My wife and I went to South Africa in March of 2019 for a week of hunting.  We returned with a warthog, gemsbok, impala, black and blue wildebeest, and a springbok.  We had a great time.  

A year ago,  I was at an NRA dinner and they were auctioning off another safari, so I bid on it for $1,500 and won.  It was good for 4 hunters, so this time I decided to take my 3 oldest boys as a graduation present for them.  My two oldest boys graduated years ago, but we never went on a trip.  My other boy graduated a couple weeks ago.  

I have been looking forward to getting back over there since my last trip.  The only thing I am not looking forward to is the 18 hr flight.

I plan to try for a kudu and mountain reedbuck this time.  My boys are still trying to decide what they want to go for.  Should be a good time.  

I'll try to update with photos after we return.

UPDATE 6-19-24:

Made it back home after a long flight.  Total travel and layover time from leaving camp until getting home was about.35 hours.  

It was a great trip overall.   Weather was perfect,  Food was excellant.   Guides were great.   We saw tons of animals the entire week.  
Day 1:  My 3rd son got his warthog and hartebeest and was pretty much done.  I told him he could try for an impala if he wanted,  and he was thinking about it,  but decided he was fine with what he had taken already.  My oldest son also got his gemsbok that afternoon
Day 2.  My oldest and 2nd son both got their impalas.  My 2nd son also got his blue wildebeest that day.  My day started out going to a new property.  It was about 15,000 acres of mixed mountains and valleys.  It reminded me alot of back home in Idaho.  My goal was for kudu and mountain reedbuck.  We started out driving around the base of some hills glassing.  About a half hour in,  my PH spotted a group of reedbuck,  so we jumped out of the truck and took off after them.  We stalked to about 100 yards away and he could only see a few ewes and a small ram.   We were about to go back,  when a much better ram stepped out from some brush.  We got the sticks set up and I shot.  He ran about 20 yards and stopped, hunching up.  My PH moved the sticks, and I set up again.  One leg of the sticks was setting on a rock, and just as I was squeezing off the 2nd shot,  it slipped, and the gun moved right.  It dropped at the shot,  but I hit it in the neck.  I noticed both shots ended up about 4" left of my aiming point when the gun went off.   Looking back,  we should have rechecked the zero before hunting anymore.  The previous evening,  while hiking through some brush,  I had slipped, and the gun hit the ground pretty hard.  
We got some pictures of the reedbuck, and set out for kudu.  We had only went about 200 yards when we spotted 2 nice bulls up on a mountain about 600 wards away.  We got out and started the stalk from hell.  It was a steep climb over loose rock and through thorn bushes with spikes literally about 3-4 inches long.  To top it off, nature was calling pretty hard.  I eventually had to stop and take care of things,  while my guide and son kept hiking up.  I got done,  and kept hiking.  After seeing the direction the best bull went,  we followed them up to the top of that mountain,  down into the next valley, and halfway up the next,  before we realized, we weren't going to find him.  We spent another couple hours hiking back out, and decided to set up over a waterhole for the afternoon to see if anything would come in, before going to glass again in the evening.  We set up a blind out of cut brush,  had been there about 3 hours having fun watching all sorts of animals come in.  While sitting there,  I noticed an impala keep looking up into some brush.  I kept watching that direction, when a big kudu bull suddenly materialized about 100 yards away.  I was holding my phone, and while trying to set it down,  it fell and hit the ground. The kudu snapped to attention looking our way.  My guide looked it over an said it was a good bull and to take it if I wanted.  It was directly facing us.  Looking back, I wished I had waited until it turned broadside, but I had a steady rest and lined up at the base of his neck on the center of his chest.   The shot felt good, and he took off through the brush.  We waited a few minutes and went out looking for blood.  We didn't see any, and I was wondering how I could have missed.  The tracker showed up and after finding it's trail,  started finding small drops of blood every 30 yards.  We trailed it for about 500 yards that evening,  before it got dark.  We marked last blood and planned to go back the next morning.  

Day 3:After we woke up the next morning, we took my gun to the range to check it.   First shot showed it hitting 4" to the left.  All we can think of is when I fell, it must have bumped it off.  SO a frontal shot on a kudu hitting 4" left would probably put it between the ribcage and shoulder.   The tracker said he looked like it was bleeding from the right side.

We got back out and picked up the trail again.  It was amazing to watch the trackers work. I don't think a bloodhound could have done better.  They were going through  rocky areas with no dirt to find prints.  only finding a day old pinpoint sized drop of blood every 30-40 yards.  We followed the tracks for another 500 yards and jumped a bull.  They followed that trail for awhile and determined it was a different bull.  The PH decided to send me down to a different waterhole closer to that area and see if he would come in.   I hike back while they continued the trail.  When I got to the waterhole,  I discovered he had already been there, as there was blood on the ground and tank.  We called the PH and they headed down to us to pick up the trail from there.   We built another brush blind, and I sat there while the PH and trackers went out on the track.  My other sons and their PH set up on the waterhole from yesterday in case it came back there.  I saw several animals again, and had 2 kudu cows come to within 5 yards of me staring at me but not busting.  He never came in there.  My PH and trackers followed the trail another 2 miles, before spooking a group of bulls.  They never saw a limping one, or blood on any of them.   Eventually the blood ended and they came back.  It kind of sucked, but we did all we could do.  I was initially thinking I was done,  as I knew I would end up paying $4,000 for that lost kudu.   I couldn't sleep that night and kept thinking that I really wanted a kudu since the last time I was there, and that it would still be cheaper shooting another one,  then having to plan another safari.  

Day 4: So next morning, I tell the guide I want to try again, and we head out to a different property.  This place was huge.  30,000 acres, literally containing it's own mountain range and part of another.  We started out driving around glassing to see if we could spot a bull.  One of the other guides called us on the radio saying they had spotted a nice bull.  We make the 1/2 mile drive to where they are and see a big bull, a smaller bull, and a bunch of cows. We jump out and try to make a stalk through some trees, we got to about 100 yards,  and had an easy shot at the small bull, but the big one was behind a bunch of trees. Eventually they moved off without ever presenting a shot.   We took off trying to glass up another bull.  an hour later without seeing anything,  another guide radioed that he had seen another bull in a general area, so we head off for there.  It was about 4 miles away.  We get  to the area and find a small  bull and some cows.  We were about ready to leave when my bull walked out from some brush.   They started moving away.   We got out and tried to stalk them 3 different times, getting to about 100 yards each time, and having chances at the smaller bull,  but the big one always seemed to be behind brush or cows.   They were moving towards the direction of a dense thicket, and if they got there it would be over.  So we headed back to the truck and took off back the way we had come in trying to see if we could get in front of them on a different road.   We drove a couple miles and got to a spot where we thought they might cross.   We got out and set up.  a short while later we saw them.  they were through some brush, but the PH spotted the big one.   I could see him through the scope, but there was brush in front and cows behind him.   We waited a couple minutes, and my guide said the cows were clear.  I expressed concern about the brush in front, but he said it was close enough to the bull that it shouldn't be an issue.   So I line up through the brush where his shoulder was, thinking in the back of my mind,  is this going to be another $4,000 mistake.  I shoot, and everything scatters.   The cows and smaller bull take off, and I could tell mine was falling behind.  He went about 75 yards and stopped.  We move and get set up again.  He had his butt facing us through even thicker brush.  I put it on his butt and shoot again.  Guide said miss.  Shoot again, same thing.  We move slightly to get a better opening, and shoot again and he drops.  What a relief.   We were thinking the 2nd and 3rd shots got deflected enough in the brush to miss.   He had a gash on his neck that looked like a tumbling bullet may have grazed it.   We put him on a tarp and the 4 of us drug him about 100 yards out to a different road.  Took some pictures and them back to camp.  We spent the rest of the evening driving around taking pictures.  We found a big herd of cape buffalo, and a huge eland.  

Day 5:  We decided to take a trip to Pilanesburg national park.  It was spectacular.  We saw a few rhinos,  3 herds of elephants,  one group of which surrounded our truck with the bull acting like he wanted to destroy us.  He was flapping his ears, and had his "back trunk" out peeing everywhere.  Eventually they wandered off to harass another car. We ate lunch at a cool little restaurant overlooking a waterhole.  We had a group of kudo and zebra come in, and watched a warthog in his wallow.   We went back to camp and spent a relaxing evening around the fire swapping stories.

Day 6:  Woke up for breakfast and then took the animals to the dip and pack place where they boil the skulls and prepare everything for eventual shipment back home.  They sit there for a 90 day quarantine period before they can ship.
Then back to the airport for the long flight home.

Overall a great trip.  My boys all had a wonderful time.  I am already thinking about going back in a few years for possibly a cape buffalo.

I'll try and post more pictures at the end of the thread.

Have a great time and post pics.

Sounds like fun. Enjoy yourselves.


And the obligatory TIA Danny.

Be sure to come back and give us an AAR. We will live vicariously through your exploits, my good sir!

Awesome!!

Awesome!  I am planning with my boys where to go when they graduate they're 11 and 14 now .

Sounds cool!  Hope you all have a good time

If I'm not mistaken, I followed along on the last thread. In for this one!

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TIA

hell yes.  have fun w your kids!!!!!

Hope you and your boys have a great time. Be safe.

Young guy that works for the local JD dealer was up at my dad’s farm and said he’s going to Africa to hunt in the next couple of weeks. Said he goes every few years.

It’s on my bucket list if I actually had one LOL.

Africa is magical for hunters. Have fun.

Have a great trip!

That’s bad ass. Congrats.

Have a great adventure with your  boys
Good luck!
& post pictures after

Honestly, I am jealous for more than one reason.

Tagged for updates and pics.

Please do not disappoint .

Is it common to not have picked your desired species ahead of the trip?

Fuckin awesome

Congrats OP

Post pics of safari rifles immediately

It's usually a good idea to let the outfitter know what you're interested in. Many of them have multiple locations to choose from that offer different opportunities. For example, if you want some quality springbok hunting you wouldn't want to be in the northern provinces as they only exist in numbers in the more southerly provinces.

This is how you know you made the big time. Should have been a dentist.

You Sir officially have your priorities straight. Please share pics.

Let us know the prices at the end. I lost one at an auction because of a reading failure. I was unaware they added a bonus to the hunt being a new 2k gun. The hunt went for $2500.

In another auction I was running, we had the guide change his requirements and wanted only 2 hunters and no longer offered 1 as an observer and this was after the auction was done. He used to offer photo ones too but said all his money are in the upsells and processing of the game.

First blood.


My younger son got his first African animal.  A nice 187 lb warthog.

Got in about midnight last night and up at 6:00 this morning


We saw tons of animals all morning but nothing we wanted to shoot until just before lunch.  Heading back, we saw this guy and 2 females about 40 yards off the road.  They took off when we saw them so we hopped out and took off after them .  We followed them about 100 yards and saw the females start coming through a gap in the brush.  My son got set up and he stepped out about 70 yards away.  He squealed and dropped at the shot.  Using a 338 Win Mag.
The PH said it was one of the older pigs he'd seen. He estimated it was probably 8-10 years old.  It's incisors were worn down to the gums.

Now to try for Kudu this afternoon.

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nice, it's been over twenty years since i went to Capetown, the safer white part of ZA

Sounds like a great family trip. You bring your own rifles or using the guides guns?

Congratulations!  That’s a nice warthog, they were in decline when I was there last.

dont get chopped up into pieces

Enjoy the time with your boys OP.

Good thread OP. I look forward to reading about y’alls hunt.

In for more pics.

Nice!

You have strong genes. Your boys look just like you.

So much winning!

We brought our own.  A 300 win mag and a 338.

It was a pretty easy process. It cost $160  for a company the outfitters uses to arrange the permit.  They meet you at the airport and take care of everything.

OP is winning. Have a great time with the boys.  

Damn, your kids look exactly like you!

Tagged.

Now just score a meerkat and have them stuffed together.

I’ve always wanted to go on one of those big game hunts, but that is on the “may never happen” list.

No, not Pumbaa!!!!

JK, that is awesome! Hope you and your boys continue to harvest some amazing animals and have a great time!

$1500 all in for 4? Does that include flights? Either way, absolute steal! Sounds amazing.

Nice!

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Nice OP!

That's the way to do it, Rifle Permits I suppose. I've done my own rifle permitting before but after using Henry I'll never do it any other way.

What caliber rifle OP?



Edit: saw it