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Randy and wife Shannon joined us for a 6-day Eastern Cape hunt and vacation package. Randy has been on many previous Africa hunting trips; this would be Shannon’s first time accompanying him. We adjusted our standard Couples Hunting and Touring Package to allow for their schedule and to include some species that Randy hasn’t hunted on previous South Africa hunting trips.
Randy brought his trusted 35 Whelen and 260 Ackley Improved rifles for his plains game hunt.
After lunch we set off on a late afternoon hunt. A nyala trophy made a mockery of our stalking attempts and disappeared into a river thicket before we had an opportunity to view him properly. Randy had previously hunted a nyala but was still searching for that exceptional trophy whose horns flared out at the tips.
The next morning was ideal klipspringer hunting weather. We hiked up a steep mountain track. Once at the summit, we moved slowly along the cliff edge, stopping often to glass the sheer rock faces below. At one point a klipspringer let out a shrill whistle but try as we might we were unable to pinpoint the call. A short while later we spotted a pair of klipspringer silhouetted against the morning sky. Slipping below and against the rock face we were able to stalk unsighted to within shooting distance. Randy’s first shot was a clear miss. We were unsure of the second as the klipspringer immediately disappeared from view. After a short wait we moved closer. Nearing the spot, the same klipspringer ram appeared and perched broadside on a rock directly in front of us. Randy wasted no time in sending a 35 Whelen bullet his way, the shot hit and the klipspringer tumbled down the face thankfully coming to an abrupt halt below. He was a magnificent old klipspringer trophy, Randy’s 4th Tiny Ten antelope species. This was a perfect klipspringer hunt.
That afternoon we visited to Addo Elephant National Park for Shannon to view some big five species. After dinner at the park restaurant we went in search of cape grysbuck. Cape grysbuck are one of the most elusive Tiny Ten species and are almost exclusively nocturnal in our area. We saw several grysbuck and passed on two rams before Randy took a world class grysbuck ram with a single shot. Randy’s 5th Tiny Ten antelope and well on his way to hunting all ten!
We were hunting nyala mid-morning the following day when I spotted a solitary bull browsing below me. I motioned for Shannon to join me. She seemed confused. Randy and I had schemed for Shannon to hunt a nyala except we had forgotten to tell her! The nyala bull was moving slowly away from us by the time we had her set up on the shooting sticks. As if by fate, he paused briefly to browse on an Acacia Karoo thorn tree and Shannon’s shot was on its way. The bull ran, stumbled and collapsed. We were delighted for Shannon. My tracker, Mitchell nicknamed her “bang” from that point on. He called Randy “bang-bang” or sometimes “bang-bang-bang” in reference to the number of shots he needed for his animals. Cheeky bugger…
We had the perfect cull black springbok hunt that afternoon. Normally notoriously difficult to stalk, we used the cover effectively to get close to the springbok ram and Randy obliged with a good shot.
Early the next morning we set off for Plettenberg Bay, South Africa’s most scenic coastal town. I offered Randy and Shannon the choice of the easy, tar road or the longer, more scenic dirt road. To my delight they chose the latter. We stopped for lunch at the quirky rest stop, Angie’s G Spot, in the upper regions of the Knysna forest. After checking into our accommodation at Milkwood Manor, on the very edge of the Indian Ocean, we had lunch and shopped at Old Nick Village.
The following day Randy and Shannon visited Monkeyland and Birds of Eden wildlife sanctuaries and after a spot of shopping at the Old Mill we enjoyed a seafood extravaganza at the Ski Boat Club. That evening we had drinks and browsed around the Plett night market.
It was raining lightly the next morning so we cancelled our ocean safari and instead spent the day wine tasting at the various wine estates in the region. We headed to Knysna town for another short shopping session and lunch at a beautiful restaurant overlooking the Knysna heads and estuary.
We bid farewell to beautiful Plettenberg Bay the next morning. On the way to Port Elizabeth airport, we stopped at Ampath laboratories for a mandatory Covid test to enable Randy and Shannon to board their flight to the US. We loved our time with Randy and Shannon. This is a fantastic way to hunt Africa and visit some of South Africa’s attractions as a couple.
