SOUTH AFRICA: Out Of The SEC A Family Adventure In South Africa

[Jfet]

Just so I get kicked out onto the plains of Africa with my .375

 

[flatwater bill]

Always like to see lovely ladies go on safari with their guys. I think many non hunting wives miss out on a great adventure that they would have really enjoyed. Looking forward to the reports. Hope the Razorbacks shoot better than they play football. Ha................best of luck..............FW Bill

 

[HuntingGold]

From the Pac-12... Have fun, Good Luck and Be Safe! Take photos.

Randy
PS. Im on my way to watch Oregon State Baseball!

 

[Jfet]

Is this how one of the premier elementary school teachers in Arkansas gets her students to perform? This is her first three shots off of sticks. I bet some members of the forum would have done better in school if they had known their teacher could do this.

The really nice thing about working with girls whether its playing sports or shooting is they listen. Not like boys please notice that the PPT (Princess Pony Tail) is focused on instruction and her husband is being the class clown.

 

[Aegis]

Go Vols!

 

[edward]

looking forward to pics and story.

 

[WFet]

T-2 weeks and counting! We have received trophy tags from Safari Specialty Importers so we can bring back part of the special memories we plan on making. Many thanks to Robert and Rosella!

 

[Wheels]

Looking forward to reading about your hunt.

Have a great time and straight shooting.

BTW- Thanks for Kyler Murray

 

[Jfet]

I am sitting in my living room right now. The grass is green. I will need to mow it tomorrow. It is hot outside. The big red dog is gentle snoring on his pillow across from me under the ceiling fan. I grew up reading Gene Hill and learned that a Labrador retriever should be spoiled occasionally.


However, I am not here. I am smelling the scents of Africa in my mind. I take a deep breath and can smell and taste the life odors of Africa. The usually ringing in my ears lessons because I must hear the soft tread of the leopard behind me. I can see better even without my glasses because the flicker of a kudu’s ear must be spotted. I can feel my very being come alive because life is intense in Africa. Africa makes one live.


In a very short time I will get to introduce Africa to two amazing women. These are the women that have chosen to share the rest of their lives with my two sons. They are my Princess Pony Tails. In the future, they will be the mothers of my grandchildren. After they return home, they too will have the scents of Africa. They will pass it on to their children. I am blessed.

 

[jpr792]

It's almost TIME!!!

#TeamFet !!!!!!!

I hope that the whole "cast" will have a wonderful time! Enjoy every second and have fun.



My best,
Jacques

 

[jpr792]

"The only man I envy is the man who has not yet been to Africa - for he has so much to look forward to."
- Richard Mullin.

It just seems fitting...

 

[WFet]

@Kowas Hunting Safaris

Jacques, I am spending my last day in office furiously looking up ways to make Saturday come faster so we can get on the plane! Know anyone who has a slightly used time machine?

 

[WFet]

Team Fet has offically made it through security and is waiting boarding. Emirates was wonderful with rifles and bow check in. See you in Africa!

 

[jpr792]

Safe TRAVELS

 

[WFet]

Team Fet has made it back home after a great time in South Africa. Report and pics to come as soon as the basset hound lets me have 2 mins to work on it. Some one felt abandoned for two weeks...

 

[Ridgewalker]

Can’t wait to see/read your report!

 

[WFet]

Bags packed, rifles checked, and ammunition counted. Wife’s repacking clothes, changing their minds, learning dead languages, and other last minute things. It must be time to go on another adventure! Fetner Safari 2018 has the green light for go!

Converging on Dallas from Nashville, TN and Fayetteville, AR, the offshoots of Team Fet joined the main group on Friday, 6/21 for final check of supplies. We would be leaving the next morning for DFW Airport to fly via Emirates to Johannesburg. Tickets and seats had been easily handled by the ever efficient ladies at Travel Express. Our evening was spent at dinner with grandparents, who were excited to hear the plans for the trip. We slept well that night as dreams of zebras and ostriches danced through our heads.

The art of travelling a little explored topic in these reports. While it is hard to recapture the pomp and circumstance of walking up the gangplank onto a Nairobi bound steamer, with jaunty bunting and white-jacketed stewards ready with Champaign, Emirates Airlines does provide a very POSH flying experience. The following observations will be made for the benefit of future travelers:

-Completing/having on hand all required paperwork for rifles and ammo before-hand puts the ticketing agents in a great mood when their systems break down. A brief tense moment was instantly smoothed when they could directly input the forms from our hard copies

-If a member of your group has ponied up for Business Class, let them go first as they will most likely let your whole group check through Business Class, getting your bags and rifles a priority loading ticket

-As an ode to the Arabic propensity for hospitality, the service of the Emirates flight crew and staff is outstanding. Even in coach, help is readily available when needed, and the drink cart comes by quite often

-The UAE security staff do not appreciate it when you brother attempts to explain that the blunted hemostats are for fishing, not a security risk. Better to save the fly fishing gear for your trip to Yemen.

22 hours and 9 time zones later, we arrived at OR Tambo no worse for wear. We met our driver from Africa Sky House, acquired our rifles and bow from the SAP Office, and headed out into the brisk winter night toward our beds. Those who have utilized the African Sky House will know what a welcome sight the comfortable rooms and hot showers provide to travelers, thus we proceeded to recover and prepare for the next day.

Warm eggs, bacon, and toast greeted us the next morning, as did the throaty rumble of the two Toyota Land Cruisers of Thormahlen and Cochren Safaris. We shook hands with Mario Tinkler, our PH that we had previously met at DSC, and Hermann Thormahlen, who needed not much convincing from his dad to take a break from school to drive and spot for our party. Bags were quickly loaded and away we drove. This day proved to be a grand tour of the N1 toll way as we drove south from Johannesburg. Passing through fallow fields, golden with the dry stubble of the last season’s crops, reminded us that we had left summer back in another hemisphere. The drive was broken up by the occasional gas stop, one detour to load bags of salt for the trophies, and lunch. Evening light cast silhouettes of the flat top ridges and hills that were the only break in the wide plains. As the sun dipped below the rim of the world, we arrived at the Tussen die Rivier game area, a government sponsored hunt preserve between the banks of the Orange River and one of its tributaries. We unloaded gear into the three chalets that made up our camp, enjoyed a marvelous dinner, and hurried to bed. Tomorrow we would be hunting!

 

[BRICKBURN]

 

[WFet]

Hunting Day 1

The sun, unoriginal in its Disney-esqe entrance, burst across the horizon, greeting us at the breakfast table with warm rays. The agenda for the morning would be to visit the Concession office to register our tags, sight rifles in, and then proceed into the veldt. We began travel along the Orange River road, with small bluff on the left and the shimmering water on the right. Wheeling herds of Black Wildebeest could be spotted in the far flats, while small bachelor groups of Eland grazed along the ridges of the hills. A more perfect African morning could not be wished for.

The Land Cruiser halted quickly as a large warthog, tail bouncing like an aerial, sprinted across the road ahead of us. I was first on deck, and followed the PH as he moved to a better spotting position. The warthog had parked himself against a small ledge of rock, covered from sight by acacia trees and scrub brush some 200 yards from us. We slowing moved forward, using the warthogs own cover to mask the approach. Sticks went up at 180 yards, a single white tusk giving me enough idea of body position for the shot. One trigger pull later, one downed pig. Pictures and handshakes taken care of, Katelyn was at bat for her Zebra.

 

[WFet]

The Great Zebra Odyssey began as many epics do: seeing the prize, only for it to run over the hill, repeat ad nauseam. Slowly creeping up the trail to crest the current ridge, we spotted a small herd grazing up the slope of the bowl of the adjacent hill. Only two things stood between Katelyn and her stripes, a mile of distance, and the ever watchful gaze of the hartebeest herd that the zebras had thoughtfully placed in front of them. To avoid detection, Katelyn, Ty, and Mario would use a ravine to move above the herds and come at the zebra from the hilltop. An hour passed, those of us remaining with the Land Cruisers panning the scene with our glasses to watch the movement of the herds. Another hour saw the arrival of three large Oryx, their pale masks pinpointed against the dull gold of the long grass. Still no sign of the stalking party could be seen and the zebra had begun to slowly march toward the scrub-line. With the third hour waning along with the sun, the Zebra had exited and we call the stalking party to let them know the game was up. They returned, tired and drained from a 7 mile route that, to quote the huntress, “was spent mostly butt-scooting all over Africa.” We returned to camp to recover for the evening with our goal to return to the field in the morning.