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Jesse's Hunting > Hunting Articles > Articles > A Country Boy Goes on Safari - Part 1 of a Series
A Country Boy Goes on Safari - Part 1 of a Series
Brad Swadley - JHO ProStaff
- Dallas, TX
October 29, 2007
“No really, it is affordable,” I was told.
Hunting in South Africa is not as bad as you think. Now, growing up in Bois D’ Arc Missouri, a sleepy little town of about 500 outside of Springfield, I had heard that hunting in Africa would likely to set me back more than what I would dare ask my wife to let me do. But upon further discussion with one of my best friends, Johan Pienaar, who grew up in South Africa; it seemed at least that I should entertain the idea that it may be possible.
It all started back in 2005 sitting in Johan’s office at work. We both worked for the same big, international, automotive parts manufacturer. I had been on international trips, so this concept of flying long hours in a bus with wings was nothing new to me.
Johan had a calendar in his office that had several African game pictures on it. It didn’t take long to find out about the only thing I could identify was an impala. A gemsbok, what was that? Okay, so the first part of the dream trip was to start researching animals, what they looked like, and to be able to identify them quickly. The internet is full of good resources for this and proved to be very useful to get an idea of associating names with pictures of the different animals in Africa.
After being able to recognize the animals, it was time to come up with a list of what we wanted to shoot, as Johan was going with me and would be hunting as well. So we worked a primary list that included Kudu, Gemsbok and Impala and sent it to Johan’s contacts in South Africa to get an idea on pricing. We got several reasonable quotes back and were pleasantly surprised at the costs per animal and the daily rates. So with that, we decided that we just had to do it. It was within our budgeted cost range (at least initially), so we started to diligently work towards that goal. For the first few months, it just seemed like a big pipe dream. Reality of the trip would not set in until much later.
Friends in Distant Lands
The author was able to stay with the family of his friend and hunting partner for a while during his African safari. |
We also had to determine what to do with our taxidermy. After a lot of research and input from different hunters and friends, we decided to go with Kwiktan, which is located in a small town north of Johannesburg. The owners of Kwiktan have a daughter that runs a branch of their business here in Florida and I had seen them in January at the Dallas Safari Club Convention. Via email and phone conversations, we talked to them about their pricing and also including a visit of their facility into our itinerary upon arrival in South Africa. They were more than happy to accommodate our visit and looked forward to it.
We setup our travel and hunting itinerary about 5 months in advance of the trip. We decided to fly straight to Johannesburg where Johan’s family members would pick us up. We finalized all the paperwork for the guns and travel about two months in advance. So the last two months we just sat and waited what seemed like forever. I bought a few gifts to give out and the founder of Jesse’s Hunting and Outdoors (JHO), Jeff “Jesse” James, was kind enough to send a few goodies to take along for gifts as well. Somewhere in South Africa, someone is advertising JHO near Hoedspruit.
We decided to use a company to help us with our gun import paperwork as well. We researched two and decided upon rifleimports.com, which provided very helpful and good information. I wrote about them last month, but it was well worth the $90/US for the convenience and efficiency. As for the bow, no paperwork was required. We were sent a very good set of instructions on what to do upon arrival at the Johannesburg airport and a little outline of the layout of the different areas of the airport.
The day before the trip finally arrived, I picked up my buddy Johan from his house. It was late at night and we came back to watch a hunting video or two before going to bed. We double checked all our backup paperwork, contact information and what we had packed to make sure we weren’t forgetting something. At least Pretoria, where we would be staying the first couple of days, had plenty of shopping areas so if we did forget something, we could pick it up there.
We flew out the next morning from the Dallas-Fort Worth International airport. We got there at dark-thirty, well ahead of most normal people. Another friend of mine, Dale Carey, gave us a ride to the airport. Unfortunately, I left my cell phone in his truck and about half way home he had to turn around and bring it back to me. I couldn’t tell if he was mad or if he was just dog tired from the sound of his voice, so I sent Johan out to get the phone.
We finally flew out to Chicago, then on to Dulles. Our baggage was going to be checked all the way through to Johannesburg. When we finally got on the South African Airways flight leaving Dulles, we sat on the tarmac for about three hours due to weather in the area. The wait on the tarmac wasn’t that pleasant, as they had to move me from the bulkhead to another seat because the special seatbelt at the bulkhead didn’t fit me. Okay, so being big doesn’t always mean an advantage.
After watching movies, eating a little airplane food and walking around the plane to reduce the potential for deep vein thrombosis, we arrived in Johannesburg. I didn’t sleep much on the flight, as I wasn’t really comfortable. Waiting for us at the airport was the representative for riflepermits.com and Johan’s sister and brother-in-law. The rifle import process went very smooth and we were out of the airport in about forty five minutes. I would highly recommend using a permit service to help with your rifle import paperwork.
We drove out of the airport after securing our luggage in the back of the vehicle. Gus and Pat Ives, Johan’s brother-in-law and sister respectively, were quite nice to talk to and immediately made me feel like family, and other than getting used to the way they drive in South Africa, it was quite a nice trip. It was dark while driving, so there was a lot of smoke from all the wood burning in the homes of all the people that lived in the area.
We finally made it to Johan’s parent’s house and we all went through introductions and then ate a great supper. Johan’s dad said “call me Pine”, so from then on, Pine was a great person to chat with. During our trip, he would call often to see how things were going. We met Johan’s other sister, Denise, and her son Kevin while there as well. We settled in for the evening, with everyone waiting on me hand and foot. Johan mentioned it would be like that and that if it bothered me to let him know and he would tell them to let me be. I actually enjoyed the attention, and welcomed it during the whole trip.
We spent approximately three days in Pretoria, visited Kwiktan one day and shopped another. The Kwiktan visit went well and we met both John and Winnie, who were very nice and helpful. They gave us a quick tour, which concluded with me picking up a Kudu back skin rifle case which I used for the remainder of the trip while hunting and some other nice animal skin souvenirs.
We did a lot of braiing while there and throughout the rest of the trip. Brai is the South African name for grill. We enjoyed several nice meals. I especially enjoyed the paps and sheba, paps being a ground up corn along the consistency of grits, with the sheba being a sauce made up of tomatoes, onions and spices that is cooked down to a gravy type consistency. We usually had some sausage, and chutney was used as a condiment for it. I also got my first taste of biltong, a jerky type of meat, as well as dry wors, a dried sausage eaten as a snack, and both typically made from some type of beef or wild game. I ate well in Pretoria, and I enjoyed it. I had been on a diet getting ready for the trip, but it was completely thrown out the window upon arrival in South Africa. I was also able to sample several South African wines and beers. Needless to say, I was disappointed I couldn’t bring any back due to security issues coming into the United States.
One thing to note as we drove around the Johannesburg area was that there were several shanty towns. A lot of improvised type structures made from wood, corrugated metal and some cement bricks made up these towns, which were typically crowded with people. There was always some method of transportation to pick these people up, and to drive them either into town or to their jobs. It was definitely a different method of life for a lot of people. It was hard to imagine what it would be like to live like that.
Our next destination was in Boshof, which is about 40 kilometers from Kimberley. TJ, Johan’s varsity (college for us) friend met us in Pretoria. He would be our guide for the rest of the trip. TJ was a Professional Hunter in South Africa for several years, and the places we were going to hunt were all setup by him. I really enjoyed the times TJ and I spent together, as he was a great person to be around and very knowledgeable about hunting in South Africa.
I would like to end with a special “Thank You!” to my wife Maria and daughter Sarah who supported me throughout this whole dream. I love them both very much and they put up with my incessant ramblings about what I was going to do while over there and my nervous mood swings as the time drew near. Without them, this trip would not have been possible.
While not an avid hunter herself, my wife Maria has always supported me in my passion for the outdoors lived through different excursions and endeavors. And while I probably don’t say it enough, she is the love of my life and while in Africa, I was able to call her almost everyday. It made the trip that much more enjoyable to know that I could talk to her anytime while in South Africa. That is, as long as I remembered the time zone difference.
Make sure to check out next months Journal Entry, Part Two “From Bois D’ Arc to Boshof”.
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