SOUTH AFRICA: KMG Safaris May 2025

[Tim Blackwell]

May 10-19th 2025
KMG Hunting Safaris

Another fantastic African adventure, my 6th safari, is now in the salt as I attempt to resume normal programming...

This year I again took a group of Aussies to hunt with Marius Goosen and the awesome team at @KMG Hunting Safaris on the beautiful Eastern Cape. Personally I hunted with my good mate Yabbie on his first African adventure, with Marius as our PH. It was great to hunt again with an old friend!

Day one saw us looking for Yabbie's #1 priority animal, a Kudu bull in the rut. As usual with Kudu in the mountains we spent many hours glued behind the glass, finding many cows and a couple of immature bulls, before we moved into another large valley and Marius caught sight of a big bull he'd seen before. We watched him move to thick cover and bed, so we went for a quick lunch.

We found the bull again early in the afternoon and in cold conditions had a 5 hour wait for him to slowly move into a position where a shot was possible. Eventually Yabbie took advantage of a small window at 303 metres and took the shot prone from his Howa 300WM, allowing a whole foot for wind drift. The shot hit him well through the mud shoulder and he half staggered, half tumbled down the face.

It took us quite a while to get around and climb up to him, but Yabbie was over the moon to lay his hands on his dream animal! Magnificent ivory tips on this big bull, a fantastic start.

The following day we hunted Impala and Yabbs made another great one shot kill on a lovely mature ram atop a steep slope.

Day 3 we headed out early to a large open cattle farm to look for a Common Reedbuck which was one of my priorities. Our tracker spotted a big wide ram chasing a ewe, so we stalked around in a big loop to get the wind right, down through a gully with swamp at the bottom.
Some Blesbok nearly ruined everything, running through our stalk twice which sent the ram to ground. But with patience we managed to get within 100m as he bedded in long grass.
After a long 1.5 hour wait on the sticks, he finally stood when some young rams ventured too close to his lady friend, and I dropped him in his tracks with Marius 300WM. A beautiful heavy old ram with heaps of secondary growth

To be continued...

 

[Tim Blackwell]

On Day 4 we needed up north into the Stormberg Mountains for a few days chasing my main target of Lechwe.

Yabbie came along to target a Springbok, as well as another mate Ben who wanted to target a Red Hartebeest.

We started with a large loop around the huge 20k acre property to get a gauge on what was around. Near a large waterhole we found a couple of in-season Lechwe ewes being hassled by a number of Bulls of various sizes. We slowly snuck in and from 250m set up the spotter for a closer look. There were a few promising Bulls present and with them totally preoccupied, we took the luxury of time to compare them closely.

One bull front-on to me looked to be the standout and was everything I'd hoped for and more; long, wide, with beautiful shape. Mature with solid bases, a thick neck and black shoulders. We crawled into 210m and with the 300WM over the bipod and the bull quartering on, I hit him perfectly on one of those black patches and he staggered for a bit before tumbling over. Such a beautiful animal, I was stoked.

After delivering him to the skinning shed we headed out again. Finding a heavy old lone Springbok ram bedded down beneath a rise, we did a large circle around. Yabbie and Marius crawled in over the top and Yabbs made a perfect shot into the neck and down through the vitals. The old ram rolled over and never woke up.

The next day we searched for Ben's Red Hartebeest. They were extremely skittish but after another circle around a hillside to use the wind and terrain to our favour, the mob containing a great bull slowly fed ever closer. Finally after 2.5 hours, at 330m he stepped broadside in the clear and Ben made a fantastic shot, the bull going down in quick time.

To be continued....

 

[Tim Blackwell]

Ben wanted a Black Wildebeest so we headed high to an area that Marius knew often held lone bulls. Setting off on foot we found a couple of mobs, but climbing higher and crawling through the rocks on top, a couple of lone bulls came into range. Neither was quite what we were after but Marius could hear another bull below. Crawling a little further across he came into sight, a magnificent old bull. Ben made a great shot and he was down.

The final animal that I was after personally was a Blue Wildebeest, which somehow had never made the list on my previous five Safaris. We looked over A LOT of Wildebeest before glassing a bachelor mob in the distance containing a large bull. We made a long stalk in for a closer look, and Marius was excited about what he saw. The bull was in a mob of 6, but unfortunately joined with a mob of Blacks that caused them to run.

We headed over a large hill to where the Blues eventually separated off from the rest. After a long crawl I had just gotten into position over the bipod when two Springbok came running through and took the bulls with them. We ran back over the hill again, hoping to get a shot as they filtered by; but alas they never stopped and were soon a kilometre away up the next hill, so we started out back to the 'Cruiser.

The six Blues then ended up back with a large mob of Blacks....which inexplicably turned and ran in our direction again!

We turned and ran over the hill for a third time and settled in a prone position, Marius all the while watching the big bull and explaining to me his position in the herd. As they slowed and came into range, the big guy came to the front and stood broadside. My crosshair settled perfectly on his shoulder and I was dead calm as my finger settled on the trigger....just as a Black Wildebeest came and stood behind him.

The herd then scattered to our left and ran straight past us at 50 metres, we quickly jumped up and got on the sticks. My target bull stopped briefly broadside on the opposite hillside as they departed. With my heart racing I managed to find his shoulder in the scope and snap off a shot. Marius later told me it was 220 metres but it felt like half that!

We gave things a minute to settle down before following up. My shot had felt good but it happened quickly, and the toughness off the Blue Wildebeest is legendary. We soon found blood and as we crested the next rise there he lay stone dead, only 70m from the hit. A fantastic bull and hunt!

The last two days of the hunt was spent trying to get Yabbie onto a big Warthog boar, which as many will know can be a challenge when you're actually looking for one! Long story short we did find an absolute tank which my mate clean missed at 150m - so he now has ample reason to return!

Overall my group was extremely successful and kept the other PH's Nick, Lloyd and Riley busy, harvesting 32 beautiful trophies including more Kudu, Nyala, Bushbuck, Zebra, Grysbok, Waterbuck, Caracal and Blesbok amongst others. The food and hospitality at the lodge was fantastic.

Personally I was very happy indeed with the three trophies I'd set out to target, with excellent trophy quality and enjoyable hunts. And it was great to again share many laughs and fun times with Marius and the KMG crew. Thanks again for everything!

 

[Hogpatrol]

Very good trophies and writeup. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Adipose]

Those are some very nice animals. Great Safari and report!

 

[Rem280]

KMG for the win!

 

[Brent in Az]

Great write up and trophies, with a top notch Safari outfitter.

 

[Dan458]

@Tim Blackwell Nice work mate. Sounds like a great hunt. Unusual to have black and blue wildebeest together. Did you see any hybrids?

 

[cperso]

Sounds like a gerat trip had by all.
Great animals is what you always get at KMG Safaris

 

[AZDAVE]

@Tim Blackwell nice write up. From the smiles on everyone faces you all had a great safari. Also good to see you had Marius climbing up and down the hills

 

[Nyati]

That Reedbuck is impressive, Red Lechwe not bad either

Congrats and thanks for sharing !