We headed out to a new area for Kudu. There was a particular spot where the farmers would dump oranges that didn’t quite make the cut for sale. Andri told us that Kudu would come from miles in the surrounding hills to feast on these oranges. It was about an hour the other side of Addo and we would stop for lunch along the way at the Overlook. What a beautiful place that was. The deck of the restaurant overlooked orange and pineapple fields that sat in the bottom of a beautiful valley. A small live creek ran through the bottom and never in a million years will I ever see somewhere half as beautiful as this place. We sat on the deck and soaked in the scenery as we ate lunch. The food was wonderful and we all had a good time giving Pierre hell over his liberal use of ketchup, or tomato sauce as it’s referred to in SA. I’ve never really liked ketchup but Pierre loved it. Every meal he had to have some food with his heaping pile of tomato sauce. I’m glad someone likes it but the ketchup companies of the world would go out of business if it were left up to my palate.
We had some time to kill before we needed to go to the kudu honey hole. We spent a little while at a local orange farm which we very much enjoyed. It was a picturesque place with some colonial buildings nestled into the ripe orange fields. I was just in awe of the beauty of this part of South Africa. I spent quite a bit of time just soaking in the scenery and trying to eat up every last second of our time there. The place was abuzz with workers doing various tasks and the rest of the world seemed to melt away. This was another moment I felt blessed just to be standing where I was. The time to leave came too soon but after all, my son had a date with a kudu. We hopped back into the bakkie and about an hour later we pulled into another ranch just in time to meet the land owner. He was a very nice man and gave us some tips on where we may find a few kudu hanging out until it was time to set up over the oranges. We struck out and my son had his game face on. He is a very easy going and laid back kid but he takes his hunting and shooting very seriously. I could tell there would be a kudu bull in real trouble if it wasn’t careful. We drove to a very thick part of the ranch and saw some kudu almost immediately. In addition we saw a genet which to my understanding is quite rare to get to see. I took it as a good omen. We saw several kudu bulls and a few cows as well as various other plains game. Again Andri said we could do better and that he has seen a great bull with beautiful ivory tips that had been coming into the oranges. We drove around looking at the various sights until it was time to head over to the kudu blind. From the sounds of it a homemade brushed in ground blind had been made about 100 yards of the orange pile. It sounded a bit crowded for four of us to squeeze into so I decided to stay back at the bakkie and let Andri, Pierre, and my son head out without me. I didn’t want to have any unnecessary challenges for him and miss a chance at a big kudu as we were starting to get down to the wire on time. Besides, it would all be on film so I would get to enjoy the experience with him later. We parked the bakkie about ¾ of a mile away and the three of them set out. I took a nap while the girls and trackers visited. With plenty of light left one of Andri’s trackers hopped in the truck and said lets go get them. Andri had gotten ahold of him via a handheld radio and early reports indicated a big kudu was down. I was soooo happy. When we arrived my son was grinning ear to ear and pointing at blood spattered oranges. He said they had been simply covered in kudu. Apparently they were waiting on a big bull to come in from the top of the hill when another bigger bull slipped in right under their nose undetected. He seemed to have come out of nowhere and with another very well placed shot bucked and tore off into the bushes. The blood trail was heavy and short. Not 50 yards into the bush was my son’s kudu piled up dead. He handed me the rifle and walked over. When he kneeled down and put his hands on that bull I knew exactly what he was feeling. I could tell by the look in his eyes it was the best moment of his life. A hard earned kudu to end the trip of a lifetime. He ran his hands up the spirals of the animal’s horns and thumbed the clean ivory tips. A life lesson about hard work and perseverance was learned that evening that I think will stick with him the rest of his life.
Gizmo Jr was still struck speechless when it was time for the camera interview but his reaction and the look on his face speaks volumes.
After the pictures and filming were finished we headed off to the skinning facility. Some celebratory cold beers were had and we visited with the land owner while the kudu was being tended to. It had come down to the last evening of the last hunting day in Africa but a fine kudu was in the salt. Tomorrow we had planned to visit Addo park but were unfortunately rained out. We had two days at the end of the trip we wanted to spend in Port Elizabeth for some shopping and checking out the beach. We stayed at the Broadway resort which was fantastic. We shopped, went bowling, and hung out at the beach collecting sea shells. It was a perfect ending to a wonderful trip.
I will forever be grateful for what Andri did for us. He put on the trip of a lifetime and I can’t thank him enough. I will most definitely be back to hunt with him again and would highly recommend him to anyone that wants a safari of a lifetime. He not only delivered but far surpassed my wildest dreams in every area. One thing that was most striking was that for the year leading up to the hunt he took the time to listen and make mental notes about what we really wanted out of our trip. This type of personalized service is rare these days and he absolutely knocked it out of the park. Should any of you wish to check out what he has to offer his website is
www.andrifoxsafaris.com. I will be more than happy to give you his contact info should someone wish to contact him. I hope you enjoyed my report and God bless, Erik
