A TRIP OF A LIFE TIME

We arrived after 24 hours of flying. We flew to Atlanta and ran to our gate to fly to Dakar. We were on the plane 9 hours and then we fueled up in Dakar. We were not allowed to get off. We then flew 9 more hours to South Africa. At the airport, security would not give us our guns because we did not have the proper paper work. After hours of talk and negotiations they slipped the officers some green and we were free to go. If we knew it were that easy the guys would have done that sooner. This is a picture of Jason, Renn, Mark and Petrus(our driver) waiting in the airport negotiating for the guns. We were free to go 5 hours after we arrived. We drove to camp and it took about 3 hours with all of the smoke breaks. They smoke a lot in South Africa. It was one in the morning when we arrived to camp. We checked things out, ate dinner, and went to bed only to get up early and go hunting the next morning.

These ladies were our cooks, cleaners, laundry ladies, and made sure our rooms were clean and comfortable. They live in these tin huts. South Africa is mainly blacks but there is a difference between the blacks and whites. Slavery is alive and well in South Africa. The blacks get paid but they still live in tin huts and eat maize and scraps of the animals killed. It was really sad to see the way the blacks lived. We all had running water, heaters, food prepared by a chef and so on. We were not allowed to hug and tell the blacks thank you. You do not interact with the blacks if at all possible. Is this the way life use to be in America?

ELEPHANTS!

It was fun, scary and exciting. We got to meet the elephants and feed the baby elephants. Their trunks felt like a vacuum on the palm of your hand. Then we got to ride the elephants. Renn could not spread his legs far enough. He was getting charlie horses. Why didn't he stretch out. I kept telling him to chill because he was giving me anxiety. It was very scary and exciting at the same time. Towards the end of the ride our elephant got spooked. Renn was holding the camera videotaping and not holding on very well. All the sudden our elephant took off. Renn exclaimed a choice word and I could tell he was scared out of his mind. I've never seen Renn so scared and that made me more scared. We both thought we were going to die by being thrown and trampled. The other watched while this was going on in amazement. Finally the elephant guide calmed the elephant down and we could not get off fast enough. What a large animal!

Our Chef's name was Fanwell. He was a fabulous cook and had really white teeth. We ate the meat that was killed and it tasted better than steak. We always had three full course meals and dessert every night. We were fat after this trip. Fanwell's family was visiting from Zimbabwe and they were not suppose to be there. They had been in jail and the lady that owned the camp bailed them out. They did not have the right paperwork to be in South Africa. Fanwell doesn't get to see his family very often. The ladies tie their babies on their backs and resume household duties. The poor babies heads look so uncomfortable. Fanwell's little boy is three years old the same as Kaden. I wanted to bring him home and give him a better life and give Kaden a brother. We loved to hold his little sister. I think the white people thought we were crazy!

We loved seeing the monkeys. We also saw big baboons on the side of the road and all over this country. The monkeys were hard to get pictures of.

Can you believe the size of the termite hills? Mindy and I tagged along with an older couple from Texas and toured an Arab Prince's camp. It was amazing. We saw a croc eating an impala. Very cool! I wish I had a picture, but my camcorder could only pick it up.

One day we went to a lion reserve. We gave the reserve zebra meat from one of the hunts and we got in free. They feed the zebra meat to the lions. We were in a caged vehicles with open driving area. The lion above chased us and that was an adrenalin rush. You could see it in his eyes. He's a rowdy bachelor. He needs a wife to calm him down like the one below.

TROPIC OF CAPRICORN! How many of you have been to the

Tropic of Capricorn.

Laurie, Valerie, Mindy and Ashley. Ashley was my PH's (professional hunter) daughter and she got to come along for the week. She was very cute and had the cutest accent. They talk so cool in South Africa. The whites speak Africanz and English too. We went shopping sometimes and left the men to hunt. We are in a grocery store and their are animal heads all around us. Only in South Africa.

KUDU

One day Mindy and I sat in a hide by a waterhole. We got to eat, whisper, and take pictures of animals and birds all day while the men were out hunting. It was so cool to see the animals up close. They were so cute. The hides became one of my favorite places to be.

GIRAFFES! I could not wait to see the giraffes. The second day there I finally got to see them. There were baby and adult giraffes. I got to see them many times. Can you believe people pay to shoot them. They should be punished.

This is our tracker. He would drive the truck while the PH, Renn and I sat outside on top and looked for animals. When the truck would stop the trackers would then see the way the wind was blowing, follow tracks, look at the animals poop and determine which direction to walk. What a science! He couldn't talk very good English, but we liked to give him our food and tease him. He smiled a ton. Renn would offer him a drink because the PH's do not treat them very well. The trackers were in charge of cleaning and gutting the killed animals. I think the trackers ate the best this week because we felt they were no different than us.
Renn shot his wart hog the last day hunting. He was sitting at a water hole in a hide and found this ugly beast. Look at the tusks. It's a male because it has 4 warts and the females have 2.

We were getting frustrated. It seemed like everyone was getting their animals and our guide was not doing a very good job. Renn went out with our guide, Chris, and another guide, "One Arm Bandit." That day Renn got his Gems Bok and Wildebest. Our neighbor Mark said Renn's legs and hands were shaking. He said it was really cool. I was sitting in a hide at a waterhole taking pictures and I didn't get to see Renn shoot and shake. The one arm bandit had an arm removed in an accident when he was a cop. He was so much fun to listen to and he had really cool stories. He was an excellent guide.

Wildebest. This is our guide Chris. He was not real

personable like the other guides.

Renn was having bad luck. Finally Frans, the owner of the camp, went out and they found this record Impala and took a shot. Look at the world record horns!

The first day we went out and shot nothing. On the way back, we found a herd of Bles Buck and stalked them for awhile. Renn finally decided to shoot and got this male. He had to shoot twice because it was not dead yet! It was a rush and Renn was shaking! We were hooked. Renn has been deer hunting all of his life out in Roosevelt. He has never shot a deer. He never wanted to gut or eat the deer. So finally he had someone to gut the animal and he didn't have to eat it. This is the only way to hunt!