THE GRAY GHOST OF AFRICA

Kudu Bull

For me a Kudu bull sports the most impressive headgear of all the big game animals in Africa.  The Kudu is often one of the most desired trophies on a hunters wish list.  The nickname gray ghost comes from the kudu's love of the thick bush and its shy reclusive nature. The kudu is a very challenging trophy. It is amazing how quickly and easily they can disappear into the bush with just a few steps. They are there one second and gone the next. On my first safari I took a nice bull but only after many days of hard hunting. He was what I called a "good" last evening of the hunt bull. Not the giant I had hoped for, but a good representation of the species and still a very nice mount. As so often happens after you have filled your tag, the next morning as we left camp on the way to the airport a monster 60 inch kudu strolled across the road paying no attention to us. I just screamed out the window at him, "Where were you yesterday?"  A trophy bull will have a set of horns with three complete spirals that end in ivory tips. When you stand above a kudu bull and look down the spiral twist of the horn you will see a perfect circle in the middle. This circle can be as small as a broom handle and as large as a grapefruit on an exceptional trophy. The kudu has white bands on the bridge of the nose, thin white stripes on the flanks, and a hairy mane down his neck to his chest. A mature kudu bull is one of the most impressive and stunning creatures in the world. We saw a herd of kudu bulls on a night game spotting drive on Frikkie's ranch. A giant bull ran across the road in front of us on our way to Eric's ranch to hunt gemsbok and springbok. Frikkie stopped so I could see the classic going away look as he faded into the bush. While on a hunt we came upon a bull and cow in thick cover. They stood just long enough to snap a few quick photos then slipped away. The last kudu we saw on this trip was an impressive bull in Kruger at dusk. Just getting to see this many kudu on one safari was enough on its own to make the trip worth it for me.

Two in the bush

Impressive bull

THE LIONS OF KRUGER

My, what big teeth you have

LION...perhaps no other animal on earth puts more fear in the heart of man. Yet, the king of beasts inspires, no demands, awe and respect. There is just something about seeing lions in the wild that makes your heart race with excitement. Our good fortune with the big cats in Kruger Park kept up with the local lion prides. One afternoon we came across a huge black mained male lion relaxing beside the road. You could see his belly was full and his eyes were heavy with sleep. I hoped he had just eaten an impala. Kruger is loaded with them. The Kruger field guide estimates the park has over 26,000 impalas. I swear that we saw every single one.  Traveling through Kruger with a PH who grew up just outside the park was a huge advantage. He knew the park like I know the rolling hills of Jefferson County, PA. Frikkie stopped a park guide one evening. The guide was more than happy to share the location of the pride of lions he had seen earlier. He told us to take the first road to the left and just keeping driving. With our insider information we headed down one of the parks many dirt back roads. About 30 minutes later, we came upon a male lion with a few females resting in a small clearing. They all had bellies full of red meat and were just finishing giving themselves baths. They may act just like my cat Buck back home after a meal, but don't let the cute little kitty appearance fool you. A lion could take you out in one second with one swipe of their paw or one bite from their powerful jaws. Clearly on this evening one of the Kruger park animals had been dinner for this pride. As we watched lions being lions and snapped photo after photo, more females made their way out of the bush into the clearing. As dusk settled the entire pride made their way by us and plopped down on the warm dirt road behind our vehicle. It was humbling to be just feet from creatures with such huge teeth and massive paws each armed with razor-sharp claws. The park has strick rules that states you must be back inside the protective electric fence around your chalet by dark. We needed to get going with 12km to cover and 20 minutes to get their before dark or face a fine. Frikkie decided we could not wait any longer. He turned around and slowly approached the lions who did not seem interested in getting out of our way. As the Toyota inched closer they relucantly started to stand. Frikkie had to sort of force our way through. As we drove by, the pissed off looking female below protested loudly. Frikkie told me to put up my window before she tried to pull me out of the car. As I rolled up the window the male flashed his teeth at us and he was less than 10 feet away. At that moment I could see Frikkie looking in the side mirror. Suddenly he yelled, "You bitch!" The grumpy female had decided to charge the back of the vehicle. Frikkie said he could just see her tail waving like crazy in the mirror as she charged the rear bumper. What a rush! Our incredible adventure just kept getting better. As we made our way back to camp, from the back seat Frikkie's wife Natasha in her sweet soft voice said, "Now I too can say I have survived a lion charge."  Everybody erupted into laughter.



The Bitch



Nice kitty

I'm just so sleepy

What's up?

King of Kruger

RHINO

Thanks to a thing called a green hunt, the rhino is making a strong recovery in some parts of Africa. A green hunt is where the hunter shoots a rhino with a dart. The animal is only out a short time for vets to draw blood and run a few tests. The money spent by hunters on green hunts has given a value to the rhino. A portion of this money now goes to the local enconomy and the local people.  When it comes to conservation, the money spent by hunters is still the best chance of  the rhino making a come back. At this time, I think South Africa has stopped green hunts for some reason? Poachers shooting rhino, just to saw off their horn to be sold in Asia, still remains the biggest threat to this wonderful animal. Three times on safari I had the crap scared out of me by rhino. Luckily I was in the safari truck each time it happened. Towards the end of an evening hunt as we were looking at some game on one side of road, a rhino exploded from the bush on our other side just a few feet in front of us. The second time it was almost a carbon copy of the previous encounter but is was on a night game spotting ride. The third time also happened on a night game spotting drive but it was in the Limpopo region on the river bottom. We were driving along an over grown road. Frikkie had seen the eyes of something to our right so everybody's attention was focused in that direction. Suddenly the thick brush very close to the left side of the safari truck exploded with snorts and cracking brush. We had driven up on three bedded rhino and scared them about as bad as they scared me. An adult male rhino can weigh in at over 4,000 pounds and has only two enemies, Man and the odd bad encounter with angry elephant. For the most part a rhino goes and does what he wants to do, when he want to do it.  The rhino also is known to have a very short temper and  a reputation of charging even when unprovoked.

GOT YOUR BACK JACK!

Frikkie with the big double gun

Frikkie du Toit...a big man with a big heart who carries a big gun...and in Africa you better know how to use it. The first time I met Frikkie was at the Harrisburg Sports Show several years ago. My wife and I had decided that we wanted to research a possible second safari to Africa. Di had given me the green light to start looking, so I was on a mission. We talked to almost every African Outfitter at the show. Some had impressive mounts and flashy booths with videos blastings away. Frikkie had a little more simple but effective set up. It turned out he had all that he needed, at least for me..a booth, a banner, pictures, a nice brochure, and his personality.  As we talked about the game, the location of his camp, the climate, and everything that goes with getting to know a little bit about the professional hunter and how he runs his operation, he simply came across as an honest straight shooter with a great sense of humor. On the long ride home Di & I talked about all the professional hunters we visited with. We both agreed the really nice guy with the odd name seemed to be the best. Several years passed until we made our next visit to Harrisburg. The next time we went I made a bee-line to Frikkie's booth as soon as the doors opened. This time we were serious as we asked him to give us a quote on a hunt and photo safari to Kruger Park. Later that year we decided to book our safari. We again went to Harrisburg to visit Frikkie and go over some questions we had.  That evening Frikkie invited us to join him at the African Outfitter's Super Bowl Party. Watching NFL football with rugby fans was a riot. They only cared about the score at the end of each quarter because they could win a little money on box/score wagers they all were in on. During the evening I noticed how almost every outfitter made it a point to say hello to Frikkie. You could see on their faces that they had a lot of respect for him too. Even the staff at the hotel knew him and seemed to honestly like him. The party later spilled into the bar.
FYI: Do not try to stand at the bar and drink one for one with professional hunters. They will crush you! Last year...we went the Saturday before the Super Bowl. Learned my lesson the year before. The final plans and payments were made...Look out Africa here we come! When you are headed half way around the world with your wife, a good and trusted PH is a must. After all, it is his job to keep your sorry American butts alive. I had checked references and felt very confident we would be in good hands. When you spend a week with a guy in the bush then another week with him in the car you get to know each other. My image of Frikkie is a loving husband and father with great respect for god and for Africa and her animals. He lives for Blue Bulls Rugby and the thrill of the hunt. One evening, after dinner, over a few cocktails the conversation turned to the dangers of his job. As policeman, as a soldier, and as professional hunter, he has faced potential death from man and beast many times with the scars to prove it. He is a man who has faced gun fire and the charging fury of buffalo, rhino, elephant, lion, and leopard, just to name a few. He has seen the icy cold gaze of death eye to eye on more than one occassion. If push came to shove in the bush, I can say with out a doubt, that I knew Frikkie had my back, not because it was his job to do so, but because he cared. In a fight, if I got to pick two men to go with me that would have my back no matter what,  I would take my brother Jim and Frikkie du Toit. I did get to shoot his "big guns" too. Let's just say the recoil got my attention.

Loving Father & Husband

Respect for Africa and her animals

Learn more about Frikkie:
http://www.africabig5.co.za/index.html

THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM

Africa has four spiral horned antelope species...eland, kudu, nyala, and bushbuck.  I had taken a kudu on our first safari and so a bushbuck would give me two of the four needed for "The African Spiral Slam." Maybe a eland on my next trip? The giant eland has been a favorite animal of mine since the first time I saw one while sitting in a leopard blind at night in Zimbabwe back in 1998. The magnificant  Nyala is an incredible animal that most hunters dream of taking. If I see that a hunting show says they are after nyala, I record it every time. The only problem is that a nyala comes with a pretty steep trophy fee by my standards. Our hunt in the southern Kalahari had been a great success. I had taken three exceptional trophies but to get my bushbuck would require going to the part of the country that they call home. The next time I loaded my rifle would be after an eleven hour drive, over two days, to Africa's famous Limpopo region. The plan was to meet Frikkie's friend Marco to hunt his concession's heavy covered lush river bottoms for a bushbuck. The bushbuck is the smallest of the four spirals. It has a dark chocolate coat with white spots on the back third of the body. A good male will have black horns 14 inches or better. Very thick cover near water is their home. They are shy secerative creatures and their love of heavy cover makes them a very challengeing trophy.  They may be small and shy but when wounded they have been known to charge and use their razor sharp horns like daggers on hunters. They feed and move much like our whitetail deer and are most active from just before dusk until shortly after sunrise.  Our hunt started by getting the safari truck stuck in the deep black mud of  the river bottom. Frikkie just laughed and said, "It wouldn't be a safari if you didn't get stuck at least once". Thank god Frikki and Uri had to slog through the knee deep black ooze to run the cable from the power wench on the front bumper to pull us free.  As we made our way along the river bottom we came upon a nyala bull rolling in the mud. My heart skipped a beat when I saw him. I was in awe at the impressive sight  which instantly lit a  fire inside me..someday I have to hunt a nyala. At least I could dream about it.  He was massive. About the size of a bull elk. He has golden boots that come up to the knee. A dark brown coat with white stripes down the sides. Plus, a thick shaggy main around the neck and under the belly. Topped off with a set of huge spiral horns covered in mud. Frikkie and the other guys also had noticed that the nyala really lit my fire. The hunt for bushbuck was proving very tough. We had seen plenty of animals but the high grass was making identifying a good male and finding a shot on such a short animal difficult. When we saw a one horned nyala, I again got very excited. Frikkie gave me a goofy look and said "He only has one horn." I replied, "I know but he is still a nyala."  After dinner Frikkie told me that he had a special surprise for me on the evening hunt, if we got the the chance and then flashed me a huge grin. I had assumed he was going to let me shoot a small cat or spotted genet if the chance came up. We spent the next several hours bouncing along the river bottoms but just could not get a shot at a bushbuck. Then it happened a dream I thought would never come true did exactly that. As we turned the corner there stood the same nyala bull we had seen earlier in the day rolling in the mud. I told Frikkie, "He's a monster." To my surprise Frikkie told me, "Take him." The look of total amazement and shock must have said it all because I surely could not speak. Again Frikkie told to me to take him. I settled the crosshairs on his front shoulder and fired. As I approached my nyala my hands started shaking. It was like a dream or out of body experience. I just sat beside my magnificant trophy in shock as a million thoughts raced through my mind. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever really expect to take a nyala, let alone on this trip. After many hand shakes and photos, Marco pulled a bottle of J&B from behind his seat. As we sat there in the dark watching the full moon dance on the water, I could hear the hippos protesting our presence. To my wife, Frikkie, & Natasha I say a heartfelt THANK YOU for helping me experience the impossible dream...my very own nyala. On the cold ride back to camp it hit me, we'll have to come back again to get that bushbuck...YAHOO!

Frikkie and me with a monster Nyala bull.



Marco, Uri, and a happy me

Visit Frikkie du Toit Safaris:
http://www.africabig5.co.za/index.html



SPOTS IN THE TREES

Lady luck was on our side when in came to cats in Africa. One night when out spotting for game we saw a Serval. A shy and sly  small cat with a spotted coat very similar to that of a leopard. We hadn't went more than a hundred yards and we saw a second Serval hiding in the tall grass. He stepped into an old vehicle track where the grass was shorter when I finally got to see the entire cat. WOW...such a beautiful animal in such a big and dangerous place. Finding lions was not a problem either.  Every time we would get near a stream bottom with larger trees Frikkie would say, "Keep your eyes open for a leopard in trees." We were looking for leopard in the lower branches of larger trees. Leopard take their kills to the trees to avoid having their hard earned meals stolen by hyena and lion. They spend most of the day just relaxing in the tree tops and come down at dusk to hunt. We talked to several people that had been to Kruger more than once and still had not seen a leopard. On our first evening in the park it happened. We were making our way to Satara Camp when we drove by another lush green riverbed. I was scanning the trees on my side of the vehicle for spots in the trees. When Di shouted "LEOPARD!" I turned my head to see out the other side of the car and there it stood in a "Y" of tree just less than 50 yards away. A fantastic huge male leopard. I think he was using the tree for a better view of the surrounding plains to spot a possible meal. As he made his way to the ground, you could see that a leopard is a very muscular cat built for power and strength. One morning the ladies decided to sleep in so it was just me, Frikkie, FJ, and Xanthe. What a morning it turned out to be. As we made our way on a lonely winding road through Kruger, Frikkie pointed to the trees in river bottom ahead. There on a thick branch was another fantastic male leopard sound asleep. We drove closer to get some better pictures which was very difficult in the early morning light. He stirred a little, gave us quick look, and went back to his nap. Not one but two leopard sightings on one safari. As I said before....Lady Luck was on our side when it came to the big cats. The only cat we did not see was a cheetah. No big shock with all of the high grass from the heavier than normal rains making a cheetah sighting next to impossible.

A FACE ONLY A MOTHER COULD LOVE

Let's face it, a warthog has a face only a mother could love. They look like they are covered in shark skin that has been out of the water for several days. And that face...ouch! Add some long coarse body hair, some regular mud baths, and you have one ugly dude. When frightened a warthog runs away with his tail held high. Our first PH in Africa used to act like he had a remote control every time we spooked warthogs and they fled with their tails in the air. He would say with a smile..."Using my remote control for his antenna." They do look like an R-C toy with their tail held straight as a poker as they exit stage left. Our last morning in Kruger Park I stepped outside of our chalet to find a warthog eating in the yard. I was excited about the chance for a few close up pictures without any brush or tall grass to mess up the shots. Then it hit me, he must have gotten through a hole in the game fence protecting visitors from the wild animals of the park. NOT COOL...when I remembered several large hyena the night before standing just a few feet from the fence just down wind of our bar-b-q. I would not want to open the door to find the devil's dogs there to greet me. For the record, warthog is my second favorite african game on the dinner table, only behind the springbok. After the warthog left, I discovered the local monkeys had found our coolers and helped themselves to breakfast. The Kruger monkeys and baboons are as bold as any theives in toughest section of the big city. They have learned people = food.

ONE OF THE ROTTEN BANDITS!