Under the Southern Cross

[CAelknuts]

Well, after 36 hours of flying from the west coast to South Africa, I was going to make a nice post about how wonderful it is here in Phalaborwa, Limpopo Province, but I'm just about ready to fall off this stool, I'm so sleepy. You guys will have to wait till tomorrow to read more.

I'm thinking about doing regular updates like I did with the Monroe elk thread last fall. I hope I have internet service the next few nights, and I will do that if I can log on. In the meantime, I'm at Sunbird Lodge, overnighting. www.sunbirdlodge.com Wonderful place with great hosts and food!

 

[elkantlers]

Awesome... Can't wait.

 

[eelgrass]

Dan, give us a quick overview of your trip. I hope you can continue to update!

Let us know if you want a pizza.

Eel

 

[kilbuc]

elknuts.....good to hear you made it to RSA. Stay off the murula berries, drink lots of Pinotage, but only after the days hunt. Kill a big kudu, you can't kill enough kudu.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"

 

[FishlakeElkHunter]

Glad you made it Dan.....Can not wait for all the updates and pics!! Hope you guys have a great time!

 

[AZStickman]

This should be good.... Terry

 

[Roy]

Oh heck yeah! Keep us posted! Going after the Spider Elephant!
LOL

UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)

 

[FamilyMan]

Please do keep us posted. Your elk hunting thread last year was one of the best ever and a similar from Africa would be great.
Mark

 

[driftersifter]

At last someone I can live vicariuosly through.
Driftersifter

 

[Blank]

Congrats - Have a wonderful time. Looking forward to your tale of adventure.

59 days and I will be in Chewore South in the Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe. Hunting buffalo and tuskless elephant this year.

 

[CAelknuts]

Well, I found out that internet service in Kruger Park is almost non-existent. We just arrived at Monwana Lodge, in the Thornybush Game Reserve, yesterday and they have internet service. Sorry it has taken so long, and I'll probably have to wait until tomorrow or after we return to post pictures, but I promise they'll be worth waiting to see. I've taken nearly 400 pictures of wildife so far, and we haven't started hunting yet.

To date, we've seen all of the Big 5, with at least 200 elephants, at least a dozen lions, 11 rhinos including a Black Rhino, 1 leopard (a great story to come about him) and 300-400 cape buffalo. Add to that zebras, giraffes, greater kudu, nyala, impala, sable, wildebeest, duikers, steenbuck, hippos, crocs, cheetahs, hyenas and other stuff I can't think of at the moment plus abundant bird life, and you have a wildlife paradise that most people can't imagine. In the first four days we've been here, we've seen well over 1,000 animals combined.

Among some of the special sightings we've had were several 100 pounder elephants, including Hlanganini, who is one of Kruger's up and coming giant tuskers. His ivory is estimated to weigh around 120 pounds per side and he's not that old of a bull. Some of the buffalo bulls we've seen have been spectacular, with spreads above 40" and heavy bosses. I'll try to post a couple pics, but it's late over here and we're heading out at 6:00 for our final game viewing drive before leaving at noon tomorrow to begin hunting for the next week. If I can't post up these pictures now, I'll do so tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy.

 

[CAelknuts]

Big Cape Buffalo Bull

 

[CAelknuts]

Another Big Buffalo Bull

 

[CAelknuts]

Hlanganini, one of the up and coming giant elephant bulls in Kruger

 

[CAelknuts]

Very large White Rhino Bull

 

[CAelknuts]

This photo gives a bit better idea of how large his horns are. Also, I like this shot.

 

[CAelknuts]

Leaving Satara Camp at first light yesterday, I found this fellow about 25 yards off the road with a buddy.

photo is

You'd be amazed at how well these guys disappear into the dried grass when they put their head down

 

[CAelknuts]

Here is where we found the leopard

After a while, he decided to come down and gave me this view...

There is quite a story about this leopard, but I'll save it for a little later. Gotta keep you guys in suspense.

 

[CAelknuts]

Hlanganini was the biggest elephant bull we saw, but not the only monster bull, here are a few others....

This bull never gave us a good view, but you can get an idea of how massive his ivory is anyway...

It's getting late and I'm falling asleep, but I'll add one more photo in honor of kilbuc...

 

[CAelknuts]

OK, I hope to post more photos and story about the leopard tomorrow before we leave to hunt. Suffice it to say, this has already been an incredible trip for the entire family. Monwana Lodge is spectacular, visit their website at www.monwana.com to get an idea of how bad we're suffering through this the last coiuple days.

More to come....

 

[canyoncrosser]

You're turning into the next Robert Ruark! I love it.

 

[stinkystomper]

OMG! That's a kudu! please tell me he's dead! You can't take pics of kudu's! They've all got to die! That's just the way it must be. You've got to understand! Please tell me you do! Please don't let anymore walk or I will publicly disown you. lol

 

[FamilyMan]

Sounds like a great adventure already CAelknuts. Can't wait to hear from you once the hunting starts.


Mark

 

[kilbuc]

elknuts......that is a real god kudu. Did you see him in Krugar or Thornybush? Killed a 54 incher in Thornybush a few years ago.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"

 

[CAelknuts]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-06-09 AT 10:56PM (MST)[p]OK, after not having internet service for the last week, I do now. We've just arrived home, after more than 30 hours of travel since leaving Thornybush yesterday. I'm extremely tired and have to upload some photos before I can post additional details, but suffice it to say that we had a phenomenal trip. We only hunted for a short portion of our trip, 5 days, but had very good hunting with excellent results. The highlight, for me, was my son shooting a really outstanding kudu bull. I won't give the length but it is a very old bull whose teeth were worn down, as were his horn tips. He's a gorgeous bull with plenty of length and especially mass. I was also successful with my own hunting, taking a very nice nyala bull. After I get the pictures downloaded onto my computer, I'll give a better update and post plenty of pictures.

This was my 4th african hunt, and I must say that Spear Safaris is a 1st rate outfit, with attention to details and striving for exellence in every regard. Kilbuc, since you hunted kudu at Thornybush, you've obviously hunted with them, and I'm sure you'd agree that they are top notch.

For anyone contemplating a trip to South Africa; I'd highly recommend them without any reservation at all, and plan to hunt with them again in the future.

 

[scottyboy]

Ernest and Marita are first rate.. Ive hunted with them 3 diff times.. Even had my honeymoon on Thornybush back in 2006.. And next May, after my 10 days of hunting in Zimbabwe are over, I'm planning on returning back to RSA and staying there with them for a week of relaxing and a little bit of hunting..

Can't wait to see the trip pics!

 

[CAelknuts]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-06-09 AT 11:12PM (MST)[p]Scotty, Marita was absolutely excellent in her attention to detail, not only with our hunting arrangements, but with every other aspect of our trip. I left all the planning to her, and she gave me suggestions to consider, and after I approved she then went out and handled all the bookings. Marita handled our B&B accomodations in Phalaborwa, the rental vehicle for our time in Kruger, and all of our accomodations in Kruger as well as with Monwana Lodge and of course all the details on the hunting. She is a large part of why we had a worry free and very successful trip in every regard. Couple that with her charming personality and I'd have to say that she is a very important part of what makes Spear Safaris such a great safari operator.

We hunted with Koos Moulder, as Ernest had two clients out for leopards on the Limpopo River (They killed 2 huge toms, with skulls of 16 3/4" and 17",) and Koos was outstanding. He's an excellent hunter and very committed to ensuring that we had a great trip. As an example, our trip had us leaving on Friday afternoon after having lunch at Marula Camp with the Dyason's, and I shot my nyala bull at around 10:30-10:45 that morning. Koos kept going right until the last moment to ensure that I took a nice nyala and left happy. Koos also is very easy to spend time with, a delightful man with whom to spend hunting days. I look forward to hunting with him again.

Here are some photos of the camp, and the animals we took in our short hunting time.

This is the view as you enter their camp site, Marula Camp.

 

[CAelknuts]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-06-09 AT 11:28PM (MST)[p]LAST EDITED ON Jun-06-09 AT 11:24?PM (MST)

Here are some more photos of the camp.

Above is the dining room. The day before I took this photo, a pack of baboons raided the dining area and broke some dishes while we were out hunting. My son was hoping they'd return on our last day, as Marita quickly got him a baboon permit, but it wasn't to be.

This is the entrance to my 'tent.' The tents are attached to a bathroom, entry hall that allows you to sleep under canvas, while having a full ensuite bath and electricity, which is quite a luxury out in the bush.

The backside of my tent. Note that the tents are under thatched roofs, which allows them to leave them up all year and have them resist the effects of the sun. It also keeps them much cooler on hot days.

The inside of my tent. Not exactly shabby accomodations! One of the highlights of sleeping under canvas is hearing lions roar at night. We had lions roaring very close around camp on three of our night there. After my son shot an impala, there were two lions roaring around camp for much of that night. You can't experience that in many South African locations, and it is wonderful to hear.

 

[CAelknuts]

LAST EDITED ON Jun-06-09 AT 11:36PM (MST)[p]And we did a little hunting. Here is my son's fantastic kudu.

The fellow in the middle of the photo with Danny is James, Koos' tracker and skinner. A wonderful fellow, great in the field and very good with a knife when the animals are back to the skinning shed. He did an outstanding job of caring for our trophies. Koos is on the right. I was thoroughly pleased with the effort he put forth, and we truly enjoyed our time spent with him.

Another view of his kudu.

This was Danny's first time in Africa, and he got just enough of a taste to get him hooked. In 5 days, he took an impala, this kudu and a warthog. I have a feeling that buffalo will be his main target the next time we hunt over there.

 

[CAelknuts]

Earlier, I promised to tell the story of the leopard, but didn't have internet service until now, so here is what happened...

We heard on the radio that one of other game viewing vehicles had found a leopard up in a tree, so Dave, our game ranger at Monwana Lodge, quickly headed over to where the treed leopard was resting. When we got there, we found the leopard resting high in a tree, in that first photo I posted earlier. He was panting heavily, so I asked Dave what that was all about. Dave explained that the other game viewing group was watching a pride of lions, and the lions kept looking up into a tree. When they looked up to see what the lions were watching, they saw the leopard. He was a young male that the lions had chased up into the tree. Here was the view we originally had of him.

We watched the leopard for about 15 minutes, with no lions around, when he decided to come down out of the tree. When he hit the ground, he took off like he'd been shot out of a cannon, but he let out several louds grunts as he ran off...bad mistake!

About 5 seconds later, the lions appeard and they were hot on his trail again. Here are a couple pictures my son took of the lions as they sped past our vehicle, hot on the leopard's trail.

Thse lions were oblivious to the vehicle, even though they're wild, they are habituated to the game viewing vehicles and basically ignore them. That said, you still can't trust them. One of the anti-poaching game patrol rangers on Thornybush was killed less than a year ago in the middle of the night by a lion. He'd left his tent flap open and the lion looked in, bit him by the head and drug him out of the tent. So, yes, they are wild animals in every sense of the word even though they're somewhat used to interaction with the game viewing that goes on in Thornybush Game Reserve.

 

[CAelknuts]

Here are a couple more outstanding lions we were fortunate enough to see. The first is the oldest lion on the Thornybush Reserve, while the 2nd lion is on the Timbavati Reserve, which is next to Thornybush. Both have fantastic manes and are great examples of what a lion can look like when he gets old.

Notice how well lions blend in with the dried grass in this second photo.

One of the great attractions about Thornybush Game Reserve is that all of the Big 5 are present on the 35,000 acres of Thornybush. We saw elephants, lions, leopards, buffalo, black and white rhinos. We also saw cheetahs on several occasions.

 

[CAelknuts]

Here are photos of Danny's warthog and impala.

It was a pretty outstanding week of hunting for a 21 year old. I think I had even more fun than he did!

 

[elkantlers]

Wow, Sounds like an amazing trip. Great photos.

 

[kilbuc]

Dan...yes, I have hunted with Spear Safaris twice. when I was at Thornybush the Marula camp was not built yet. They were using the family place just up(or down) the road.

from the "Heartland of Wyoming"

 

[CAelknuts]

You'll find Marula Camp very nice. It is first rate in every aspect, and nicer even than their older camp.

 

[Roy]

Awesome trip! Great pics - thanks for sharing. So, did that leopard escape the big lions? Way too cool.

UTROY
Proverbs 21:19 (why I hunt!)

 

[CAelknuts]

We don't know if the lions ever caught him or not. Last we saw, they were running in hot pursuit, and all disappeard into the bush. I doubt they caught him, as a leopard can outclimb a lion and this one was way up in the tree we found him in, on a limb that I never would have thought could support his weight.

It was a very cool thing to see, I explained to my kids that people who are in the bush every day might not ever see anything like that in their lifetimes. Of course, they saw a lot of things that most visitors never get to see, we were very fortunate in the encounters we had.

 

[Feleno]

nuts
nice report and pics. even after a couple trips over i'm as excited about the next trip as I was the first.

 

[CAelknuts]

I guess I should get around to posting a couple photos of my nyala. I got my son's photos done but forgot to put up mine.

 

[never_catch]

This has easily been one of the best threads I've seen on here in quite a while!! Congrats, it looks like it was a great time!! Thanks for sharing all the awesome pics!!

~Z~

 

[CAelknuts]

This next installment will give anyone who is considering going to South Africa with their wife or family something to consider. After spending our first three days touring on our own through Kruger Park, we moved to the Thornybush Game Reserve for a couple days of guided game viewing while staying in what, especially being out in the bush, were luxury accomodations.

When we arrived, all of our luggage was taken to our rooms and we were escorted over for a refreshing drink to knock of the dust from our drive. This picture is the entry to our sleeping 'hut.'

When we entered our room, which was actually a 2-bedroom/2-bath suite, this was what we found

Our rooms had a private deck on the backsdie that looked out over a waterhole that was frequented by impala, warthogs, nyala, kudu and other wildlife during the middle of the day. The shower in each bathroom had a full length window that also looked out over the waterhole, so you might have voyeurs watching you shower, but they were only of the four legged variety.

 

[CAelknuts]

Monwana is a small, intimate lodge that only caters to a few visitors at any time. I think their maximum number of guests is about 10 at a time. When we were there, there was only one other couple visiting, and they'd been there already for several days. After they left, we were the only guest and the staff exceeded my family by almost a 2 to 1 ratio. The next group in consisted of 8 people arriving the day after we left, and they were to have the place to themselves. THAT is intimate.

Dinner the first evening was in the dining room

The next evening, we had a candlelight/lanterlight Braai (BBQ) out on the deck that sits out over the Monwana River, which is dry at this time of year.

Monwana is truly a place where you can enjoy wilderness and wildlife in luxury. I wasn't sure what I was going to find when I added 2 days there as part of our itinerary, but am very glad we stayed there. We managed to see all of the Big 5, plus cheetahs and other wildlife in a setting where we took time to appreciate it and got lots of photos. When out hunting, I found that I took very few pictures as we were focused on finding and tracking game, so I missed out on some nice wildlife photo ops.