Andrew62
AH elite
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
- 1,119
- Reaction score
- 2,665
- Media
- 23
- Member of
- SCI
- Hunted
- Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Uganda
@TSALA HUNTING SAFARIS
My 6 day ‘cull hunt’ with Tsala Safaris could not have went any better, all aspects of this hunt were wonderful. One very big plus for hunting with Tsala is if you arrive into Johannesburg on United’s flight 188, you tend to get through customs and the SAP office around 6:30PM to 7:00PM, then it is just a short two hour drive to camp, which saves having to overnight anywhere. And, if I were overnighting in Johannesburg, I personally would stay at the Afton House, they do a great job.
My cull hunt included 5 zebra, 2 blue wildebeest and 3 impalas. I successfully took all animals on my package plus I took another blue wildebeest, golden wildebeest, black impala, yellow blesbok and a nice warthog.
While Tsala has numerous properties they can hunt on, my hunt was done strictly on their base camp which if I understood correctly was around 12,000 to 14,000 acres. Accommodations were very nice. The building I stayed in has 2 bedrooms on the left side of the building, a very large living room/kitchen area down the center of the building, then another 2 bedrooms on the right side of the building. My bedroom was quite spacious, my bathroom was very nice, large walk-in shower, plenty of cabinet/storage area, king sized bed and a leather chair to relax in. Wifi was very good. Each room has it’s own HVAC unit so you can set your temperature to whatever level of comfort you want. My cell service is through AT&T, I have the International Day Pass plan, which is 10.00 a day and includes text messaging. There were certain areas on the property where I could make calls and send/receive texts messages.
All meals at Tsala are outdoors. Breakfast and lunch were under a thatched roof, evening meals were right around the huge fire pit. Breakfast for me was 6:00AM, then we headed out to hunt around 6:45AM. After two days of that I elected to eat a protein bar in my room and have Brandon pick me up at 6:45AM, this gave me a bit of extra sleep time. Breakfast could be whatever you asked for but I elected to do cereal and a muffin. Lunches and dinners were truly amazing. I’m the guy who takes enough protein bars and trail mix that I could survive if the meals do not suit me, and not once did I eat a snack because I was hungry, the food was truly amazing. One particular day for lunch they served impala burgers with shredded cheddar and a very tasty mushroom sauce, wow, those were amazing!!! Another meal worth mentioning is one night they served zebra and wildebeest filet, lamp chops, bacon wrapped chicken, green bean casserole, cornbread and homemade lemon ice cream!!
The entire staff did a great job, they were all very attentive to my needs, constantly asking if I was enjoying the hunt, what could they do to make things better.
As to hunting, there will be no shooting from the vehicle. When a game animal is spotted, they either back up 200-300 yards or so, or they will drive by the animal 200-300 yards, then they stalk the animal. Quite frankly, I love this style of hunting. We also would stop short of a water point, then stalk into the water point to look for animals, also a favorite of mine. I just turned 60, feel I am in reasonably good health, can walk most all day at a steady pace, but at the beginning of the hunt I told Brandon that I am not crawling around on my hands and knees, nor did he need to do an ‘airport’ walk to let me know he is 30+ years younger than me. Brandon listened to me and kept my hunt enjoyable.
Because of the excess rainfall they received this year, grass was very high, but I was still able to see and stalk animals successfully. This property is very thick in some areas, impenetrable would be one way to describe certain portions of the property. While I previously booked three buffalo hunts elsewhere before taking this hunt, this place has huge buffalo, and I hope to return to hunt buffalo here. I saw numerous buffalo that had to have been 46-47 inches, and one had to be very close to 50”! For these hunts it is generally better to go over in July, or later, there will be less water about the property. When that is the case, they head out very early to look for tracks around a water point, then they hunt them on foot. Believe me, their buffalo hunting is as good as it gets!!
This particular property has great quality animals including huge kudu and sable. I would not be surprised if they do not have a 50” sable on this property. Gilletehunter, who arrived into camp midway through my hunt, took a 46-47” sable, it was very impressive!! As a side note, having Gillettehunter in camp, along with two of his friends from Texas who arrived near the end of my hunt, truly added to a wonderful time. All I can say is, the first liar never had a chance when telling stories around the evening fire!! lol
This was my 15th trip to Africa to hunt, and other than going back to the same camp two times in Cameroon to get my bongo, I have never been back to the same place before. I believe I will return again to hunt with this amazing family and wonderful property. I have hunted with some very nice people in Africa, and I can attest to the fact that this organization is top notch in all aspects of the hunt. Sure, one can ‘hunt’ in Africa, but for me, it is all about the experience!!! Tsala delivers the highest quality experience one can find!!!
My 6 day ‘cull hunt’ with Tsala Safaris could not have went any better, all aspects of this hunt were wonderful. One very big plus for hunting with Tsala is if you arrive into Johannesburg on United’s flight 188, you tend to get through customs and the SAP office around 6:30PM to 7:00PM, then it is just a short two hour drive to camp, which saves having to overnight anywhere. And, if I were overnighting in Johannesburg, I personally would stay at the Afton House, they do a great job.
My cull hunt included 5 zebra, 2 blue wildebeest and 3 impalas. I successfully took all animals on my package plus I took another blue wildebeest, golden wildebeest, black impala, yellow blesbok and a nice warthog.
While Tsala has numerous properties they can hunt on, my hunt was done strictly on their base camp which if I understood correctly was around 12,000 to 14,000 acres. Accommodations were very nice. The building I stayed in has 2 bedrooms on the left side of the building, a very large living room/kitchen area down the center of the building, then another 2 bedrooms on the right side of the building. My bedroom was quite spacious, my bathroom was very nice, large walk-in shower, plenty of cabinet/storage area, king sized bed and a leather chair to relax in. Wifi was very good. Each room has it’s own HVAC unit so you can set your temperature to whatever level of comfort you want. My cell service is through AT&T, I have the International Day Pass plan, which is 10.00 a day and includes text messaging. There were certain areas on the property where I could make calls and send/receive texts messages.
All meals at Tsala are outdoors. Breakfast and lunch were under a thatched roof, evening meals were right around the huge fire pit. Breakfast for me was 6:00AM, then we headed out to hunt around 6:45AM. After two days of that I elected to eat a protein bar in my room and have Brandon pick me up at 6:45AM, this gave me a bit of extra sleep time. Breakfast could be whatever you asked for but I elected to do cereal and a muffin. Lunches and dinners were truly amazing. I’m the guy who takes enough protein bars and trail mix that I could survive if the meals do not suit me, and not once did I eat a snack because I was hungry, the food was truly amazing. One particular day for lunch they served impala burgers with shredded cheddar and a very tasty mushroom sauce, wow, those were amazing!!! Another meal worth mentioning is one night they served zebra and wildebeest filet, lamp chops, bacon wrapped chicken, green bean casserole, cornbread and homemade lemon ice cream!!
The entire staff did a great job, they were all very attentive to my needs, constantly asking if I was enjoying the hunt, what could they do to make things better.
As to hunting, there will be no shooting from the vehicle. When a game animal is spotted, they either back up 200-300 yards or so, or they will drive by the animal 200-300 yards, then they stalk the animal. Quite frankly, I love this style of hunting. We also would stop short of a water point, then stalk into the water point to look for animals, also a favorite of mine. I just turned 60, feel I am in reasonably good health, can walk most all day at a steady pace, but at the beginning of the hunt I told Brandon that I am not crawling around on my hands and knees, nor did he need to do an ‘airport’ walk to let me know he is 30+ years younger than me. Brandon listened to me and kept my hunt enjoyable.
Because of the excess rainfall they received this year, grass was very high, but I was still able to see and stalk animals successfully. This property is very thick in some areas, impenetrable would be one way to describe certain portions of the property. While I previously booked three buffalo hunts elsewhere before taking this hunt, this place has huge buffalo, and I hope to return to hunt buffalo here. I saw numerous buffalo that had to have been 46-47 inches, and one had to be very close to 50”! For these hunts it is generally better to go over in July, or later, there will be less water about the property. When that is the case, they head out very early to look for tracks around a water point, then they hunt them on foot. Believe me, their buffalo hunting is as good as it gets!!
This particular property has great quality animals including huge kudu and sable. I would not be surprised if they do not have a 50” sable on this property. Gilletehunter, who arrived into camp midway through my hunt, took a 46-47” sable, it was very impressive!! As a side note, having Gillettehunter in camp, along with two of his friends from Texas who arrived near the end of my hunt, truly added to a wonderful time. All I can say is, the first liar never had a chance when telling stories around the evening fire!! lol
This was my 15th trip to Africa to hunt, and other than going back to the same camp two times in Cameroon to get my bongo, I have never been back to the same place before. I believe I will return again to hunt with this amazing family and wonderful property. I have hunted with some very nice people in Africa, and I can attest to the fact that this organization is top notch in all aspects of the hunt. Sure, one can ‘hunt’ in Africa, but for me, it is all about the experience!!! Tsala delivers the highest quality experience one can find!!!
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