Douglas Jardine’s Rifle Returns to Africa Part 1

By Cal Pappas

This is my second hunt with Basie Kuhn and Johann Biewenga. Last year Mark Sullivan’s presence made an excellent hunting experience even better but this year Mark could not make my schedule. Both Basie (the owner) and Johann (manager) are PHs, registered both for plains game and dangerous game. Both Johann’s wife, Joey, and Basie’s wife, Angela, were present. Basie and Angela’s daughters were in school for the week as it was exams so I would not see them until my departure.

The first two days on the ranch were spent relaxing – recovering from the long flight from Alaska – game drives to look over the game, and visiting and reminiscing about the last year’s hunt. On day three we got serious about buffalo and I spotted one I liked – not as wide as my previous buffalo here but with an exceptionally nice boss. Actually, we went out looking for red hartebeest but could not get close enough for a shot on the huge flat and grassy plain that lies within the centre of Basie’s 25-square mile domain. As we – Basie, Johann, Joe (tracker) and I – walked back to the bakkie (pick-up truck), we spotted two bulls feeding about a kilometre away. With the wind in our favour we began to move in their direction.
We stalked to within 50 yards. One bull, younger and black, was feeding under a tree, and looked in our direction when he raised his head. We froze. The other bull, to the left, was older and grey, head down and feeding quartering away from us. It was the older bull I wanted. When the young bull to the right dropped his head to feed, we moved. We froze when he lifted his head to chew. A couple of verses of this and we were within range.
A quick left and right and the bull dropped his head and began to walk, not run, very slowly. I knew he was hit hard with the head drop. After only 20–30 feet he stopped. I could have waited for him to fall and die but I put in another left and right and he fell. Moving in from behind, I discovered that he was still breathing so I placed another Woodleigh solid down between his shoulders. Nice bull – 39″ wide, with the right boss 14½” and the left at 16″, as it had a hump that added greatly to the measurement. He would make a wonderful European mount.

A quick left and right and the bull dropped his head and began to walk, not run, very slowly. I knew he was hit hard with the head drop. After only 20–30 feet he stopped. I could have waited for him to fall and die but I put in another left and right and he fell. Moving in from behind, I discovered that he was still breathing so I placed another Woodleigh solid down between his shoulders. Nice bull – 39″ wide, with the right boss 14½” and the left at 16″, as it had a hump that added greatly to the measurement. He would make a wonderful European mount.
The next day we bagged a young impala for camp meat. One shot at a ranged 101 yards dropped him in his tracks. Then we were off to look for the hartebeest herd. At a ranged 582 yards we were spotted and they were alert. One male stood out from the rest, at least six inches taller than all the other animals. He was usually at the edge of the herd containing perhaps 150‒200 animals. Even when the herd began to move the big bull stood out due to his long horns.
We set aside three afternoons to go to a neighbouring property to look for bushbuck. The property is on a river and the bushbuck start to get active around 3–4 in the afternoon. We spotted several, with Johann estimating the best one at 16″. Luck was with us as we bumped into a nice male at last light. A side-on shot dropped him at about 40–50 yards. He taped to 15¼” so I was pleased. Bushbuck were not high on my priority list but I did want a good representative animal. Then it was back to the camp for a shower and dinner.

Day five and we were off to look for plains game. We saw gemsbok, impala, blue wildebeest, red hartebeest and many eland. There were buffalo in the far distance on the large plain. After lunch we resumed the hunt for hartebeest. This time they were a bit more cooperative and we stalked to within 265 yards by the range finder. Yesterday, this morning and now again, the one male stood at least 6 inches above the other hartebeest in the herd. He was the one I wanted. When we had seen him previously he seemed to be at the end of the herd – always on the outskirts of the main group. As we approached after ranging, the herd began to move.
The big male was at the far left of the herd. We were able to move about 40 yards closer when the herd started to get nervous. The male began to walk to our left, broadside on. I took a seated rest as the grass here was not too high and aimed at the shoulder. The shot hit him hard and he walked a short distance before falling. He got to his feet and was very wobbly and then he went down for good. The range finder showed the shot at 219 yards – a new record for my double-rifle shooting. Basie was wowed by size of the animal. He field taped it to 25″ and later at the taxidermist it was officially measured at 25¾”.

We drove to Thabazimbi and a national park the next day. The following day we sat at a pan in a hide to observe animals. It seemed that every five minutes something came into view. I took a single female warthog as she had impressive tusks and didn’t have any young with her. Later that day, on a walk through the bush looking for impala, we saw an above average male warthog and I took him with a singe shot at 44 yards. The rest of the day we stalked impala and saw three above 25″ and the best at 26″, but we could not get close enough for a clear shot.
The next day we left early for Pretoria to visit Basie’s daughters and also to stop at Safari Outdoors for a look at Pretoria’s finest sporting and gun shop. While at the shop, Johann delivered the trophies to Cliff Williamson at Savuti Taxidermy.
At noon, I visited the Tyger Valley College where Basie and Angela’s daughters attend primary and secondary school. I spoke to approximately 400 students, grades 4 to 7, about Alaska and showed them some 150 slides to illustrate life in the far north. The kids loved it, asked endless questions, and shook my hand, high-fived, or fist bumped for a half-hour afterwards. The students were so polite and so well dressed in their uniforms, it made me sad to think of the liberal public education system in which I taught for nearly 40 years. (American public education has fallen far behind the schools in Africa in all aspects.) After a dinner with Basie and his family at Silver Lakes Estates, a golf community where they live, I was off to bed because I had to be up early for my flight to Maun in Botswana.
If any readers are interested in a great hunt for buffalo and plains game, Basie Kuhn’s Haakdoorn Safaris gets my 100% recommendation. The quality of game is excellent and at 25 square miles it is a good fair-chase hunt. There is no paddock shooting or small, enclosed areas with only one water pan. The hunt was perfect – food, game, company, showers, accommodation and comfort. I will be there in 2020 for my third hunt. I am thinking of bringing my newly-acquired 4-bore Rodda for a buffalo. I will be waiting in great anticipation over the next 12 months! ASM