Well, mom and dad got to South Africa on the 15th and the next day we left right away for the bush. After about 4 hours we arrived at Richard Holmes Safari camp. Being that we all got up early and our "Professional Hunter",Lalase, had to wake up at 4 to come fetch us, we thought we would just get there and take it easy. NOPE. We went straight out hunting. It started to rain a bit but we got to the Springbok and Dad and I, Mom and Lalase all snuck up on a herd of them. Wasnt too diffacult but we ended up getting two trophy springbok in the rain!
The next day was by far the most diffacult. My dad and Lalase are now both sick, but are both willing to walk with me all day in the semi-desert region with the extreme heat that comes with being in Africa. After a long day I gave up, but my dad and Lalase give it one last attempt. With my mom, Jon, me and Nizbet driving around and pushing the animals to move, my dad shoots a beautiful Hearabeast running at 300 yards. Sucess!
The third day started with a long drive to another ranch in search of a Kudu. My dad is now feeling pretty crummy with a bug of some sorts. Lalase and I sneek about the moutains in seach of a Kudu and not too long after, we are able to sneek up on a heard. While getting set up to shoot, we scare them off, but they magically stop at about 300 yards away. So another trophy was added to the list! We decide to head home early, but not before picking up Jon's 4 children, 1 nephew, and Lalase's 2 children. We now 14 people in one pickup truck.
The next day consisted of a lot of driving, the sighting of lots of neat animals, but no meat. :)
The fifth day was back to the Kudu ranch which is actually called Ntoni which means white in the Kosa Language. We snuck around the mountains again and caught a beautiful Red Heartabeast bull looking the wrong way. We set up the shooting sticks and at 250 yards I was able to get my third trophy.
The last day was the day of the Gemsbok. A very beautiful animal that I got in the plains region at about 200 yards. A beautiful hunt in a comfortable temperature.
The hunting was wonderful, but the knowledge we learded about the animals themselves and the environment was unbelievable. Lalase was a wonderfully friendly and warm person despite the fact that his wife had died of cancer not two months ago. He opened up to us so much it was really touching. We learned about South Africa and about the people, expecially the Kosa people.
Most memorable experience yet!
We are now being pampered in the Pumba lodge on a private game reserve. We have sean lions, cheetahs, elephants, and rhinos. It just keeps getting better and better!
