The Promise of Something Great

As I sit here in the Atlanta airport, I am prepared for what I know to expect, but am almost certainly unprepared for something I will see in the next two weeks.  I am prepared to glass, stalk and shoot- I am prepared to miss and to connect.  But what about the unexpected, traveling to an area with elephant, hippo, crocodile and leopard will surely provide some surprises.  In the past two days I have packed and unpacked at least five times. I did not stop adding or subtracting from my list until 30 minutes before I left for the airport, I am certain I forgot something I will need.  The temperature will swing from 60’s to over 100, it could rain, we might need to cross a river, the list of possible needs is long and seemingly never ending.  The following is my effort to discuss how I prepared, although only time will tell if it is advice worth following.

In January of 2019, I sat with Beans on our back patio during an unseasonably warm day in Oklahoma. Beans (Gerhard Du Preez of Tootabi Valley Safaris) has been a family friend since I have known my wife.  He has guided my wife or I on the majority of animals that now reside in my home in a taxidermized state.  He visits us every year before making the safari conference circuit in January and February which usually leads to discussions on the next great adventure over a brandy and coke; unquestionably, his drink of choice. For the last few years this discussion has centered on a cape buffalo hunt in the old Africa style, no high fences and limited accommodations, in the middle of nowhere like Teddy Roosevelt might have seen on one of his expeditions. This most recent time was different, we were planning an actual trip, we discussed the time of year, the specific animals we would look for and many other details that would make for an exceptional hunt.

After deciding on dates, I moved to gear.  I have hunted the early archery deer season in Oklahoma but I have never needed several days of hunting gear for the heat.  I eventually settled on Columbia PFG gear for its ability to handle heat and provide sun protection for shorts and shirts.  I will bring my light hiking boots by Oboz and some trail shoes by Salomon as well as wool socks from Smartwool.  I sprayed all clothing in permethrin and brought plenty of DEET and sunscreen. The sun and bugs are supposed to be brutal.

To prepare for the actual hunt I have been shooting my Winchester Model 70 in .375 H&H Mag with Federal Safari loads with Swift A frame bullets.  This is the gun that will accompany me on the hunt but I did most of my range work with my .270 off sticks to lessen the discomfort from multiple rounds from a big bore rifle.  I use Riflepermits.com to make arrangement for importation of my rifle into SA with additional arrangements needed for Mozambique.  I am bringing my Vortex binos, Benchmade hunting knife and a Mavic Pro drone to capture some cool footage of the hunts.

There are many other steps to prepare to cross two international boarders with a gun and ammo from the US.  My best advice is use a Professional Hunter you trust and a company like RiflePermits.com to make it smooth.

It is 20 minutes to board, stay tuned to see if any of this makes a difference, I am pretty sure Teddy didn’t do it this way.