South African Safari2006

[mdab27]

Hi everyone,

I have been a member of this forum for about 3 months now. Although I have not posted, I have learned quite a bit from all of you on here.

I just returned from a South Africa Safari and I wanted to share my experience with you. I brought along my 0.50 TC Omege to take some animals with, and ended up shooting 3 of my 5 animals with it. I took an impala and waterbuck with my rifle, and a kudu, gemsbock, and warthog with my Omega.

We were hunting with Matla Mamba Safaris in the Limpopo region of South Africa. This concession lies on the Matlabas and Mambas rivers and is home to 24,000 acres. The country is mainly thick brush with a few open spots. The hunting was tough, but there was plenty of game. There was minimal if no shooting off the truck, and you had to work hard to get close to these animals. I did a lot more crawling than I thought I would, and I have the thorns in my hands and knees to prove it. It was the most fun hunting I have ever experienced(althought I am only 24). The staff was fantastic and the food even better. I couldn't say enough about this place. Here are a few pictures of my trophies. I only recovered one muzzleloader bullet from the gemsbock, which I ended up hitting high in the spine. The bullets exited out of the kudu and warthog.
Here is a picture of that bullet as well. I used 285gr Barnes Spitfire MZ and they performed flawlessly.

Im note sure how to post pictures, but here are the URL to my photos on photobucket

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g246/ ... 06_021.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g246/ ... 06_002.jpg
http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g246/ ... 06_062.jpg

http://i58.photobucket.com/albums/g246/ ... IM0759.jpg

I have plenty of more pictures if anyone is interested. If anyone would like more info on this outfitter, I would be glad to give some. The place and people were absolutely amazing and I would recommed this outfitter to anyone. Their prices are affordable compared to other safaris in the area. Most if not all trohpy fees are a bit cheaper.

Mike

 

[HawgHunter]

Nice pictures Mike, congratulation. rayer:

 

[Redclub]

Very nice, I wish I would have started traveling to different places when I was your age.
Ken

 

[jims]

I envy you. The only traveling I did at that age was when my Uncle provided the transportation and firearms. It sounds like an enjoyable hunt for you.

 

[nugbuk]

Great pictures Mike. Congratulation on your safari. Thanks for sharing it with us.
As for pictures just put tags around links you posted. It will do it.
Could you post review of your outfitter in ?Outfitter Review? section?

 

[jcchartboy]

Viola.....

(The last picture of the recovered bullet needs to be resized to fit the page)

 

[CowboyAl]

Nice!

Nice pics! Those are great animals....I too dream of taking some African game with my 50 cal omega. Just have to save a few thousand $ first 8)

 

[mdab27]

Thanks for the replies, and thanks for the help with showing how to post pictures. I will definitely make a post in the outfitter section. It took a while to save up for this hunt, but well worth it, and no more expensive than an decent priced elk hunt for us who live out east(besides airfare).

 

[omega]

Way to go! Very nice trophies. This hunt is on my to do list in the next year or so, I think I want to do Aus and maybe Argentina first but Africa does excite me.

 

[mdab27]

Omega,

IF you would like more information on the outfitter, please do not hesitate to ask. I will post a review in the outfitter section once I get back into the groove of this working business :wink:

 

[typical10]

Impressive!
Good Job~ 8)

 

[hassler]

African hunt

Great job Mike, on the hunt and the pics! It looks like we are on the same page. I've booked a hunt with Numzaan safari in Limpopo for next June. And I have the Barnes 285 gr spitfires but have not had a chance to try them. I'm glad to hear they worked well for you!

 

[mdab27]

I could not have been happier with the bullet performance. The kudu was shot at ~100 yard with a complete pass through the shouder bone and heart and out the other side. The gemsbock I ended up hitting too high at about 90 yards and hit him in the spine and dropped him. The picture of the recovered bullet was the one from the gemsbock spine shot. I wouldnt hesistate to shoot them if they shoot well out of your setup. Good luck on your safari! I can't wait to go back!

 

[fairchase]

mdab27:
Congrats on the beautiful animals, it sounds like you had an awesome trip
I am curious to learn what powder you used and how it was provided for you? Or did you bring some powder and primers in for yourself?

I know Pyrodex is not sold in RSA, infact the only powder that is available there (form what I have been told) is made by Swiss with the brand name of Wano. Which may be fine, but Wano is not sold in the US, so trying it out and testing loads is impossible. How did you deal with these issues? Thanks.

 

[mdab27]

Fairchase,

As you probably know, doing a search on the internet to find out about powder in SA you will not get many results. I found a few people who have been before and asked them how they got their powder there, or if they bought it when they got there. From the replies I got, I followed their advice. I brought Pyrodex pellets in an original sealed container with another original sealed container of Winchester 209 primers(which you could get in Africa no problem). I put them in an ammo box, and delcared them up front at the airport as muzzleloader ammunition. They didnt seem to mind at all, and actually did not check my bags at all(American Airlines). With that being said, there was a chance they could have taken the powder away and left me with no ammunition, which is why I brought along my rifle as well.

I have heard of other people taking new shotshells and filling them with powder and a bullet and storing them like a slug in shotshell containers and declaring them as ammunition as well.

I got this infromation from an articles on hunting SA with a muzzleloader on Chuckhawks.com and emailed the author about how he traveled with his powder.

Doc White from White Muzzleloaders has a post in his FAQ about how he got powder to Africa as well. You may want to check that out.

http://www.whitemuzzleloading.com/frequ ... stions.htm

Feel free to email me, or post a response if you have any more questions. I feel your frustration, it took me a long time to figure out how to get powder that I routinely shoot to South Africa.

 

[fairchase]

Thank you for the response...I got your e-mail and I shot one back at you too.