npaden
Well-known member
Day 8. Looking for kudu on the river property.
We head out about 15 minutes earlier than we had been and it still isn't quite light yet. We see Jewel already parked where we quit the sable tracking the previous evening and chat with him a bit then start out. We haven't gone a couple hundred yards when the truck stops and Pieter pulls over and turns the engine off. This isn't the river property?
This has happened to us every time we've headed to the river property in the past as well. We are right where we had gone after the kudu a couple days earlier when the guinea fowl messed us up. Pieter is pretty sure these are the same kudu and at least one of them is a big bull. The wind isn't really great, the front from a few days ago is long gone and we are back to our light and variable winds again. That said the wind isn't bad either. We decide to go after them following the tracks. As we leave the road some impala cross the road heading right toward where the kudu were going based on their tracks. Okay, not what we are looking for but hopefully they won't be a problem. We've gone maybe 400 or 500 yards and this time we hear zebra coming from the other direction. They are calling and you can hear them running a couple different times. Jewel must have spooked them as he isn't that far away and was in that general direction. Still not a reason to stop going after the kudu but another wrinkle in what started out looking like a pretty straightforward approach. Worst case scenario, Eli might get an opportunity at a zebra. We skirt back around trying not to mess up the zebra and still trying not to blow out the impala as well. We end up all the way back at the road, move down the road a bit and then head back in the general direction the kudu were headed. We end up covering probably a mile or a little more and things just aren't working out. Wind isn't consistent, impalas went one direction and the zebra went the other. We finally get back on the kudu tracks but now the wind is bad and the kudu are back into the super thick stuff. We work toward them a little more and not sure exactly what tipped the balance in Pieter's decision making process but we end up walking out to a different road and radio for the truck to pick us up.
Back on the truck and we are again headed to the river property. We exit the main gate and cross the road and now we are officially on the river property. I hadn't realized that it was just across the road. The property is really all connected but because the main road goes through it there are 2 high fences, one on each side of the road so the river property is completely separate from the main property. I ask if there are different animals and there are not any giraffe, gemsbok or zebra on the river property. That is one of the reasons we hadn't been on it since gemsbok and zebra were on both of our lists and there aren't any of those on the river property. We start driving and right off the bat we spot some kudu. This part of the property is a lot more open than the main property seemed to be and we can see them from 200 or 300 yards away. We actually use our binoculars and see that they are cows and a young bull. Not a tiny one, this one is actually pretty respectable I think but Pieter says he is young and that we can do better.
We drive around some more and are seeing quite a few animals. Some very nice impala (at least I thought they were really good) and we spot several more groups of cow kudu. We drive down to the river and it is completely dry and looks a little sketchy to get in and out of it. The road goes that direction but there is some pretty good wash out sections in it. Riding around in the bench chair in the back of the truck on flat ground has been fairly pleasant, but riding on it as the truck leans to and fro and your feet are up against the back of the cab dropping down into the river at such a steep angle really isn't the most pleasant experience. Cathy is really struggling as we drop down into the river bed. The other side looks even more sketchy but instead of going up the other side we turn and start driving right down the dry river bed. We see several waterbuck and one of them is very impressive. I had talked about adding a waterbuck to the list and they are beautiful but some of the people I had talked to said they are too easy and at least looking at them watching us from 50 yards away while we drove by it seemed like their opinion was pretty spot on.
We continued on a off road adventure tour and when the riverbed turned into rock slabs that would be small waterfalls if the water was flowing we exited the riverbed, up one of the banks and went around and dropped back in. Not much in the way of even a two track anymore, but you did get a sense that Pieter had at least done this a few times. We end up finally going over to the other side of the river and back onto that part of the property. Again we see several small groups of kudu cows and young bulls, it seems that the bulls are separate from the cows at this time of the year. We also see quite a few more duiker and steenbuck over on this property. Not sure if the leopards are as thick here or what the difference is but there are noticeably more of them. We make our way in a big loop of the property and end up all the way to the back of the property as far from the river as you can get. We see some more waterbuck in here, both females and males and see another very impressive one. Eli is talking about adding waterbuck to his list instead of a second zebra but we find out the price is more than double the price of a zebra and I tell him I'll spring for the extra zebra but he will have to put the waterbuck on his list some other time.
Back across the river and drive around some more. Some pretty rough going, the land cruiser is impressive but being so high up is about to make my wife sea sick. We stop and offload and we sneak up on a spot in the river that holds a good bit of water. As we are sneaking up Pieter gives us the stop signal and we all freeze. It ends up being a huge group of impala, Pieter says it was probably close to 100 of them. We stay frozen but something happens and they all run off. This happened quite a few times during the week, animals would run off with us hiding frozen still, the wind in our favor and nothing that we could figure out exactly how we got busted. About the time a deer or elk would get nervous and start trying to check you out and figure out what you are is about the time you see the back end of these animals as they run off. They just don't mess around trying to figure out what you are, they just take off.
We head out about 15 minutes earlier than we had been and it still isn't quite light yet. We see Jewel already parked where we quit the sable tracking the previous evening and chat with him a bit then start out. We haven't gone a couple hundred yards when the truck stops and Pieter pulls over and turns the engine off. This isn't the river property?
This has happened to us every time we've headed to the river property in the past as well. We are right where we had gone after the kudu a couple days earlier when the guinea fowl messed us up. Pieter is pretty sure these are the same kudu and at least one of them is a big bull. The wind isn't really great, the front from a few days ago is long gone and we are back to our light and variable winds again. That said the wind isn't bad either. We decide to go after them following the tracks. As we leave the road some impala cross the road heading right toward where the kudu were going based on their tracks. Okay, not what we are looking for but hopefully they won't be a problem. We've gone maybe 400 or 500 yards and this time we hear zebra coming from the other direction. They are calling and you can hear them running a couple different times. Jewel must have spooked them as he isn't that far away and was in that general direction. Still not a reason to stop going after the kudu but another wrinkle in what started out looking like a pretty straightforward approach. Worst case scenario, Eli might get an opportunity at a zebra. We skirt back around trying not to mess up the zebra and still trying not to blow out the impala as well. We end up all the way back at the road, move down the road a bit and then head back in the general direction the kudu were headed. We end up covering probably a mile or a little more and things just aren't working out. Wind isn't consistent, impalas went one direction and the zebra went the other. We finally get back on the kudu tracks but now the wind is bad and the kudu are back into the super thick stuff. We work toward them a little more and not sure exactly what tipped the balance in Pieter's decision making process but we end up walking out to a different road and radio for the truck to pick us up.
Back on the truck and we are again headed to the river property. We exit the main gate and cross the road and now we are officially on the river property. I hadn't realized that it was just across the road. The property is really all connected but because the main road goes through it there are 2 high fences, one on each side of the road so the river property is completely separate from the main property. I ask if there are different animals and there are not any giraffe, gemsbok or zebra on the river property. That is one of the reasons we hadn't been on it since gemsbok and zebra were on both of our lists and there aren't any of those on the river property. We start driving and right off the bat we spot some kudu. This part of the property is a lot more open than the main property seemed to be and we can see them from 200 or 300 yards away. We actually use our binoculars and see that they are cows and a young bull. Not a tiny one, this one is actually pretty respectable I think but Pieter says he is young and that we can do better.
We drive around some more and are seeing quite a few animals. Some very nice impala (at least I thought they were really good) and we spot several more groups of cow kudu. We drive down to the river and it is completely dry and looks a little sketchy to get in and out of it. The road goes that direction but there is some pretty good wash out sections in it. Riding around in the bench chair in the back of the truck on flat ground has been fairly pleasant, but riding on it as the truck leans to and fro and your feet are up against the back of the cab dropping down into the river at such a steep angle really isn't the most pleasant experience. Cathy is really struggling as we drop down into the river bed. The other side looks even more sketchy but instead of going up the other side we turn and start driving right down the dry river bed. We see several waterbuck and one of them is very impressive. I had talked about adding a waterbuck to the list and they are beautiful but some of the people I had talked to said they are too easy and at least looking at them watching us from 50 yards away while we drove by it seemed like their opinion was pretty spot on.
We continued on a off road adventure tour and when the riverbed turned into rock slabs that would be small waterfalls if the water was flowing we exited the riverbed, up one of the banks and went around and dropped back in. Not much in the way of even a two track anymore, but you did get a sense that Pieter had at least done this a few times. We end up finally going over to the other side of the river and back onto that part of the property. Again we see several small groups of kudu cows and young bulls, it seems that the bulls are separate from the cows at this time of the year. We also see quite a few more duiker and steenbuck over on this property. Not sure if the leopards are as thick here or what the difference is but there are noticeably more of them. We make our way in a big loop of the property and end up all the way to the back of the property as far from the river as you can get. We see some more waterbuck in here, both females and males and see another very impressive one. Eli is talking about adding waterbuck to his list instead of a second zebra but we find out the price is more than double the price of a zebra and I tell him I'll spring for the extra zebra but he will have to put the waterbuck on his list some other time.
Back across the river and drive around some more. Some pretty rough going, the land cruiser is impressive but being so high up is about to make my wife sea sick. We stop and offload and we sneak up on a spot in the river that holds a good bit of water. As we are sneaking up Pieter gives us the stop signal and we all freeze. It ends up being a huge group of impala, Pieter says it was probably close to 100 of them. We stay frozen but something happens and they all run off. This happened quite a few times during the week, animals would run off with us hiding frozen still, the wind in our favor and nothing that we could figure out exactly how we got busted. About the time a deer or elk would get nervous and start trying to check you out and figure out what you are is about the time you see the back end of these animals as they run off. They just don't mess around trying to figure out what you are, they just take off.
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