I lost a friend this week-end, a faithful companion for so many years. Our 15 year journey that took us across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique just came to an end. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the story of an exceptional elephant safari. When reading this article, always remember that elephant hunting is a serious business, strictly ruled and regulated. All trophies taken during this hunt where done against our yearly CITES quota for the concession. Our quota for Navaisha concession bordering the Gona ReZhou National Park is for 5 elephant males for the year. Taking these animals in a week, a month or a year results to the same game management achievement.

Extra-ordinary elephant safari…
… Izak arrives in Harare with a friend and his challenge is to try to get 3 big elephant bulls in 14 days. Cessna pilot Giles welcomes them and takes them to his C206 for a short flight to Gona ReZhou National park where pro hunter Lloyd and his team will take over.
The 35 minutes drive between the landing strip and Lloyd’s camp are spent discussing the great elephant movement that occurs in the area at this time of the year. Amarula trees are dropping their fruits and elephant just cannot resist them. Water is also abundant right now on the 250 000 ha concession, this is the BEST time to find those big tuskers that Izak is looking for.
Day 1, 06:00 AM, our team leaves camp in search of Izak’s first big tusker. Only 20 min later, some large and worn elephant tracks are crossing the road. Lloyd has a big smile on his face, he knows that area and its potential so well. It will only take 35 minutes to find that big bull, his tusks are shining in the beautiful morning light. Adrenaline rushes right up, this is a shooter … 50 meters … 30, then only 25 … the barrel of the .416 Rigby is raising slowly, shot goes off and the giant bites the dust. Izak is only 2 hours into his safari, and he has just taken a very nice elephant bull. Read the rest of this entry »

La accion tiene lugar en una de las mas vastas concesiones de Grand Safari en Eastern Cape, region de Sudafrica. Estamos ahora a fines de Mayo del 2010 y Philippe quiso verificar este “Blesbok Dorado” que yo le mencione en la noche de ayer. Hasta donde se, existen solo dos manadas de “Blesbok Dorados” en Sudáfrica, y presumo en el mundo, por lo que somos verdaderamente afortunados de tener uno de estos ejemplares aquí en nuestra Concesion de 30.000 hectareas, entre otras 60 especies. Read the rest of this entry »