Day 2 and the time change

The night was quiet, except for a crowing rooster around 3:00 a.m. However, it came to an abrupt end when farm father Karsten knocked on the door around 5:30 a.m. (according to our clocks). I mention according to our clocks because it was already 6:30 a.m. on all the other clocks on the farm ... we had overslept. Instead of starting the preparations for breakfast in the kitchen at 5:45 a.m. as agreed, we arrived in the breakfast room over an hour later. Laughing guests and a smiling Sylvia had already started breakfast there. Despite the delay, we were able to fortify ourselves for our first upcoming hunt.

At 7:00 a.m., we were supposed to start, but the hunting scouts were running late, so we didn't leave until around 7:45 a.m. Jakob was in the cockpit with driver Wilhelm, and a hunter with a scout was on the truck bed. I was driving with Jens, Sylvia and Karsten's son, and two hunters with one scout each on the pickup.

At first glance, the cars look rather adventurous, but there is no doubt that they fulfill their task of taking us off-road through the wilderness.

The car

The cockpit

The truck bed, seating area, and elevated stand all in one...

After about half an hour, we dropped off the first hunter & scout duo, and half an hour later, we dropped off the second duo.

While the hunters and scouts were searching for Oryx, Kudu, Impala, Zebra, or Wildebeest on foot through the thicket, Jens and I stayed with the car as drivers. Our top priority was to find a place with cell phone reception to be reachable for our hunters at all times. Once we found the spot, it was all about waiting, waiting, and waiting. After about 1.5 hours, two shots broke the otherwise undisturbed silence, interrupted only by birdsong ... our hunters were successful. Shortly thereafter, as expected, we received a call with a rough location, but since Jens knows the area inside and out, we quickly found them. On-site, we immediately spotted the chosen target. A White-striped Wildebeest weighing around 120kg, a rather small species of wildebeest. The hunter had brought it down with a well-aimed shot straight through the heart and lungs. After taking the obligatory pictures, the Wildebeest was loaded onto the truck bed, and the hunter and scout got back on as well.

The vast expanse of 12,500 hectares of land...

The 'road'...

Since it was already shortly after 11 and lunch was at 12, we drove directly to the meeting point with the other two. On the way, we spotted a warthog by the roadside, which was a rare sight as they usually live underground and only come out of their burrows at night.

After lunch, a break was scheduled until 3:15.

After coffee and cookies, we went back to the reserve - Jakob again together with .... and me with Jens and the two hunting duos. The goal was to surpass the trophy from the morning, which was 1 wildebeest. This time, we went to another part of the approximately 5,000-hectare hunting area to the west. And just after a short fifteen-minute drive, one of the scouts discovered tracks of another herd of wildebeest. We unloaded the first duo, who set off on a stalk towards the wildebeest. The other hunter was mainly interested in a springbok, so we continued the search for suitable tracks. Half an hour later, a shot rang out, followed by a call from the first duo - their stalk was successful, and they had shot another White-tailed Wildebeest. The animal and the hunter were quickly loaded onto the truck bed and we continued. A short time later, we stopped again - the second scout had spotted a springbok. Once again, the hunters set off and took down the animal.

No one thought we would be so successful so quickly (in just under 2 hours). Since the afternoon was still long, the hunters went on another stalk, while Jens and I brought the two shot animals to the farm's slaughterhouse. There, the animals were quickly gutted and butchered. The distribution is as follows: The hunter decides how they want to preserve their trophy (only the bare skull, the head completely prepared, a blanket made from the fur, etc.). The meat goes to the farm's kitchen - from this, chef Bonny creates dinner for the upcoming days, depending on the hunting success.

The rest is used by the staff either as tools, building materials, or for consumption - if there is still something left, the birds will take it.

Once the animals were delivered, we went back to the hunting area to search for the hunters. Unfortunately, the first duo had no more success while we found the second duo together with a freshly shot Oryx antelope. So the tally for the day was: 2 White-tailed Wildebeest, 1 Springbok, 1 Oryx, and 1 Baboon (shot by the third hunter).

After dinner (Blessbok roast with rice and carrot vegetables), Jakob and I quickly prepared a packed lunch for the next day because we were going to hunt on the family's second farm area (about 40km from the first). Since the departure was scheduled for 6:00 a.m., we went straight to bed after that.