African Trophies

Well, our success went beyond safe travels and a great time.  The company was superb, the fishing was amazing, the hunting was phenomenal, the sunrises and sunset will forever be etched in my mind.  Did we have a good time?  YES!  Would we go back again?  YES!  Do we think everyone should experience it?  YES! 

All total at Chawalo Safaris in Mozambique we landed 10 tigerfish and 2 burbell's.  Absolutely NO idea how many we hooked, let alone hit the line just long enough to let us know they were there to screw with us.  Oh, and the first night, I hooked a crocodile!   Nope, he didn't break the surface, just took the bait and went deep into the reeds.  The line finally broke trying to pull it up.

12 lb burbell catfish.

Just like all catfish, this guy went straight to the bottom.  Fun to reel in!

My hog of a tigerfish.....12 lb's.  Boy do these things fight!

Our guide, Kenneth and Bill's 15 lb, 27 1/2" long, 15" girth catch of the week!

Bill's tigerfish was the story from the Mozambique adventure.  He hit the line and acted like either a burbell or a vundoo (GIANT catfish).  I have no idea how long it took to land that fish, but Bill's back hurt so bad, he had trouble standing up, the line on the rod was stretched ridiculously and we were all positive it was going to snap at any moment!  Fortunately, it didn't snap, the drag on the reel burned up from fighting it so long but FINALLY it made it into the boat.  That's what memories are made of!  The last day we were there no less!!

First sunset in the country of Mozambique, Africa.

Next leg of the trip took us to Namibia for our African plains game hunt.  We were ticketed incorrectly leaving Lusaka along with our luggage being checked incorrectly.  WE made it to Namibia, but our luggage spent a couple days in Harare, Zimbabwe.  (Glad we didn't travel with firearms.)  Nice.  What do you do in Africa when your bags don't show up?  You go hunting anyway!  Bill had a change of clothes in his carry-on, so I borrowed his pants and just wore the same shirt.  Only thing to really think about - the only shoes I had were my FLIP-FLOPS!!!!  Hunting 2 days in the bush of Africa with nothin' but flip flops.  Yep, it's the little things that make the best memories!  Bill wore the same pants and his spare shirt as it was bright blue instead of white.  Hey, we gots to make the best of this!  Day 2 of the hunt came along and I simply couldn't bring myself to wear the same shirt again so we both bought shirts from Makadi Safari's, they gave Bill a ball-cap and we continued our adventure....quite successfully I might add!

Our guide, Bernie and I with my trophy gemsbuck.  A very old, broomed off bull.  

Notice my foot wear!  Our 2nd day chasing around the bush proved quite difficult as every time we tried to put the sneak on an animal, the wind would change direction and we'd get busted!  At last light, we had pretty much given up for the day, Bernie called Independence (our first driver) and Bill to come join up with us by a waterhole to head back to camp.  I looked across and saw what I thought was a wart-hog, but nope, it was this old guy, so off we went!  This was the toughest part of the hunt keeping up with Bernie through the thorns making fast tracks to catch up to to the gemsbuck before he left the country.  As soon as the brush opened up (my eyes were glued to the ground watching where every step was placed), I didn't even realize we had got caught up to him when Bernie through open the sticks, held them tight and said, "Lean against me and shoot!!!"  Hurried shot, up went the gun, boom went the trigger and down went the gemsbuck.  Dropped in his tracks.  Yeah, I hunt like a girl!

My 14 year old bull kudu measuring 325 cm scoring a Game Fields Medal.

Pretty proud of this old boy, and yes, happy I passed on kudu #1.  He was across the ravine and all I could see was 1/2 of his neck up when I took the first shot as he was in the brush.  Second shot dropped him dead in his tracks!  The base of his horns are so large one can't touch finger to finger reaching around them.  BTW, this was day 3, our luggage had shown up the night before so I did NOT have to hunt the MOUNTAINS of Namibia in flip-flops.  My toes were MUCH happier!

Very nice representative cow gemsbuck with really long SHARP horns.  (Kinda makes mine look like a dink!)

Day 4 was Bill's turn, sitting in the blind on the same waterhole I shot my gemsbuck, this ol' girl came in.  Bill never even stood up!  Now that's what African bush hunting is supposed to be like.....get comfortable in the blind, start tellin' lies to each other all relaxed in your chair, lean out the blind and make that shot!

Bernie and Bill with his wart-hog measuring 41cm scoring a gold medal.

Bill just knows how its done!  Day 5, once again, sitting in a blind on a waterhole - this time he actually had to stand up to get the shot though.  Just before Bill shot, Bernie had him wait as another large hog came in and he wanted to make sure the larger of the two was being culled.  That .375 had him doing somersaults!

Springbok measuring 103.5 cm scoring a gold medal.

This guy gave me a run for my money.  All we saw on day 6 was one lone female so we obtained permission to hunt some different land for day 7.  These guys are pretty spooky and again the wind wasn't helping matters.  I wasn't doing the belly crawl, but I certainly got my "low walk" practice in putting the sneak on them.  Notice the hair standing on his back - when this species die, it stands up and you rub the skin it smells like caramel.  Interesting to say the least.

Gemsbuck #2, gemsbuck #3 and Bill's Jackal.

While we were at Makadi, we had some spare time in between our trophy harvest so I was able to take two additional gemsbuck and while on predator patrol, Bill shot a jackal.  They have an abundance of gemsbuck so when it's time to be putting meat in the freezers not only for the camp but also for the natives, gemsbuck is what is culled.  When I shot #2, Bernie looked at me and said, "You shot off hand."  Yep, I did.  Gemsbuck #3 really drove home just how tough these animals are, when I dropped him in his tracks and still put an additional 2 rounds in him just to make sure we didn't have to play the chase game.  

Last sunset at Makadi Safaris ranch.

Did we have a good time?  You betcha!