Posted in African wildlife, Kruger National Park, safaris, travel, wildlife, tagged Hyena, wildlife on June 22, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Hyenas share baby sitting duties amongst the pack.
Watch this video as a young hyena follows a Francolin grouse past our Land Rover.
Posted in Kruger National Park, photography, safaris, travel, wildlife, tagged big five, South Africa, wildlife on June 16, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Here's a cape buffalo bull called a dugga boy.
As we toured Kruger National Park during our 2007 visit, cape buffalo were uncommon, but we did encounter them on a couple of occasions. Both times we found dugga boys. Here’s a video clip of one encounter.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jz1cOdAjtWU
On another day, we were dropped off about a mile from camp and walked in with our guide who carried a large-caliber rifle just in case. As we passed through an opening in the bush we came upon a dugga boy standing about 30 yards from us. He didn’t seem to care about us, but the guide scooted us away.
During the remainder of the walk we were extra cautious.
Posted in african, African wildlife, Archery hunting, Big game hunting, Hunting, Hunts with a Professional Hunter or Outfitter, Kruger National Park, safaris, wildebest, tagged safaris, South Africa, Wildebeest on January 6, 2009 | 1 Comment »
The wildebeest is a distinctly African animal. If I’d seen “The Lion King” prior to going to Africa, I might have made different decisions.
The blue wildebeest in the above photo was observed and photographed from a vehicle at Kruger National Park.
I took the photo on week two of our African “safari.” On week three, I stood in a pit blind looking at a wildebeest and zebra 20 yards away. With bow in hand and a broadhead tipped arrow on the rest, I considered which to shoot.
I have to admit that the wildebeast seemed more appropriate and when it turned broadside, my arrow was released without regret. It pierced his hide right behind the shoulder and ended his life quickly. I didn’t think much about passing on the zebra, until my wife stated that she didn’t want a zebra rug anyway. That seems strange to me now.
One of the risks of traveling to Africa is that you may change your some of your opinions. I did and I don’t regret it. I like the music from lion king, but I doubt I’ll ever watch it.
Posted in african, African wildlife, Archery hunting, Big game hunting, Hunting, outdoors, safaris, turkey, tagged African hunting, warthogs on June 8, 2008 | 2 Comments »
Warthogs and baboons feeding at Pillainsberg Wildlife Refuge near Sun City South Africa.
Although not considered high on the list of African trophy animals, warthogs are a very significant animal for several reasons. First of all you’ll see them often. They are interesting to watch and strange looking with their large tusks. And, they are fun to hunt.
While we stayed at the Nagala Camp, warthogs would occasionally roam through camp. The first video is a clip of a large warthog as it grazed in camp. Note how it feed from its knees.
http://www.youtube.com/v/7SdX475eYWw
The second video is a clip of a warthog I killed at Sitatanga Safaris. It is one of the two animals (both warthogs) I was able to bag while still hunting with my bow. Hunting from a blind over bait was more effective, but still hunting was the most fun and more satisfying. You will see that this was an enclosed ranch and it wasn’t large, only a few hundred acres, but the fences played no role related to the warthogs as they were frequently observed crawling under the fences.
I started the hunt at first light, not far from our camp. I spotted this pig about 60 yards away standing very still and broadside from me. At first I thought that he had seen me, but stepping back behind a bush, I was able to slowly approach to thirty yards.
At that range I decided to shoot and hit him, but it didn’t appear to be a great location. Off he went and it wasn’t until later in the day that we recovered him after a trail of about 300 yards or so. The South African speaking in the video was my professional hunter Kobus Grobler – a fun guy to hunt with.
Posted in African wildlife, Kruger National Park, outdoors, safaris, wildlife, tagged African lion, wildlife on June 6, 2008 | 4 Comments »
While in South Africa, we spent three nights at Nagala Tented Safaris. The camp was located in the bush and we had wart hogs and bushboks feeding right in camp. In fact, there was no fence so any animal could potentially walk through camp, except the elephant. To keep elephants out, an electric wire was strung about ten feet high around the camp.
One of the exciting moments we experienced while viewing wildlife at Kruger Park was watching a male lion roar from a distance of about ten to fifteen yards. The roar was quite loud. I don’t think the video does it justice.
The lions roared each night, apparently keeping track of their buddies. One night the lions roared very close to camp and one lion seemed to pass by within a couple hundred yards, but we could hear them for miles as well.
Apparently the lions keep track of their pride by roaring, but they also may be searching for female lions in other prides that are vulnerable to take over. If a male lion takes over a pride, it kills the cubs, so females with cubs often band together in groups (prides) so they can defend their young against intruders.
Lone female lions with cubs will avoid unknown male lions, as a single female lioness is less likely to be able to fight off an intruding male lion than a pride with several females.
