Africa Part 1

If you would have asked me before I married Rand if I would ever get the chance to visit  the continent of Africa I probably would have said yes but secretly inside wondered if it would ever have become a reality.  After marrying my dear husband who has an itch to travel every year I would have leaned more to yes and when Rand decided that hunting would be his passion in life I would have said, "for sure yes"!  Rand got the itch and for a year planned our trip to Africa!

I must interject that If I would have planned this trip to Africa there would have been a lot more safari with photography and a lot less hunting.  I would have slept in a tribal village and danced in a grass skirt and spear.  I don't really know if I would embrace the whole topless thing but who knows when in Africa do as the Africans do and dance naked!

Rand promised me this would not be my only trip to Africa and this hunting trip was just a trial run.  I was assured that he would give me the "whole experience"next time we go to Africa.  This hunting trip took place in South Africa a place where my mom has studied about for years so we decided she better come too and she did.  I had no idea that my mom knew so many things about apartheid and the history of South Africa!  There were so many things to learn and see and feel and smell and I am not quite sure how I can explain everything we did on this little ole blog but here we go with about a million pictures so you can armchair travel with us.


This is where we went, in case you didn't know!

Our travel went relatively smooth except at the airports - we were always  somewhat delayed because of the checking in of firearms.  Rand, Dave and Lee didn't seem to mind and smiled through every single little part of this trip!

I was pretty excited that I traveled in a dress.  Let me just share that a dress on a plane for 20 something hours has it's advantages i.e.( easy pull up in squishy airplane bathrooms).  This picture was especially for my friends Mindi and Shannon who always make fun of my little travel purses (it's not a fanny pack)!

The Afton house, our first stop in Africa.  

By the time we arrived here I didn't know if it was morning, noon or night.  One thing that struck me funny or should I say scary was the fact that all the windows had bars on it (our room windows) and   barbed wire surrounded the house even though we had entered in through a gated community.  I will tell you later about the high crime rates in South Africa.  

The next morning we were refreshed and ready to roll.  I was especially so excited to wear all of my brown clothing.  You should have seen me shopping for this trip it was  spending money on clothes I knew I would never wear again.   (Brown, Brown, Brown)!

The next morning we anxiously anticipated our ride and meeting with our PH (professional hunter). He our "PH"  was very nice and friendly and not too shabby to look at either.  His name was Saurel DuPuess and I could have listened to him talk for hours.  He was quite confident and I have the feeling that if I let him he would have talked for hours and hours and hours.     Sidenote:  In Africa there are so many languages and dialects.  All of the PH's spoke Africans as their first language and English 2nd.  Our trackers spoke tribal languages like Swahili, Spadi, and many others (none of which I could spell). The third official language in Africa is swearing.  Think of the worst swear word you could say and that big bomb of a word was used over and over again like we use the word "hec".  After day two of my ears burning I told our PH that in America that was really bad language and that he would have to stop or my ears would burn right off.  He laughed at me but was very respectful!  I think our group was the mildest group they had ever encountered for hunters. 

Just had to throw this picture in  because it was seriously the cleanest nicest grocery store I had ever been in.  It was off the beaten path in a little community where everything was in Dutch or German.  Down the road a ways were little communities with absolutely no running water and shared bathrooms.  The contrast of the two communities was mind blowing to me.

I'm from Utah and I am used to seeing critters running across the road, I have slammed on my breaks countless times for frequent deer crossings and even seen a wild turkey or two..   I was not prepared however for the first animal we would encounter as it ran across the road.  For the next 7 days the only critters running across the road weren't critters at all but big ugly baboons and an occasional warthog.  Baboons were everywhere and I was amazed and awed at every gross one I saw.

One of my favorite things about traveling is the people I meet and the story that makes them who they are.  South Africa is so backwards in so many ways especially when it comes to race.  The South African people are wonderful people but I felt as if I had been time lapsed back to 1950.  Racism is a way of life and the White people I ran into and associated with on the ranch did not have very many good things to say about the black people in Africa. It was something that I have never experienced in my lifetime.

Just some of the sights along the way in a town called Thabazimbe!

There were so many little towns like this along the way. Homes that did not have running water  or electricity crowed in little sections of land.  Most of these homes shared a bathroom facility with up to 50 other homes.  Oh how I wish I could have brought my kids here  and let them understand the privilege we have of living in the greatest country on Earth.

We arrived at the hunting lodge and the accommodations were amazing, very museum like.  Rand and I were given the honeymoon sweet seeing that our 15th wedding anniversary would happen during our stay there.  If you remember I chose where we went on our 10th anniversary and those adventures took us all over Switzerland and Italy (how romantic).  A hunting lodge in Africa was amazing but definitely Rand's pick!  

What happened every night at this dinner table are some of my most favorite memories.  The PH's were practical jokesters everything from pouring tobasco in our drinks to fake spiders in our chairs to numbing paste on our forks.  They hung spiders to dangle down on us and Charlene, mom and I fell right into every trap even when we suspected something was coming.  I screamed many times at this table.  The stories that were told, the laughter, the friendships made and Uncle Roland countless lies he had told his wife made just a few of the reasons the dining table became my most anticipated time of the day.  The anxiety I felt as I wondered how to politely say no to the mystery meat each night was the only troublesome thing in the whole dinner experience. Tiny (the very "un tiny" cook became a dear friend and took pity on me by making sure there were lots of salad and a side of chicken just for me).  Thank you Ann Marie for the lovely food and presentation every evening.

I love that we got the "Hawk" room because Hawks have special meaning in my family.  Hawks are a remembrance of my brother Jake and I am sure if he were here today he would have been Rand's 1st pick to accompany him on this adventure.  I would have come 2nd I am sure!  :)

See this little smirky smile on Rand's face, it was permanently cemented for the trips entirety.  From sighting the gun in until we landed in Vegas, this was the trip Rand had planned for years.

Sighting in the guns!

Just wondering what adventures were coming our way!

1st night out brought to life everything I had ever seen on The Lion King!  I was in The African Bush veldt for sure.  We boarded the land cruiser and went out on our first hunt.  The Impala (Lion's MCdonald's ...see the marking on the Impala butt) was our first target.

Animals of opportunity were some of Rand's favorite to shoot.  These are predators who affect the game and are free to shoot.  Sarel saw this Jackal and within 30 seconds Rand had shot and killed this particular Animal of opportunity.

Everyone had a successful hunt that first day and what I usually find disgusting became quite interesting.  The trackers would take care of the animals skinning and preparing the meat.  There was not much that was wasted on the animal in fact one day one of the trackers even took the intestine bag and stomach back to his family.  We were able to eat a lot of the meat while we were there on the ranch.  And by "we" I mean "The guys",   I just smelt it, smiled at the cook and decided that being a vegetarian for 10 days would suit me just fine.

 The next days brought a great viewing of an  elephant feeding.  Even though he was on the other side of the fence of the road we were traveling the noise he made as he crushed through the land was amazing.  That morning also brought with it my first taste of what would make me sad the whole trip.  The morning started early and even though we traveled in summer on the other side of the world it happens to be  winter.  The morning was especially cold and as we met our professional hunter to travel 45 minutes to the area we were going to hunt our tracker was told to sit in the back of the truck.  I told our driver that we had plenty of room on the back seat but he insisted that our tracker was stinky because he used fire to cook his food and he would ride in the back.   I should have insisted but the look I received from already making a big deal out of the situation let me know that I was to say no more.  

So glad my mom was with me on this African Safari she was a great traveling companion and I hope to travel the world with her.  When Rand would go off hunting we would stay with the tracker at the truck and we learned so much about MunSu and his family.  It probably was the weirdest hunt for him as he was asked a million questions from two ladies in America.  Mom has read so much about the history of South Africa that she just wanted it all confirmed by a local.  MunSu shared how he was a great soccer player and was recruited by another school to come play with them but was forced to sleep on the bus and eat on the bus because he was black.  Remember he is the same age as me so this all took place in the early 90's (unbelievable)!

Mom and her "amazing sweater"  *sidenote - mom left everything to the trackers family from the sweater down to her boots.  

The drive through the mountains to find the Wildebeest was probably my most favorite area.  Rand had this big boy down in one shot.  He was with another male and the enormity of this animal was unreal.  With every shot I felt a bit of sadness.  I have watched countless hours of wildlife conservation with Rand and I realize that by watching the herds and the amount of money spent by hunters is the reason that poachers haven't taken over and made all the animals extinct but still there was a bit of sadness with these big beasts!

Mom and I had to entertain ourselves when we didn't follow the hunters so glad I had her.

We took some mornings off to go into town and visit a school (mom really wanted to) and go to church all of which I forgot to take pictures of.

Poor Munsu!  Secretly I think he had a blast with us!

The morning brought a wildabeest and the afternoon brought a great hunt and a Kudu!  In between the morning and afternoon we had a picnic in the bush.  They packed us a gourmet lunch and our trackers got a loaf of bread and a can of beans.  We saved our food to give to them later.  Just another difference in culture.

Rand was not going home without a KuDu  this was the animal he had come to Africa for.  He was not disappointed with his Kudu and was able to make a great stalk on him.

I forgot to mention that the place we hunted for Kudu was so far away from the ranch that we had to store the wildebeest in the river while we hunted so that the meat wouldn't spoil.

The days seem to be running together now and I can't recall what day I am on so I will just recount experiences.

This is a Cape Buffalo, they are really scary.  Rand got close to one that was on the other side of the fence but when our PH joked with Rand that one was charging I had never seen Rand move so fast and I have never laughed so hard.  Of course my laughter came after my olympic jump back into the land cruiser. 

The hunt for the Gemsbok was a fun hunt because I stuck with Rand all the way down to the shot.  I tried to video it but of course lost my balance and missed it completely. 

Rand made a good shot but apparently these African animals our very very tough and this Gemsbok ran for a long time. Something that would kill an elk in America sometimes doesn't even phase these tough African animals.  This is where one of my favorite stories comes into play.  The rains had been strong and the grass was very tall as we started looking for a blood track on the Gemsbok I honestly thought there is no way we are going to find this animal.  I was sick to my stomach knowing fully that if you injure an animal you still pay for it even if it is not found.  I was watching my furniture budget and backyard landscaping drift away with an animal who had a small wound.  Sarel went back to get the dogs so they could try and track the Gemsbok.  When the dogs came up with no luck the choice was made to use our tracker Munsu and Lee's PH, Hans. Hans has an ability to find more than a needle in a haystack.   I watched as Munsu kicked the grass with his foot, his arms gently folded behind his back.  I seriously thought he also thought that this was as hopeless as I did.   I looked outward and saw a field of high grass that seemed to go on like an ocean wave.  I asked Munsu if he got overwhelmed and he stated that, "if you just keep your head down you will find the blood but when you look outward it becomes too overwhelming.   I found this so interesting as I related this little lesson to  real life.  When we are faced with a trial sometimes looking past it can seem so overwhelming but as we keep our head down plugging along and making forward progress we soon arrive at something we were looking for and then when we find that we can move forward.  Thank you Munsu for the lessons you taught me in Africa.   Hans and Munsu found a speck of blood and when I mean speck I could barely see it when I was looking right at it.  By one speck of blood they knew that the animal had been hit high and followed the trail in circles.  Rand began questioning even at this point if the task was meaningless until Hans circled back around and spooked that Gemsbok laying down in the high grass.  The animal began to run and Sarel holding the dogs and balancing his gun was able to keep the animal from running away again.   I was so relieved knowing that now at least my backyard landscaping budget was going toward a dead animal (no sarcasm here) and not a lost one.   

While they were looking and looking I took pictures of the biggest spiders known to man.  This picture doesn't do them justice.

The old Gemsbok in all his shredded antler glory.  (I don't even know if his horns are called antlers or spears or what).  Rand seemed to have a knack for hunting the oldest animals he could find!  Not all of them were trophies but their character was immeasureable.

One evening mom and I opted out of hunting and went sightseeing instead.  

I now know the difference between Inyala and Sable I am not sure I know how to spell them but my guess is that my future posterity may not either.  Peter (who is my age) and owns the entire ranch took us out on his nightly feeding.  He is raising  game animals to increase population and my guess, revenue.  I reckon these animals bring in a lot of money seeing as one sable costs 8,000 dollars alone to hunt.  That is why we will never have a sable hanging on our wall at home.

(Peter loved and admired these animals giving them monumental names like, JLo, and Beyonce!  (Even in Africa)

This is Peter with Sarel!

I must admit that hunting warthog was even fun for me.  They run through the weeds with their tails in the air and they are just so ugly that they are absolutely adorable.  Glad Lee got to be with Rand on this hunt.

 

Part 2 coming up!