chonk34
AH veteran
My dad recently retired from the military and to celebrate, he booked a two-week safari through Werner Lewies’ Motshwere Safaris near Lephalale, Limpopo Province, South Africa. Hunting a Cape Buffalo was one of his dreams, and he also added a modified spiral horn package to his hunt. His package included a free observer, so he invited me to go along. I didn’t want to go all the way to Africa just to watch, so I signed up for a basic plains game package for myself and we brought along my dad’s uncle as an observer.
We chose Motshwere because my dad’s neighbor recommended them, as he has hunted with them before. The neighbor was also hunting with Motshwere this year with his son and a friend, and their trip overlapped ours by about a week. We met Werner and some of his staff in person at the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo in February 2019, where we reworked my package to take advantage of one of his show specials. He struck me as a pretty fast talker and a salesman, but he also answered the list of questions we brought regarding rifle selection, ammunition, optics, travel arrangements, and pricing. My dad has limited experience with big-game hunting and I had never hunted anything before (I shot in the vicinity of a duck with the world’s worst shotgun once during my teenage years), although we both have done a fair amount of shooting on the farm and in our military careers.
Although I wasn’t a member of this forum at the time, I did read quite a few threads here during my preparation, as well as numerous other pages and reference books. Doing that ensured that we had our customs paperwork correct, our SAPS 520 forms filled out correctly, and the appropriate gear packed.
Our hunt was booked for June 16-29, 2019. Our flights from Idaho to Atlanta and then direct to O. R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa were smooth, as our paperwork was in order. A representative from Motshwere met us at the airport and took us to the police station in the airport, where our firearm import paperwork was processed. Again, our forms were correct and we didn’t have any trouble. It was dark outside by that time, and the representative took us to dinner and checked us in to a guest house in Pretoria for the night, explaining that it would be nicer to drive to the lodge in the daylight so that we could see the landscape and wildlife.
In the morning we awoke to plenty of birdsong and had breakfast, then stood in the courtyard of the guest house and looked at the many birds while waiting for our ride. He showed up at the appointed time and we traveled to the Motshwere property. My first thoughts as we drove through the country were that the brush was a lot thicker than I envisioned. Much of the terrain reminded me of my native Idaho, just with different animals and more thorns. We saw a fair amount of wildlife on the drive, and I was glad that they chose to put us up for the night and travel in the daylight.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by Werner, his family, and the Lodge Manager, Elmari. Elmari showed us around, introduced us to Kenny, the chef, and showed us our rooms. She explained that my dad and I would have to share a room for two days, but then we would be able to expand out to individual rooms.
After the two days, we did indeed split out into individual rooms and the three of us shared a mini-lodge with one other guest. The mini-lodge had four bedrooms, each with an individual bathroom, an indoor shower, an outdoor shower, and a porch. There was a common room in the center with a couple of couches, a fridge, a big television, and a kitchen area.
Out back was a small fire ring, but I only ever saw people at the main fire ring in the center of the compound, which was furnished with camp chairs and carved log seats.
There were several new buildings being constructed; some lodging and an on-location day spa. Although the day spa was being built, Elmari and Stephanie, Werner’s wife, were very good about arranging outings for spouses or hunting parties that wanted to go out and get a massage, spa treatment, or do some shopping. The grounds were well-kept, and the staff were all attentive and welcoming. Before dinner we were able to get our rifles out on the range and make sure we hadn’t lost our zeroes in transit. Dinner was amazing, and really every meal was great. I believe Kenny started out as a pastry chef, and he can sure turn out some desserts and breakfast pastries. The rest of the food was top-notch as well, and most dinners included at least one type of game meat. Dinner is always eventful at Motshwere. Werner uses dinner as an occasion to celebrate those hunters who have had a good day, tease hunters who have had things go wrong that day, and maybe try to get people who are nearing the end of their package to join him after dinner to swipe their credit cards for another animal or two.
My dad’s neighbor had already been in camp for a few days when we arrived so he showed us around camp after dinner, including the skinning shed and the horn room. Although I didn’t measure any of my trophies, it was fun to learn everyone’s tag numbers and spend part of each evening in the horn room, comparing skulls and debating the relative merits of each specimen. After getting our bearings for a bit and hanging out by the fire with some of the other hunters we headed for bed. Although this was technically Day 1 of our 14-day hunt, we didn’t do any hunting. We were assured that there was plenty of time to fill out our packages, though.
We chose Motshwere because my dad’s neighbor recommended them, as he has hunted with them before. The neighbor was also hunting with Motshwere this year with his son and a friend, and their trip overlapped ours by about a week. We met Werner and some of his staff in person at the Western Hunting & Conservation Expo in February 2019, where we reworked my package to take advantage of one of his show specials. He struck me as a pretty fast talker and a salesman, but he also answered the list of questions we brought regarding rifle selection, ammunition, optics, travel arrangements, and pricing. My dad has limited experience with big-game hunting and I had never hunted anything before (I shot in the vicinity of a duck with the world’s worst shotgun once during my teenage years), although we both have done a fair amount of shooting on the farm and in our military careers.
Although I wasn’t a member of this forum at the time, I did read quite a few threads here during my preparation, as well as numerous other pages and reference books. Doing that ensured that we had our customs paperwork correct, our SAPS 520 forms filled out correctly, and the appropriate gear packed.
Our hunt was booked for June 16-29, 2019. Our flights from Idaho to Atlanta and then direct to O. R. Tambo International Airport in South Africa were smooth, as our paperwork was in order. A representative from Motshwere met us at the airport and took us to the police station in the airport, where our firearm import paperwork was processed. Again, our forms were correct and we didn’t have any trouble. It was dark outside by that time, and the representative took us to dinner and checked us in to a guest house in Pretoria for the night, explaining that it would be nicer to drive to the lodge in the daylight so that we could see the landscape and wildlife.
In the morning we awoke to plenty of birdsong and had breakfast, then stood in the courtyard of the guest house and looked at the many birds while waiting for our ride. He showed up at the appointed time and we traveled to the Motshwere property. My first thoughts as we drove through the country were that the brush was a lot thicker than I envisioned. Much of the terrain reminded me of my native Idaho, just with different animals and more thorns. We saw a fair amount of wildlife on the drive, and I was glad that they chose to put us up for the night and travel in the daylight.
Upon our arrival we were greeted by Werner, his family, and the Lodge Manager, Elmari. Elmari showed us around, introduced us to Kenny, the chef, and showed us our rooms. She explained that my dad and I would have to share a room for two days, but then we would be able to expand out to individual rooms.
After the two days, we did indeed split out into individual rooms and the three of us shared a mini-lodge with one other guest. The mini-lodge had four bedrooms, each with an individual bathroom, an indoor shower, an outdoor shower, and a porch. There was a common room in the center with a couple of couches, a fridge, a big television, and a kitchen area.
Out back was a small fire ring, but I only ever saw people at the main fire ring in the center of the compound, which was furnished with camp chairs and carved log seats.
There were several new buildings being constructed; some lodging and an on-location day spa. Although the day spa was being built, Elmari and Stephanie, Werner’s wife, were very good about arranging outings for spouses or hunting parties that wanted to go out and get a massage, spa treatment, or do some shopping. The grounds were well-kept, and the staff were all attentive and welcoming. Before dinner we were able to get our rifles out on the range and make sure we hadn’t lost our zeroes in transit. Dinner was amazing, and really every meal was great. I believe Kenny started out as a pastry chef, and he can sure turn out some desserts and breakfast pastries. The rest of the food was top-notch as well, and most dinners included at least one type of game meat. Dinner is always eventful at Motshwere. Werner uses dinner as an occasion to celebrate those hunters who have had a good day, tease hunters who have had things go wrong that day, and maybe try to get people who are nearing the end of their package to join him after dinner to swipe their credit cards for another animal or two.
My dad’s neighbor had already been in camp for a few days when we arrived so he showed us around camp after dinner, including the skinning shed and the horn room. Although I didn’t measure any of my trophies, it was fun to learn everyone’s tag numbers and spend part of each evening in the horn room, comparing skulls and debating the relative merits of each specimen. After getting our bearings for a bit and hanging out by the fire with some of the other hunters we headed for bed. Although this was technically Day 1 of our 14-day hunt, we didn’t do any hunting. We were assured that there was plenty of time to fill out our packages, though.
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in your write up I'm unsure. Could you clear that up? Were they joking with you or did you perceive that as serious attempts to talk folks into more shooting thus more money ? 
