Contents

Editorial by Richard Lendrum (Scroll down to read)
Wildlife column by Dr. John Ledger
Book Review: Pondoro: Last of the Ivory Hunters by Ken Bailey

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A Long Day in Limpopo by Ken Moody
Man vs. Antelope by Robi Datattreya
A Long, Short, Waterbuck Hunt by Daryl Crimp
Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Ch 6 by Neil Harmse
On the Menu: Braaied Guineafowl Breasts Tandoori Style

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Editorial

Africa is at her peak

June is always a great month for various reasons. Africa is at its peak. In some areas, the season is just beginning.

This month we introduce a now-to-be-regular posting of African Dawn Member Trophies. ‘Photos fresh from the veld’. Nothing speaks quite like action, and what those actions delivered. I think you will find this addition worthy of your attention.

I am not sure when a prize of this nature has been on offer: We have presented an opportunity to all existing and wannabee Life Members. This is no ordinary lottery. Apart from a basket of incredible gifts when you sign up as a Life Member, you’ll also be in the draw later in the year for a brand-new .416 Rigby and a 14-day Bongo safari (courtesy of Rigby Gunmaker and Mayo Oldiri respectively) – a prize worth $55,000. Nothing more to say, except that this is an extremely huge prize to win. If you’re a Life Member – thank you, you’re in the draw. If you are not – perhaps think about entering. Click here for more details.

Covid lit a rocket under the ass of many a procrastinating hunter. Time is precious and we’re all getting older. If you have the health and the means, people are saying – “let’s go!” The gist of what many an Afton Safari Lodge guest says, “If I knew what I know now… I would have been here 35 years back.” Don’t wait!

Please forward this AHG Monthly to a buddy if you know someone who might enjoy it. Every bit helps. And if you love what we do and stand for, please be sure to sign up and subscribe.

All the best from Africa,

Richard Lendrum
Publisher
+27 82 653 7185

Wildlife column

The Natal Parks Board was once upon a time one of the most effective and admired conservation organisations in the world. With its neatly dressed, disciplined and highly motivated staff, these men epitomised the popular image of the ‘Game Ranger’, and I remember as an infatuated schoolboy writing a letter to the NPB asking how I could also become one of these superheroes. I received in return a polite typed note on an NPB letterhead, suggesting that I should go and study Zoology, which indeed I did, but my career moved in a different direction after that. The Natal Parks Board with its legendary Dr Ian Player, was responsible for saving the Southern White Rhino from the brink of extinction.

Classic and Contemporary African Hunting Literature:

Pondoro: Last of the Ivory Hunters

It had been many years since I’d read this book when I dusted it off again last month and, truthfully, I’d forgotten what an interesting and informative read it is. John Taylor, or “Pondoro” as he was called by the natives when he first hunted Africa on the lower Zambesi, a name meaning “lion” in Chinyungwe, is probably best known for his writings on cartridges and bullets. His books Big Game and Big-Game Rifles and African Rifles and Cartridges are seminal works on the subject of cartridges, calibres and ammunition suited for African hunting.

A Long Day in Limpopo

It was one of those long, tiring tracks all too common in buffalo hunting. The kind of track where you’re happy to have worn your most comfortable pair of boots and slept well the night before. You know it’s coming, it’s just a matter of when, but as the years accumulate on an old buffalo hunter’s body, it becomes a more daunting prospect each season.

I woke to a brisk morning that day in July and was happy to be going on this hunt. We needed just one more buffalo, and this camp of seven buffalo hunters, would be complete. So far everything had gone well, with each bagging their bulls with single, clean shots, something a bit unprecedented given the disposition and invincible spirit of these beasts. Now, we were down to the last man (or should I say woman) standing.

Shay came to Africa with her grandfather, the lone female in a group of professional bourbon drinkers from Kentucky.

Man vs. Antelope

In the ultra-runner world there is the belief that humans evolved into striding bipeds that excel at long-distance running in hot conditions because we needed those skills for outrunning antelopes – the so-called persistence hunting. Losing our fur and developing the ability to sweat from all over the body, allows us to cool our bodies in hot conditions. Antelopes are faster but cannot sweat all over, so the belief is that humans can outrun antelopes over long distances and in hot conditions.

A Long, Short, Waterbuck Hunt

My Courteney boots puffed dust in the bushveld and left distinctive tracks, the solid rubber soles offering quiet tread— silent footsteps in the dirt. I’d learned the hard way that soles designed for comfort with tiny air bubbles injected in the rubber, amplify the sound of foot on grit, echo your approach, and spook prey.

Not that it mattered, because this particular waterbuck had the uncanny ability to hear the unheard and see the unseen and, once again, it vanished like an ace in a slick card trick. My PH Hennie and I had long since settled into a monotonous game of cat-and-mouse with this bull, and I despaired for an outcome in my favor.

“These big bulls,” Hennie whispered, “are super cunning – we just need to keep working this one until he makes a mistake.”

Campfire Thoughts & Reminiscences Ch 6

During the early 1980s, I was kept rather busy with problem animals along the southern boundary of the Kruger National Park in the Malelane area. There was a serious drought in this region at the time and almost every animal seemed to find grazing, browsing or other food on the private farms and estates along the boundary of the park, where irrigation was implemented.

On the Menu: Braaied Guineafowl Breasts Tandoori Style

Whilst tandoori ovens are in short supply, this spicy dish tastes excellent when braaied over hardwood coals. The longer the meat is left in the marinade, the greater the tenderising effect of the yogurt, and it can be overdone, with 4 hours being sufficient.

Bergzicht Game Lodge

Bergzicht Game Lodge offers guided hunting safaris on our exquisite game ranch just south of Windhoek, Namibia, with 25 species of plains game on 60 000 acres of privately owned land.

Game Trackers Africa

Game Trackers Africa is a Namibian-based company that also serves as the marketing agent for various endeavors in different parts of Africa, including Tanzania, Cameroon and South Africa.

eZulu Adventures

We are located in the malaria-free Eastern and Northern Cape Provinces, in the heart of South Africa. We offer an exceptional African hunting safari in 3 biodiverse areas, all of which are teeming with a large variety of species and big herds of game.

Omujeve Safaris

If your lifelong dream is to take part in the perfect African Hunting Safari, you’ve come to the right place. Trophy hunting is our speciality, and we’ll make sure that you bag the species of your choice, be it a predator, plains game or any of the Big Five.

Voices from the Frontline
Community-Centred Conservation

40% of Botswana’s land has been set aside for conservation.

The President of Botswana, H.E. Mokgweetsi Masisi, has made it patently clear that the sustainable use of natural resources will be the centerpiece of his government’s environmental policy.

He believes that conservation will not be sustainable unless rural communities are allowed to benefit meaningfully from the wildlife with which they live. Safari hunting is an essential part of the process.

In this 5-minute video, President Masisi discusses these issues and takes on his armchair critics.