Anyone hunting Africa this year?
- Thread starter Slickshooter
- Start date
A 458 Lott is well below 10,000 joules so it seems even a bigger caliber is still ok.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I was booked for a buffalo hunt in Zimbabwe, which I would have been doing right now. It was cancelled due to severe drought and poaching in the concession, so the outfitter made a good call and offered me a substitute area but I declined. I love hunting Africa. Have been five times, this would have been the sixth. Not done yet! So far I’ve hunted Mozambique, Zimbabwe 2x, Namibia, and South Africa. All wonderful hunts in different environments.
That’s unfortunate but it sounds like you have a stand up outfitter. Have you been in the Caprivi while in Namibia? Or the Niassa in Moz?
Those two areas made my top 4 list with the Luangwa in Zambia and of course the Selous.
Thats interesting the drought and poaching cancelled your hunt. Good call on them I guess.
I've only been to South Africa but the ph I hunted with was from Zimbabwe and he talked about how great it was. He was holding back since he was hired to be my guide in South Africa lol.
I'm saving now for a trip, Not sure exactly where to go to be honest. But I might be doing it alone as noone else I know wants to go
That is usually the case... it is hard to find a partner that has the time and money to make the specific trips we are interested in. Most of my big trips have been taken alone... no big deal once you are on the ground hunting... just nice to travel with, and share a grand experience with a friend.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
Slick shooter, I hunted the Caprivi for Cape buffalo in 2019 and in Mozambique last year it was Coutada 9. Both wonderful places, both with plenty of buffalo, but I’d prefer to go back to Coutada 9 because of the great abundance of plains game besides buffalo.
I’ve twice invited friends to come on Safari who would otherwise not have come, by offering to pay their daily rate as an “observer”. Both times we both had a fine time, they got a great adventure for the cost of a plane ticket, I got a companion and photographer for the cost of one antelope trophy fee. Good deal for both of us.
I’ve twice invited friends to come on Safari who would otherwise not have come, by offering to pay their daily rate as an “observer”. Both times we both had a fine time, they got a great adventure for the cost of a plane ticket, I got a companion and photographer for the cost of one antelope trophy fee. Good deal for both of us.
Your friend certainly got a good deal, you... not so much. I have some good pals that I hunt with regularly at home and short NA trips, but if they didn't care enough about an experience to pay their share, I'd be going alone... principle of the thing, and not being FU wealthy... I'd shoot an extra Kudu rather than paying $2000 in observer fees for someone who didn't care enough about the experience to pony up the cash to pay their own way.
Having said that, I do have a buddy coming as an observer next April, but he is paying the fees himself... and what he gets for that is an astoundingly cheap Safari... some operations have very low (even free) observer rates... we hunt together regularly, so I know he won't impede my experience.
- Location
- Saskatchewan
I’d do it again, and feel fortunate for the company! I also look at it as “travel insurance” - accidents and disease are no fun dealing with on your own in a third world country. Now I need to call a buddy and make a plan…
I’ve thought about going with a friend as an observer for a week or so; then trading places the next week. Twice as much time in Africa for very little more money. In my experience of taking observers; and seeing other people with observers sooner or later someone is going to suggest they grab a gun anyway. Money’s money; and the temptation proves too much.
Don’t count on it; but if I was a betting man……….
Don’t count on it; but if I was a betting man……….I just went in May and did not Bring my own gun. I wish I would have but was discouraged by all the paperwork. we also flew through Amsterdam. my PH was a gun nut though as used a suppressed 308 the whole time which was a real treat!
We are going back to SA next year, as my wife won a hunt for a couple of her bucket list animals in the Free State; black wildebeest and caracal (her package also includes jackal and white blesbok, which she is looking forward to). I will be hunting cape bushbuck, lechwe and genet.
Then we will meet up with our PH from the Eastern Cape (whom we hunted with last year), and head for the Limpopo for limpopo bushbuck, livingstone's eland and honey badger.
Due to a permit issue (Canadian, not SA or Netherlands) we did not take our own rifle last year and hunted with the PH's suppressed 300 Win Mag, which my wife was able to shoot quite well despite being recoil sensitive. I would like to take my rifle next year, but will most likely use their rifles again as it will be easier and less expensive to travel w/o rifles. The Free State PH has a LH suppressed 308 and 223 (his son's) for us to use, and I will likely be using that suppressed 300 Win Mag again in the Limpopo.
Then we will meet up with our PH from the Eastern Cape (whom we hunted with last year), and head for the Limpopo for limpopo bushbuck, livingstone's eland and honey badger.
Due to a permit issue (Canadian, not SA or Netherlands) we did not take our own rifle last year and hunted with the PH's suppressed 300 Win Mag, which my wife was able to shoot quite well despite being recoil sensitive. I would like to take my rifle next year, but will most likely use their rifles again as it will be easier and less expensive to travel w/o rifles. The Free State PH has a LH suppressed 308 and 223 (his son's) for us to use, and I will likely be using that suppressed 300 Win Mag again in the Limpopo.
Some people won't bat an eye at going over there and then using a rented or loaner gun for their hunt. I wish I could have done that, but...I just couldn't. Bringing my own gun was non-negotiable for me; having that rifle now I get a little additional thrill every time I look at it, every time I handle the new marks it picked up on that hunt. Bringing it was a PITA, no question, but absolutely worth it IMHO.
I used a loaner shotgun, a very decent O/U Huglu, when we did a day of impromptu wing-shooting. I'm not much of a shotgunner, so I could tolerate using somebody else's...sort of...but even that didn't feel quite right.
I used a loaner shotgun, a very decent O/U Huglu, when we did a day of impromptu wing-shooting. I'm not much of a shotgunner, so I could tolerate using somebody else's...sort of...but even that didn't feel quite right.
Alberta is beautiful, lots of game, a hunter's paradise. But...you live there, so no matter how wonderful the hunting, it simply isn't the same as flying halfway around the world and hunting exotic animals in exotic terrain with exotic people. It's a silly comparison.
When my wife picked me up at the airport after my solo trip to The Dark Continent...yes, that was necessary!...we were on our way home when I commented that I hoped I would have good weather the coming weekend so that I could do some necessary maintenance work on one of my deer stands for the rapidly-approaching rifle season.
She couldn't believe I would be thinking about that, after spending a month away hunting. But in my mind, there was no correlation between the two. The Africa trip was the trip of a lifetime for me...but the upcoming deer hunt was just as important as they always are to me, and neither experience in any way lessened the other. They were just separate, completely different.
He’s upset you used outdated terms. Get with the times you bigot! Hah.
That’s exactly what set Karen off. If words hurt then maybe the internet isn’t the place for him. LolLike the Dark Continent. lol
Well, I likely won't be going back to the Dark Continent again; I am grateful that I had my chance to pursue the Black Death and face him down at close range; Mbogo was a dream of mine since childhood. I was also fortunate to take an exceptional example of the Gray Ghost while stalking through the trackless Tall Grass, and to hear the guttural coughing of Simba in the darkness beyond the campfire. We hid from Ndlovu when he approached too closely, and Ingwe left his pugmarks in the sand outside the tent.
In any case, I'm sure the OP...who has booked an African hunt and started this thread to specifically ask who else might be doing something similar...finds your disdain very helpful.
I'll just add this: after my PG and buff hunts were done and I was heading home, my schedule called for spending two nights at a "guest farm" outside of the city of Windhoek. The owner was a fan of Blaser rifles, as I am, and we enjoyed some long conversations about guns, hunting, etc. He bent the rules a bit...quite a bit, actually... by letting me sit out over a waterhole alone throughout most of my one entire day there in hopes of shooting a baboon or two. Sitting alone in the desert, watching kudu, gemsbok, warthog, hartebeest and all manner of exotic birdlife coming to water as I crouched in a shady spot, waiting for a baboon that never came, never firing a shot or even raising my rifle...even that was an experience that I will never forget. That single day, while it paled in comparison to the rest of the trip, still stands out in my memory more vividly than most individual hunting days spent here in Canada...in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec and, yes, even in Alberta. Again...it's difficult to compare the experience of hunting in two such different places. Africa stands out head and shoulders over the rest simply because it is so different.
Lol, he's probably spinning like a top now.
Excellent! Although I'm not sure how you can be so certain that Africa isn't worthwhile without actually trying it.
In any case, I'm sure the OP...who has booked an African hunt and started this thread to specifically ask who else might be doing something similar...finds your disdain very helpful.
I'll just add this: after my PG and buff hunts were done and I was heading home, my schedule called for spending two nights at a "guest farm" outside of the city of Windhoek. The owner was a fan of Blaser rifles, as I am, and we enjoyed some long conversations about guns, hunting, etc. He bent the rules a bit...quite a bit, actually... by letting me sit out over a waterhole alone throughout most of my one entire day there in hopes of shooting a baboon or two. Sitting alone in the desert, watching kudu, gemsbok, warthog, hartebeest and all manner of exotic birdlife coming to water as I crouched in a shady spot, waiting for a baboon that never came, never firing a shot or even raising my rifle...even that was an experience that I will never forget. That single day, while it paled in comparison to the rest of the trip, still stands out in my memory more vividly than most individual hunting days spent here in Canada...in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Quebec and, yes, even in Alberta. Again...it's difficult to compare the experience of hunting in two such different places. Africa stands out head and shoulders over the rest simply because it is so different.
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