SOUTH AFRICA: My first Time In Africa With MORETLA SAFARIS

[R.M.C.]

I just returned from a twelve day plains game hunt with @MORETLA SAFARIS in Limpopo. This was my first hunt in Africa so I had no idea what to expect but it was spectacular. The sixteen hour plane rides sucked but I think we all know that lol. The travel was the only thing that wasn't perfect really, I enjoyed every other moment of the trip.
I brought one rifle for the job, a Tikka T3 Lite Stainless in 30.06 with a Leupold 3.5- 10 x 50mm on top. For ammo I chose factory Federal Trophy Bonded Tips in 180 grain. They performed flawlessly. I also brought along my 4 Stable Sticks, a kind of quad stick that is amazing at fighting off adrenaline during shots at once in a lifetime animals. I did however use the PHs 30.06 with a can installed for the bush pig hunt to keep things quiet. That was a beautiful Musgrave with very nice wood and a straight 4x Lynx scope.
The menu included impala, wart hog, zebra, baboon, blue wildebeest, and bush pig, with add ons being blesbok, ostrich, monkey, and jackal if we ran into one.
I should have taken more notes on the day to day stuff but I will try to tell everything in the order it took place.
Day one was nothing short of amazing, checked the zero on my rifle and the PH Tyron's rifle, both were good to go. Took a drive through the concession and dismounted to stalk to a water hole a couple hundred yards away. Quickly spotted a group of impala with a worn down old male just50 yards away, totally unaware of our presence. Tyron put the quad sticks up and after about five lifetimes, the impala finally turned broadside and I mashed the trigger. The ram went right down but I knew the shot was high, near the spine. He was beginning to get back up when I put the insurance round through the shoulders. I was in Africa less than 24 hours and I had an animal in the salt!! I couldn't have been happier. Well, until we went to a different concession about 45 minutes away to hunt bush pig. This place was very thick compared to most of the concession we hunted the impala on, but judging by the three bush pigs and couple of wart hogs feeding on the bait pile when we arrived in broad daylight, I had come to the right place. We let the hogs and pigs scurry off while we settled into a brush blind 80 yards from the bait with a regular tripod set up at sitting height. I was to use Tyron's 30.06 because it was quieter than mine and the bait was being used regularly by genet, serval, and porcupine. The sun was getting low when a bush pig started popping in and out of the cover and finally settled down right at dark , giving me a good broadside shot. The PH Jan whispered "take him on the shoulder" , and I did. The sound of the bullet smacking that pig is probably still echoing from the Waterberg mountains today. At least I hope it is because it was a beautiful sound. No need for red lights or the thermal scope on the other rifle, we had our bush pig in daylight. Very faint daylight but I could see decent through the scope. For me I think I had sensory overload, I couldn't believe I was there, hunting animals I'd dreamt about for decades. I was oddly calm when the crosshairs settled on shoulders of the exotic animals I hunted. It was an amazing day, maybe the greatest day of hunting I've ever experienced. But I still had nine days to go, and a list of animals to find.
I will have to do this in installments, thanks for everyone's help and encouragement the last two years!! Photos are on the way, if I'm smart enough to post them haha.

 

[R.M.C.]

 

[R.M.C.]

 

[R.M.C.]

Day two: After coffee and a short drive, we were at another concession looking for wart hogs, blesbok, zebra, and baboon and monkey. This concession was very open with just the occasional tree to break things up. That was fine with me, we quickly got within a hundred yards or so from a big stallion zebra. He stood still just long enough for me to aim and fire at his shoulder. At the shot, he spun around and started running from right to left but made it maybe 30 yards before bullet number 2 hit him a few inches further back than the first one. He went in a heap immediately. One bullet, I believe it was the second shot, passed straight through but we were able to recover the first. It was a little beat up but stayed in one piece, despite the heavy bone. I was ecstatic about the big zebra, and I was glad to kill him without a lengthy blood trail or anything after reading how tough they can be when not hit perfectly. My PH said "only thing faster than a zebra on 4 legs is a zebra on 3 legs" .

With the zebra loaded onto a low steel cart and dropped in the shade, we took a ride to a different part of the farm to look for wart hogs. We stopped to stalk to a place that I was told held wart hogs sometimes but shortly after leaving the truck, a very large buffalo appeared 30 or 40 yards ahead of us and prompted our swift return to the truck. We drove a bit further and stalked but didn't find any wart hogs. As we drove along the Crocodile River, we spotted a group of monkeys running across the trail , with a big male in the rear of the pack. I had a perfect rest on the high rack and sent the bullet as soon as the truck stopped totally. There was some high grass that concealed the monkey but he was laying there, basically gutted with no other visible damage. With two more animals in the salt, I was feeling pretty damn good about this whole safari stuff and couldn't wait to get up and do it again!

 

[R.M.C.]

 

[R.M.C.]

 

[R.M.C.]

 

[BLJC30]

Very nice! Congrats and keep the story coming!

 

[R.M.C.]

Day 3: We spent the day searching for blue wildebeest to no avail but saw hundreds of game animals, sable, golden wildebeest, impala, giraffe, small wart hogs, steenbuck, kudu, you name it, we probably saw it lol. When we came back to camp, which was a beautiful thatched roof/ tent sided affair, I noticed a decent sized hole straight through the roof in my chalet. Maybe 4 inches wide and 10 inches long, it was close to the peak . There was grass from the roof on the floor but nothing unusual other than that. The owner said it may be a monitor lizard, they had killed one a month before in the chalet the PHs slept in. More on that later.

 

[R.M.C.]

Very nice! Congrats and keep the story coming!

Thank you!!! I'll try not to leave anything out lol

 

[R.M.C.]

Day 4: Another gorgeous sunrise in Africa, and we were off to a new concession about a half hour away. Our objective was to find a large male ostrich, and look hard for a wart hog and baboon too. We spotted a few wart hogs but couldn't seal the deal. It was awesome anyway, driving along the river we saw crocodiles lazily hanging around on sand bars and swimming in the water. Then we spotted a big black male ostrich so the sticks went up and I got ready, waiting for the bird to stop running and hold still. He obliged, about 175 yards from us. I sent the bullet but knew I pulled the shot a bit higher than I wanted it and the giant bird ran into the bush. We looked around for blood and we found what looked like some, and a very little bit of soft feather. After an hour or so of looking, Tyron and I returned to the truck and got a drink. We weren't there long before we realized the big bird was in the trail about 300 yards from us! He had circled around and was now exiting the stage into the bush near an airstrip. We crept up to the last place we saw him but he wss not there. We went back to our original position, betting that he wasn't hurt bad and may return. It wasn't ten minutes later when the hawk eyed tracker said "he's coming back". I was staring at the same spot he was but I saw absolutely no movement. Even with my scope cranked up to 10x, I never saw the ostrich until it stepped into view about 5 seconds later. Once he got in the middle of the trail, the bird could see our group and started running straight away, a definite mistake on his part because I sent two bullets into his rear end before he zig zagged into the bush and crashed. What a giant bird!! Everything was huge on that thing, the feet, the head, the drumsticks!! Another amazing day, and I'm glad the ostrich worked out, I was worried after the first errant shot.

 

[R.M.C.]

 

[Jaegger]

@R.M.C. … enjoyable to read & see you maximizing your 1st African Safari w/ a variety of hunt opportunities & trophies! Good stuff … congrats!

Happy Trails

 

[R.M.C.]

@R.M.C. … enjoyable to read & see you maximizing your 1st African Safari w/ a variety of hunt opportunities & trophies! Good stuff … congrats!

Happy Trails

Thank you very much!!

 

[BnC 04]

@R.M.C.
Outstanding start, keep it rolling. Congrats on the animals thus far.

 

[buck wild]

Moretla’s has always interested me. Good to see you had a fabulous time. Wicked bushpig for sure.

 

[R.M.C.]

@R.M.C.
Outstanding start, keep it rolling. Congrats on the animals thus far.

Thanks for reading!!

 

[R.M.C.]

Moretla’s has always interested me. Good to see you had a fabulous time. Wicked bushpig for sure.

As far as I can tell, Moretla is an outstanding husband and wife team, thanks!!

 

[R.M.C.]

Day 5: We spent the morning in a little brick and mortar structure situated next to some water and corn silage looking for a good wart hog. We saw a couple small hogs scurrying around early but none came into view of the little ground level shooting windows. Just about every other species came in though, sable, eland, oryx, ect.
On our way back to camp for lunch, we passed by the farm we got the monkey and zebra from and decided to have a quick look for a decent blesbok. The farm is fairly open and we spotted a couple blesbok and a bunch of impala. After a quick stalk we were approximately 125 yards from our quarry. The 4 Stable Sticks went up and after letting a couple impala clear the target area, I took a shot. I didn't hear the bullet hit but Tyron exclaimed "he's down!" a few seconds later. This was totally unbelievable to me, six animals in five days! And it was only noon!
After dropping the blesbok at the skinning shed and eating lunch, we were off to a new concession about half hour away to hunt blue wildebeest. This concession was extremely thick bush, with some hills and valleys here and there. The stalking was difficult because of broken off thorn branches littering the trails and pretty much everywhere. We tried a couple stalks but weren't able to get a good bull in the crosshairs. Finally some blue and golden wildebeest were sighted feeding their way down a dry creek bed and a stalk insued. We just needed to follow along until a bull made himself known , then we'd try to kill him. The group kept moving steadily along, with us trying to keep up and identify the best in the bunch. Tyron got a good look at one of the blues and said he was a mature bull. We were on sticks two or three times before we caught a break. They were only about 50 yards away when they stopped in an opening and started looking back at us with growing concern. Tyron pointed out which one was the target and made him turn nearly broadside with a loud Mew!! I took the shot, slightly quartering away, and could tell the bull was hit hard. Him and his buddies took off but mine had Nala, little half jack russell, half wiener dog hot on his heels. We heard the dog barking like crazy and we ran to the spot, by now the other dogs had joined Nala, biting at the bull who was down but not dead. After some careful aiming and waiting for dogs to get out of harm's way, I shot the beeste twice more as he lurched to his feet, fighting the dogs. He finally fell again after a couple steps and I put the last round in the gun into his back. I'm absolutely sure the first shot would've killed him in about 2 minutes but the dogs gave him all the adrenaline he needed to make a short last stand. The blood trail was heavy, he went about 30 yards total. All and all an extremely exciting hunt, a nice long stalk, no long blood trails, and some very excited little dogs lol. Of the four shots, only one exited, the one that went straight through his throat when he was sorta facing us with his head down. The skinner recovered the remaining three bullets, all just under the tough hide. Seven animals in five days!! I was already planning my next safari...

 

[R.M.C.]