SOUTH AFRICA: Canadians Hunting With Adansonia Safaris

[Backcountryj.laf]

As I write this I’m tying on my iPhone in the air from South Africa back to North America so please forgive any poor typing or bad grammar I’ll try my best.

Africa has been a dream of mine since before I was a hunter. As a little kid I dreamed about the animals, as I grew up I fell in love with the outdoors and with hunting. I’ve been hunting with my dad since I was a kid but never thought Africa would be in my budget.

About two years ago my wife and I were talking about the things on our bucket lists and she suggested I go to Africa, she has some very sever food allergies so we didn’t think it would be safe for her to go. As I started digging into my trip I figured out that both the budget and food allergies weren’t nearly as much of a problem as I originally expected and my African Safari turned into a month long vacation for the whole family.

One thing I figured out quickly was that it’s tough to make a bad choice choosing an outfitter, rather it was a matter of trying to choose between what seemed like endless good options. There was defiantly some consideration about what animals I wanted to hunt and how I wanted to hunt them, how large the areas were ect but I honestly feel I could have chosen 15 different outfitters that I would have been happy with. In the end choosing an outfitter came down to word of mouth from people that I knew. Mof and Adansonia had supported our local SCI club and everyone I had talked to that hunted with him had nothing but good things to say.

We arrived in South Africa the evening of August 3rd and were greeted by a young PH named Ivan who would soon become a part of our family. One thing about the people in South Africa they are incredibly polite and the service is next level. It was dark when we exited the airport and we had a few hours drive to get to the lodge. Everyone was exhausted when we arrived. Our bags were carried to our rooms which were simple and quaint with very nice bathroom and shower facilities. It didn’t take long for us to fall asleep.

The next morning everyone slept in until about 9:00. The lodge and its staff had a very welcome feel ass if you were at your grandmothers house who lived out of town

. Breakfast was set up in the dining hall every morning. It was simple but hit the spot and coffee was always on. We woke up and sighted in the rifles we would be borrowing. A Winchester model 70 in 375 h and h shooting 300 grain barns tsx topped with a Leupold 2-6x and an older ruger in 308 for my son. Both shot very well. We had lunch which was prepared by an amazing chef named Lani (also my wife’s name by complete coincidence) the food was amazing. Every meal was amazing it was simple soul food but done to perfection and every meal was done with the care and though necessary to keep my wife safe from her food allergies.

Ok to the hunting part!!! There were three animals I really didn’t want to come home from africa with; Gemsbuck, Sable, and Kudu I knew I would take others but those were the three. I also didn’t want to hunt from a truck and I made that very clear to my Ph so the plan was to spot animals or their fresh tracks and then wear out our boots. We left the lodge that day at about 1:30. We saw a tonne of widlabeast, impala, some Buffalo and finally caught a glimpse of a Gemsbuck that left us like a freight train as soon as we spotted him. I jumped out of the truck and we started our chase. We didn’t even see him again for an hour. The thorns in Africa are something else and I have a new least favourite plant, the blackthron. I had no idea where I was at this point But Ivan seemed to have a hunch that we might be able to get to an opening without bumping him if we went a certain way. By now a few hours had gone by. I don’t know if I just had a horshoe up my rear end or these guys were that good but we finally caught another glimpse of him at just under 200 yards. I shoot a lot, and I mean I both shoot and practice a lot 500-1000 rounds a month but a 200 yard shot off sticks with a rifle I’d never shot at a moving target was not what I had planned for my first African animal. When he came to the opening my ph said that this was as good a Gemsbuck as we were going to find in this area and told me to shoot if I felt comfortable as we likely weren’t going to get a better opportunity. As he cleared the bush and came into a little opening trotting slowly away I squeezed (I use that term loosly) and made a marginal yet lucky shot. I hit about 8 inches back and high but got lucky enough to break spine and my first animal in Africa was on the ground. I couldn’t be happier. It ended up being a 39” cow but she’s going to look good on the wall either way.

We took photos and headed to the skinning shed. A great first day in Africa. Did I mention it was my 15th wedding anniversary. Damn I love my wife.

I’ll continue with day 2 shortly.

 

[Doug3006]

Great start! A family hunt sounds like a lot of fun. That’s a really nice Gemsbok. Keep it coming.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

Day 2: We woke up early with plans of my dad and son getting on the board. My son is 11 and this would be his first big game hunt. Dad isn’t a super avid hunter but has come with me yearly since I married his daughter and harvest game most years. The plan for my son was to take the first mature cost reasonable animal that we could get into a high percentage opportunity for him. Dad had three goals; a wildabeast, a warthog and “something big and horney”

We ran into some golden wildabeast in the morning but they were a little out of of our price range for a first animal. Shortly there after we ram into a heard of blesbuck which had a few nice rams. The chase was on. Ivan our ph was next level awsoem with my son! We stalked those rams for an hour and a half to get into the perfect position, working our way into 60 yrds. The animal dropped in its tracks and the smile that sounds stop began.

. As a dad I was incredibly proud to have watched my son take his first big game animal but more than that I was thrilled at how patient he was to wait for the right shot.

It was still reasonably early so we headed back to the truck. This isn’t really my story to share but long and short dad took a beautiful black wildabeast before lunch.

We had another fantastic lunch and then headed out for the afternoon to look for an impala for my son. Turns out we rant into some sable. After talking to people I expected my sable hunt to be kind of easy but I didn’t care because I wanted one lol. Turns out it was nothing of the sort. The sable here seemed to love these ten foot tall reeds that grew along the river and it was nearly impossible to get a shot. We tracked them for the rest of the evening with now luck and put on about 27000 steps that day.

Another amazing supper which I think was cooked on the Bria that night and I was off to bed.

 

[buck wild]

I hunted with Mof in 2007 and 2009. Nice report going.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

Day 3: Our goal for the day was sable. We headed out for the morning allong the river where we knew they were living. As soon as we got there we started walking. Peter, our tracker who was nothing short of incredible, couldn’t find any fresh tracks on our side of the river so we decided to head to the other side. We got stuck lol.

While arrangements were made to get the truck out my wife, Ivan and I headed across the river. We walked a few miles and finally came across fresh tracks. We followed them down into the infamous reeds where they disappeared. I felt like I was elk hunting back home slowly creeping through the bush and sonstanly glassing ahead of me. After an hour or so we located 4 sable, but they were on the other side of the river. Two were smaller, one was very nice and red,apparently it happens when they are sterile, and last was the nicest of them all. The sable had no idea we were there but we just couldn’t get a shot through the reeds. We would lose them for a few minutes then they would show up again. Finally we located the large one in the trees above the reeds but couldn’t get into a position for a clean shot. I ended up having to climb out of the river bed to gain some elevation and find a small clearing in the trees to shoot from. This was my view of the animal at 137 yards.

eventually I had a window I was happy with and I told Ivan I was really confident in the shot.

The trigger squeeze felt perfect and there was a destinct thud that I had made a hit. It felt perfect but the following hour was about as stressful as I can remember, this was the most expensive animal on my list and I couldn’t afford to shoot a second. We walked back to the truck, which we were happy to find out of the river, and drove to where we thought we had shot from. We had left a marker on the opposite bank. The sable lie there dead about 30 yards from the shot. Perfect shot placement this time. I wanted a sable over 40” and got one that measured over 43. This may have been the happiest I’ve ever been after a hunt ended. I remember hugging my wife and lifting her off th ground.

We had another fantastic lunch, a siesta and then went off hunting for my sons impala again or whatever else we might stumble across. Two days of hunting and I had 2/3 animals on my must have lost.

We headed to a different property that supposedly had a lot of impala but we had some bad luck. When Emmitt shot his blesbuck the bolt on the rifle jammed and we count get it open to save our lives. We shot a different rifle and headed out with a different 308 for the afternoon. We ended up making a great stalk on an impala but Emmitt missed the shot low. We still don’t know if it was rifle or shooter but this second rifle caused us some grief and a lack of confidence, Emmitt has practiced a lot and he’s a great shot. I watched his trigger squeeze and it looked good but either way a clean miss. We ended up coming across a heard of springbuck and made a play. They busted before I could get a shot that I wanted but I was feeling pretty good and managed to make a perfect running shot on a decent one.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

The next day we went to Victoria falls for a few days. Dad has a goal to see the 7 wonders of the world and I think the only one he has left now is Everest.

Mof arranged for us to travel with his friend Ron Haywood who runs African Adventures. Amazing man and ram everything flawless. We spent the next few days doing river cruises on the zambiezie, catching tiger fish, riding elephants and checking out the falls. I highly reccomend this if you get the chance.

The falls are amazing and if you get a chance to stop at the lookout cafe do it. Food was decent but the view was like nothing I’ve ever seen at a restaraunt.

. Dinner at the boma was also pretty cool.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Safe travels home Jason.

 

[slam8031]

Great story Jason! Safe travels!!

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

Back to more hunting. We returned to Adansonia and the next day decided to focus on Kudu. We travelled to a different property today near the Botswana border so we were up early and lunches were packed.

I had been thinking about taking a zebra since before I left but wasn’t sure what to do with one. I had heard that they were a fun hunt. As we arrived at first light there was a large heard of eland grazing and a few giraffes not long after. As we came into the open field we spotted 4 or 5 zebras in a wide open field. They were about half a mile away but there was some bush on the back side of them. We decided to make a stalk and worked all the way around the other side of the heard. We used the cover and got into about 160 yards when we ran out of cover. I was in a good position to shoot and made a clean shot quartering towards.

I wasn’t really prepared for what happened next. As I walked up to my zebra I felt pretty weird. I have trained and ridden horses my whole life and it was really strange walking up to a zebra. If I’m being really honest I didn’t like it very much. I was pleased with my hunt but I don’t think I’ll hunt zebra again.

We spent the rest of the day hunting kudu, we saw a tonne of them but they were either small or widely. Provide a shot. We must have seen 4-5 good shooters that day. With about 45 min of daylight left we decided to go check out the more open fields and sure enough we find a good shooter. We park the truck and start the stalk using a brush like for cover. We were just about to round the corner of the field where he was standing when two Franklin exploded from the bush and flew right over him. He couldn’t have been more than 100 yards away at that point but all I saw was a white tail as he blew out of the county. We were making a dejected walk back to the truck when we crossed a heard of eland and spooked them. The eland crashed Into the bush ahead and I’ll be damned if a great kudu bull didn’t squirt out the other side. Here I am standing in the middle of a field with very little cover and what turns out to be a 54” kudu just walks out in front of me. I used that terry loosly as he was standing at 208 yrds. I put the crosshairs on him and Squeezed and hit him hard. As he ran away I shot him again texas heart but it turned out my first shot was in the boiler room and he didn’t go 30 yards. What a crazy day.

Well that marked all three of the animals I was interested in off the list. Upon seeing my kudu dad decided that he had to have one so we had to make some plans to make that happen. The next day we designated to getting Emmitt an impala. But just couldn’t make it happen. Had tonnes of good stalks each day but we were trying to get a standing shot inside of 75 yards and just couldn’t get one clear.
Dad ended up shooting a decent wart hog that day.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

I had been staring at a lechwe mount in the dinning room since we arrived and inquired about the cost. Mof made me a good deal and we were headed for lechwe the next morning. Arrangements were made at a neighbouring lodge and we left around 7:00 with a goal of putting a nice lechwe down and hopefully finding an impala for my incredibly patient and determined son who was getting up with me every morning even when grandpa and mom weren’t lol.

We arrived and were introduced to our tracker for the day. This may have been the most impressive tracking display I’ve ever seen. We made a stalk on impala to start but couldn’t get close. Finally we found a good lechwe but it wouldn’t come out of the bush to show us how good he was. The tracker followed this thing for an hour before we got a good look at him and he was definitely a shooter. The lechwe however had no intention of being shot and burried himself back in the thick and nasty very quickly. It was very apparent this animal had a home territory as we tracked him in circles in about 2 square miles for 4 hours. I remember thinking numberous times that there was no way we were still on the same track and sure enough the lechwe would show up again never offering a shot. Finally he tried to cross through a small opening at a full run and I was able to get a shot off. I knew he had to come open for a few seconds and I was head down on the scope on 2 power waiting. As he appeared I swung and broke the trigger. To be honest I thought I didn’t lead enough but I I got both front shoulders heart and lungs and he was dead on the other side of the bush.

 

[Jettech]

Congrats on the trip! Your son and family will remember this forever!

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

The next day we went out to try and get dad a kudu. This wasn’t going to be the easiest task. He’s not great at quick or long shots and despite his age he’s a fairly new hunter. He had no intention of sitting in a blind so away we went. We found lots of kudu in the morning but none we could get a shot on that were good bulls. A group of three bulls ran into a piece of thick bush way out in front of us and Ivan decided they were going to try and make a stalk. I decided to take Emmitt and sit in a bling and see if we could get an impala. We sat and watched all sorts of birds and a young female bushbuck come in then it happens a nice ram and two yews were walking right at us. The wind was perfect all we needed him to do was take a few steps either way so we would clear the bush and get a shot. This however didn’t happen. The impala walked straight at us and stopped at maybe 4 yards. We could see his eyes but had no shot. I don’t know if the impala could see us, smell us, or feel our hearts beat but they turned around slowly and Walked out in the footprints they came in on slowly but never offering a shot.

neither of us could believe it but we laughed it off and shortly there after heard a gun shot.

Dad and Ivan had spent the last three hours staling in about 200 yards and ended up 20 yards from an ancient old bull that was starting to lose weight and had no teeth. Dad made a great shot and that was the end of the, “soemthing big and horny”.

 

[Waterbuck2008]

Great write-up. Thank you.

 

[Cbourg]

As I write this I’m tying on my iPhone in the air from South Africa back to North America so please forgive any poor typing or bad grammar I’ll try my best.

Africa has been a dream of mine since before I was a hunter. As a little kid I dreamed about the animals, as I grew up I fell in love with the outdoors and with hunting. I’ve been hunting with my dad since I was a kid but never thought Africa would be in my budget.

About two years ago my wife and I were talking about the things on our bucket lists and she suggested I go to Africa, she has some very sever food allergies so we didn’t think it would be safe for her to go. As I started digging into my trip I figured out that both the budget and food allergies weren’t nearly as much of a problem as I originally expected and my African Safari turned into a month long vacation for the whole family.

One thing I figured out quickly was that it’s tough to make a bad choice choosing an outfitter, rather it was a matter of trying to choose between what seemed like endless good options. There was defiantly some consideration about what animals I wanted to hunt and how I wanted to hunt them, how large the areas were ect but I honestly feel I could have chosen 15 different outfitters that I would have been happy with. In the end choosing an outfitter came down to word of mouth from people that I knew. Mof and Adansonia had supported our local SCI club and everyone I had talked to that hunted with him had nothing but good things to say.

We arrived in South Africa the evening of August 3rd and were greeted by a young PH named Ivan who would soon become a part of our family. One thing about the people in South Africa they are incredibly polite and the service is next level. It was dark when we exited the airport and we had a few hours drive to get to the lodge. Everyone was exhausted when we arrived. Our bags were carried to our rooms which were simple and quaint with very nice bathroom and shower facilities. It didn’t take long for us to fall asleep.

The next morning everyone slept in until about 9:00. The lodge and its staff had a very welcome feel ass if you were at your grandmothers house who lived out of townView attachment 484737View attachment 484739. Breakfast was set up in the dining hall every morning. It was simple but hit the spot and coffee was always on. We woke up and sighted in the rifles we would be borrowing. A Winchester model 70 in 375 h and h shooting 300 grain barns tsx topped with a Leupold 2-6x and an older ruger in 308 for my son. Both shot very well. We had lunch which was prepared by an amazing chef named Lani (also my wife’s name by complete coincidence) the food was amazing. Every meal was amazing it was simple soul food but done to perfection and every meal was done with the care and though necessary to keep my wife safe from her food allergies.

Ok to the hunting part!!! There were three animals I really didn’t want to come home from africa with; Gemsbuck, Sable, and Kudu I knew I would take others but those were the three. I also didn’t want to hunt from a truck and I made that very clear to my Ph so the plan was to spot animals or their fresh tracks and then wear out our boots. We left the lodge that day at about 1:30. We saw a tonne of widlabeast, impala, some Buffalo and finally caught a glimpse of a Gemsbuck that left us like a freight train as soon as we spotted him. I jumped out of the truck and we started our chase. We didn’t even see him again for an hour. The thorns in Africa are something else and I have a new least favourite plant, the blackthron. I had no idea where I was at this point But Ivan seemed to have a hunch that we might be able to get to an opening without bumping him if we went a certain way. By now a few hours had gone by. I don’t know if I just had a horshoe up my rear end or these guys were that good but we finally caught another glimpse of him at just under 200 yards. I shoot a lot, and I mean I both shoot and practice a lot 500-1000 rounds a month but a 200 yard shot off sticks with a rifle I’d never shot at a moving target was not what I had planned for my first African animal. When he came to the opening my ph said that this was as good a Gemsbuck as we were going to find in this area and told me to shoot if I felt comfortable as we likely weren’t going to get a better opportunity. As he cleared the bush and came into a little opening trotting slowly away I squeezed (I use that term loosly) and made a marginal yet lucky shot. I hit about 8 inches back and high but got lucky enough to break spine and my first animal in Africa was on the ground. I couldn’t be happier. It ended up being a 39” cow but she’s going to look good on the wall either way. View attachment 484742

We took photos and headed to the skinning shed. A great first day in Africa. Did I mention it was my 15th wedding anniversary. Damn I love my wife.

I’ll continue with day 2 shortly.

Happy anniversary! And what a great way to kick it off, congratulations on the great trophy.

 

[cls]

Congratulations all around, looks like you had a spectacular trip. Thanks for tge report.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

We spent the next 4 days at krueger national park which was nothing short of spectacular. More elephants than you could possibly count; lions within 10 feet, African wild dogs, honey badger, leopard we saw absolutely everything we could have imagined with the exception of a rhino.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

When we arrived back from krueger we had 4 days left to hunt and the only thing we really wanted to accomplish was to get my son an impala. For two days we walked miles and miles, we sat at water holes and every day saw hundreds of impala but just couldn’t seem to make it work out. I could tell Ivan was perplexed as to how this had been so difficult. I know that impala are typically not that difficult an animal to harvest if for no other reason than sheer population but we just couldn’t seem to get it right.

. The mature rams were either to far away, standing behind cover, standing in front of another animal… but we just couldn’t make it happen. It was at this point I started to really appreciate what was happening. Every day my 11 year old son woke up at 5 am to hunt. He walked 10’s of miles each day carrying his own rifle is a safe and attentive mannner. He communicated when he wasn’t comfortable with a shot, he turned down mediocre animals and he did it with a prowess that I don’t know many adults would show.

to say I was proud is an understatement but when Ivan said to me, “if my son turns out to be half the hunter that yours is I’ll be a proud man,” it made me tear up.

The following day Ivan and I needed a change, even though Emmitt didn’t seem phased at all. We deduced to go after Nyala on a property that had lots of impala and also so springbuck. Emmitt had expressed and interest in springbuck so we decided what the heck. As we went into the property we parked the truck and walked for an hour, we spooked a few zebra and saw a really nice lechwe. Finally we came into an opening where a half dozen spring buck were feeding and moved our way through the trees to get into shooting range. Although we we’re close we just couldn’t get a shot without spooking them. Onward and upward! Another hour went by and Ivan saw two springbuck feeding allong an opening a few hundred yards up. Emmitt and Ivan stalked in and I sat back to reduce the chances of making noise. I was able to watch the whole thing play out. Emmitt shot was just over 100 yards but it was the only shot they had and he must have decided he felt comfortable because he made a great shot on a nice ram.

.

We still hadn’t seen a nyala but we’re seeing lots of other game. Just before lunch Ivan and Mof, the owners who had joined us, motioned that we get down. A nyala was walking down a trail towards us. He was about 300 yards away when I first ranged him. Mof asked if I thought I could make the shot and I said I could if I could lay down. The Nyala slowly moved towards us and I laid down in the sand. The animal stopped at 274 yards and gave me a quartering towards look. Here is where I made a rookie mistake. My normal hunting rifles are a 7mm Remington mag shooting 168 grain accubond lr bullets or a 300 prc shooting 200 grain accubonds both over 3000 fps. I knew the ballistics of both of these rifles inside out both rifles were 6 inches low at that range. I held a little high on the shoulder and made a great trigger squeeze and clearly watched my bullet sail underneath the animal. Here’s where some magic and a little luck played out. The animal had no idea what just happened. The wind was howling pretty good and rather than run he did a 360 on the spot and gave me just enough time for another shot. My shooting practice really helped out next. I was able to reload and never take my eye out of the scope and so so in a matter of seconds. I adjusted my hold over and made a perfect shot. The animal scurried into the bush but was found very quickly less than 50 yards from the shot.

Still no impala but great day.

 

[Backcountryj.laf]

Todya was our final day to hunt. Ivan and Mof had arrnaged to hunt a property that was littered with impala. We again left early but there was a different feeling today. After having an amazing day yesterday everyone had a feeling of whatever happens happens. It took us a while to find some impala but we hen we did we found a bunch. Three different times we stalked inside of 60 yards but couldn’t get a clean shot. Twice we had clean shots on mediocre rams and twice Emmitt decided he wanted to take either a mature ram or no ram at all.

We hunted that whole day with many opportunities but couldn’t get a shot. With 20 minutes left in the day we went into a big open field and saw a bunch animals; eland, kudu, warthog, springbuck and yes impala. The first group of impala were on our left maybe 500 yards but no good rams. There was another group of rams ahead of us and two were very good.

Emmitt and Ivan crawled in on their hands and knees for 400 meters getting into about 150 yards. Emmitt got set up to shoot but nothing. I wanted to hear bang splat more than any time ever in my life but it didn’t happen. They got off the sticks and crawled in a different direction for another 50-60 yards again they set up to shoot, again no shot rang out. This time Ivan and Emmitt both stood up and hugged one another. I with I had taken a photo of that but the moment passed. Our hunt had ended. It turns out that the first time they set up to shoot both rams were lined up and there was no shot. The second time Emmitt couldn’t see the crosshairs clearly enough to feel comfortable. My emotions were a blend between pride and disappointment but Emmitt didn’t seemed phased and gave me a big hug.

Our time at Adansonia had come to a close but we had a few more days in Africa. The next morning we said our goodbyes and headed to sun city. What a great place.

Our last day in Africa we planned to head to the cradle of mankind but we were informed there was a protest there and it wouldn’t be open. Since we were already there we decided to arrange a game drive at Pilansburg and maybe see a rhino. Turns out we made a good decision we saw 15 of them including black and white rhino and got a few great photos.

. It seemed a very fitting way to end our trip.

We headed back to our room at kingdom resort, which was beautiful, packed our things and headed towards the airport. We stopped at a few stores, had a great lunch and made our way saying our final goodbyes to Ivan.

Our time at Adansonia was amazing and we will be back. If I can help any other families considering Africa in any way please let me know.

Jason LaFrance

 

[Nyati]

Congrats on your trip, seems like the whole family had a great time, and you even managed to take some nice trophies !

 

[Mark19707]

What a fantastic trip! I have hunted several times with Mom and crew. Always a great time and fantastic hunting