The problem about that evening is that I did not sleep a wink! In my logic, the only thing protecting me from wild animals ready to eat me was a canvas piece of material. I probably heard ever flap of the tent and rustle of the leaves that night. I dreamt of African animals outside our tent and this was only encouraged by our "bedtime" stories from the professional hunters (PHs). It never failed that a close encounter of spitting cobras or lions chasing prey through the camp story would be told. "Don't shine your lights at the elephants, they might attack, but make sure you take them when you go to your tent to watch for snakes." I was a nervous wreck.
The group left at 3:30am and it gets light around 4:30am. It seemed that I finally dozed off when I was awoken by a loud thump on top of the tent. My worst fears were coming true. Surely it was a leopard on top of my tent, sniffing out his next prey. And there I was...by myself, in camp, without even a sharp stick nearby! I can't tell you the things that went through my mind. What was I going to do? Lay as still as possible? Anyone that knows me would know I could do that for about 25 seconds....I'm a doer! Yell for help? The nearest folks were probably about a 250 yards away and it didn't seem like a good idea to draw attention to myself in the tent. Try to scare it? Haha yeah right. Then the thump happened again...I found it highly unlikely that a leopard would use my tent as a trampoline and the curiosity was getting the better of me, so I crept over to the window to see what I could only imagine was going to be the death of me. At that moment a grey streak flew by.....monkeys! Why didn't someone warn me about the monkeys!?!?
Around lunchtime the gang made it back to camp with their heads held low saying the hunt was too difficult to continue so they decided to come back and go hunt something easier after lunch. Well I don't know who they were kidding, I know them WAY better than that. There is very little on this earth that would keep these boys from pressing on in pursuit of one of the most coveted game on earth. Sure enough, I was right! In under 2 hours the group had tracked, stalked, and killed a cape buffalo! This is just not done in this kind of time frame so needless to say a celebration was to be that evening!
Buffalo tracks
Watch out for Crocs!
Trackers, Dave our PH and Alan - way to go!
Since the epic task of the buffalo hunt was over, we napped and then decided to head out in search of the elusive guinea fowl. Basically we were going to bang about in the bush and see what kind of trouble we could get into.
Alan's uniform
And the celebration ensued....
Lelipe, our host, wears a bow tie only when there are women in camp...precious!
For the next 2.5 days we spent driving around looking for a trophy sable. The ride in the back of the truck is not exactly easy. I don't know how people do it for 14 days! Our hunt was broken up by a few awesome finds:
Bekki got a guinea!!! Thanks for putting food on the table that night =)
Lion tracks....the trackers said it was a female...
The celebration continues....fellow hunters, wildlife researchers, and friends
We decided to give the sable hunt one more go the next morning. We drove around for about 4 hours and decided to throw in the towel. We got a buffalo, and that was more than we could have asked for. We must have been only 2-3 km from camp when we came upon "the one." He was absolutely gorgeous and the first "fuzzy" animal I've ever seen hunted. Alan is an excellent shot and brought that sable down quickly which both I and the PHs were very glad about. I believe they enjoyed these Texas boys, their ethics, and their aim!
To be continued.....
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father
Mathew 10:29
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