watman
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I told a few people I'd write up my experience. Wow. I took my Dad along and we did 7 days hunting in Limpopo and 2 days at Kruger. I'll probably break this into a few posts and try and include a fair number of pictures. The hunt was a SCI chapter donation to the Kansas City chapter, it included the 7 days, daily fees and some credit towards trophies. Andre Stewart dealt patiently with dozens of emails in the year+ leading up to the safari.
Here you can see the lodge, our PH's Bakki, my room and the dining room in the lodge. The lodge was 4 bedrooms and the living room/dining room. There was a separate building next door with a bar, fire pit and sitting area as well as a larger table where we usually had dinner. The accommodations were very nice, food was excellent and staff very helpful. They also have a main lodge with a gift shop, the main kitchen and I believe two other lodges on the property. I believe the main property was about 35,000 acres and had been 7 or 8 farms before it was converted to a hunting farm around 15 years ago.
They have a pretty wide selection of game here, but also have numerous other hunting locations for specific game. We ended up hunting here about half the time and made use of 3 other concessions as well.
Our PH was Jean Lu Swart and our driver/tracker for most days was named Saki (although I think the spelling actually has an "e" Saeki? He spelt it for me but my hearing and his English just weren't matching up that day!)
I flew from KC and my Dad out of Saint Louis, we met in Atlanta and took Delta 200 to JNB. I took two rifles, both CZ550s a 9.3*62 FS and a 308 Varmint. Both were scoped with Bushnell 6500s 1.25-8X on detachable mounts. I elected to use rifle permits.com and our driver and their representative met us just past baggage and we breezed through the SAPS office. I definitely recommend their service. Kuvhima's property is not very far from the Botswana border and our drive was almost 4 hours to the lodge. It was 10PM local time before we arrived but they had dinner ready when we got there and left us to settle in for the night.
Jean Lu had a previous client departing that morning and the 5 of us ate breakfast together he saw them off and then we headed to the range. Both rifles were a couple inches off, I had removed the scope mounts before with no issue but who knows. We got sighted in no problems and loaded up on the truck. We spotted a great Nyala on the hillside immediately after leaving the range, should have shouldered the rifle and dropped him, but they weren't on the list and by the time Jean Lu described how good a buck he was it was too late.
Speaking of the list.... we decided to try stalking a Gemsbuck next, however the bush was thick and dry, we saw lots of tracks and heard another Nyala. At that point I said lets go for him. The tracker saw him twice but each time running. We got hot and tired and took a break for lunch.
At this point we looked at the list Dad and I had sent over. #1 for me was a Kudu, then in no particular order warthog, impala, gemsbuck, blesbuck. Dad really wanted a Wildebeest cow (cull), and impala, warthog, and porcupine. Jean Lu had pretty good ideas for everything but the porcupine, he said they usually night hunt them and we were visiting over a full moon with lots of vegetation still around, that one might be tough. And of course nice Kudu can be a challenge.
We went back out that afternoon and saw a small croc along the Pelala river, some wildebeest run past us and a few impala ewes. Saw a couple warthogs cross the road but nothing shootable. It was a great first day even without getting anything.
Day 2: As Jean Lu told us was a killing day. We were going to a private reserve of about 85 sq miles, they have all types of free ranging game. It was quite scenic, we started out driving up the mountain to a large plateau. As we came out of the woods into the clearing we could immediately see herds of wildebeest and blesbuck, there was a rocky area to the left that we headed towards looking for a good blesbuck buck. However a nice Kudu bull was up in the rocks and after looking at him through the binos we decided to move in closer, however driving up that way we couldn't find him again. RATS! I suggested maybe we stalk in and our guide this day, Anna Lee, scoffed he was gone and we weren't likely to sneak up on him there... okay I was a bit naive, the rocks were huge there would be no stalking here. As we cruised along we saw a young Kudu bull and a couple cows, we stopped and watched them from just over a hundred yards. Jean Lu asked if I could see a white chevron in the tree behind the solo cow. I could and he said keep your scope there and don't look away. Eventually the cow walked on a bit and still I only could see the white V that he insisted was a very nice bull. He stepped out from behind the tree and bushes and sure enough beautiful spirals, big full bodied male with nice stripes. I was amazed he could hide so well, there is a reason they call them the "grey ghost". I set the trigger then squeezed with held breath. He jolted turned to his right and ran down in front of us and just as a pulled up for a follow up shot he was behind those big rocks and trees and gone. PH said just wait he was hit good, a few seconds later we heard a crash and handshakes all around as we climbed up to find him. Total he probably ran 80-100 yards. I was struck by the size of the animal and of course his horns. Now up until this point my largest game had been Missouri and Kansas Whitetail, so I was pretty pumped up! Smaller horn was 53.5" and 11.5" base.
Here you can see the lodge, our PH's Bakki, my room and the dining room in the lodge. The lodge was 4 bedrooms and the living room/dining room. There was a separate building next door with a bar, fire pit and sitting area as well as a larger table where we usually had dinner. The accommodations were very nice, food was excellent and staff very helpful. They also have a main lodge with a gift shop, the main kitchen and I believe two other lodges on the property. I believe the main property was about 35,000 acres and had been 7 or 8 farms before it was converted to a hunting farm around 15 years ago.
They have a pretty wide selection of game here, but also have numerous other hunting locations for specific game. We ended up hunting here about half the time and made use of 3 other concessions as well.
Our PH was Jean Lu Swart and our driver/tracker for most days was named Saki (although I think the spelling actually has an "e" Saeki? He spelt it for me but my hearing and his English just weren't matching up that day!)
I flew from KC and my Dad out of Saint Louis, we met in Atlanta and took Delta 200 to JNB. I took two rifles, both CZ550s a 9.3*62 FS and a 308 Varmint. Both were scoped with Bushnell 6500s 1.25-8X on detachable mounts. I elected to use rifle permits.com and our driver and their representative met us just past baggage and we breezed through the SAPS office. I definitely recommend their service. Kuvhima's property is not very far from the Botswana border and our drive was almost 4 hours to the lodge. It was 10PM local time before we arrived but they had dinner ready when we got there and left us to settle in for the night.
Jean Lu had a previous client departing that morning and the 5 of us ate breakfast together he saw them off and then we headed to the range. Both rifles were a couple inches off, I had removed the scope mounts before with no issue but who knows. We got sighted in no problems and loaded up on the truck. We spotted a great Nyala on the hillside immediately after leaving the range, should have shouldered the rifle and dropped him, but they weren't on the list and by the time Jean Lu described how good a buck he was it was too late.
Speaking of the list.... we decided to try stalking a Gemsbuck next, however the bush was thick and dry, we saw lots of tracks and heard another Nyala. At that point I said lets go for him. The tracker saw him twice but each time running. We got hot and tired and took a break for lunch.At this point we looked at the list Dad and I had sent over. #1 for me was a Kudu, then in no particular order warthog, impala, gemsbuck, blesbuck. Dad really wanted a Wildebeest cow (cull), and impala, warthog, and porcupine. Jean Lu had pretty good ideas for everything but the porcupine, he said they usually night hunt them and we were visiting over a full moon with lots of vegetation still around, that one might be tough. And of course nice Kudu can be a challenge.
We went back out that afternoon and saw a small croc along the Pelala river, some wildebeest run past us and a few impala ewes. Saw a couple warthogs cross the road but nothing shootable. It was a great first day even without getting anything.
Day 2: As Jean Lu told us was a killing day. We were going to a private reserve of about 85 sq miles, they have all types of free ranging game. It was quite scenic, we started out driving up the mountain to a large plateau. As we came out of the woods into the clearing we could immediately see herds of wildebeest and blesbuck, there was a rocky area to the left that we headed towards looking for a good blesbuck buck. However a nice Kudu bull was up in the rocks and after looking at him through the binos we decided to move in closer, however driving up that way we couldn't find him again. RATS! I suggested maybe we stalk in and our guide this day, Anna Lee, scoffed he was gone and we weren't likely to sneak up on him there... okay I was a bit naive, the rocks were huge there would be no stalking here. As we cruised along we saw a young Kudu bull and a couple cows, we stopped and watched them from just over a hundred yards. Jean Lu asked if I could see a white chevron in the tree behind the solo cow. I could and he said keep your scope there and don't look away. Eventually the cow walked on a bit and still I only could see the white V that he insisted was a very nice bull. He stepped out from behind the tree and bushes and sure enough beautiful spirals, big full bodied male with nice stripes. I was amazed he could hide so well, there is a reason they call them the "grey ghost". I set the trigger then squeezed with held breath. He jolted turned to his right and ran down in front of us and just as a pulled up for a follow up shot he was behind those big rocks and trees and gone. PH said just wait he was hit good, a few seconds later we heard a crash and handshakes all around as we climbed up to find him. Total he probably ran 80-100 yards. I was struck by the size of the animal and of course his horns. Now up until this point my largest game had been Missouri and Kansas Whitetail, so I was pretty pumped up! Smaller horn was 53.5" and 11.5" base.
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