SOUTH AFRICA: Kuvhima Safaris Second Verse Good As The First!

[Bruinmaster]

We just returned from our second safari with kuvhima safaris. We posted a hunt report a couple years ago on AH depicting our first trip. We booked this trip shortly after returning Home from our last safari. We had some unfinished business left with a few animals and decided to return to Kuvhima to settle up.

Our travel to the lodge in Limpopo was long as always but mostly uneventful. The lodge is large and well equipped to handle all sizes of hunting parties.

The first animal on my list was to hunt a Cape Eland to finish off my spiral horn slam. The first morning we headed out to try and find some fresh tracks. I am not sure how many miles we covered but we never came across really fresh tracks . During our hunting we cleared off some sandy areas where we found older tracks in an attempt to check back later to see if any eland entered into a specific area. Kuvhima has over 50 thousand plus acres for the eland to roam so we were doing what we could to locate the big antelope. I was told that hunting mature eland Bulls is done very similar to buffalo hunting.

We hunted till dark on the first day without even a glimpse of an eland. The second day started much like the first looking in the same area as the day before for fresh tracks. It did not take long when we found a single set of eland tracks where we had cleared an area in the sand. Our tracker Adam immediately got to work following the tracks which is amazing to watch and the hunt was on. After two and a half hours of continual walking and some amazing tracking we pushed a lone bull from some thick cover. He bolted and I thought my chances at that bull was finished. We slowed everything down to a slow stalk and an hour later I got my opportunity. One round from a well placed .375h&h bullet sealed the deal. Not the largest eland in the world but a very nice mature bull with a beautiful color, a nice tuft of hair on it's head a very large Dulap under his neck and horns that were worn and cracked from years of surviving in the bush. I was very pleased with all of the effort put into this hunt and the outcome was a trophy of a lifetime for me.

The next adventure was actually making a road through the bush to get the big old bull out and back to camp.

All of the hard work makes you appreciate all that goes in to making a hunt successfull from start to finish.

When we returned to camp I come to find my buddy who had been hunting for a good kudu was able to connect on a nice vervet monkey when an opportunity presented itself.

We had an amazing meal that night a few cold beers and rested by the fire and prepared for the next day's adventure. ............to be continued.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the eland! Look forward to more

 

[Bruinmaster]

The next morning we decided to hunt for a kudu and a nice zebra for my buddy Shane so we went to a new blind that the ph set up just days before at a watering hole due to multiple tracks from both species being found there. The pop up blind was hid so well in the bush surrounding the blind that we were asked by the ph to find it and it actually took a few minutes to locate it. It was extremely well hidden. We were prepared to hunt in the blind all day as we had packed lunches and a cooler full of water and pop to keep us hydrated. Shortly after daybreak a large group of eland cows and calves came into the water to drink. Another hour later a nice group of zebra came into the waterhole and a large stallion was in the group and he towered over all the other zebra. The ph gave Shane the green light and Shane placed the bullet perfectly. The zebra ran a short distance into the bush leaving a a blood trail even the least experienced hunter could follow. After clearing a small road to get to the zebra we took some quick photos and loaded the zebra and headed to the skinning shed. This was a four safari quest for Shane who had not been able to get a zebra on his prior three occasions. He was very pleased and for him any other animal from that point forward on this safari was icing on the cake.

 

[billc]

Great report so far and what a start to your safari. Beautiful animals you have both taken so far.

 

[Bruinmaster]

Day four I decided I wanted to relax and sit mid afternoon on a watering hole and see what came in. The bush was very thick and green and hunting was hard when trying to spot and stalk so I thought sitting by a water hole would produce something good. A short time after one in the afternoon a good warthog came in and I could not resist myself so I took careful aim and dropped the warthog in his tracks. After photos we got back into the blind and to my amazement an absolute giant warthog came into the same spot as I shot mine. I made the mistake of briefly thinking about my safari budget for a second to long and the warthog disappeared as quickly as he appeared. Truly a missed opportunity but I was pleased with the warthog that I got. View attachment 186755

 

[Bruinmaster]

The next few days Shane and his ph Jean-lu hunted hard for a good kudu bull and I spent my time hunting one of the animals that eluded me during my first three safaris. I have come to respect the cleverness of the baboons I have hunted over my past safaris and I was determined to make it happen on this safari and I was dedicated to solely hunt them for days on end if I had to. Well over the three days Shane was hunting his kudu I went on a baboon hunting spree and was able to get three of these critters and redeem myself from several missed opportunities of past safaris. Although many might not agree I find these animals to be one of the coolest animals I have ever targeted to hunt in Africa this far in my safari career.

 

[Bruinmaster]

Shane had spent many days looking for a good kudu bull. He had a chance at a very nice bull one evening when the bull went sprinting in front of the truck at high speed and Shane missed the shot by inches and the bull disappeared unharmed. Shane decided to give the kudu a rest and he went after other animals on his list. He connected on a large warthog one evening while he was hunting his Kudu.We went to another concession one morning to look for a nice Blesbok for Shane as he had not yet had one of these trophies. We came upon a small herd around mid morning and he placed the bullet properly making for a short blood trail and a happy hunter! After some quick trophy prep and photos we were headed back to base camp with one more trophy in the salt.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Great success thus far.

 

[Bruinmaster]

Our time at the main camp came to an end to soon. We came back specifically to get certain animals that have eluded us. But with every animal that we got scratched off the list a new one went on the list. Funny how that happens.

For our last day We were off to see Kuvhima's bird hunting destination which was about an hour outside of Johannesburg. That's convenient as we were able to hunt for a half day on our day of departure from the joburg airport. We arrived at the bird hunting lodge late on the day before our departure but the ph said we had time to do some pigeon hunting for an hour or so before dark so we jumped at the chance. Not knowing what to expect that late in the afternoon were we ever surprised to see thousands of birds flying through the crop fields we were preparing to hunt. We by no means consider ourselves bird hunters and our shooting at these small speedy birds proved it but In one hour of shooting we were able to shoot over 80 birds between the two of us. We probably shot and missed three to four times that LOL. It was one of the best times I have ever had shooting and it only lasted an hour. The rewarding part of it all is we donated all of the pigeons to a bunch of local village children who showed asking to retrieve the birds With the hope of us giving them a few birds to help feed their families. It made us proud to help them out and they deserved them.

On the last morning of our stay the ph took us out for a morning duck hunt at one of their concessions. We were unable to do a full fledged hunt with decoys etc due to the fact that the person with the decoys became sick and did not show and the season was not even in full swing yet. When we arrived at the lake it was actually 30 degrees Fahrenheit.something we were not prepared for. Although we only hunted for a few hours we were able to get a few birds to hit the water and we missed several more. Better shooting would have produced many more birds. When mid morning hit and no ducks were coming in we left the lake and headed back for a quick pigeon hunt to top our safari before heading back to the lodge to get ready for our flight home.

This was our fourth trip to Africa and the second one with Kuvhima safaris. The guides were great the food was outstanding and it was another fantastic trip. I can say that the second verse was as good as the first.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for the hunt, nice trophies !

 

[Ridgewalker]

Fine report! Sounds like a great time with such a mixed bag of trophies and birds. Thanks for sharing!

 

[cagkt3]

Very cool stuff! Thank you sir

 

[enysse]

I'm jealous of all this good warthog hunting you got in on this trip, congrats!

 

[rinehart0050]

Sounds like another great hunt! Thanks for sharing and congrats

 

[cls]

Great report, congrats on some fine trophies.