My 2016 South African adventure.

A new African Adventure Begins.

After such an epic adventure with my son and the ITZ guy’s in South Africa last year I decided to once again roll the dice and see what they could come up with. I had contacted Richard Leonard some months before and given him a budget and date range to work with. This year I intended to make up for missing out on a Kudu last year by attempting to complete a Spiral horns “Slam” and take a Kudu, Nyala and Bushbuck. I also wanted to take a nice Warthog and at Richards suggestion attempt to also hunt the 3 species of Reedbuck available, being the Common, Mountain and Vaal Reedbuck.

I left the details up to Richard and we settled on a date that he would meet me in Port Elizabeth to start my hunt, I had given him a 14 day date range and he assured me everything had been arranged. Those of you that have been following my blog will know that I had previously made all the appropriate arrangements and applied for permits to take my own rifle, this proved to be a simple yet drawn out process but was well worth it in the end. I got to hunt with a rifle and load that I am intimate with and that allowed me to confidently take a couple of animals that I would have otherwise had to pass up.

For the technically minded I shoot with a CMC Howa (now Howa1500) Australian Mountaineer, in .243 calibre. It has a heavy 26” 1 in 8 twist barrel and is topped off with a Vortex Viper 6.5-20x50 mildot scope. It has a custom turret from custom turret systems graduated to match my load out to 1200 meters. The load I developed to hunt with consists of a 100grn Nosler Partition over a charge of ADI2209 powder in Hornady cases. This load chronographs at a speed of 3070fps and shoots 20mm groups at 100 meters, more than acceptable to hunt with.

Well on with my trip, I boarded the plane in Perth and made my way to Sydney where I promptly had my firearm checked and serial number verified by customs, and my export permit stamped. I then checked in at the Qantas counter for the flight to Johannesburg.  

Why fly from Perth to Sydney to get to Johannesburg when you don’t have to you ask? Well there is only about $100 difference in the fare and I was then able to use Frequent flyer points for and upgrade to Business Class, more than worth it in my opinion, plus the arrival time in Johannesburg suits me better in getting over the time difference. 

The food on the flight was outstanding.

My seat on the flight over

So after the most pleasant flight I have ever had I arrived in Johannesburg at 5:30pm cleared immigration and collected my bag, I was met at the arrival gate as promised by one the Riflepermits.com staff with my preapproved rifle permit and escorted to the SAPS office to collect my rifle. Once there they verified the serial numbers and checked my rifle was as described and I was on my way to the hotel for the night. I had completed checking in and was in my room less than an hour after arriving. I had a quick shower and changed then went to the hotel restaurant for some dinner and then enjoyed a few drinks before turning in for the night. 

I got up fairly early in the morning, showered and dressed then went and had breakfast. I then checked out of the hotel and made my way to the SAA check in counter and checked in for my flight to Port Elizabeth. After making my way through security and locating my departure gate I got myself a couple of magazines to read on the plane and during any down time later in the trip. 

A couple of African Hunting Magazines to read on the plane.

The flight to Port Elizabeth was pretty uneventful and once we landed it took no time at all to collect my bag and rifle. Richard was still away with another client so his wife met me at the airport and took me to my hotel.

I was staying overnight to visit the taxidermist in PE to collect some tags for this trip and settle the last of my account from my previous trip. So once I was checked in we went and visited the taxidermist, after that we had some lunch and I returned to the hotel for an afternoon and evening of relaxing. Richard contacted me mid-afternoon and let me know Ardri from the Huntshoek lodge would be around to pick me up in the morning. I had a long walk along the beach and then after dinner I settled in to the bar for a couple of drinks before heading to be.

 I was up early again and after showering and a leisurely breakfast I packed my bags and checked out of the hotel, I waited no more than 5 minutes and Adri arrived to pick me up. We quickly packed the vehicle and were on our way heading North towards Grahamstown, we stopped for some lunch in the town of Bathurst. Which happens to have the oldest licenced Pub in South Africa, so what better excuse to have a drink and a meal.

After lunch we continued on our way and arrived at the lodge mid-afternoon, the Huntshoek lodge is built on a hillside and overlooks the Fish River. The view from the pool deck is amazing and the view from my room was equally spectacular. I settled into my room and then relaxed in the lounge for the rest of the afternoon taking in the view and snapping off a few photos.  

My Room at Huntshoek was very comfortable.

The View from my room was outstanding.

A couple of beers a snooze and near on sunset later Richard, Greg and Dean arrived from filming somewhere nearby. It had been just over a year since we had seen each other and we had plenty to catch up on. Richard introduced me to Hendrick who was to be my PH for a couple of days while I hunted Nyala, Kudu and Bushbuck.

One of the Nyala Bulls I saw that afternoon.

Nyala Ewe.

I had seen a couple of really nice Nyala bulls across the valley that afternoon and I mentioned to Hendrick I would like to start my hunt on Nyala, he said that was no problem and we would set out the following morning after a quick trip to the range to make sure my rifle was in order. We sat back on the deck overlooking the river with a couple of drinks telling stories and catching up on the last year, then continued through dinner until it was time to head off to bed. We arranged to meet for breakfast and coffee at 6 and headed off to our rooms for the night. The day had been a warm one and it had cooled down nicely so I showered, opened the windows wide, climbed into bed and let the sounds of the African night carry me off to sleep.