Big adventure for the big 50 (long post)

I'm a big believer that age is just a number. The saying "act your age.", well is just bull$hit to me. I've met people in their 80s who seem like they are 25 years younger then they are. I've also met people in their 30s who act like they're at the end of life. So when 50 was going to catch me, I wasn't really concerned. Because it's just a number to me. (Though AARP can stop sending me crap!) I did know I wanted to do something special for the milestone and decided on a hunting trip. So I looked to where I've been blessed to hunt twice before and that was Africa. I ended up in Botswana and the Ghanzi territory, where Ive hunted both times.

Before ya'll think Im a high roller, keep in mind that Im not. I just put money aside here and there, go without and try to stretch the dollar far. Also, hunting plains game in Botswana, Namibia or South Africa can be and is much less then a quality backcountry elk hunt in the states. And much, much less then hunting bear or sheep in Alaska. Bringing animals back and taxidermy can up the cost for sure, but the hunt itself is much less. And your able to hunt multiple species, not just one. If I can do it, anyone can.

I first hunted Bots in 2013. I found a deal on line and fulfilled my childhood dream. The place I hunted was called Kanana and in the Ghanzi district, and was 120,000 acres. Had a fence, but anything but giraffe could go under, over or through it. All animals self sustaining. They say when you go hunt in Africa, you'll be planning on coming back. Well that was true. I was planning on coming back before I left! When I got home I thought about being there everyday. (Still do.)
Well my plans on getting back got derailed by life and it wasn't until 2023 I returned. This time I took my sons. It was a high school graduation present for the one. Sadly Kanana was no more and closed a couple years after I hunted there. The owner wants to sell the property. The PH (professional hunter) I hunted with died in an electrical accident.

So in 2023 with Kanana closed, I was thinking of hunting South Africa, until I found a place in the Ghanzi territory of Botswana called Nkwe (means leopard in Tswana) and the owner Jaco Visser. It was an epic hunt and time with my sons.

With age 50 coming I was thinking of going back to Nkwe but I also thought of hunting a cape buffalo, but after telling a pastor I work with about Nkwe, he and his son in law (who I know from years ago) booked a hunt there and asked me if I wanted to go.
The buffalo would have to wait!

 

Let the hunt begin!!

I tell people that Jaco, the owner of Nkwe, is the guy we all know who has very little filter, is funny, curses like a drunken sailor truck driver and may get you in trouble if you were around all the time. But he also takes pride in what he does, is honest, and passionate about hunting. Thriving to provide the best hunt possible. He knows EVERYONE in Ghanzi area. He also speaks fluent Bushmen (its amazing to hear him go from english to bushmen, to tswana, to afrikanner. Jaco says he's fluent in 5 languages if you count bull$hit ) His one bushmen tracker was his friend growing up and Jacos sons also speak fluent bushmen.
I warned Pastor Steve about Jaco and he said don't worry, he's heard it all before. I said ok...

We flew out of Newark and landed in Johannesburg. Almost 15 hour flight. We had to overnight in SA and stayed at the Afton House. Luke wanted to bring his own rifles, so I brought mine too, and we had help from Mr. X (who works for Afton) to clear them at the airport. Johannesburhg isnt a place you want to travel during the night. But we arrived at Afton House unscathed. Tired but excited. Next day Mr.X helped get our rifles cleared for flight to Botswana.
Afton House





Id this tree

 

Have fun and take a lot of pictures. I recently turned 50 as well. Agree it's just a number, and I am in better shape than I was 20 years ago, and I act a lot younger than my age in a lot of ways. I keep up on the music scene better than most people half my age.

For my 50th, I paid for and rented a villa in Mexico overlooking the ocean that had a staff on site and invited some of my friends.

I wanted to go fishing there, but that wasn't in the cards. We had some great adventures though and the highlight was an ATV tour through the jungle and tequila tasting on the ride back on the ATVs.

 

Found out that one of the Afton employees had a carjacking a couple weeks before we got there. The property is only 6 miles from the airport. I did tell our driver to run the red lights on the way in. Still a beautiful property. Its in a gated community, and most homes have another wall around with electrified razor wire on top.
Still beautiful despite the threat of crime.

 

After about a 2 hour flight we arrived in Maun. Airport is quite small. There's 1 carousel in the entire airport for arrivals. (Side note, in 2023 I saw coach Pete Carroll at this airport with his wife.)


We get off and go through passport control and now to find our rifles. Well we found them and Luke had an issue with his temporary import permit. I was nervous about bringing our own rifles because of the hassle it can be if there's a cancelled flight our someone didn't cross their Ts and dot the Is. After a delay of about an hour he got it straightened out.
Everyone was friendly throughout the ordeal and I kept telling Luke be patient, friendly and polite. This is Africa.
We were met by a PH named Quentin and he drove us the 3.5 hours to camp.

April/ May is fall in Southern Africa. Rainy season should be well over. Temps in Bots are in the mid 70s to mid 80s for high and lows are in the 50s. But could get cooler in Ghanzi because it's the Kalahari desert. This year the area was blessed with a crazy amount of rain with levels well above normal. In front of camp is a large pan. In 2023 it was bare dry and they would pump water up, so during the night people could watch animals come in to drink. This year, the pan was full to the deck. Which is about 10 feet deep.


We stayed in tents.

 

Day 1.
I hunted with Jaco. Pastor Steve (Uncle Steve to the staff) with Gilbert and Luke with Quentin. All PHs were great and all different personalities. Quentin is quiet and more reserved. Gilbert has a great sense of humor and you can swap digs with each other.

Everyday was the same. Up at 5:30, breakfast, then off to hunt.


The property we stayed at was 30k acres. But like I said before, Jaco knows so many other areas and properties to hunt. The 30k acres is the smallest.
During breakfast Jaco said we would hunt a property that was closed and he just got the rights to hunt there last year. As he was telling me about the property I asked is this Kanana? He said yes. I felt like a kid at Christmas. I couldnt wait. The drive there was maybe 40 minutes, but I didn't mind. I knew it was worth it.

With us was our main tracker, Georgie (age 20), also "G" ( age 20) , Tossie (who is Georgie's dad), Lil Panga (17) and later in the week Jaco had a new guy start, I just called him New Guy. Bushmen trackers are unbelievable with their abilities and to watch them at their craft. Spotting just patches of animals in thick bush or from far away. IDing a single track among hundreds.





Wish they would import these Land Cruisers to the states. The more they're abused, the better they seem to run.

When we entered Kanana property we started spotting animals literally with in 30 seconds. The bush was green, thick and high! I was giddy with excitement!!

Throughout the morning we spotted many animals that are considered shooters, but some I weren't hunting
We did spot a big impala. We made a stalk and I shot. Everyone thought it sounded like a good hit. But no one really saw the reaction because the impala was standing next to thick bushes. We looked for an hour. No blood. We figured bullet must of have hit a branch we didnt see. Not a good way to start. Jaco told me there was no need to give warning shots. LoL.
Couple busted stalks and it was lunch

Ate lunch in a farm house that was falling apart, overlooking a waterhole. Not expecting to see anything. I was watching ugly corn crickets come walk around when a decent warthog came in.



One shot and we had our first success. Look closely under the tree.

 

I will argue until Im blue in the face that the best kudu hunting in the world is in Ghanzi. The quality and numbers are crazy. A good kudu is 50". You get 55" and that's a great kudu. Anything above 55" is exceptional, 60" is a once in lifetime.

I really didn't have a size in mind this trip. I thought when I see it I'll know.
We passed up 10-20 kudu 50-55" range, Jaco kept saying we can find something better. I agreed since it was the first day and kudu were in rut as well. We spotted 2 bulls together and the one was the one.
Jaco said I had to shoot from the truck, it was just too thick to try and stalk. It was about a 125 yard shot. I used his shoulder as a rest.



Jaco asked Tossie for the tape. It ran out to 57". I couldn't believe it. I just sat there for a few minutes in awe and being thankful. Then had a beer. It was a great first day.

 

I am really enjoying your story and pictures!! Thanks for sharing!

 

What caliber did you use on the kudu? How many lbs is that one? Definitely a large animal.

 

Thank you! Im hoping Im not boring people.

I took my Steyr Mannlicher in 30.06. It has a set trigger that gives it a very light pull. Basically you can flex your finger to fire. It takes some practice to get use to and not for everyone, but I like shooting it.


I used 190 grain Swift Aframes factory loads by Swift. They seemed to be perfect.

I want to say the bulls weigh between 700-850# when grown.
Eland are the real big boys. They can be over 1800#.

 

Day 2...
Another beautiful morning and the plan was that we were going to hunt the main property. I was the only one with luck on the first day. Steve and Luke told me they didn't realize how out of shape they were until they started tracking for hours on end. Even though the ground is basically flat, you're constantly ducking, squatting and avoiding things that have thorns, which seems to be everything. While trying to be quiet. The trackers move through the bush like ghosts.

Sunrises and sunsets are beautiful here.






Spotted the bushmen's hoard. No matter where you go in the world, there's firewood hoarders. . Mostly leadwood trees I believe. Its like the BLack Locust of Africa.





We drove and saw some dandy Gemsbok, but they weren't high on my list. Jaco and the trackers thought I was crazy for passing them up. I kind of questioned myself too, because I believe in take the opportunity when it presents itself, even if not on the list. But I was looking for wildebeest and eland. The last 2 trips wildebeest have given me the slip. Bad shooting on my part. So I wanted to get that monkey off my back. As for eland, finding tracks and hunting them down is my favorite hunt. You could be tracking for miles and miles. Their walking stride is like 6', so if they start running you can imagine the distance they go in a short time.
We saw some fresh tracks in the sand across the two track and started to follow. It was a decent size herd. Eland were out of rut, so the males would be hanging together, but this had a mix of bulls and cows. We tracked for only about 30 minutes when we started to hear them. We duckwalked under the brush and were trying to make out what was what in the thick brush. Only cows. Jaco and Georgie were having a discussion in bushmen, when Jaco gave a puzzled look to me. He motioned for me to get closer as he put up the shooting sticks. He pointed to an opening in the brush and said "Georgie says the black bull is going to come through there. " "What bull?". "I don't see him yet, but be ready.". An eland passed through and then another form was there. Jaco whistled and it stopped. All I could make out was a lighter color area in a 8" triangle. Jaco said, thats the shoulder. I shot. Georgie gave a holler and started smacking me on the back. Jaco said, awesome shot, you put it in the only place you coul and he dropped his nose into the dirt. Eland are tough animals and that is rare.
Well, as we started walking it got up and was lumbering away. An animal that size with a broken shoulder isn't going to get far. I shot again and he dropped. Georgie patting me on the back the entire time. We got to him and he wasn't dead yet. I gave him one last one up close and personal. It always does something to me when an animal looks you in the eye when you took it's life. Humbles me.
The eland was still in rut. His neck was like a 5 gallon bucket.





I looked at my watch, it wasn't even 8:30.

 

Dream Trip my friend, enjoy every minute of it.

 

I’d say your 30-06 did well. Those are big animals!

 

An 06; will do great on everything in the Americas. Where he's at, there's a need for bigger, that's the crazy part.

 

This is a great thread. Really enjoying the reading.
So happy you took the trip. Awesome 50th birthday present

 

WOW more pictures Please

 

Great question.
No. We can't bring any meat home. The agreement with 2 of the properties that Jaco has hunting rights to, the meat stays there. They have butcher it and then sell it. So the staff there will skin or cape the animal, then butcher. It was really clean. Cleaner then some of the deer processing places Ive seen.



This is all game. The one with the yellow fat is a zebra.


With the main property the meat is used to feed the hunters, staff and their families, and they also take it to the butcher in town and sell it. The butcher shop is owned by Jaco's aunt.
Other properties Jaco has his own agreement with, he can do whatever he wants with the meat. Most of that he gives to friends and sells.

Nothing goes to waste. The bushmen eat the tripe of all the animals, plus organs.

This is Tossie. He has the colon of a gemsbok. He filled it with blood to wash it out and he then was going to rinse it with water. He cooked it on the fire. He told Jaco I could come that night and eat with the bushmen . I made a face and declined. Tossie thought it was hilarious. I wasn't sure how my stomach would react to gemsbok colon.




The food I did eat was made by chef
Godfrey. He is one of the happiest and most positive people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting and his cooking is out of the world!! He is from zimbabwae. Jaco busts his chops all the time but told me Godfrey is one of his biggest assets of his operation. He's also the camp manager, for lack of better term.


In the mornings I would ask him what he felt like cooking and then try find it. When I got the eland, I asked if he could make eland tail stew. He said we needed another one since so many of us. We did have it later in the week. He also makes a pizza appetizer. I dont know what makes it so good, but it's delicious! Almost everything made from scratch. My favorite meal though is eland tenderloin over coals.
This is less than half of one eland tenderloin. Fed 7 grown men, with some to spare.

 

random pics

Milky way








Everything is run by solar. There is a generator if needed.
Every morning at 5 AM, someone would light a fire for the tents hot water heater. It stayed piping hot until night







Plenty of giraffes around. One property had an over abundance.

 

Great pictures, sir. Thanks for sharing.