Home From South Africa

[sheephunterab]

Outfitter: AAA Serapa Safaris, South Africa

PH's: Gielie Uys and Pule Claassens

Location: Northwestern South Africa

Hunt: 14 - Day Lioness / Plains game Safari

Dates: May 16 - 29, 2013)

Equipment:
Rocky Mountain Rifle 375 H&H, Zeiss Duralyte 1.2-5x32shooting 250 grain GMX handloads
Tikka T3 30-06, Zeiss Conquest 3.5-10x44 w/Rapid Z 600shooting 165 grain GMX Superformance ammo


Vanessa and I were looking for something a bit different onthis African trip. Our first trip to Africa was to Namibia and it was a tentsafari that took us across a good chunk of the country. This time we wanted toenjoy a bit of luxury and have access to a wider variety of plains game. Aftermeeting with Apie and Yolande Reyneke at the African Hunting Expo in Calgaryand then again in Reno, it seemed like they had everything we were looking foralthough we must admit that we were a bit sceptical that their lodge couldreally be as luxurious as it looked in the brochures. Mark and CindyZimmermann, Canadian reps for Serapa Safaris assured us that the facilitieswere everything portrayed and more and that the quality of game available wasincredible and that it would offer a real quality hunting experience.

We wanted to stalk on foot and shoot off sticks like a moretraditional African hunt and were assured that they could tailor the hunt toour exact needs and wants. We met with them a few more times and finallysettled on a 14 day plains game hunt with the addition of a lioness forVanessa. Serapa is well known for their lion hunting and doing a hunt trackingon foot with the possibility of some extremely close range shooting had ussold. Mark and Cindy also decided to join us for the first part of our trip.

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Our Chalet

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We flew Calgary to London to Jo'burg where Apie met us andflew us to the lodge in his Cessna 210. We were totally blown away by thelodge. The brochure didn't come close to doing it justice. The sheer grandeurand elegance can't be described. After settling in and having a shower, Gieliesuggested we go sight our rifles in. Everything was still bang on so Gieliesuggest we go for a quick drive before dark. We ended up spotting a absolutestud of a black wildebeest bull and after a lengthy stalk, I put him down onthe spot with the .375. What a start!

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On day 2, we were hunting with Pule and we got our firstreal look at the massive 47,000 acre property. Game was abundant and we ended upplaying cat and mouse with a herd of Burchell's zebra for most of the day.Finally with about 10 minutes of light left, Vanessa made an awesome 250 yardshot and put a zebra down for good.

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Serapa has a very healthy population of red lechwe and itwas on the agenda for day three. We looked over a large number of males beforesetting our sights on one particular specimen. Vanessa hit him just slightlytoo far ahead with her 30-06 and a long tracking job with no blood ensued.Watching Pule and his tracker unravel the trail from the myriad of tracks wasunbelievable but after several hours Vanessa made good on her follow up shotand had an incredible trophy lechwe.

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[sheephunterab]

That afternoon after lunch, we were headed out to look foran impala when we spotted a huge sable bull. Sable was tentatively on my listand after one look at the bull we were planning a stalk. Pule got us top within150 yards and I punched a 250 grain GMX right through the bull's heart. Hereared up on his hind legs and hit the ground hard. What an incredible trophy!

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We were awoken nearly every morning by the sound of roaringlions and we constantly seeing tracks in the sand but we had yet to find atrack from a big old female but with lots of days remaining were weren'tworried. Vanessa ended up taking an ancient old blesbok just before dark on Day4.

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Both Pule and Gielie were with us on Day 5 and we spotted ahuge gemsbok bull. While not on our wishlist, it was on Mark's and he took themassive 40" bull with a well placed shot to the chest. In the afternoon,we spotted a monster of a steenbuck and Pule managed to get Vanessa in positionwhere she made a perfect shot.

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Day 6 we must have looked at over 100 impala rams but therejust wasn't one that had everything Pule was looking for.

On day 7 we spotted some vultures in the morning on whatappeared to be a kill and upon closer inspection, it was a lion kill. Gieliefelt the there was a female and a smaller male on the kill and suggested wetrack the female. After several hours, we got our first look at the lioness.She was lying in some heavy cover about 40 yards away and offered no shot.After what seemed forever, she got up and slipped out the back of the bushes.We were on the trail again. We caught her in a small opening and Vanessa hither hard with a 250 grain GMX. The lion ran into some heavy cover and we knewwe had to follow. At eight yards Gielie spotted the female lying in wait for usand Vanessa as cool as ever shot the lion again and her dream had come true.Lion hunting on foot is an incredible experience and Vanessa had a verywell-earned trophy and the respect of her PH for staying so cool underpressure.

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[sheephunterab]

Day 8 saw us tracking eland for the entire day and despitegetting close to the herd numerous times, a shot at the biggest bull in thegroup never presented itself. As we were just about to give up, Gielie spotteda big impala ram and a quick stalk resulted in a head on shot. I placed the 165GMX in the impala's heart and I had a great ram.

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On day 9 we took up the eland trail again but by noonrealized they were pretty spooked so decided to get off the trail for a bit. Wewere treated to an incredible bush lunch by a water hole and it was off huntingagain. As we were looking for eland again, we spotted a great nyala bull. Thiswas tops on my list and I think a bit of buck fever got the best of me. Imissed a 150 head on shot on the bull. We tracked him for several more hoursbefore losing his track among a bunch of fresh eland tracks. With my confidenceshaken from the miss, I really took my time when the big eland bull we'd beenchasing for two days offered a broadside shot at 150 yards. There was nomistake this time. The bullet slammed through his shoulder and into his heart.He barely took a step.

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On Day 10, we spotted the nyala bull from the previous day and this time me shot wastrue and the 165 grain 30-06 bullet took his heart out. I finally had my nyala.That afternoon Mark took a great steenbuck just before dark. As it was Mark andCindy's last day in camp, a great celebration was held in camp that night andVanessa had to do the dance of the lion hunter.

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We'd been keeping an eye on a large group of femalewaterbucks and on Day 11 a big bull finally joined them. We took up the trackand after several hours and several miles, the bull offered up a 200 yard shotand the 30-06 was true again. I hit him right in the heart. The mass on hishorns was spectacular!

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[sheephunterab]

That left only springbok on our list and while they wereplentiful, getting in range on foot was a completely different matter. After adozen or so blown stalks in two days, Vanessa was finally able to put a bigmale down with her 30-06. When a nice duiker presented a shot later on, Icouldn't resist and added one more species to the list.

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We spent the final few days photographing and saw anincredible array of game including a couple monster cape buffalo, a huge malelion, giraffes, ostriches, a monster kudu bull and an amazing array of othergame. It was with heavy hearts that we got back into Apie's plane for thebeginning of our journey home.

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Serapa really is a spectacular destination for the couple orfamily in search of an upscale lodge with an incredible hunting experience.

[Blainer]

Amazing share! I'm especially fond of the Sable . Beautiful animal and not cheap. Fantastic job by both of you. Lioness is again beautiful. Hope there's more to come.

[sheephunterab]

Sable have really come down in price in the past few years...still expensive but they are much more affordable. The lioness is a great dangerous game experience at a fraction of the price of a male lion.

[kennyj]

Wow, what a trip! I'm no expert, but most of your trophys look like BIG ones. Thanks for sharing your adventure. Great write up and photos.
kenny

[sheephunterab]

Wow, what a trip! I'm no expert, but most of your trophys look like BIG ones. Thanks for sharing your adventure. Great write up and photos.
kenny

Thanks. Yes we were fortunate to take some pretty exceptional trophies. The PHs really worked hard and had us pass up a lot of animals to get the ones we did.

[The Silent Stalker]

Great write up and pics, thanks for sharing. My buckets list has since been updated. Out of curiosity, what does a trip like cost a fellow?

[sheephunterab]

Haven't added up all the numbers yet but it would be in the $35k range

[xfactor]

Beautiful animals! If the trip was 35, how much roughly is all the taxidermy? Do you have to have it done there? Or is it done locally? Are there fees for each animal taken?

With the lodge being so remote, what do they do with all of the meat?

Again. Beautiful pictures! I spent 2.5 months in Uganda and Kenya, years ago, Africa has a special place in my heart. Hope to go there again with my wife and kids.

Thanks for sharing

[ydouask]

Thank you very much for sharing your hunt and beautiful pictures with us. Very nicely done.

[sheephunterab]

You can have your taxidermy done there or have your horns and capes shipped home. We will have our horns and capes shipped home and have our own taxidermist do them here. Yes, you pay a daily rate plus a harvest fee for each animal. They have a staff of over 20 people that live there with their families and the majority of meat goes to them. The rest is used by others in the area.

[325]

Jealous....definitely jealous...awesome animals, thanks for sharing!

[srupp]

simply amazing.....thanks for taking us along....incredible photos....spectacular animals...reasonable cost..when you consider some BC sheep hunts cost that.....appreciate the stories...

cheers
Steven

[REMINGTON JIM]

simply amazing.....thanks for taking us along....incredible photos....spectacular animals...reasonable cost..when you consider some BC sheep hunts cost that.....appreciate the stories...

cheers
Steven

X2 can't really add any thing to that - Just congrats on your trip ! Beauty Trophies ! :-D Cheers RJ

[sheephunterab]

Here's a few more pictures...
Our bush lunch
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Inside our chalet
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A couple big buff
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Kudu were in the heat of the rut and we saw some great bulls
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[eric]

Wowzers, that is roughing it isn't it :-D

Thanks for sharing your story and all those super pictures.
When will the adventure be on tv ?

That is one trip I hope to make some day

Thanks again

[sheephunterab]

First episode will be on in September and then three more throughout 2014.

[Rackmastr]

Congrats on an awesome hunt and some exceptional trophies and photos!!

[srupp]

Vanessa brave???? lol you obviously didn't see her drop a grizzly @ 12 yards?? something similar...ice runs through her veins..and nerves of steel...

[sheephunterab]

Vanessa hit the lion just behind the front shoulder with the first shot. It likely would have been fatal given some time but the PHs like to follow up quickly. Not sure there is a legal minimum but the PHs prefer a 375 or bigger. Lions are deceptively tough and we heard a few horror stories of lions being taken with smaller calibres that involved .30 cals.

[The Hermit]

Spectacular! Just amazing! A trip I'd love to do some day. Thanks for sharing

[sheephunterab]

We just finished up a photo book of our trip....check it out here if you are interested http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=5786ee76461ee03e&sid=1QZNmjhu4bOcA

[pg83]

Thanks for the story and pictures, look forward to the episodes in the fall. Congrats to you both!