I just returned from a fantastic DG hunt in South Africa with Mattanja Hunting Safaris and owner/PH Dieter Prinsloo who is active on this forum (posts here under his business name). In fact, I met him through the AH forums and we had some great conversations on WhatsApp. In all of that, I got comfortable with his personality and hunger and drive to continue growing his business. For me, chemistry between PH and hunter is very important. I can be successful without it BUT life is short and these hunts should be enjoyable without a lot of stress or personality issues. I knew we would have a good time regardless of the shooting opportunities and that truly was the case. I feel we have started a great friendship that will lead to more experiences together and I also look forward to helping host his first trip to the US during the next show season.
Dieter has access to a number of good areas and we bounced some ideas around, going back and forth a bit to make a plan. We settled on a primary goal of buffalo and secondary goals of croc and honey badger (both require advance paperwork/permits to be filed in South Africa). I really enjoyed the dialogue as we talked about different hunt goals and I would say this is something that really set Dieter apart to me from the beginning. He was very patient to consider different options with me. I never felt any pressure from him in these discussions.
I flew from Dallas to Istanbul to Jo’burg on Turkish Air using the great travel agent Darren Gin at Travel Express (sponsors here). As my flights were not booked well in advance, I ended up taking the longer route from Dallas to Istanbul to Jo’burg. The longer flights were about 10-13 hours each depending on which direction you are flying. Then I made a short hop on Air Link for the 40 minute flight to Polokwane. From there, we had a 2.5 hour drive to camp.
A few thoughts on Istanbul Airport and Turkish Air…I had some medium length layovers of 5-8 hours so there wasn’t time to leave the airport, which is about 50km outside of town. In light of that, I used and would recommend the Yotel hotel rooms on the airside of Istanbul Airport. That’s a good place to get a private room to sleep and shower, which makes a world of difference on these longer trips with layovers. The minimum stay at Yotel is 4 hours and that’s around $150 Euros. They do offer unlimited food/beverage at Yotel in their lounge area for around $45 Euros but I did not use that service. Yotel is in the Duty free area on the International side and there is a food court close by that has Subway, Popeyes Chicken, Sbarro Pizza, Carl’s Jr, etc.
One mistake that I made in Istanbul was in not researching the drinking water issue. I barely used the tap water in the Yotel private room to brush my teeth and take a pill but that was enough to give me stomach issues for a day. Afterwards, I learned that the Istanbul locals do not like using tap water and the local government is on a campaign to convince locals to use the water. That is exactly what you do NOT want to find out when getting onto another 10 hour flight!
Yotel room layout...by the way, if you want to try the local pizza with corn as a topping...I recommend you pass on it.
One interesting thing about Turkish Air is that at the Istanbul Airport, you will also have a security screening at the gate, which is 3-4 security checks one after the other. You just walk a few feet and do another process and another, etc. They seem to take security seriously!
I used Rifle Permits (sponsor here) and that was a great service. They knew all the airport personalities and maneuvered me through the Jo’burg paperwork hoops. I would not want to do it without them. I met a hunter who did not use them and he was very frustrated. I highly recommend their services, both coming and going.
Upon arriving at camp, we got settled after dark with the nice meet/greet and appetizers around the mopane campfire. There’s something about that kind of campfire that is just Africa! I could hear hippos honking in the dark down at the dam below the lodge. I was finally back in Africa!
I want to highlight the food at this lodge. The African lady chef was a real chef not just a cook. Every night was a fantastic spread of great steaks from eland, sable, kudu, etc with a number of very nice sides and salads and fresh fruit and desserts. I laugh because the PHs here say it’s hard to keep the weight off because the food is so good. It’s one of those places you could actually gain weight during your hunt. Lunches were not recycled leftovers (but I would have been thrilled to eat those steaks the next day). Breakfasts were full English style breakfasts. Honestly, it’s the best food I’ve ever had on a hunt anywhere. It was a real highlight and I will miss the food!
The private cottages were very comfortable with rain head showers and lots of room to spread your stuff out to get organized. The lodge is situated above the river and dam that has hippos and more crocs than I’ve seen anywhere else. A lot of PHs come here to get their client a good croc and I was told there are at least 300-400 crocs just below the lodge. They were everywhere. It was also nice to have a lot of bushbuck and nyala around the lodge and cottages. It was common to have small groups feeding around your cottage on a regular basis.
I will post much more about the hunt soon…
Dieter has access to a number of good areas and we bounced some ideas around, going back and forth a bit to make a plan. We settled on a primary goal of buffalo and secondary goals of croc and honey badger (both require advance paperwork/permits to be filed in South Africa). I really enjoyed the dialogue as we talked about different hunt goals and I would say this is something that really set Dieter apart to me from the beginning. He was very patient to consider different options with me. I never felt any pressure from him in these discussions.
I flew from Dallas to Istanbul to Jo’burg on Turkish Air using the great travel agent Darren Gin at Travel Express (sponsors here). As my flights were not booked well in advance, I ended up taking the longer route from Dallas to Istanbul to Jo’burg. The longer flights were about 10-13 hours each depending on which direction you are flying. Then I made a short hop on Air Link for the 40 minute flight to Polokwane. From there, we had a 2.5 hour drive to camp.
A few thoughts on Istanbul Airport and Turkish Air…I had some medium length layovers of 5-8 hours so there wasn’t time to leave the airport, which is about 50km outside of town. In light of that, I used and would recommend the Yotel hotel rooms on the airside of Istanbul Airport. That’s a good place to get a private room to sleep and shower, which makes a world of difference on these longer trips with layovers. The minimum stay at Yotel is 4 hours and that’s around $150 Euros. They do offer unlimited food/beverage at Yotel in their lounge area for around $45 Euros but I did not use that service. Yotel is in the Duty free area on the International side and there is a food court close by that has Subway, Popeyes Chicken, Sbarro Pizza, Carl’s Jr, etc.
One mistake that I made in Istanbul was in not researching the drinking water issue. I barely used the tap water in the Yotel private room to brush my teeth and take a pill but that was enough to give me stomach issues for a day. Afterwards, I learned that the Istanbul locals do not like using tap water and the local government is on a campaign to convince locals to use the water. That is exactly what you do NOT want to find out when getting onto another 10 hour flight!
Yotel room layout...by the way, if you want to try the local pizza with corn as a topping...I recommend you pass on it.
One interesting thing about Turkish Air is that at the Istanbul Airport, you will also have a security screening at the gate, which is 3-4 security checks one after the other. You just walk a few feet and do another process and another, etc. They seem to take security seriously!
I used Rifle Permits (sponsor here) and that was a great service. They knew all the airport personalities and maneuvered me through the Jo’burg paperwork hoops. I would not want to do it without them. I met a hunter who did not use them and he was very frustrated. I highly recommend their services, both coming and going.
Upon arriving at camp, we got settled after dark with the nice meet/greet and appetizers around the mopane campfire. There’s something about that kind of campfire that is just Africa! I could hear hippos honking in the dark down at the dam below the lodge. I was finally back in Africa!
I want to highlight the food at this lodge. The African lady chef was a real chef not just a cook. Every night was a fantastic spread of great steaks from eland, sable, kudu, etc with a number of very nice sides and salads and fresh fruit and desserts. I laugh because the PHs here say it’s hard to keep the weight off because the food is so good. It’s one of those places you could actually gain weight during your hunt. Lunches were not recycled leftovers (but I would have been thrilled to eat those steaks the next day). Breakfasts were full English style breakfasts. Honestly, it’s the best food I’ve ever had on a hunt anywhere. It was a real highlight and I will miss the food!
The private cottages were very comfortable with rain head showers and lots of room to spread your stuff out to get organized. The lodge is situated above the river and dam that has hippos and more crocs than I’ve seen anywhere else. A lot of PHs come here to get their client a good croc and I was told there are at least 300-400 crocs just below the lodge. They were everywhere. It was also nice to have a lot of bushbuck and nyala around the lodge and cottages. It was common to have small groups feeding around your cottage on a regular basis.
I will post much more about the hunt soon…
