Sunday, July 21, 2013

Coming to an End

I can't believe this is my last post I will be coming here in Africa. This trip has went beyond my wildest dreams and it has changed my life in so many ways.

The last week or so with our clients, the Chadwells has been great. Both of them were extremely nice, easy going, and just fun people to be around. We hunted on Brian's property and they both got every animal they wanted plus they each got a bushbuck as an added bonus. Both of their bushbucks had massive horns and were beautiful animals. Jordan also got an impala and Skip got a zebra. Then they also got 2 kudus, which was the top animal on both of their list. They both had an absolute blast here from the hunting to sitting around the fire at night listening to the Makalali lions roar. I hope as time goes on I stay in touch with them and things continue to go well for them as the time passes.

After the clients were gone the other PH, Nico, and I took some local clients hunting. They all together shot 4 impala and one kudu cow. It was a long day, but a good one. We got Saturday night off and we celebrated by going to a street party in front of Makalali. There were fires set up and some music and everyone just having a good time in the middle of a dirt road. I got to hang out with some good people and make a few friends as well. The only downside to the night was that all the beer was warm :/ 

There are so many things I have learned here and so many amazing memories have been made. It's hard for me to sum up what all I have done and learned. I am definitely feeling a bit weird about having to leave. There will be no more walking or driving around seeing wild giraffes or elephants standing a few feet from me. No more will I be able to sit around a campfire at night listening to lions roars or hyenas calling. I am definitely going to miss this place, it is like nowhere else in the world. I just want to thank everyone who took the time to read the blogs, it means a lot and hopefully I will be able to tell everyone some of the stories when I get back. I don't want to say it, but goodbye Africa. I am truly blessed for getting this opportunity and will never forget this adventure.

Friday, July 12, 2013

The Past Week

We recently just had some new clients join us here. The 2 new clients consist of a father and son, Skip and Jordan Chadwell. They are from Alaska and they are both extremely good men. Nico has joined us to help out as the second PH for the hunts and him and I headed up to Schoonwater Monday afternoon to get the place ready. The clients arrived late and the next morning we started our hunts. 

The first stalk was originally to go after a red hartebeest, but Jordan ended up shooting a nice springbok that presented itself nicely. He was extremely happy and his dad couldn't have been more proud. Next we decided to stalk a black wildebeest, and Skip took him down with a 250 yard shot. Next we drove through some beautiful terrain and once we reached the top of a ridge we spotted a nice red hartebeest. We stalked it perfectly through some lone trees and Jordan shot him at about 130 yards with a beautiful shot. The morning was going amazing up there with 3 animals by noon. We headed in for a quick lunch and a short break and then Hannes proposed that Nico, Jordan, and I do a bit of crawling to stalk some nice blesbok. We had about a 200 yard stalk, but it wasn't too bad. We came up on him perfectly at about 160 yards and after steadying himself, Jordan took the shot and dropped his 3rd animal of the day. After loading that one up we decided to treat Skip a little and try to get him a nice big eland bull. After searching for quite a while we found a group worth going after. We stalked it and got within 200 yards. It took a lot of noise to get these big bulls to stand up, but once they did Skip took his shot. He hit it perfectly, but the beast wouldn't drop. He eventually took a second shot and it headed towards a cliff side. Everyone was freaking out because we didn't want it to go off the edge of the mountain and lose it. We lost site and eventually after a long search and careful steps not to fall off the cliff side we found it and Skip finished it off with a neck shot right next to a waterfall. It was a great start to their hunt and the Alaskans couldn't have been happier. 

The next day was a traveling day as we headed down the mountains and took it easy that night. The following day was going to be their first hunt in the lowveld. They both wanted a kudu and a gemsbok, and also an impala and a zebra. The first day was a lot of walking, probably close to about 8 miles. I was told to follow Nico and Jordan to be their camera man, and although no animals were shot I still got some good footage. I would have to say the most exciting part of the day was when we were driving and out of no were a huge bull buffalo popped out of the bush and started charging our vehicle. 2 more followed and Hannes stopped the vehicle. Luckily there was a fence between us or our vehicle probably would have been flipped. This thing continued to chase us as long as it could and it was pretty awesome to watch. As the chase went on the buffalo's eyes got so red that it looked like a creature out of a horror film. That defiantly topped off the day with a nice meal and a couple beers to finish the night.

It wasn't the most successful day, but at least it was still interesting. The clients went with Hannes to Kruger today and then it's back the hunting. Hopefully our clients have some luck and I continue to enjoy my last 10 days here in Africa!

Thursday, July 4, 2013

Kruger Round 2

After a busy and somewhat stressful weekend, Darin and another intern, Yolanda, showed up here at Mahlahla. They came on Monday since Susie was leaving on Wednesday and they needed to take her to the airport. Before she left though we headed to Kruger for our second time on Tuesday. We got there around 7 am and the first animals we saw were some notorious impala. We decided to take a different route from when we went with Mandi and headed north. Not long after the impala we saw a fairly large group of elephants on the side of the road. They were busy breaking and eating trees and eventually crossed right in front of us. After the elephant crossing we saw some zebra off in the distance and decided to take a little side road to get a little closer. To our surprise when we got back there we spotted 2 lionesses! They were lying in the tall grass just watching the zebra, hoping for an easy meal. We got up very close to them and watched them for about an hour and a half waiting for the most opportune moments to take pictures. As time moved on the lions didn't so we decided to continue on our adventure. As we left we saw the amount of cars by the lions increase from about 3 to 23. We traveled for quite a ways hoping to get some food and not seeing much of anything. We stopped at a restaurant were we all ordered a bacon cheese burger, I ordered a double. After we ate we walked over to some scenic view points where we watched elephants playing in the water as well as a few swimming crocs. After some time there we were on the road again. We made a couple more stops seeing buffalo, hippos, zebra, and some very cool birds as well. I have to say, since I've come here my interest in birds has increased and I hope to do some more bird watching when I get home. The day was going pretty good, but things were getting late. Just as we thought our day was over we came across what I'd been hoping to see. No more than 10 feet off the road a small leopard was lying in the tall grass. Even with it being so close it was very hard to see. I was ecstatic when it turned its head for a split second so that I could snap a photo of its eyes. We stayed as long as we could, but knew we had to get going. We snuck out before it got too crowded and continued towards the exit gate. We came across one more traffic jam, where there were large amounts of baboons and impala, but we had no time to stop since you have to be out of the park by 5:30. We were a little late getting out of the park, but luckily they let us by with ease. Later that night Susie, Yolanda, and I stayed up and played some pool while listening to music since it was Susie's last night here in Africa. The next morning everyone said their goodbyes and the crew left. 

From this point on I will be extremely busy since we have clients all this weekend and then more coming on Monday for 2 weeks. We will start out with 2 days of hunting up in the mountains and then come back down here for the remainder of the hunts. If I don't get many posts or photos up I apologize, but I will try to do my best. Bring on the hunts!








































Friday, June 28, 2013

About to get busy.

My time here is winding down. I have just a few days over 3 weeks left and although I am eager to come home and see everyone, but at the same time I don't want to think about leaving. Recently one of the workers, Justin, that always makes things interesting, and that I had become good friends with recently left. It won't be the same without him, but hopefully with all the clients coming in it will keep me occupied. This week has been pretty slow, but it will start picking up his afternoon. Earlier in the week Justin and I had been sitting out in the blind waiting for a wildebeest to come in. They came in, but it was too dark so now my hunt has been postponed until the end of next week. I did go sit with Susie in the blind on Wednesday and served as her PH (professional hunter) as we waited for a big old warthog to come in, but the only thing to reach the water hole were 4 kudus. Hopefully next week I can help her get one before she leaves.

I have moved up a little bit now that Justin has left and Hannes is actually letting me go along as a guide to help some hunters get a waterbuck and possibly a sable next week while he is gone on an elephant hunt. I am excited for the opportunity, but quite nervous as well because I would hate to let the hunter or Hannes down. I think I know the property and the animals we are looking for pretty well so hopefully everything everything goes good. 

Susie and I have been working hard on the nyala project and have it almost done with only 1 of the 17 nyala left to identify. The portfolio looks good and I think Hannes likes it as well. Now it is just time to wait until the clients come in this weekend and served my second to last night behind the bar for 2 volunteers going away party. Hopefully ill have some funny stories to tell starting next week.

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Souvenir Going

This Monday was a very nice winter day in South Africa. The kids have a nice long winter break from school and Hannes was off on a buffalo hunt, so Mandi decided to take Susie and I to the mountain lookout points to do a little shopping and site seeing. The place we were headed is called Blyde canyon, which is the second largest canyon in the world after the grand canyon. Luckily it was only about an hour drive so not much time was wasted getting up there. Our sight seeing was unfortunately somewhat blurred by a lingering smoky haze from some massive fires that happened that previous Wednesday. Our first stop was to see these 3 mountain formations that look just like the native huts of the area. Although hard to see it was still a very cool sight. There we also got to do some shopping from the local venders. Almost all of their materials are hand made and I have to say their craftsmanship is amazing! Everything I saw I knew my family and friends would love, but I had to chose wisely. I'm glad we had Mandi there because she filled us in on what items were the best quality and she also helped us haggle the sellers to lower the prices.

After we got a few items there we headed to our next stop. Mandi filled us in on some history of the natural pothole pools we were about to see. There is an old legend that goes behind the formation of these pools. I don't know it exactly, but I think this is how it goes. Supposedly there was this group of explorers that were heading through that area. They got to a point were it got pretty steep, so the men and boys told the women they would go down first to make sure it was safe and if it was they would come back up to fetch the women. The men headed down and almost all of them got malaria and got very sick, then being unable to get back and fetch the women. The women after a while got worried and decided to head down to find their husbands and sons. About half way down they came across one of the men who had gotten sick and he told the women the story. They all became very sad and decided to head down along the Truer River (sad river). It turns out though that the men and boys had ran into a local tribe after getting sick and the tribe gave them medicine that cured them. This tribe was up the Blyde River (happy river) and it made the men happy for being healed, so they headed down the river and eventually met up with the women. The happy and sad river combined forming these natural swirling pools that over the years created these amazing perfectly round holes all throughout the canyon. I found the old story very cool and the sights beautiful. 

After the sites we finished up our shopping were I found some more amazing souvenirs. My favorite are these wax paintings that the women do, they are extremely original and I can't wait to bring them back and show everyone. Finally my shopping was finished and we headed a little further into the mountains for lunch at one of Mandi's favorite restaurants. It's called Harry's pancakes and it was delicious. I ordered the biltong (jerky) and cheese one. It was a bunch of biltong and cheese wrapped in a crape that came with a cheese sauce and it was amazing! After that we headed back. It was a great day and we were informed on the way back that hopefully there will be some zip lining in our near future. Until than I'm gonna continue sitting in the blind waiting for my wildebeest to come in. I'm hoping tonight is the night. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.


















Monday, June 24, 2013

Selati

This past week was pretty slow up until the weekend. During the week all I really accomplished was to start baiting in the wildebeest for my upcoming bow hunt. As Friday arrived Mandi had a surprise for us. She told Susie and I that we were going to go to the Selati reserve for Friday night and all day Saturday, staying with the LEO group. This group was a nice group, consisting mostly of volunteers from the European countries. Susie and I were both very excited to go to Selati because we knew their main focus there is monitoring lions, elephants, and rhinos. Just before we left on Thursday night though, Darin showed up. For those that don't know Darin is in charge of the Nyati Conservation Corps and the one who organized for us to come over here to Africa. It was nice to finally meet him and he is a very nice man.

We headed off to Selati around noon on Friday. Once we got there we were informed that we were that our first drive was going to be at 3:30, so until than it was just a little bit of chill time while getting to know some of the volunteers a little better. Right before we left my only chore was to cut off the hind leg of an impala, that had died after getting caught in the fence, that we used as bait to bring in one of the lions later on in the night. The first hour or so was relatively slow as we spent our time using radio telemetry to figure out where a few of the focus lions were. Finally when we got good readings on the male Mbhurri we headed to a clearing were one of the staff quickly jumped out and attached the severed impala leg to a tree. We then got out an extremely loud predator call and pointed it in the direction of the lion and let it rip. The call was loud, but kind of funny in a way that "you had to be there to laugh at it" type of way. Not to long after we started the call he appeared. It was amazing to watch this massive cat walk towards us. I managed to snag a couple nice shots along with a video as he moved towards the meat. He grabbed it and ripped it from the tree with ease, soon after retreating to the bushes to eat his newly acquired prized in peace. After waiting a while to see if he would show again we started up the bukkie and headed on our way. We saw a few giraffes right before it got dark and then we ran into something none of us were expecting to see. There in the dark, in the middle of the road appeared Mbhurri again along with Acacia, one of the lionesses, and her two 4 month old cubs! Mbhurri was the father of these cubs and this was the first time since they were born that they have recorded the dad meeting his 2 sons. The volunteers were probably far more stunned by this than us since they were so close to the big cats. Nonetheless we were also amazed. This is the type of situation that you see and hear about in the movies, but I never thought I'd get to see it in person. Since it was so dark I couldn't get any photos, but the memory will always be with me. We sat and watched all four of them from about 20 yards for a good hour and a half. The 2 cubs were playful as could be jumping all over Acacia and annoying Mbhurri. After awhile Acacia and the cubs left for maybe 20 minutes and upon her return she jumped on top of Mbhurri as if she wanted to show him something, but he simply stood up for a second and lied back down. This happened several more times and then all four where back together. The playing continued until Mbhurri got so irritated he got up and left and we left for the lodge soon after. On the way back we saw one huge white rhino and then it was dinner time and off to bed.

The next morning we got up at 5:30 for an early drive. We were on a mission to go talk to one of the owners of Selati and hear about his sable breeding business. On our way there we got stopped several times by massive herds of elephants. Although we were unable to see most of them it was still very cool to hear them snapping trees and doing the typical elephant trumpeting we all know and love. One of the bulls halfway charged us, but as soon as we stopped the vehicle he stopped as well. Finally we arrived at the sable breeding area. There we learned just how much money was involved in this business. Not to long ago a big bull sable having horns measuring around 53 inches was sold for 12 million rand, which is about 1.6 million US dollars. The good breeding females with good genetics also sold for a good amount of money. There is a lot of history behind this business and these sable, a little more than I can type out so if someone wants to know more about it ill be more than happy to tell the, when I get back. Later on that day I took a nap since it was Saturday and after our game drives I knew it would be a long night behind the bar. After the nap we headed out on our night drive seeing a few rhinos and the big male lion once again. This time it was a little lighter so I got some awesome photos of this guy and I have to say he did a pretty good job posing. After seeing him we headed back to the LEO base and headed to Mahlahla where Susie and I started working behind the bar. It was a pretty laid back night, but we still ended up closing around 4 in the morning. The following day was laid back and I finished it off by sitting in the blind and watching my big old bull wildebeest come up to the watering hole. I can't wait until my time comes where I can finally hopefully take him with my bow.


























Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Kruger National Park

The day at Kruger I've been waiting for finally came. Susie and I got up nice and early at 5:30 and headed to the national park with Mandi since Hannes isn't that fond of Kruger. It was only about $20 to enter and then Mandi stopped to fill us in on the plan for the day. She showed us the route we were going to take and told us she had one rule. There are thousands of impala's, we have the first hour to point and say impala and after that the impala's new name is a twobuck. The catch is every time we say impala after the first hour we owe Mandi two bucks, that's why Mandi calls them  twobucks.

The day started off kind of slow and in the first hour we only saw a few impala and zebra. Then we made are first stop at the elephant museum. This place was extremely interesting. It had a full history line of the progress if elephants throughout South African history. It also had a full skeleton of an elephant and the skull and tusk mounts of the elephants with the largest tusks that have passed away in the park. They call the largest elephants with the largest tusks tuskers. There were a lot of big ones that have passed away, but there are still a good amount still roaming the park to this day. After that we went on the road again and started heading south, because supposedly that's where most of the predators hang out. Just as soon as we left things really started to pick up. I spotted a few steenbuck, which are a very small antelope, and then I finally saw what I've been waiting to see since I arrived in Africa. A massive elephant was right on the side of the road! It was probably only 30 yards from the vehicle and started moving closer to us. I got some great pictures of him eating some trees and then we moved along. 

Our goal for the day was to see the Big 5, which are buffalo, elephant, rhino, leopard, and lion. Not to long after seeing the elephant we saw a few buffalo lying under some trees chewing cod. We watched them for a while as some other dumb tourists were hanging out their windows taunting the buffalo which is extremely illegal. We now had seen 2 of the big 5 and things were looking up. A little more driving went past and we saw some more impala, zebra and wildebeest. Another mile or 2 down the road Mandi slammed on the breaks and threw it in reverse. There was a hyena trotting to our left, but something didn't quite seem right. After a closer look we realized that the hyena had a snare around its neck and then it disappeared into its den. We called the park and reported what we saw trying to give as many details as we could. The day went on and then brake lights appeared up ahead. In Kruger brake lights are always a good sign, it means that someone else is seeing something awesome. I have to say what these guys stopped for was pretty awesome. There were 3 ground hornbills in the middle of the road. Ground hornbills are a large endangered bird that if seen must be reported to the park so they can keep tabs on them. The one started pecking the other people's car as the other 2 circled it like sharks. We got up to them next and they did the same thing. It was very funny and very cool, because it's not everyday you see an endangered species.

After yet another call in to the park we stopped at a look out point were there was one other car and a sign that said you can get out, but at your own risk. As soon as I stepped out of the car Susie said, oh look a monkey, and the thing jumped over my head and landed on the door of the car Mandi started yelling at it before it got in the car. The naughty little vervet monkey started making squeaking noises and tried slapping Mandi. Everyone was laughing at this crazy little monkey. After the monkey attack we were able to overlook this amazing river view and see some hippos lying in the sand and playing in the water. The entire time the monkeys were watching us and it was a race to get in the car before the monkeys did so we could continue on our trip. We soon after saw another group of elephants that crossed the road right in front of us and a big male shook his head at us. More zebra were seen along with a few giraffes in the road right after the elephants.

Our next stop was at the Olifants camp were there was yet another amazing viewpoint with a large river and more lazy hippos. There was a nice gift store there were I spent my first money in Africa and I managed to get a few souvenirs for friends and family back home. Shortly after our stop we came across a waterhole with cars parked all around. We squeezed into a spot were we could see what was going on. There was a massive hoards of elephants all moving towards the watering hole. It was one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. A huge group of the worlds largest land mammal was slowly meandering towards the water where it seemed as if they turned into tiny children splashing in a puddle and throwing mud at each other. To top off the elephant parade another car was pointing at something off to the left and in the distance. After a closer look we saw 2 male lions! They were just slowly walking and pretty far away, but amazing nonetheless. 

We had now seen 3 of the big 5. All that was left was a rhino and a leopard, and the leopards are extremely hard to find. The day was continuing and it was now 1. Everyone was very hungry, so we decided to speed things up to get to the restaurant. That plan was soon halted by another stopped vehicle where we saw our first rhinos. In the distance there were 2 white rhinos laying down. Tough to see, but the count was now up to 4 with only 1 left to go. We got to the restaurant and everyone ordered. I got the Kruger pizza, which was amazing. After everyone's bellies were full we came across a herd of zebra. It was the most zebra I've seen since I've been here. Some more elephants and other plains game were seen and then we ran into a huge traffic jam. Everyone was claiming to see a leopard. We all go extremely excited because we could then cross all of the big 5 off our list. After a lot of maneuvering and intense looking we finally saw spots in a large dense tree. It wasn't exactly the best view, but we did see him. Throughout the rest of the day a lot more zebra and other plains game were seen along with 7 other ground hornbills. Mandi said she had never seen that many ground hornbills before and one of the few time she had seen the big 5 in just one day. Just before we left I spotted a rhino. This one was much closer and I was able to snag some amazing photos and watch this giant graze through the brush. It was a great way to end the day at Kruger. I couldn't thank Mandi enough, but she said she enjoyed the day just as much as we did. Getting to see all those animals is impossible to describe, but it definitely made me realize once again just how amazing Africa is!