was throwing something else at us that was the "best meal" we had gotten yet. We loved all the game that was used in the meals, and the different ways each were used. Ravioli, Lasagna, Kudu burgers, Pizza, and Quesadillas topped the kids' list of food they ate there, and we got a ton of "can you cook this when we get back home" the whole trip so overall it was a hit!
Day 1
Now onto the hunting part since I feel like I hit on all the items that really needed extra highlights! We got into camp on Wednesday afternoon and ate a late lunch, got settled to our rooms, and sent a few rounds down range. After some minor tweaks, we took an afternoon ride to see what we could lay eyes on, get an idea of what we maybe after and prep for chasing the big target the old cape buffalo! We saw some great sables, a couple of beautiful golden wildebeest, to go with many other animals. After a few trips around to get a fresh drag on the roads for the next morning we headed back to camp with a plan in place to get after the buff's the next morning. We had camp to ourselves, so we enjoyed a quiet fire, a cold drink, and shared a few stories before dinner.
Day 2
After a quick breakfast, a quick conversation going back through the plan, Pieter, Dominic (tracker), and myself headed out to see what we could find on the buffalo. Full moons apparently wreak just as much havoc on hunting the big black beasts as they do on hunting the whitetail at home, so they had covered a ton of ground since the night before. We were able to get eyes on them early that morning and put a good stalk in on them. We closed to about 75 yards in some insanely thick brush, but a group of zebra busted us from the side. This would be as close as we would get to them on Day 2, not for lack of effort, but they seemed to be one step ahead for the day (this would prove to be a common theme). We started making the rounds to head in for lunch and we spotted a huge wildebeest, Pieter quickly glanced over at me and I could tell from his expression this was a good one we needed to get after. After a quick talk and watching him for a few minutes, he was content in the area, so since I had gotten one on my last visit over, we made a plan to run grab my wife and son and see if we could not put one of them on him. It worked out perfectly, he had left the area we saw but after an intense rock-paper-scissors battle Mom won out and got to take the first crack. After a bit of stalking we heard a shot ring out and it had found its mark, a big old wildebeest was first to come off the board and smiles abounded. Pieter filled us in with some details on what he saw to determine age outside of just horn size, and we took our pictures and shared a celebratory drink on the short ride back to camp. Another fantastic lunch, a quick nap, we gathered everyone up and took the whole family out for the afternoon session. The goal was to find Davis a good Zebra or a blesbuck to break the ice, spotted some beautiful zebra leaving a waterhole and feeding down a road and the stalk was on. We tiptoed, crawled, knelt behind bushes not near big enough, and worked our way into position slowly. It was an awesome first experience of an Africa hunt for my son and after some maneuvering and getting him comfortable on the sticks, he squeezed the trigger and the shot rang true. After some awesome tracking by our tracker we eventually caught up and saw the shot was a little back. We decided to give it the night since time had crept up on us and we could see the animal wasn't going far. A little disappointment but a lesson learned to say the least, and the excitement would follow soon enough. Another awesome campfire, cold drinks, and a wonderful dinner saw Day 2 come to a close.
Day 3
Pretty quiet day overall, we spent the morning tracking buffalo through the bush to no avail, they seemed to either be one step ahead, a little bit smarter, or maybe both all day! We would get on the tracks and either they would slip us, a herd of zebra would bust us, or they would cross a road into even thicker brush. The afternoon saw us on the trail again of the buffalo, but a chance encounter with some blesbuck sent Pieter and Davis off on another stalk and crawl. We got to about 60 yards again, and right as he was about to get a shot off, the last one in line got a wild hair and off to running they went! Another fun day in the bush full of lessons learned and another great set of meals and a campfire capped it off.
Day 4
Another Africa Sunrise breakfast and we set out on another set of freshly drug roads to see if we could lay eyes on the big beasts, and sure enough we did. It was my first time putting eyes on them on my own hunt and they did not disappoint. They stood in a small opening for us to look at for about 10 mins and get our plan together, just out of range for a shot we watched them head back into a thicket and got on the track. After a couple hours of slow walking, crawling, and sitting we were within about 50 yards and hoping they would soon lay down for the afternoon, but as had happened in the past few attempts, the wind shifted we noticed it about the times the big boys did and they were gone in flash. The frustration and disappointment was becoming evident and Pieter made a quick call to see if these guys had crossed a road or our tracks and get back on them in the afternoon. In the last hour or so we had before lunch he wanted to see if we couldn't scratch another plains game animal off the list, so we set off to pick up Mollie and Davis to see what we could get after. Mollie set out after a white blesbuck on a couple of stalks but no luck was had, just a second to late here and there and we just could not make it happen. We decide to head back in and grab some lunch and regroup for the afternoon and as we round a corner, one lone blesbuck is on his own, I once again see the excitement in Pieter and off they go after the blesbuck. Wind was perfect, they had great cover, and shortly after we had another trophy in the salt. Pictures, high fives, a few celebratory Castle Lights and we headed in for lunch. Pieter and Davis headed to the range to take some pracitce shots with a pellet gun on some cans and we spent some time relaxing around camp. The afternoon saw us head out for a new area to see if we could not cross paths with the buffalo and prep for the next morning. We crossed paths with some giraffes, gemsbok, sables, waterbucks and some beautiful wildebeest, but no luck on the buffalo. Lots of tracks, lots of fresh sign, so slightly renewed we headed back to camp with plan for tomorrow. Stories, drinks, campfires and dinner followed, it really is special to share that atmosphere with your family and to be able to reflect in the memories
DAY 5
Another overall pretty quiet day, breakfast, chase buffalo, lose buffalo, chase buffalo, and so on. We were determined to stay locked in on the buffalo for the day, so after a morning full of close calls and almost got him's we took a break for lunch, grabbed the family and set back out with some extra eyes to see if we couldn't track him down in the afternoon. Once again they stayed just a half a step ahead of us and seemed to have us on the ropes. A quiet ride back to camp with a cold Castle Light and we were already game planning for the next days attempt. Another camp fire, some good laughs about the close calls, and full bellies rounded up another great day in the bush.
DAY 6
Another overall quiet day of hunting, we spend the full day chasing cape buffalo through the thick bush and had no luck whatsoever!
Day 7
We took a much needed break from the buffalo to celebrate a birthday and let the kids enjoy some time away from hunting. After some talk Pieter highly reccomended the Walk With Elephants since we had the young kids, and it was a huge hit. Our youngest spent the majority of two hours, petting, talking to, hugging, and giving elephant commands (when prompted). It was an awesome ride in as well, seeing the landscape was a big checklist item for my wife and mother in law so it provided a great opportunity. Lunch on the ride back was spot on, and I could tell Pieter was itching to get back after some animals. We decided to take the opportunity to cross off a few plains game animals. We set off with Black Impala, Nyala, maybe a birthday Kudu on the list, but are options were open. After checking out some black impala, and some Kudu bulls, we spotted a very nice Nyala sneaking through some thick brush, Pieter quickly lit up and we knew it was go time. I had the Nyala pretty high up on my list, but Mollie had been a trooper dealing with me hunting buffalo almost every day so I looked at her and said go get him! Some chess playing, some manuevering and she put the smack down on him as the sun was setting. The excitement in her eyes was awesome, and seeing her step back a minute and take it all in, made it all worth it! The pictures, hugs, high fives and cold drinks all took place and we headed back to camp.
Day 8
With the anxiety growing still for the cape buffalo and us nearing the end of the trip with quite a few animals still on the list, I was beginning to get a little worried that this wasn't going to happen. We decided to spend the morning chasing some plains game for my son to get him back on track. Kudu was at the top of the list as a birthday surprise, but that was proving much tougher than he thought it would be. We chased and repositioned, put a few stalks on with no luck. We headed back for the truck when Pieter gives us the signal to stop and hold still, just in front of us in the bush, we spotted a beautiful Gemsbok. Pieter looks at me and we come to an agreement that we are going get Davis on this one, there wasn't much time for talking or judging on my end, but I could tell Pieter wanted this one and that was good enough for me. We repositioned to where the Gemsbok was heading, and it played out near perfectly. Davis got on the sticks, waited on the word and the shot was made. Great shot placement and within 40-50 yards we had another one in the salt! Pieter spent some time showing Davis what he saw that made him so excited on this old old bull and how he judged him. We spent a few minutes trading high-fives, hugs, fist bumps, took a few pictures and back to hunting we went. It was a pretty quiet morning after that. Another close call with a beautiful waterbuck sent us to lunch and to come up with another game plan for the cape buffalo. We decided over lunch to give a new concession a go, and off we went a little earlier. It was an area Pieter had never hunted so he wanted to get a little bit of an earlier start and have some time to get a feel of where we were hunting, so right after lunch we set out. We spent a lot of time riding, spotting, checking good-looking areas but no luck off the jump finding the big boys, until right at dark as we were headed out they were standing in the middle of the road. It was a fitting end to the day of what had been a losing affair to the cape buffalo at every turn. I will admit I was pretty defeated at camp that night, we had some great trophies in the salt, but the buffalo was kicking my butt and I hate loosing! Drinks were shared, another wonderful dinner, some great stories with those who had joined us in camp, and a plan for the next day was made. Even with all the losses, nothing beats being in Africa!
Day 9
We decided to stick with the same area we had seen the buffalo in the night before, and see if we could get an early spot on them. The brush was thick, and it was near impossible to get a consistent track on them, so finding them crossing was nearly impossible. We did some riding and came across them pretty early, and it seemed it was going to be another game of cat and mouse where we stayed on the outside looking in all afternoon. We would stalk and they would bust us, they would stop in the thickest cover they could find and we would have to reposition and come up with a new plan. We did this for going on 4 hours trying over and over to get them to give us a shot but no luck. They were antsy and the young bulls were just curious enough to get us close then break away. We took a walk back to the truck and I was prepping to have a conversation with Pieter on the ride back for lunch that we would just go shoot some plains game and leave the buffalo for next time, when we spotted them again. They were on the move from one thicket to another and we had a pretty good idea where they wanted to go to bed for the afternoon. We made our last move, got setup and the waiting game was on. We could hear them coming it seemed every step of the way, and they popped out of the brush walking right towards us. Pieter called the shot around 40 yards, placed it dead center chest as they walked to us and boom! Excitement ensued, the other two young bulls crashed off closer than I would have preferred, the target blasted by and crashed around 15 yards away under a tree, one follow-up shot and the bellow followed not long after. The adrenaline was still pumping and I could feel my hands shaking once it all set it in. This was something I could remember for years watching these hunts and saying I was going to do that and a dream had finally come true. Excitement abounded from myself, Pieter, our trackers, everyone was on cloud 9, as after 8-9 days of hunting and we had finally got it done. We got loaded up and made the ride back to camp and took some more pictures with the family and shared a celebratory drink and lunch. I am not sure you can fully describe the adrenaline and excitement that comes along with that hunt, it really is unmatched. With that off the board, we set out to finish off the plains game list in the afternoon. We did some riding around the concession where we took the gemsbok before in hopes of coming across the old Kudu we had been chasing prior. He was really unique in he had one time completely rounded off/broken and you could see he had been around the block a time or two. We rode, and rode, and rode some more with no luck, we made a turn and Davis piped up that he thought he had seen one in an opening, quickly backing up Pieter spotted 2 bulls and sure enough one of them was the old warrior we were after. They were onto us, but Pieter seemed to have an idea of where they were going so he sent the truck on ahead, and we doubled back to see if we could get infront of them. After a bit of walk, some waiting, and some maneuvering, they popped out and Davis was ready. A few seconds seemed like an hour and davis squeezed off a shot and 45-50 yards later we heard a crash in the brush. High fives, hugs, fist pumps, were all shared and we got some awesome pictures and got him loaded up. Another wonderful afternoon and a smile on Davis face for a memory he nor I will ever forget!
Day 10
Last day of hunting and we had a pretty good list of options on plains game, we set out with the approach of take what Africa gives us! I had a waterbuck high on the list, but I was really open to about anything we could get a shot on. We got on a great herd of white blesbuck to start off with and Mollie put a great shot on one, and it turned out to be an even more beautiful trophy than I imagined. Pictures ensued and we loaded up and kept after it. We came across some beautiful golden gemsbok but just could not get a shot on the one we really wanted so we kept moving and as we rounded a corner we came across an awesome red hartebeest that I could not pass up. We set out to get a quick stalk but he turned out to be pretty smart in his old age and he put us through the ringer walking. Finally, we caught up to him and got off a good shot. And another animal was off the list! We loaded them up and headed back to camp to drop those off, grab a quick lunch and get back after it! We set out that afternoon to see if we couldn't get on a black impala or another nyala, but no luck on finding one we liked, and the hunt ended. Another sunset that words can't describe, some time spent around the campfire, and another wonderful dinner and 2025 Africa came to a close.
I can not say enough good things about this trip as a whole, Limcroma really knocked it out of the park and exceeded all of my expectations. Transportation, accommodations, hunting, food, atmosphere, it is all wonderful. Already counting down ot the next trip!
