Africa Part 3

The hunt continued and the animals kept being shot by our fearless hunters.  Rand decided that hunting with his dad was a fantastic time and they got another warthog together.

Mom even caught the fever once the gun was placed in her hand and was determined to get an Impala.  She was a little wiggly off the sticks so we ended up sitting in a tree stand so that she could really balance for her Impala.   I think we were laughing too loudly for any Impala to walk up close enough to that tree stand.  MY mom the Impala hunter.

Sarel continued to spout knowledge of African animals and foundations with camper shells on top.  What in the world??

This was a spooky place but mom and I loved this walk through the woods following Rand and Sarel.    It was a wonderful and creepy and windy and full of different sounds all of which made the African bush veldt come alive.

The wart hog hunt was pretty thrilling because we walked for a long time so silently and then it just ran out right in front of us and it was so cute and ugly.  Rand made another fantastic shot and I don't know why but I laughed and laughed.  The other animals that were hunted left me very teary eyed but those wart hogs in their Pumba like ways were just  plain funny.  

I am pretty sure animal right activist would hate this picture, but he is just so "cute ugly".

Our anniversary picture in our "matchy matchy" blah clothes!

The epic day of wart hog hunting left a smile on Rand's face and thorns in my socks but the day was just about to take a turn for the creepier.

We came across an old cemetery that mom and I were sure we needed pictures of (may I interject that Sarel was the most accommodating PH stopping to let us take pictures at everything and anything we wanted),   and as we were slowing down we heard Sarel yell something.  Before we could figure out what he had said Rand had his gun out the passenger window (the driver's window in America) and had a shot off.  I then heard Sarel cheer and the guys leaped out of the truck in excitement.  Mom and I were still wondering what was going on when Sarel and Rand started cheering.  Let me explain why, 1st of all the hunt was over for Rand with the Wart hog (or so we thought) but another animal of opportunity just happened to be running across the road (not just an animal of opportunity but a caracal!)  What is a caracal you might ask?  It is like a very small mountain lion and they are quite rare to see especially in the daylight.  They are a nuisance to the farmers and land owners because of the game they bring down as a top predator.  Sarel kept expressing how amazing this was because he himself had never even shot one.

This was the really old cemetery....

This was the caracal!

That's how it is going to look perched on my wall.  Do you think I will ever like the idea of a dead animal on my wall?

The land owners were so amazed at the idea of a caracal being shot that they all came out to see and Rand Soaked it all in like a celebrity.  Sidenote...These were the nice people we met when we went to church spoken all in Africans but still very interesting.  

Peter's father even came out to see the caracal mentioning that it was such a rare find!

With day just approaching the late afternoon we returned to camp shortly followed by one happy man named Dave.  He had finally shot the Hartebeest that he had come to Africa to conquer.  He couldn't, didn't, and  wouldn't contain his smile for the next two days.  We were thrilled for him and applauded him for not only shooting the hartebeest but a trophy one to boot.  

No meat was wasted and fed us and many other people for days and days.

The night festivitives were parallel to any fine dining I had ever done in my life.  Del Marie had chosen a beautiful place by the river for a picnic.  Unlike my picnic the day before on the ground with the dog this picnic had cushions for the seats, wine glasses, linen tablecloths and napkins. Porcupine Quill centerpieces and a beautiful spread of delectible foods. They really outdid themselves.  The beautiful dinner was followed by a sunset view around the fire with plenty of delicious stories to tell from our wonderful adventures in Africa.

Mom and her "date"  hunky Sarel

The picturesque evening wrapped up in all of its finest delights was soon coming to a close and as we drove back to the ranch with Peter and his son Christian I in a melancholy way was left with wonderment of the trip of a  lifetime, when.........

Peter said an expletive I will not repeat at this time (or ever) he jumped out of the moving truck and had 3 shots fired out of his pistol before we realized the truck was still driving.  Christian the 10 year old son jumped into the front to push the break seeing as we were all sitting there in shock with our mouths open and then we all just said, "WhAt the */^%?????  (Just kidding we said hec).

With the truck safely geared in park we saw a cell phone light coming through the trees and out popped Peter with the (expletive porcupine).  I think we nearly laughed for 10 minutes straight as Peter explain how he hated porcupines because there quills set of the electric fences but did not harm the porcupine.  After our laughter came even more laughter emerged as I retold the story and instead of using the said expletive spelled it out and Peter went into hysterics thinking that a grown woman wouldn't swear!  One of my favorite nights for sure!