Feline encounters on safari

While I've not had the opportunity to hunt any of the big cats yet, a safari dedicated to lion and leopard hunting would make for a wonderful adventure and a proper test of patience, endurance, cunning and the stamina to hang in there when the going gets tough.  Deliberate hunting of the hyenas has certainly taught me a few things about hunting large predators - its a tough game!

In August of 2012 we spent three weeks in South Africa hunting elephant, hyena and a couple of the plains game species I had lucked out on in during previous safaris. We were fortunate enough to have encounters with lion, leopard and cheetah - so very lucky to have these sitings in such a short space of time! The photography certainky doesn't do justice to the experience; poor light, distance, thick bush and brief encounters mean that we don't always capture the moment as we would like to...

But the stories are part of the adventure... here's what we saw...

We were hunting Southern Greater Kudu on a private property in Mica north west of Hoedspruit, when I spotted a small face watching us from the long grass on the other side of a game fence fence; we were hunting land adjoining Olifants North Game Reserve http://www.olifantsnorth.co.za/. As we approached, the small face turned out to be that of a female cheetah with a full belly and a radio tracking collar.  I walked up to within 10 yards of the cat feeling rather vulnerable and insignificant, albeit with a fence between us. Our first ever encounter with a wild cheetah!

On the way into Kruger National Park via Phalaborwa Gate for a day trip, an oddly dark, round shape in the Mopani Forest caught my attention as the Range Rover cruised along the bitumen.  We packed up and I pulled out the Zeiss 10x40 binoculars from my pack to take a closer look.  Two lions lay in the long grass.  This male posed long enough for me to get a steady shot off with my Canon... of his ear!

Mid morning, with the hot sun having climbed to full height, we spotted three lionesses trotting through the bush, heading towards the river.  We were not too far out of Shingwedze Rest Camp. I snapped off a string of shots but with the sun beating down ahead of us, this was as good as it got.  There were no males in this group and we spotted a sick old roan bull crossing the dry Shingwedze River moments after this photo was taken.

Perhaps our greatest encounter with a big cat in close to ten years of visiting the Dark Continent.  We were heading out of Shingwedzi Rest Camp for an evening game drive, keeping a sharp eye out for one of the Sharpe's Grysbok we had hoped to see in this part of the park. As we drove along the riverine bush I couldn't help but scan the horizontal branches of the ancient trees looking for Mr.Spots... and there he was on the ground 20 yards out to our left... this very big tom had just brought down a young bushbuck ram and was crouched over his kill when we pulled up. Amazing.

A pair of lionesses.  These two big cats spotted us long before we were onto them as they lay in the long grass with their ears flattened against their head. The lead cat made a few mock charges towards us, never covering more than a few metres at a time.  These cats were photographed on the 34,600 acre estate owned by Ekland Safaris in Soutpansberg in the north eastern reaches of South Africa. http://www.eklandsafaris.com/

A shot of a tsessebe

Last Friday afternoon I was archiving (read: deleting) files that have accumulated on my office computer and I came across a very special photo I wanted to share...

A couple of safaris ago we spent a bit of time hunting the bush along the Matlabas River in Limpopo Province. We had set aside 10 days to hunt hyena - both the spotted and the brown - and were successful with a big Spotted Hyena in the salt on day nine.  The problem with hunting hyena is that you need to be up most of the night and you spend quite a bit of the day checking baits, making drags, building blinds, hypothesising and strategising. And of course, you're on safari, so you want to have a bit of a hunt by day as well. It wears you out.

On our final full day on safari, with our most special animal in the salt, we decided it would be an easy hunting day. There were some white blesbok getting about at the back of the place we were hunting, however on the way out there we bumped into a herd of the very rarely hunted tsessebe. We had no intention of hunting these unique and once endangered antelope as part of our safari; populations of tsessebe - Damaliscus lunatus, the fastest antelope on earth - have come back so well in southern Africa that they have been completely removed from the CITES appendices, a wonderful thing for both the game and hunters.

I was with the missus on this safari, six months pregnant at the time. Our daughter (who was 16 months old) was along for the ride, as was a good friend of ours from Sydney who was playing nanny on safari. The whole lot of us were in the bakkie while our PH Stephan rode up front with Fanwell - tracker and skinner. 

Tsessebe - Damaliscus lunatus

We all looked at the tsessebe in the distance. I looked at the boss. The boss looked at me. We both looked at Stephan... We sat there bending spoons in our mind and without saying a word agreed to have a closer look at the herd "just in case" there was a good bull amongst them.  Stephan and I headed off with the sticks and my .300 Weatherby Magnum. We chased the wind and the tsessebe and almost two hours later found ourselves some 170 yards out from the herd. There were two very mature bulls worth looking at and it came down to taste really - long but thinner horns, or a thick set of horns with heavy bases,  shorter tips from the wear that comes with age.

"The short one" I whispered to Stephan as I got myself comfortable over a mound of dirt. Stephan grinned and nodded.

The 180gr Woodleigh PP bullets were being launched out of my Weatherby at a very modest 2,950fps and sighted for a 300 yard zero. We ranged the bull at 170 yards and watched him feed casually until he had turned broadside facing to the left.

"When your ready Dan," came the instruction from my PH.

I sighted up the foreleg to edge of the dark patch at the shoulder joint, then followed it up and back to the withers of the animal. I used the reticle to quarter the scapula, made a small adjustment as my shot would be almost 4" high at his range, and squeezed the trigger till it broke. The bullet smashed the bull's spine and all four legs folded at the same time sending him crashing to the ground with a thud. 

DaggaBoy and the little one with our tracker and skinner Fanwell (centre) and Professional Hunter Stephan Olivier on the right.

After a quiet moment alone with the bull, our team walked over for a close look.  We took a few photos for the safari album before the taxidermist in me came out and I was snapping away at every detail in readiness for the work ahead of me in the studio. 

Stephan happened to be admiring my rifle in the background, shouldering it the way that shooters do when they get their hands on a new gun.  And that's when I was busy looking at the vestigial nictitating membrane, preorbital gland, eyelids, folds and wrinkles...

Hyenas in Addis Ababa

I'm a huge fan of the hyena and think they are a wonderful animal. One of Africa's most successful predators, perfectly adapted to long pursuit hunting and total utilisation of their prey. They kill the old and sick grazers, helping to maintain the health of herding animals and clean up dead carcasses across Africa greatly benefiting the ecosystem. 

Hyenas offer wonderful game viewing opportunities for travelers and are a very challenging and unique game animal for hunt the hunter willing to put in the effort.  I have been fortunate to hunt the Spotted Hyena and the Brown Hyena and have had success with both species; the Striped Hyena is not easily available to the hunter. 

You can read Part I of my hyena hunting exploits by clicking the link below. Part II is a "work in progress" and will be online soon. http://huntingafricasbiggame.blogspot.com.au/2012/09/hunting-hyena-part-i.html

The latest issue of African Indaba has an article by Ludwig Siege titled "Hyenas in Addis Ababa".  Another example of the human animal conflict that can arise in fringe areas across Africa where humans and wild animals must co-exist.  This article relates to hyena in Ethipoia's capital city, Addis Ababa. To view the current African Indaba issue in full click on this link http://www.africanindaba.co.za/Archive12/AfricanIndabaVol10-2.pdf 

African Indaba is a publication of the International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC) that is dedicated to the people and wildlife of Africa.Following is an excerpt from the current issue:

"Following incidents of Hyena attacks on humans in Addis Ababa in recent weeks, during which a baby was taken and killed, the Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority (EWCA) organized a hyena cull in the city. On December 10th EWCA-appointed hunters destroyed 10 spotted hyenas in an area right in the city center, close to the main river crossing the town. The carcasses were disposed of by the Addis Ababa police.

Why hyenas started man-eating is not known. Hyenas are known as scavengers, but they also hunt. There are large populations of hyenas, and possibly also leopards, living in and around Addis Ababa. Estimates range from 300 to 1000. The wildlife Authority has reports from seven sites with dens in or close to the city center.

Hyenas remove animal carcasses from the streets of Addis and keep the burgeoning stray dog population at bay, so they also play a positive role in the city. There is a joke going around in Addis that the city council should pay the hyenas for keeping the city clean!"

Processing a bull giraffe

 

Thought I'd post a few images of the field processing of the giraffe bull. I shot him at 7:52am and we were working hard till close to 3:00pm to get him skinned and broken down.  He fell in a pretty handy position with awkward but relatively good access for the vehicles but the skinning was a bit awkward at times.

From here the meat was transported to a wild game abattoir in Musina that specialises in processing hunted big game.  The top cuts stay in camp and a few make there way to restaurants.  The rest of the meat is sorted into two grades which are boned, cleaned and diced and used to make sausages and mince that sells for a few rand a kilogram to locals.  Some properties keep the meat for the people living on the property and in the wild country (outside of South Africa) the locals take home a sackful of meat each from all the game shot on safari.

Enjoy this brief photo essay.

A bull in the salt

I've heard this a lot in the last couple of weeks. One friend even rang me and in the saddest voice asked - "…why would you do a thing like that?"  My sister sent me a text saying, "…every time I go to the zoo and I see the giraffes they make me feel happy and I can’t help smiling..." - guess she’ll be doing a lot of smiling if she visits once we get that shoulder mount in position in the new house.

In an interview with David Schwimmer about the new film Madagascar 3, the actor says “…I think they’re big easy targets in the animal kingdom. They just seem so easy to take down. And what’s their defence? They have no defence mechanism…” It seems odd that so many people see giraffe as singing and dancing New Yorkers.  Something about that seems, well... odd...

Did I hunt giraffe on safari? Yep, sure did. During our safari we hunted the Southern Giraffe - Giraffa camelopardalis giraffa – the same species that we encountered throughout Zimbabwe while looking for an old dagga boy and the species that most westerners will think of when referring to giraffe. This is the subspecies you will encounter in Kruger Park.

At 1,500kg and standing up to 5.2 tall, there’s not too many creatures that will tango with a giraffe.  There are prides of lion that will hunt giraffe and our experience last month showed us the terrible fate that may await a giraffe in lion country.  Nasty business. 

In their younger years, bull giraffe fight for dominance by necking - using their muscled necks to swing their big, heavy heads like a mace, landing heavy blows on their opponent’s body. As the bulls get older, not only will they get darker in colour, but they also develop bony growths on their skulls and a pair of particularly large growths behind their horns that look very much like a second set of horns; he who swings the biggest hammer wins! Once his position is established, a bull can assert his dominance simply by standing tall when he encounters a lesser male.

So when hunting giraffe, what exactly are we looking for? A big old stink bull, black with age, with a thick set of horns and many bony growths on the skull.  A few scars may bear testament to the encounters an old bull may have in the 25 or so years he roams the bush. And then there’s the hunt; getting the wind right, getting within range without being seen and placing a shot into one of these enormous beasts that will bring him down quickly.

Our hunt was centred around two properties – the first a privately owned game reserve that had been issued with quota by Nature Conservation as they had too much game, the second a property that doesn’t generally allow hunting, but has recently started to take off some game following mass deaths during the 2008 drought.

The initial plan was to use the .300 Weatherby Magnum for a shot to the base of the skull.  Now I've seen a lot of giraffe over the years but I guess I never really appreciated how big these creatures were until I was out there hunting a bull last August. Theory quickly went out the window and I decided to lug the .450 when stalking giraffe, the rifle I was carrying for elephant.

We struggled with the wind and couldn't put something together to get ourselves in position for a shot with any of the bulls we encountered - and none of these bulls had really entered the dark colour phase yet.

 

Out in the Land Rover one morning we met Kobus at our usual remote access rendezvous ready for a day hunting the game reserve; we were heading straight for the river to spend the morning stalking.  As we drove through the reserve I spotted a big bull giraffe in the bush off to our right and got the guys to pull up once we were well out of sight.

We stalked back in a tight straight line, moving slowly and quietly towards the old bull.  Hidden in a patch of thorny acacia, we all raised our glass to check out the old boy. My PH Floris and Kobus the Game Warden both agreed that he was a good bull - "black" and big bodied,  with thick horns and plenty of bony growths on his head.  The boss thought he was a great animal and the hide on this bull was everything she was looking for.

Through the Zeiss 10 x 40's I borrowed from my mate Sam, I spotted a big scar on the bulls shoulder.

  "Kobus, what's the scar on his shoulder?"

  "Dagga that old bull was attacked by a pride of lions last summer. He was mauled very badly and had a huge piece of skin hanging off that shoulder.  We didn't think he was going to make it as he had a terrible infection, we were going to shoot him.  He has deep scratches down the other side from the lion's claws. We haven't seen him for months but it looks like he's come through the worst of it now. He's a good trophy Dagga, got a good story to go with it and he's very old, not much time left for him now. Taking this old boy will give the younger bulls an opportunity with the cows."

Floris nodded in agreement as Kobus spoke, "…he's a great bull Dagga, we won't find better." I looked back at the boss and she was clearly in agreement.

  "Let's go get him guys."  We moved back down the slope, out of the bush and onto a game trail.  The soft sand masked our approach and unlike our previous attempts, the wind held for this hunt. Without looking, I checked the power selector on the 1.5-5x was turned to it's lowest setting and I pushed one of the fat .450's into the chamber, bolt up.  We rounded a small spur and came out into the open with the bull ahead of us, slightly up the slope in a small wash-away.

  "The wind is good Dagga," whispered Floris, "we just walk straight at him slowly, he should watch us, you remember the heart is a lot higher?"

I closed the bolt and raised the old Brno for a frontal shot just as the bull turned his back on us and moved farther up the hill; he stopped and turned back, quartering towards us. A few steps to my right had me in the clear and I raised the rifle and quickly squeezed of a shot at the bull.

The 500 grain Woodleigh hit the bull hard and he reared up on his back legs as the solid punched through the very top of the heart, perforating the atriums and the aorta.  He galloped off to the left as I cycled the bolt and raised the rifle a second time. I swung the rifle along his midline and sent another bullet his way; the bullet cut through a 12" Marula Tree before breaking the giraffe's shoulder and sending him toppling to the ground as he covered his last 30 yards. It was done - by the time we walked up to the bull he had expired.

We were in awe and the scale of this magnificent creature; he was massive, bigger than I could have imagined.  His head was as big as my torso and each hoof as big as both of my hands. With the small crew we had on hand repositioning the bull was totally out of the question so we took a few photos on the side of the hill where he fell amongst the rocks and naked trees.

Skinning the bull was a six hour marathon, a huge task! I couldn't believe how thick the skin was, Reckson was using a carpet knife to cut through the hide.  Siegfried and I dug out the bullets while we worked on getting the cape off the bull. My first shot had penetrated the full width of the bull's chest and stopped under the skin on the of side, the second shot broke the shoulder and stopped inside the chest cavity - that shoulder is made of  the heaviest bone I have ever seen.

The recovered Woodleigh slugs performed brilliantly.  They did a great job on the giraffe and were in great condition given that they had just been launched at 2,380fps from fairly close range. I was amazed that neither shot had exited; the bull soaked the full force of both projectiles - the second no doubt much slower having passed through the Marula!

Floris, Seigfried, Eddie, Kobus, Reckson and I heaved each part of the bull as we broke down the carcass into limbs and split the reminder of the carcass. We used the winch on Eddie's Toyota to load up the meat, cape and back skin along with the skull.  The winch saved a lot of bad backs that day!

I spent a bit of time with the boss looking over the major organs; the liver was as big as a bathmat, each kidney was a big handful, and the heart was a big two handed lift, both atrium perforate and the blood vessels ruptured by the 500 grain Woodleight. Reckson packed the heart, lungs, liver and tripe into a sac and threw it in the back of the bakkie.

Back at camp, Reckson cut panels from the flesh side of the skin to bring it down to a reasonable thickness that the salt would penetrate. Once the skin was "shaved down" we dropped the cape and back skin into a brine - strong with salt and disinfectant. The next day we pulled the hide out of the brine and rubbed in 500 kilos - half a metric tonne of salt into the old bull giraffe.

We had our bull. In the salt.

Hunting the hyena: Part I

Over the past few years we've had a few encounters with hyena while traveling through the southern African countries and after our very first visit, I decided to put together a plan and fit in some hyena hunting the very next time we made plans to visit the Dark Continent. We've encountered Spotted Hyena (Crocuta crocuta) in South Africa on a number of occasions, always in the Limpopo Province, both on private property and in a few areas within Kruger Park. In Botswana we came into contact with Spotted hyena along the Chobe River and in Moremi and Savuti Game Reserves. 

Cruising along the Chobe River in Botswana made for quite regular encounters with Spotted Hyena.

Brown Hyena (Parahyaena brunnea) on the other hand have proved to be much more elusive.  At Cape Cross on Namibia's Skeleton Coast we found spoor along the beach, weaving in and out of the Cape Fur Seal colony that litter the beach.  While the Black-Backed Jackal is content to traverse the beach front in broad day light looking for the sick and dead seals that make up the bulk of their diet in these parts, the ever cautious Brown Hyena maintains its mostly nocturnal and shy disposition and evaded our waiting Canon DSLR on our visit. 

Black-Backed Jackal (above) frequent the Cape Fur Seal colony at Cape cross along with the Brown Hyena looking for an easy meal - sick, injured or dead seals.

 The unpleasant smell at Cape Cross, a combination of dead seals and excrement are brought to shore by the strong and icy winds of the South Atlantic Ocean. For those of you that are keen on experiencing the natural wonders of the world, the Cape Fur Seal colony and the accompanying stench is one of those sights (and smells) you must see to believe! 

Now that is a lot of seals!!

Most hunters that visit Africa shoot hyena opportunistically. We put aside time specifically for the purpose of hunting them and our professional hunters are generally not impressed! On this trip, the hyena were our priority species and everyone involved knew that we had quite a task ahead of us...

Spotted Hyena skulk along the roads in Kruger National Park; this photo was taken near Orpen Gate.

In 2009 we spent 10 days hunting both hyena species along the Matlabas Riverin the Limpopo Province. We were dragging and hanging baits and building blinds in areaswhere we'd found recent sign of hyena, a rotten old nyala ewe that had died onthe property and an impala I'd shot. We had baits in three locations and itseemed that regardless of where we sat on any given night, the hyena would hitone of the other baits.  We had one excellent sighting of a lone spottedhyena on the way to the one of the bait sites but I wasn't in a position toshoot in the 1/2 second he gave us! 

Spotted Hyena spoor alongside the .300 Weatherby.

Stefan and Fanwell wire up the gut from a blesbok to run our drags to the bait site.

Stefan and Fanwell hanging the old nyala ewe carcass where we found fresh spoor.

We didn't see a brown hyena at all. We hadan animal come in to the bait a couple of times but nothing close to a shotopportunity! I think it was the ninth night out that we were calling, it was asteenbok in distress call, a sound not unlike the tin whistle we use forrabbits, when we heard the distant cackle of a couple of hyena.  My hairwas standing on end.  It was pitch black as I cocked the .300 and pointedthe rifle over the bow in the direction of the approaching hyena. The calls gotcloser and soon we could hear them grinding the course sand under their paws.They were close. 

My PH Stefan grabbed my shoulder in the darkness -
   "Dagga, I'll hit the light on three. Okay?" 

   "Yep. no problem," my heart was racing, I love a bit of buck fever!

When the light came on the reticle was a metre off its mark; a quick adjustment as I squeezed the trigger caught the dog broadside, alongthe centerline of the foreleg, about half way up the body. He dropped and Ifired again, hitting him through the spine. I roared; after nine long days andnights of strategising and tracking and sitting and driving. I was excited andexhausted after what had been a great hunt.

Fast forward three years, to three short weeks ago when Ifound myself in a game reserve, again in the Limpopo Province about 90kmoutside of Hoedspruit.  Like many reserves, the game is well managed andthere is a tendency for the wildlife populations to increase at a rate muchhigher than losses due to old age or predation, so as part of theirmanagement strategy, in the last two years they have started bringing in trophyhunters before the choppers come in to cull animals at the end of the season,before the rains start. They had a fairly limited quota but there were ahandful of species that I was quite keen to hunt, Spotted Hyena being one ofthem.

We met the Game Warden, Kobus, at a remote side gate with our PH Floris de Meyer. Weneeded to stay clear of the game viewing vehicles as this was purely aphotographic safari operation with a luxury lodge attached.  Funny isn'tit? I asked Kobus about how he felt about our team coming to the reserve tohunt and kill the big game that he is charged with preserving:

"The idea is growing on me," he replied -"we have tourists here and they pay good money to stay at the lodge,however to keep those tourists coming on photographic safaris we had to buildthe lodges and now we need to maintain them. We have a huge team of staff. Wehave to provide meals and there are lots of costly logistics associated withthat out here. We have to provide large volumes of clean water and then dealwith similar volumes of waste water and sewerage in this pristine environment. You guys come in and leave nothing behind except your cash - that goesstraight to the bottom line. The lodge itself has yet to make a profit in 14years of operation! If our game viewers don't see big cats they are oftendisappointed, if you guys only see impala and warthog you think it's been agreat day out because you've seen some game!" The missus and I liked Kobus; this fellow had a think man's head on his shoulders. 

The short wheel base Land Rover Defender bounced along therough roads south of the river that cut through the reserve from east to west. The game viewing vehicles would stay north of the river today.  Wekept a sharp eye out for giraffe at all times and stalked the tangled edges ofdry river beds hoping to bump warthog or catch a hyena napping in the shade. Wewalked seven kilometres that first day, mostly in sand. It was 34°C and there wasn't a hintof a breeze, the sun beat down on our heads and the hot sand cooking us in our boots.So hot! 

We stalked the dry riverbeds looking for hyena camped in the shadows in the heat of the day.

We were heading towards the gate at last light - day one was over. At 5:08 pm I caught the flick of a big round ear in thick bush to ourleft; I recognised what it was straight away but didn't want to create anycommotion so I let the vehicle roll on.  A couple of hundred yards downthe road I tapped the roof of the Rover and Eddie pulled up.  I hoppeddown as I hissed "Hyena!".

Floris and I tip toed back with the rifle good to go; Florisextended the sticks as we walked, both doubled over... both secretly willing the hyena to keep his head down as we moved in. It was almost dark when we gotinto position in the thick bush; slowly, we stood upright and I raised my rifle ontothe sticks that Floris had set up in just the right place. On cue the hyena raisedhis head on that muscular neck and looked straight at us. I had the reticle on him, he was still lying on his side as he worked us out, looking back over his shoulder, the bolton the .300 Weatherby was closed.   

"He'll stand in a sec Dagga.  Take him when hedoes, you won't have much time."  

The big dog got to his feet and reeled backslightly on his stumpy hind legs. As he started to turn I sent a bullet intohis shoulder; he was quartering towards us at that instant and the bullet exited ahead of thehind leg on the off side. He ran 20 yards and collapsed. Floris and I looked at each other in disbelief - I was ecstatic atsuch an outcome on day one - and on foot, in broad daylight (well almost), without baiting or the aid of a light.

We heard the Rover humming down the track shortly after the shot.  The boss was pleased as punch and Kobus the Game Warden and Eddie our driver for the day (also a PH) were both impressed with the sighting, the stalk and the perfectly placed shot. This would prove to be the only "easy shot" we would have for the remainder of the safari.  Reckson was pleased that he had something to carry to the skinning shed.  And a couple of the crew back at camp are particularly partial to hyena, so this fellow was not going to waste.

Floris our PH, Reckson out tracker and skinner, Kobus the Game Warden and The Boss stand over the fallen Spotted Hyena in a Game Reserve outside of Hoedspruit.

Reckson carefully loads the hyena into the back of the Land Rover.

 Its great being out in the bush on a hot day, when the sun is setting red in the harsh African sky, the smell of the bush and the wafting dust fill your sense, and our first skin in the salt and many days of hunting ahead of us...

No elephant!

Having just enjoyed two weeks on safari in South Africa, I thought I might assemble a few posts detailing our adventures and how it all panned out. Best to start with the elephant as that was very much the impetus for the safari...

Our elephant hunting plans changed at the last minute, 48 hours before our flight out of Sydney when Nature Conservation decided it was suspicious that a foreigner would want to hunt elephant and not take the trophy home. They couldn't or wouldn't understand that Australians cannot import elephant and refused to issue the non-export permit I had applied for.