Reviews And Stories
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Brendon Hom, our wonderful friend and client sent us an in depth summary of his trip in September 2024:
Six months ago I booked a solo cow Cape buffalo with Derian Koekemoer Safaris out of Hoedspruit. We would be hunting the beautiful BuffaloLand Safari concession adjacent to Kruger National Park and the greater Kruger area.
I arrived in Hoedspruit Sunday 15th September 2024. Met my PH Derian Koekemoer and collected my rifle and ammo. It was about a 25 min drive to camp, Buffaloland Safaris. I chose to stay in the Hunting Camp which has 8 en-suite rooms and is the most popular lodging for hunters.
They also have a traditional outside tented camp and a luxury lodge as well. Derian does not mix other groups of different hunters, only one group at a time during a hunt so it was just me, nobody else hunting BuffaloLand.
Met Derian’s wonderful wife, Johlene who handles all the admin stuff, marketing and supervises the staff at camp. I had previously communicated with Johlene regarding the paperwork, deposit, etc. Derian and Johlene live on BuffaloLand with their 2 young sons. Derian employs additional PH’s as needed and PH Christian would be assisting on my hunt.
Had a relaxing lunch, got things settled in my room then chatted with them. Derian, his tracker Geraldo from Mozambique and I took the Bakkie to verify my rifle was still on. Shot dead on at 70 yards over homemade wood shooting sticks, good enough.
Saw lots of game, impala, kudu, warthog, several huge Nyala bulls and several very nice impala rams. Also giraffe, zebra and blue wildebeest. This was the theme every day. Then we came across a recently killed young impala ram? What killed it? At first it was believed a leopard, definitely drag marks but no identifiable tracks?
But then shortly thereafter, 1 wild African dog was seen! Then 2 more popped up for a total of 3! Not too afraid, crossed over from Kruger National Park, used to vehicles and not afraid of us. They or one of them had most likely killed the impala and no doubt were going to feast on it tonight. Really a beautiful sight to observe them on my 1st day at camp!
Forgot to mention there currently is a drought here and weather is hot, more like summer instead of spring. One advantage is good visibility through the dry brush and trees.
Monday 16th 1st hunt day. Up early, enjoy a light breakfast & coffee, leave at 0530. Nice cool breeze. Observe lots of Nyala. Overall saw 6-8 shootable mature Nyala bulls very beautiful animals. Lots of impala and saw some very nice mature rams. I plan on shooting one but Buffalo first. Saw decent number of warthog but mostly females with young.
Will shoot a mature male warthog but all females and young so far. More on this. While my cow buffalo hunt was 6 actual days of hunting and I was more focused on buffalo my recommendation is if you see a nice trophy plains game animal you want then shoot it now and don’t wait, you may not see it again.
Driving concession roads searching for buffalo, or fresh buffalo spoor and tracks. Come across buffalo down near the river. We stalk them on foot, get to within 30 yards, sneak up to a mature female with calf and an immature bull feeding in the reeds. Not shootable buffalo we quietly leave and buffalo run off.
Back to driving looking for buffalo. See giraffe, zebra, blue wildebeest, nice bull kudu, always impala and Nyala. Also several bushbuck, nice male but not quite yet a trophy. They like to stay by river near cover.
Head back to camp for breakfast. Fun morning!
Back out at 2:30pm. Lots of wildlife, Nyala and many very shootable Nyala bulls, lots of impala and shootable rams, giraffe, zebra, wildebeest, female warthogs and young. Find more buffalo! Get out on foot after them. They see us, were spooked by giraffe that ran from us. Mostly cows with young and immature bulls. Nothing shootable.
Back in bakkie and driving again. Find more buffalo not as agitated staying in the brush looking at us, cow with older calf and immature male. Not really shootable situation just like the morning hunt. Derian says would preferably like to take out some older non breeding cows to bring back balance.
Will also consider an older management bull too. I just enjoy hunting buffalo doesn’t matter whatever presents itself I’ll take it as it happens. Very good day back at camp at 5:30pm. Overall very fun filled day. Excellent dinner and turn in early to shower and bed.
Tue 17th hunt day 2, leave at 6am. See normal assortment of animals: giraffe, Nyala, impala, warthog, bushbuck. Locate small buffalo herd in thick brush try to sort out shootable buffalo they get our scent and take off into thick brush. My first introduction to acacia thorn trees! Must walk carefully still get caught up a little in the thorns.
Wind is swirling so herd got our scent and took off a little ways. We continued to track and this time due to thick brush we came up right on them and a young bull saw us and alerted the herd by running causing the rest of herd to run off, too thick in this brush. Continue to drive in bakkie looking for buffalo sign come across nice kudu bull, probably 52” bull. Beautiful bull, maybe I should consider one? Back to camp for breakfast at 11am.
The 10,000 acres of buffaloLand has the beautiful Klasserie river flowing through it and lots of ponds throughout. It’s made of of various tracts with a good dirt road system that the tracker and PH can see if buffalo went into a tract and stayed or left by observing the tracks on the roads.
If you know based on tracks that the buffalo haven’t left a tract, then one can track them into the bush and hopefully locate the herd if the wind is right and you’re quiet.
Leave at 2:30 pm for afternoon hunt. Go back to where we last saw Buffalo, check the dirt road to look for tracks to see if they left the area. They haven’t left so back into the thorny trees and brush to try and locate them.
Tracker, Geraldo locates them in extremely thick cover can’t really see but know we are close. Start low crawling on stomach to inch closer and can see the herd or bits and pieces of them through the brush and thick acacia trees at 25 yards away, wind in our face. Start sorting them out, there’s a big barren cow! Get ready to inch forward for a shot , cameraman makes movement to get closer, the buffalo see and go crashing off! No chance for shot. Oh well, that’s hunting!
PH Derian is a big guy but he moves well, very agile for his size, strong as an ox, can hike forever and crawl around on his stomach moving towards the buff through thorns, I noticed he had blood running down his leg from the thorns as did I. This is a guy who lives for the hunt! He’s a very keen hunter and very much enjoys his job.
We go look for more buffalo elsewhere and come across two kudu bull. One’s very old with excellent horns. He’s on the downside, very old, no longer a breeding bull probably won’t last a year. He’s walking away and I tell PH Derian I’d like to take him. We get out and I’m on the sticks as he’s quartering walking away at 50 yards. I make the shot and he collapses after another 10-15 yards. He’s an exceptional very old bull. He’s 50 and 51” a nice old bull, I’m very pleased.
Take him to the skinning shed and Geraldo skins him. We’ll have kudu back-strap tomorrow evening. We head back to camp for the evening and have a beer and a toast to a wonderful old bull then later a wonderful meal. Very happy to have taken a nice kudu bull. Back out tomorrow for buffalo.
Wednesday day 3. Got into lots of buffalo both in the morning and afternoon hunts. The buffalo are very skittish and run off usually before we can identify a good shootable cow buffalo without a calf. The theme being we’d locate a herd or small group of buffalo that would remain in shooting range 40-60 yards but by the time we identified a shootable cow they were off and gone!
Either by getting our scent when wind shifted or spotting us! Sometimes we’d track or locate a shootable cow in thick brush and thorns but they would maybe only be visible for a second or two before running off just not enough time for a shot. The last stalk was a small herd in thick brush and we had a huge what I’d estimate at least a 45 inch bull with unusually long drooping horns staring at us head on at 35 yards. He had a very pissed off “you owe me money look about him”. That was a very doable shot but he still has another year, probably two to mature per Derian plus we were hunting cows but he was a massive bull with a bad attitude!
Perhaps when I return in 2026 I can try for him! Anyhow, while I was on the shooting sticks several times, just not enough time, buffalo always gone in a second or two! That’s hunting though and it’s really been very fun. I very much enjoy the challenge of tracking buffalo the traditional way. It’s exciting and gets your heart going when you know you are getting close to the buffalo in the thick tracts of acacia trees, knowing they could be really close, just feet away sometimes!
I got great enjoyment watching Geraldo the tracker, tracking them in thick brush and thorny acacia trees, he would spot them when I couldn’t t see shit! Then I’d look harder and see the dark outline and small visible parts of buffalo in the thick brush from only 25 yards away! Always gone before or right as I get on the sticks! Also going into the bush with a tracker, 2 PH’s, cameraman and I makes it a little harder to stay quite as say just two people but that’s okay, everyone’s still very soft footed.
I suspected that hunting cow buffalo could present some difficulty. A shootable older cow buffalo with no calves only makes up about 5-7 % of the buffalo herd of approximately 140, so I can honestly say it’s been both fun and challenging. I suspect that at some point we’ll catch a break and spot a shootable non breeding cow buffalo that will give us just enough time for a shot!
Thursday day 4. Out early before 6am. Maybe within 15 min the tracker, Geraldo spots a small buffalo herd! We get on them, I jump out of the Bakkie, Derian sets up the shooting sticks with Christian backing me with a CZ 458 Lott.
A nice really old barren cow to my left approximately 50 yards out is identified as a perfect buffalo to take. I stupidly left the safety on as I aimed and squeezed the trigger, nothing! My God, I had practiced clicking off safety and shooting off sticks hundreds of times back home! I think I got a little rattled from the buffalo I guess!
I immediately clicked the safety off as the cow buffalo started to move away but still broadside, I’m able to get off a shot, broadside lung, while it’s moving and it quickly ran off while I reloaded. The whole herd of 15 buffalo included the one I shot had ran into the brush and acacia trees to our right, out of view.
We held our position, waiting, listening, then the herd ran back to our left where they were originally when I took the shot, passing in front of us, but not the cow buffalo I shot, and some buffalo in the herd kept looking back where they had come from, giving us a good indicator the buffalo I shot was still there, hopefully on the ground. Then the herd ran off.
We give it a few minutes then slowing start walking to our right where we think the buffalo might be. As soon as we clear the brush we see the cow buffalo on the ground, on its side, still barely breathing but not moving, close to death. Derian instructs me to put an insurance shot into it’s center chest which I do. It’s over I got the Buffalo!
It’s a very old non breeding cow, exactly what we wanted to take, to help benefit the herd and remove the non productive buffalo. My first shot was a slightly high lung shot, complete pass through with the 400 grain Barnes TSX from my 416 Rigby.
There was a tremendous amount of blood from where the buffalo was originally shot and lung tissue. The buffalo ran about 30 yards before piling up. Even though it was close to death, Derian instructs all his buffalo hunters to put an insurance shot into all buffalo, period. I think that’s a sound policy.
Very exciting and great to have taken a buffalo even a cow. Shake hands with the crew and picture time! What an amazing hunt! Get the buffalo loaded and drive to the skinning room building. Back to camp for breakfast. We’ll go out in evening for impala ram and warthog.
I have this evening and two more days to hunt. We go out in the afternoon for impala and warthog. Just see female warthogs with young and while lots of impala, no big rams. Driving over the bridge above the Klasserie River, we come across a huge male baboon right on the middle of the bridge but I wasn’t hunting one would’ve been a very doable shot. Anyhow, great day and we return for wonderful dinner.
Friday day five. Leave for the morning hunt and fairly early we come across a nice impala ram. He’s about 40 yards walking away in the brush only offering a rear end shot, perfectly fine with my 416 Rigby. I shoot him right on the tail and he instantly drops.
He’s a beautiful old thick horned impala ram. Shockingly, the 400 grain TSX did not exit but was lodged in the impala rams neck! This same bullet that went completely through the Cape buffalo I shot yesterday broadside lung shot but did not exit the impala! We recovered a perfectly mushroomed bullet at the skinning shed.
Driving back to the skinning shed, we come across a monster bushbuck which I should have got out and shot, but wasn’t really on the menu, and the few seconds I contemplated it he was gone! Oh well, I probably should have taken him but that’s okay, maybe next time!
After breakfast and a few hours rest, we head out for the afternoon hunt for warthog and duiker. I wasn’t really expecting to see any shootable warthog since mating season was long past, not many mature males about, and it got unseasonably cold yesterday and today.
Fairly early we come across a nice old mature male warthog that was bedded along the Klasserie River that runs through the concession. He ran into the brush along the river and disappeared.
We get out and start stalking where we last saw him. We know he didn’t go far, just hiding in the brush along the river. There he is , running ahead of us, stopping behind the brush. I’m on the sticks but I can’t identify which end is which so I don’t shoot. He runs further ahead, starts crossing over and we know he’s going to briefly expose himself when he clears a clump of brush, where there’s a small opening.
I’m on the sticks, he briefly appears at 45-50 yards and I aim right on the shoulder and shoot! As I recover from the recoil and reload, I see a warthog coming right at us! It appears he’s charging us! Did I just wound him and now he’s charging? As he comes at us I aim and get ready to shoot and Derian and the cameraman, Dean yell don’t shoot! Then the warthog sees us and veers off! He was a second warthog, the one I shot was already on the ground dead!
When I shot the warthog he dropped dead instantly and unknown to us, a second male warthog of similar size bedded nearby was simply fleeing in our direction and didn’t see us until they shouted at me not to shoot! Very exiting and funny! The warthog I shot was a nice heavy male and an excellent representative trophy. I’m glad it was all captured on video. Thinking we were being charged by a warthog as I’m on the verge of shooting it was quite funny!
We go back to the skinning shed and while Geraldo skins the warthog. This hunt surpassed all my expectations, Derian Koekemoer Safaris was truly a wonderful experience! I enjoyed every minute!
Saturday Day 6- this was technically my 6th hunt day but since all my hunting objectives were met except maybe a duiker, and since it was rainy, cold and windy not normal for September, not the best for hunting. I chose to go on a tour of Kruger National Park instead.
We drive for about 45 min to the Kruger National Park entrance. Never rained too hard and it stopped by the time we got to the park except the wind continued. In spite of the weather, we had a great time watching wildlife. Saw lots of elephant, lions, various antelope and a honey badger.
For the evenings supper, Derian bbq’d buffalo filet from the Buffalo I killed and kudu sausage. All very delicious and a wonderful meal prepared by the cook. I thought the meals were exceptional and prior to the hunt, Johlene will reach out to you to go over your likes/dislikes and dietary needs. I didn’t have any special requests. I thought everything was excellent! They also did laundry daily.
Sunday 22nd- Time to head back home. I do the necessary paperwork, give out tips to camp staff, say goodbyes and Derian drives me to Eastgate Airport in Hoedspruit.
Dean Botes my cameraman from African Hunting Films was exceptional. He recorded every kill including impact shots, and was an excellent hunter and spotted game as well as the PH’s. He also had a drone. A lot of excellent footage was obtained of the various game seen and what it’s like on a 6 day safari. It goes to editing and I should receive the finished video of the safari in 3 months by email. I very much look forward to it and will post it with a link when I receive it.
Recap:
All in all this hunt surpassed all my expectations. After 27 years, I finally made it back to Africa! It was fun, challenging at times, but Derian will cater to the hunters abilities and limitations. Derian will not shoot your buffalo unless it’s to save a client or if it’s wounded. A wounded buffalo on his concession will often be devoured by lions and/or hyenas if not recovered, not leaving much of a trophy for the hunter.
The Klasserie River flows along and through BuffaloLand making for a beautiful scenic visual. There is also quite a few watering holes spread throughout the concession that harbor crocodile and they are found in the river as well. I think it is a very special place.
Yes, it is fenced, but animals that roam freely in and out are: leopard, lion, hyena, wild African dogs and warthog to name some. To me, having hunted a traditional Safari in Mozambique 27 years ago, I did not feel this any less of a hunt. Tracking and stalking buffalo is the same in an unfenced area in my opinion. Low crawling through the thorns and dirt/sand is the same as anywhere else.
I believe hunters coming here who practice shooting off sticks and getting an accurate shot off in a few seconds or less will be very successful.
Derian has a loaner 375 Ruger rifle that he rents to clients who don’t bring guns. He handloads 300 grain Perigrine (made in SA similar to Barnes TSX). It performs very well on buffalo. Derian says the 375 H&H is the most common rifle chambering his buffalo hunters bring and he’s perfectly fine with this as a minimum round but does include the 9.3×62 as being perfectly acceptable for buffalo too. Derian uses a CZ 458 Lott with iron sights to backup his clients when hunting buffalo.
I was very pleased with the performance of my CZ 416 Rigby. One shot kills on buffalo, Kudu, Impala and warthog using factory 400 grain TSX. Of course I did put an insurance shot into the buffalo when it was on the ground dying. I felt it a fine one gun Safari rifle and a great caliber for everything. PH Derian and PH Christian really liked my CZ 416 Rigby and would’ve been quite happy if I forgot to take it home!
I had a wonderful time and highly recommend Derian Koekemoer Safaris. I feel Derian is a very ethical, honest and capable PH. He loves guiding clients and does everything in his power for a successful outcome. Same goes for PH Christian and Derian’s wife Johlene who handles the paperwork end, marketing and insuring all the hunters needs are met by the staff back in camp. My brother, his son and I will be returning in 2026 to hunt with Derian for 3 trophy Cape buffalo and my brother will be hunting hyena and crocodile too. I can’t wait to return!
-Brendon Hom. Safari dates: 15 September till 22 September 2024
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Hunted my first buffalo with Derian Koekemoer Safaris and it was a great experience. Derian and his team are extremely professional and the hunting area is truly exceptional. Already booked my next buffalo hunt with Derian. – Jaco van der Westhuizen, hunted 10/2023
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Our wonderful client from Denmark wrote this, in detail review about his hunt in March 2024. This is truely worth a read:
Cape Buffalo – Hunt or you are hunted.
In the autumn of 2023, we decided to visit South Africa again as a family. Our children had grown up enough to experience the fantastic country. I traveled with my wife Anne (48) and our boys Mikkel (15) and Mathias (11).
February 2024 we were in a tent camp in Manyeleti, which is found in the Greater Krüger NP. I had made contact with a local outfitter from home, as hunting in Africa has always been a dream scenario for me to live out. However, the requirement from here was that it should be a hunt with a fully registered and organized outfitter and the choice fell on a PH in Hoedspruit.
DERIAN KOEKERMOER SAFARIS is locally situated in the northern part of South Africa, and it was obvious to book a hunt here, as it is less than an hour’s drive from our tent camp in Kruger. Derian Koekemoer and his staff have extensive experience with sustainable professional wildlife management. They primarily deal with dangerous game and Big five hunts, where selection and troublemakers are the obvious targets. Ordinary trophy hunting on plain games is of course also possible.
When we had a day off in our planned schedule from our photo safari, I arranged a deal with my desire to put down a cape buffalo cow. Derian was the only safari operator who was willing to take clients hunting for a single day.
March 4, 2024, was the day we were going hunting and Derian and Christian from DERIAN KOEKEMOER SAFARIS, picked me up as we agreed at Orpen gate at Greater Krüger at 6.00, and the sun beat down solidly from the morning.
A perfect match..
I quickly felt a “perfect match” and the atmosphere was good before we reached the first few kilometers. It is important that we are all completely in sync and balanced when you must spend several hours in each other’s company. I have that experience from previous hunts in Europe.
In particular, this mutual understanding and respect for each other is a matter of course if we should get into situations that can put even the best of friendships to the test. It can happen with dangerous game, although it not became an item on the agenda..
We quickly reached the Limpopo Province as the conversation went well, and when I came to the hunting lodge, I was nicely equipped by DERIAN KOEKERMOER SAFARIS.
Subsequently, I received an easy-to-understand information of shot placement on buffalo and vital knowledge about the importance of delivering as effective a kill as possible. A wounded buffalo and the rest of the herd can become an unmanageable acquaintance, especially if you are not ready to follow up on the buffalo’s reaction after the first shot.
We decided to take a few shots with the rifle I intended. A Japanese HOWA 1500 rifle in cal. 375 Ruger with a Leopold scope. A rifle that is very similar to my own Sauer 202, which I use home back in Denmark. Maybe a bit harder at the trigger.
I passed the “shooting test” and we could begin one of my most exciting hunts I have yet attempted.
“-..By the banks of the great, grey-green, murky Limpopo River, where the fever trees grow thickly…”
The hunt works by spotting the game from the seat of a Pick-up truck and landscapes quickly emerge, exactly as the writer Ruyard Kipling describes it in his memoirs about Limpopo.
During the drive we cross a river. However, it was the Klaserie River that flows to the northeast and is a tributary of the Olifants River that continues through Krüger NP and Mozambique.
It was as if you had stepped straight out of Kipling’s story, as the scenery was exactly as told in the children’s book. Rivers, dense bush, open savannah, waterholes, rocky landscapes and the red African soil. Varied and incredibly attractive, as there were constantly different species of animals with huge trophies taking turns. Nyala and bushbuck impressed several times and impalas at every moment the road took a bend. Wildebeest and giraffes were not in short supply and great spotted hyenas and African wild dogs appeared in the earlier hours. Sporadically we saw warthog, steenbuck and duiker, but due to the high vegetation, the small game species could easily hide in the 9,500 acres large hunting area.
-Rather safe – than sorry!
For me, buffalo hunting is not surprisingly a dangerous game, as it is repeatedly told by the rangers at the previous photo safaris I have been on.
An erratic animal that is impossible to decipher in relation to its stature and mood. There is only an on/off button on the “Black Death” animal.
Buffaloes counts for more deaths in South Africa alone throughout history. Especially when you aim for an individual in a herd. You have to focus on all movements in the corner of your eye, as there are just more ears, eyes and muzzles to reveal you, and this gives the hunt an extra dimension. Hunting for Dugga boys is probably more manageable, as they go alone or only a few together, but certainly not harmless either.
After a little hour’s observing drive, we suddenly surprise a herd of buffalo who are out to graze at the edge of the thick bush. As if by magic, they stand right there in the borderline to where the savanna starts with its thin sun burned grass.
They clearly sense our presence, and generally retreat a bit behind the outer row of mopane and acacia trees in the bush. We thoroughly examine the herd with binoculars of approx. 100 meters distance. There are enough + 30 pcs.
The binoculars reveal the sexes, and Derian and Christian quickly select the herd to spot any shootable individuals. And there it was! I get a briefing on their observations and intelligence, at which cow we decide to try to take out of the herd..
Christian starts the car, and we calmly roll past the herd, which has pulled into the edge of the bush. Now we annoy photo tourists and enjoy the view. The herd has registered our presence, but does not seem frightened and we continue with the typical African push where we drive past the game.
We come around the bush in question that we noted the buffaloes pulled into, and park approx. 1 km. From them. Here we start on foot. Christian stays in the car together with the tracking dog “Duke”, a good-natured Belgian Shepherd puppy of 4 months.
Derian has radio contact with Christian, who is called as back-up if we get into a stressful situation.
All 3 of us are armed with rifles in big game calibers. My borrowed .375 has filled the magazine + 5 shots in the stock racket. I will be shooting with a 9.3mm. Peregrine VRG3 bullet, loaded with 300 grains. A good bully that is only manufactured in South Africa.
– They stood almost like they had expected us to join them!
Derian kicks the red sand in the rut to get an idea of wind direction. No wind at all! We start walking in the direction of the buffalo herd, which we still suspect must be standing at the edge of the bush. I’m right on Derian’s heels. As close as possible, as we were fused together in one single unit.
I distinctly remember my thoughts roaming the scenario; -What if we don’t see the pack before they notice us?? Derian has a lot of experience, and you can feel that in his calmness, which creates security. Security gives confidence and that is good medicine in such an intense and focusing hunt as dangerous game is.
Suddenly we bump into herds again. Just as suddenly as we did with the car! From one moment to the next, our movements were completely stopped. The buffaloes had noticed us. We could see that with binoculars. They stood almost as if they had expected us to join them.
The bottom meter of the thick bush were not all tree trunks, but legs from buffaloes and there were many inside the bush. Most were looking directly in our way and I could hear their snorting breaths. The buffaloes already seemed angry and the evil shone out of the eyes in the drooping heads with the lyre-curved horns. They looked directly at us out from under the bush top..
There were large bulls, calves and cows in a large stationary “black-death sign” that could not be misunderstood. That was the last warning!
In slow motion, we get into position, and Derian combs through the outermost animals at the edge of the bush with his binoculars. I don’t think he sees how extensive the herd really is. They now stand in an approx. 60-degree fan in front of us and continues to widen. He whispers to me that there is a shootable buffalo cow as 3rd on the far-left side of the herd. I put the rifle up against the thorny acacia tree behind which we take cover. I find her quickly in the rifle scope. She is too pointed at us and there are young animals behind, so we have to wait until she is free by those standing behind. Quietly, the movement takes place which causes the cow to stand completely free, alone at the front of the herd, and Derian gives the final permission to unleash the fire. The distance is approx. 80 meters, and I am completely calm with full focus on the cow. The rifle is off secured and I move my index finger into the receiver and squeeze the trigger. The shot blasts through the quiet morning. I manage to register that the cow has taken the bullet hard, as it rolls over on its back and with four black legs stretched straight towards the sky. Just like as in the cartoons. Pure reflex, there is a new bullet in the chamber, which I am used to from driven hunts at home back in Europe.
The death roar.
It quickly gives a death roar to warn the rest of the herd, and we watch how the buffalo herd behaves and we are extremely aware that we maintain our distance to the rest of the buffalo herd. Now some chaos takes among them. Some run into the bush others towards the dying cow and towards us. They change places and it seems to look like they just can’t find the “lion” that has killed one of their fellow species, because it must be avenged.
Derian whispers that I should just stand still, but in the seriousness of the situation, it is not easy, as there is intense movement inside the bush of the herd. Our situation is completely different compared to what we experience here in Northern Europe by shooting an individual out of, a herd of red deer. There the herd will flee beyond the parish border, but with buffaloes it is the other way around and they stay to avenge the kill.
We are now stage players in a film which depends on our movement and drift to the herd. We cannot get to my desired buffalo, as a large herd of buffaloes do not immediately want to let go of their dying ancestors. The others in the herd stay with the cow and sense “something” in our direction..
Seconds feel like minutes, and minutes like hours..
The remaining buffalo begin to move towards us as a faint breeze from us fully reveals our presence. We are deeply focused and Derian has contact with Christian in the Pick-up.
He repeats to me: “-Just stand still!!” I must have made an inadvertent movement. We note the pack is quietly advancing towards us, and must announce over the radio to Christian that he must come to our rescue.
Seconds feel like minutes, and minutes like hours.
We only look straight ahead, and the shirts have turned dark with sweat on the back. The sun really burns through, when it is only 8.05 in the morning.
I hear a rustle in my hearing protectors that have the amplifier turned up to max. I turn my head backwards for the first time, and with that sigh of relief I see the pick-up truck with Christian dusting off the African red sand behind us.
The hunt is over and we can now break free from our hiding place behind the thorny trunk of an acacia tree. The buffalo herd notes just as much activity. The car, the dog Duke and us 3 hunters become too much trouble for them, and they retreat to the edge of the bush again. I grab a water bottle from the cooler as my throat is dry as the desert. Christian congratulates me, although it might be a bit early, as we have not yet been even close to the dead buffalo. It takes time.
Derian walks in a circular arc away from the bush, towards the buffalo where he studies it closely with his binoculars and checks the herd to see if it retreats into the bush.. I stay with Christian in the car. Derian waves with facts that we should come over there to him. Me on foot and Christian behind by car. The car will be a good escape if the buffalo herd comes back and when I reach him, we go to the buffalo which is united in a small depression. Now I get a congratulations from Derian 15 meters from the animal; “- Well done, it’s a beautiful old girl..”.
He goes straight towards the cow and pokes the rifle barrel in its eye. My biggest piece of game to date that I ever had managed, just lies there stone dead with one shot. One shot-one kill!
Derian and Christian know something about buffalo. They find that the cow is about 12 years old, and is a “right”.. that means when they reach a certain age, one of the horns starts to curl. That is, in this case it is the right horn tip that gives an extra twist. It’s quite noticeable on this one. Another observation I make is that the skin bears the mark of the cow having walked into the thorn thickness. It is full of scratches in the leather which you can easily see through the coarse and thin fur it wears. It is carpet-bombed with ticks, but it completely drowned out by my achievement. I see a happy team, as everything has been run on a leash, with small bumps in the road. The mood is top notch, and it gets better Derian’s wife, Johlene arrives with their 2 kids.
I put the rifle up against the car which is backed up to the buffalo. However, still with cartridges in the magazine. I can now really “feel” the animal. A giant colossus – so massive and strong. It seems completely unstoppable even though it is stone dead, and it will give us its last fight to load it onto the car. Before then we must have immortalized its earthly remains together with its overlord. All 3 of us were photographed with the buffalo, – even with the young dog “Duke” who also got a bit of an “arranged search” on the buffalo, now that he was in the car.
After the menagerie of getting the buffalo, unbroken, preyed onto the barn, we head towards the slaughterhouse, where a skinner welcomes us. The animal’s rumen has now swollen violently, despite the fact that she is a small and frail representative of buffaloes in general and has therefore fallen for a selective shooting which is common management. She is no longer wanted as one of those who must pass on the genetics to a large and strong tribe that she could not contribute to.
My biggest fear about going hunting abroad, of which I now have a lot of experience of, is the sum of what you end up with? Does it look like a money machine? Are the agreements made kept? – Or will it be labeled as “farm hunting”, where the game is not really wild game? After all, you don’t know until you’ve tried it yourself.
At DERIAN KOEKEMOER SAFARIS, the people behind have a great understanding of the client’s wishes and are willing to go the extra mile to meet expectations. When you fight a little extra to seek out the necessary luck, the results come a little easier in the end.
With my hunt at DERIAN KOEKEMOER SAFARIS, I am very impressed with their knowledge and expertise about Big game hunt in Africa, which I tried at for the first time. I learned very much of my stay. Derian and the rest of the staff will get my warmest recommendations from here. I hope that I can get back as soon as possible, returning back to DERIAN KOEKEMOER SAFARIS in the Limpopo province.
***** of *****
Søren Lauritsen, Denmark.
Link to Youtube video of hunt: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2T2JEii-STI
