HUNT THE EASTERN CAPE

JIMBAH SAFARIS, Eastern Cape, South Africa – July 2009

Outfitter: Owen Smith
PH: George Lavin
Owen Smith

Departure July 5, 2009 United / SAA from Tampa and Chicago to Port Elizabeth

This hunt is my 6th in the Eastern Cape, and another visit with my friends Owen and Riana Smith of Jimbah Safaris. My companions on this hunt were my regular hunting buddy, Dick [who is RCG here on AR] and his friend and fellow shooting club member Bill, a retired Marine. While Dick and I had hunted in the Eastern Cape in 2001, he had not returned since and Bill had never hunted in South Africa before.

We were met in Johannesburg by Gracy Travels' man Bruce and his porter buddy, who shuttled us to the SAPS offices, where our rifle permits were ready for us, thanks to Gracy Travel and Afton House. They then moved all our gear to the Domestic check in, and to the firearms security office for our short flight to Port Elizabeth. They really do make a difference getting around the terminal efficiently!

Due to our late arrival at Port Elizabeth our outfitter had arranged for hotel rooms at the nearby Road Lodge in PE, and a car to take us and all our gear to the hotel.

We were picked up at 7:30am Tuesday the 7th of July after an early wake up and a nice breakfast at the Road Lodge. After quickly loading the bags and rifles into the ubiquitous cargo trailer we were off to the main lodge located at “Kriegerskrall” which is a family run ranch just off the N10 road betweeen Cookhouse and Bedford in the Eastern Cape. [Kreigerskrall is operated by Herold Lombard, who is the 6th generation to live and ranch there!]

Upon arrival we met both George Lavin who was to be the other PH for our hunts and Riana Smith, Owen’s wife, who runs the lodge and insures that all our paperwork and accounts were kept up to date.After unloading our gear and settling into our lodgings, we were treated to an early Lunch in the lodge and then we moved to the target range where we verified that all the rifles were still shooting as expected [ and for the benefit of the PH’s, that we were all able to hit the targets with some degree of regularity!]

[I asked Bill and Dick to give me their recollections of the hunt. Bill’s response is so perfectly succinct and detailed that I feel I cannot do any better by dressing it up, and would probably make it less enjoyable. I’ll add in the photos and any comments I might have , and I’ll try not to screw up Bills report!]

July 5 Sunday. Dick & I took limo service up to O’Hare for flight to Dulles Intl, met Les Howell & we went on to Johannesburg.

July 6 Landed in Dakar, Senegal for crew change, but did not disembark. Arrived Johannesburg about 1630 local, cleared customs and caught next flight to Port Elizabeth arriving about 2115. Took taxi to Road Lodge Motel and spent the night.

July 7 Owen Smith, Jimbah Safaris, picked us up at motel and we went to the ranch (Kriegerskrall), had lunch, sighted rifles and went hunting. I went with professional hunter (PH) George Lavin and his Khosa tracker, Vuyo. Shot a Blesbok about 1245 at 100yds with the .30-378 Weatherby. Dick & Les hunted with Owen. Dick got a Lechwe and Les a Warthog. George lost a rear tire off his truck on return to ranch & Owen joined us and helped with repairs. Beautiful day. Saw about 10 different species of game including kudu, impala, lechwe, cape springbok, black springbok, steenbok, impala, warthogs, etc. Had impala for dinner.

July 8 Dick & I hunted with George at an adjacent neighboring ranch. I shot at a Gemsbok about 1130 and creased the top of its neck as it was running away. The landowners son Chris helped and we tracked it the rest of the day and at 1415, I got another shot at 375 yards with the .30-378 and put it down. Prior in am I had missed 3 shots high at impala before shooting high (neck) on gemsbok, then found that the muzzlebreak on the Weatherby was loose and coming unscrewed. Once that was tightened up, the rifle shot accurately again. Dick missed a running shot at a big warthog. Les got a red hartebeest at dusk. Dinner of blesbok – was delicious. Today saw aardwolf, eland, white rhino, ostrich, waterbuck, red hartebeest, several warthogs, plus most of the plains game seen yesterday.

July 9 I hunted with PH George and we looked for impala all day. Very windy. Had a shot at a zebra in am, but missed left. Had trouble with the shooting sticks, too short for someone my height. Shot at impala at 275 yards, but missed. Rest of day, saw a lot of game including eland, hartebeest, springbok, waterbuck, lechwe, ostrich, warthogs, kudu, mountain reedbuck, bat eared fox, etc. Had impala and mountain reedbuck for dinner. Dick hunted with Owen and got a bushbuck and a mountain reedbuck.

Trackers Welcome, Michael, and PH Owen recovering the Bushbuck.

July 10 Departed for Asante Sana (means Thank You in Swahili) Hunting Preserve about 0700 and arrived 0900. Had breakfast and headed up into mountains for eland. Saw giraffe, baboon, sable antelope, rhino, black wildebeest, springbok, gemsbok, waterbuck, warthogs, ostrich, mountain reedbuck, eland, duiker and others. About 1515 shot a kudu at 311 yards with the .30-378, then went to scout eland for tomorrow. A magnificently beautiful place, over 100,000 acres in a bowl surrounded by mountains, [altitude range from 3000ft at the base to over 8000ft at the highest peak -lfh-]. Saw a dead waterbuck and giraffe. Dick got an eland, [at approx. 5000ft elevation -lfh-]. Great dinner, hosted by Paul (friend of one of the owners and the preserve historian) and we ate impala stew and sampled kudu biltong.

Some of the views at Asante Sana, and the lodge there. The Rhino often hung out at night on the cricket pitch outside our lodge.

July 11 Windy. Hunted eland all day. Saw many, but couldn’t get close enough for a shot. Dick rode along with George & I. Les went with Owen in am & got a Nyala about 0715. Front moving through, sprinkled a little. Had grilled steaks for dinner. Paul hosted again. Cow and calf white rhino were grazing on cricket field just outside our lodge. Saw much of same game as previous days. Also saw monkeys and elephant.

July 12 Sunday. Overcast in morning, but turned into great day. Shot an old eland bull about 0800 at 350 yards with the .30-378. Bullet creased its neck and penetrated deep between shoulder blade and ribcage, and inch or two right or left and it should have dropped, but we had to track it all day over 5-6 miles, finally got it about 1330. Radioed recovery team, and a tractor, wagon and about 15 workers came out and muscled it onto the wagon. A very hardy animal. I shot a zebra about 1630 at about 150 yards with the .30-378, by the time we had it loaded in truck it was dark. Had kudu steak for dinner.

July 13 Departed Asante Sana. Owen took Les, Dick & I on a tour of Karoo Taxidermy in Graaff Reinet. A huge operation. Then we returned to the ranch where we started (Kreigerskraal) & PH George & I hunted for about 3 hours in afternoon. Saw a bunch of impala, but not close enough for a shot.

July 14 PH George & I hunted for mountain reedbuck and I got a shot with the .308 Winchester about 0815, George said it was hit hard, but we tracked it until about 1330, but lost it. After lunch hunted impala. Shot one about 1700 at 125 yards with the Remington 700, .308 Win. Dick shot a Warthog and had to track it . Had mountain reedbuck for dinner. Getting cold tonight.

Early in the day Dick shot at one warthog and missed high. I watched the stalk and shots through the binos from above and about 500 yards away which was a very cool experience. After trudging up the hill back to the bakkie PH Owen decided to glass just over the other side of the hill. This turned very quickly into a scramble into shooting position, on the sticks, and a quick shot at 270 yards with Dick's Sako .375 H&H. The huge warthog turned to look at them just as the shot went off, resulting in a slightly high, over the shoulder hit. The race was on, the warthog took off downhill, and while the trackers ,Welcome and his brother Michael, quickly followed downhill, Owen and Dick and I reboarded the bakkie and took chase hoping to get ahead of him and cut him off. Within a couple of hundred yards, we were surprised to see the old boar trotting across our path 100 yards away, we all boiled out of the truck and attempted to stop him right there. We missed, and he went into full speed 4 wheel drive streaking off to our left, and we took up the chase! We followed to an old wire fence that did not even slow that warthog down, we found the hole he made when he ran right through it! At this point it turned into one of the most amazing tracking exhibitions I have seen. We found good tracks {our boar having a damaged or "club" foot made separating his tracks more sure!} from the hole in the fence and followed them for several hundred yards , then lost them in a rocky patch. Welcome, Michael and PH Owen cast about to the left and right finally finding a miniscule drop of blood identifying the track again and following for another several hundred yards, losing it again in a grassy area. Again they worked left, right and forward until PH Owen found blood on a blade of grass and we were off again. This went on for several hours, slowly tracking, loosing the trail, finding spoor, tracking again, all together several kilometers, when finally we lost the track entirely. After working the area for another half hour without finding any sign PH Owen was discouraged enough to start making "lost" type comments. Just as we were all about to give up Michael found the track and we very quickly then found blood, and the spotted the boar bedded down under the bush in a small donga, Dick was able to finish it off just as he started to move again. This was the most awesome demonstration of tracking I have seen. It was a pleasure to experience it. While it is hard to explain the experience to anyone who was not there, I know that we will not soon forget it!

July 15 Cold morning. Left Kriegerskrall and went to a ranch in a remote valley where Owen wanted to cull some black wildebeest cows. I swapped remaining animals in my package for a black wildebeest and shot an old bull about 1100 at about 150 yards with the .30-378. Dick & Les each shot a black wildebeest cow as part of the management program. We returned to Harold’s for the evening & after dinner Les & Harold went jackal hunting. Heard some, but didn’t see any. For dinner we ate a kudu liver appetizer and blesbok steak for dinner. Very good.

July 16 PH George, PH Owen, Les & I went out for a short ride. Owen wanted to shoot a warthog, but didn’t get a shot. He wanted to shoot my .30-378 Weatherby Mag and Les’ .338 Win. Mag. Later we left for Owen & Riana’s home on the coast in Boknes. Owen gave us a tour of the town and showed us the beaches. Beautiful. Bar-b-que’d [ Braai ] at their place for dinner. Neighbor Nick and Annamarie came for dinner. Grilled lamb chops for dinner.

July 17 Owen and his neighbor, Nick, took Dick, Les & I on a boat ride around the canals of Port Alfred, then up the Kowie River for a long ride. Saw giraffe and bushbuck. Great, warm weather, scenic, unspoiled river – we didn’t see another boat on the river.

July 18 Owen, Les, Dick & I toured Addo Elephant National Park. Big park, about the size of Rhode Island. Saw lots of elephant, cape buffalo, red hartebeest, kudu, warthogs, a black back jackal, but no lions.

July 19 Sunday. Relaxed at Owen & Riana’s home all day. We packed and got ready for return flight. Owen grilled stuffed kudu loin for dinner and it was delicious.

July 20 Stopped in Alexandria to pick up Owen’s tracker/skinners for the next hunt, then went to Port Elizabeth, stopped and bought souvenirs, then to the airport for our return flight. Departed Johannesburg about 1800 local (7 hour time difference to Chicago). Stopped at Dakar, Senegal for crew change.

July 21 Arrived Dulles Int’l Airport about 0530 local, cleared customs and on to O’ Hare. Limo picked us up and dropped me at home about 1130.

I cannot imagine doing a better job reporting our hunt and tour than that! We all had an awesome hunt, Dick experienced a different kind of hunt to our 2001 large outfitter hunt [from Cabelas]. This was much more personal and friendly and everyone was more agreeable to adverse conditions or changes in the program. They both got to experience the typical “walk and stalk” of the South African hunt, and we all got to enjoy the mountains of the Eastern Cape.

Jimbah Safaris, Owen and Riana, run a very professional and rewarding hunt,their primary goal is the hunters' satisfaction. They go out of their way at every opportunity to make sure the hunt is providing the experiences the hunter was expecting. I can recommend them without hesitation and I’m sure Dick and Bill will as well.

Les Howell
Clearwater, FL