40 ALASKA SPORTING JOURNAL AUGUST 2019 | aksportingjournal.com
Finally, he added, “Petty theft exists
in South Africa’s bigger cities, but if you
avoid roaming the streets of Johannes-
burg alone as a naive American, you
and yours will remain safe!”
Another great asset, in the form of a
friend whom I deeply trusted, was my
daughter’s pediatrician, a soft-spoken
gentleman of nearly 80 years old who
has pursued game worldwide and bow-
hunted Africa numerous times.
Doc Russell, as he is known in our
community, gifted me his trademark
ear-to-ear grin when I told him I was
considering taking my youngest daugh-
ter bowhunting in South Africa. He
then confirmed what Scott had told me
about its relative safety.
“Hunt the Limpopo Region, as it re-
quires no malaria or yellow fever vacci-
nations,” he said.
That was nothing short of sweet mu-
sic to my ears.MAKING PLANS
I also contacted a few American-based
booking agencies, as well as several
well-respected safari companies – notonly by phone but in person at trade
shows. After all, when addressing a topic
as critical as my children’s safety, I want-
ed as many opinions as possible. Once
again, South Africa and its Limpopo re-
gion, located in the country’s northeast
corner, continued to pop up in conver-
sation as an extremely safe destination.
Neil Summers of Bowhunting Safari
Consultants (bowhuntingsafari.com),
the premier booking agency for archery
hunting worldwide, also confirmed that
South Africa was a very safe country to
travel about.
When I began soliciting actual safari
companies, I queried Dries Visser Jr. of
Dries Visser Safaris (driesvissersafaris
.com), who put to rest what little safe-
ty concerns remained by informing me
that a DVS company representative
would be awaiting my group’s arrival.
The greeter would have a large “Brush
Party” sign in hand for us to see imme-
diately after clearing customs at Tambo
International Airport in Johannesburg.
From there, their rep would either
drive us the scenic three-hour trip to
their gated hunting concession nearThabazimbi or directly to a B&B in Jo-
hannesburg for a scrumptious dinner
and good night’s rest prior to heading to
their hunting property the next morning.
In effect, my daughter and I would be
within their control from the moment we
arrived in Johannesburg to the time we
departed 10 days later, which provided a
lot of “peace of mind” for this dad.SEEKING A QUALITY HUNTING EXPERIENCE
Next, I addressed my need for a qual-
ity experience because I had heard so
many horror stories about Africa’s “high
fence” hunts. Those two words have
a very negative connotation amongst
most American hunters, conjuring vi-
sions of a poor, naive animal with al-
most pet-like qualities fully contained
on tiny tracts of land to ensure they
cannot hide from disgusting slobs who
think they are real hunters.
Make no mistake: There are indeed
“canned hunts” like these in Africa, just
as in America. Once again, the key to
avoiding this negative experience lies in
knowledge acquired from solid research
be asking all the right questions.
For example, after spending many
days reading up on bowhunting in Africa,
I discovered that high fences are actually
a legal requirement in some countries.
But even where they are not mandated
by law, high fences are commonly used
in South Africa for the purpose of keep-
ing free-ranging sheep and cattle – as
well as poachers and predators – off land
intended for valuable wild game. Ranch-
ers in Africa seek to properly manage
their land and protect their investment,
much like ranchers do in Texas.
All of this is neither here nor there;
what’s really important is that you ask
a few very direct questions of your po-
tential safari company, like what I asked
Dries: “How much land do you operate
and how many hunters will be in camp?”
“We have over 50,000 acres, with
40,000 acres dedicated to bowhunt-
ing only,” Dries said. “We never gun-
hunt our animals on these 40,000
acres and operate 25 pit blinds and
10 tree stands, taking only six to eight
hunters at a time in camp.”
He revealed these telling details in
such a calm, matter-of-fact tone that it
left me somewhat quizzical to just howKendra and Greg have done plenty of hunting in their
home state, but Africa can be a bargain hunt compared
to guided ventures in Alaska and in other areas of North
America. (GREG BRUSH)