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Bob's Hunting Safari Log at Thorndale Safari Lodge, May 2016

Follow along as Bob documents his hunting adventures at Thorndale Safari Lodge in Kirkwood, Eastern Cape, South Africa. Experience the thrill of African plains game hunting and the beauty of the lodge's surroundings.

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Bob's Hunting Safari Log at Thorndale Safari Lodge, May 2016

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  1. Bob’s hunting safari log 2016 at Thorndale Safari Lodge Kirkwood, Eastern Cape South Africa 18th to 25th May 2016

  2. Tuesday 17th May • Checked in at South African Airways London Heathrow Terminal 2 mid afternoon for the 19:00 flight to OR Tambo (Johannesburg International Airport). • This year I was travelling with a different rifle, a recently acquired Blaser R8 in 308 calibre so I’d been spending some time preparing and loading my own hunting ammunition hoping it would perform well on African plains game. • Firearms processing for South African Airways flights from London Heathrow is provided by a company called ICTS. They were quick and efficient so I was soon sitting in the departure lounge ready to go. • My hunting at Thorndale Safaris for this trip was based around their standard management package plus some additional non trophy animals as they became available.

  3. Wednesday 18th May • The flight had departed on time and arrived at Johannesburg around 6:45am local time. Immigration Control was quiet at this time of the morning so I promptly headed off to the SAPS office to get my hunting permit before boarding the 10:45am connecting flight down to Port Elizabeth at the base of Africa. • Francois, (Swais) one of the resident Thorndale PH’s was there to greet me with Jens Heimberg. Jens is the owner of the JH Group which includes Thorndale Safaris and who happened to be in Port Elizabeth, so a nice surprise. The drive to Thorndale Lodge took just under the hour so having left London Heathrow around 7:00pm the previous evening I arrived at the Lodge around 2pm to be greeted by Estelle and Eva. Estelle runs the catering operation and Eva looks after the guest rooms, laundry and general housekeeping. One of my first treats when I arrive at Thorndale is to have a cup of Rooibos (Red Bush Tea) and I was relieved to discover that ample supplies were available despite this year’s severe drought that’s reduced the Rooibos harvest. • So having freshened up and topped up with Rooibos it was time to head out to the zeroing range to check that my rifle and home loaded ammunition was up to the job. • A single shot at the zeroing target was all that was needed so I was good to go hunting with PH Swais and Tracker Freddie.

  4. Wednesday 18th May It didn’t take long to find the first suitable management animal, an impala ram with poor horns (pointing in at the top) standing broadside across the valley. I checked the range (205 metres) placed the Blaser on my quad sticks, squeezed the trigger and was relieved to see the animal drop from a shot through the chest. It seems incredible that here I am hunting plains game at the base of Africa less than 24 hours from having left the UK. The temperature was 29 deg C and we had to climb up a very steep slope to reach the animal which is probably why I look a bit shattered! A nice cool lager back at the lodge soon sorted the problem!

  5. Thursday 19th May • We headed out around 7:00am and hadn’t walked very far when we came across a suitable management warthog which I took off sticks at around 90 metres. Shortly afterwards Swais spotted a management impala which I also took at around 100 metres off my sticks. We continued hunting and encountered this blesbok, a typical management hunt animal that was getting on in years, teeth well worn and thin so I obliged with a shot off sticks at around 110 metres.

  6. Thursday 19th May So with three animals taken fairly early in the morning we headed back to the lodge for brunch and a longer than usual rest before setting out again mid afternoon. We headed out again around 3pm and I decided to hunt impala. There were many sightings and I rather over indulged and took a further three management animals during the afternoon session.

  7. Friday 29th May • Out at the usual time and determined to slow things down a bit having taken six animals the day before I half jokingly suggested to Swais that he’d need another sheet of paper to record the animal count and I’d have to talk to the bank! • We’d just started walking into the bush when Swais moved very quickly at a pace I’d never seen him move before. He’d caught sight of some large tusks emerging from a massive hole just to his left which belonged to a mature warthog boar which bolted out and sped off into the distance leaving a trail of dust. • Having regained our composure we continued walking and spotted this wildebeest cow standing alone amongst some bushes. • It looked old and rather thin so I took it off sticks at around 90 metres, and typical of old animals its teeth were really well worn down. • So determined to stick to the plan we took a long and slow route back to the lodge for brunch.

  8. Friday 29th May Out again at the usual time for the afternoon hunt we maintained our disciplined approach and limited our hunt to taking this duiker off sticks at around 50 metres and returned to the lodge for a pre dinner beer content in the knowledge that we’d managed to slow things down. One of the really nice things about returning to Thorndale is meeting up again with old friends and Friday evening was no exception when Leigh (Group Marketing Manager) her husband Ivan and daughter Gracie arrived with her friends from the UK, Sarah and her teenage son Sam. Needless to say we had a very pleasant evening.

  9. Saturday 21st May Up again at 6:30am as bright as a button, despite the previous evening! Didn’t take long to find this impala ewe which I took off sticks at around 100 metres. Shortly afterwards we came across a duiker which I also took at around 100 metres off sticks. We continued on and came across another impala ewe which I took off sticks at around 200 metres and having clearly abandoned the disciplined approach of the previous day we scuttled back to the lodge for brunch. Out again mid afternoon and came across yet another impala which I took off sticks at around 80 metres. And just like a couple of days ago we came across this old blesbok with well worn teeth which is why it was so thin. I took off sticks at around 90 metres.

  10. Sunday 22nd May Out again at the normal time we resolved to limit the animal take so I took a wildebeest at around 100 metres off sticks and a warthog at around 90 metres off sticks during the morning session. Rather surprisingly, we didn’t take any animals during the afternoon hunt but we did encounter tracker Peretriess with whom I’ve hunted along with PH Matthew and now the lodge General Manager several times before. He looked at PH Swais and tracker Freddie, gave me a somewhat mischievous grin and as we shook hands he said “Hi Bob, I see you’re hunting with the B team then.” Later during the afternoon Jens visited the lodge in his helicopter along with a few friends so we had a nice relaxing afternoon, drinks around the brie followed by an enjoyable dinner.

  11. Monday 23rd May • Jens jetted off to his ‘Monday Job’ in his helicopter at first light and we then ventured out hunting. I took a single impala mid way through the morning session at around 105 metres. • Having had some very busy hunting days we elected to ‘chill out’ at the lodge for the rest of the day.

  12. Tuesday 24th May Fresh from our previous part time hunting day we went out at the usual time and I took this waterbuck bull with poor trophy standard horns at around 140 metres off sticks. By this time the animal tally had grown to eighteen: - 9 impala, 2 warthog, 2 blesbok, 2 wildebeest, 2 duiker & 1 waterbuck. So we called it a day and I spent the afternoon relaxing at the lodge and reflecting on yet another most enjoyable hunt at Thorndale Safaris. Matthew, the senior PH and lodge General Manager with whom I’ve hunted several times before joined us for dinner having returned from a few days break, so we had an enjoyable evening recounting past experiences.

  13. Wednesday 25th May • Having packed ready for my homeward trip I said goodbye to Estelle, Eva & Freddie while Swais prepared the bakkie (4 cab truck) for the return trip to Port Elizabeth airport. • The trip wasn’t without incident as we got a puncture on the outskirts of Port Elizabeth, but Swais was well prepared and we promptly changed the wheel and were on our way. • Arrived at Johannesburg in plenty of time to proceed through firearms handling etc. and had a good return flight back to London Heathrow courtesy of South African Airways.

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