African safari a hunting dream realized for local man

Kevin McBain
of The Crossroads

It’s definitely a trip that most people would say that it would be once-in-a-lifetime, but not for Kindersley’s Brent Gust and good friend Derek Senz of Regina.

The pair, along with Brent’s daughter, Leteshia just recently returned from a hunting safari in South Africa and were able to hunt some very cool animals. The best friends said they would definitely go back.

“They say that it is a once-in-a-lifetime trip, but it isn’t, I am definitely going back,” said Brent. “But they also say once you go to Africa you will never be able to knock the dust off. It definitely exceeded any expectations that we had.”

Senz agreed: “It was amazing. I have my savings jar out already and saving up for a trip in 2020,” he said. “By day five, I was already thinking of when we should come back.

“It was so great to be able to hunt with my best friend whom I’ve known since we were 13.”

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Leteshia, who has done a lot of traveling all over the world, said that it was a pretty cool experience.

“It was pretty amazing,” said the 26-year-old Calgary nurse. “The food was really good, the wine was good and the people treated us very well. And it was a good bonding experience for my dad and I,” she said.

Along with the hunting experience, Leteshia also did a side trip.

How planning of the trip began

“It started about 25 years ago,” said Brent. “A guy gave me a VHS tape about hunting in Africa and in the video I remember one of the guy’s tracked down a Kudu and I thought I want to do that.”

Fast forward ahead 21 years, Brent said that he met Riner Linde at a hunting show in Saskatoon from Legelela Safaris and then it just took off from there.

The trio flew out of Calgary May 25, flying to Frankfurt, Germany where they had about an 11 hour layover. They then took another long flight to Johannesburg, South Africa. Then after that it was another five hour drive north to get to the hunting farm. They returned to Calgary late Saturday night, June 9.

Brent said that travelling was the toughest part of the trip.

“I have been to a couple of hunting trips in the U.S., but this my first time overseas,” he said. “That was probably the biggest adjustment for me. It was a good two days each way.”

Brent said the ranch spanned about 50,000 acres located in the Limpopo province near Zimbabwe. Here, they stayed in a resort-type area with a separate hut for each of them.

“It was such a large farm that they had 55 staff on hand to look after things,” said Brent.

They spent six days and he said they were treated like kings.

“They did everything for us there. They scouted the animals, we shot them, they tracked them and handled the rest,” said Brent.

After they finished up in Limpopo they travelled north to the Free State for five days and it was a little different experience.

“It was two totally different hunts,” said Brent. “It was cold in the Free State and they were getting frost. In Limpopo, the temperature was about 30C during the day and very dry – it was their winter.

Also, in the Free State, they stayed in a 110-year-old farmhouse, quite a difference between that and the resort-type setting where they started.

They also did a few things that were a little different than we do here in Canada. Including night spotlighting for porcupines and spring hare who make a mess of their corn fields. They are also allowed to use suppressors, also illegal in Canada, but very effective in making a lot less noise and less chance to scare the animals.

The atmosphere and food

The terrain, Brent said, in Limpopo included a lot of Bushveld, or low, lying bushes.

In the Free State it was a lot like Saskatchewan.

The food was amazing.

“It was something that you would eat at a four or five star restaurant,” he said. “We were able to have a taste of wild game every day and it was so good.”

The people knew some English. The first language for the white people was Afrikaans then English. for the black people it was mainly Zulu and Afrikaans.

Brent said that there were all kinds of industry in the country including a lot of mining going on in the area for many different things. He said that he also saw a nuclear power plant in the middle of one of the cities.

He said that there is also a lot of farming and growing tomatoes, onions, potatoes, fruit and corn. He also added that they did see a lot of western companies such as John Deere dealerships, McDonalds and many other commercialized businesses.

He said they also tried the local wine and beer, which turned out to be quite hoppy – “not as good as the Canadian beer.”

On the side

They were able to do some side trips while there. Including a trip to a lion conservatory, where they were able to play with some of the lion cubs.

They also attended the Mall of Africa, the biggest in Africa, but Brent said that it wasn’t really that big – maybe the size of one of the malls in Saskatoon. They also made a trip to a taxidermist shop which was very interesting.

They also gathered some small items to take with them to an orphanage and he said that they were very appreciative for the gifts.

“Even the little things like shampoo or anything like that, they are just so thankful,” he said.

Leteshia took a big side trip to Cape Town by herself for four days.

During the day, she was busy and was able to check off one big thing on her bucket list.

“A friend of mine said that I had to go try a shark cage and get in the water with great white sharks, so that’s what I did and I can mark that off,” she said. “I did go with a National Geographic film crew which made me feel safer.

“It was incredible … absolutely amazing and definitely the highlight of the trip for me,” she said.

She also did some other touring and went on a hike to Lions Head which boasts incredible 360 degree views of Cape Town.

The hunting

Brent shot seven animals including kudu, springbok, blesbok, gemsbok, a zebra and a baboon (considered a pest in South Africa).

He took his .300 WSM rifle and he said that it worked very well.

“The baboon was a tough one for me,” said Brent. “They asked us to go and hunt it down, but it was tough. However, they are consider pests there. The farmers grow a lot of tomatoes and they just destroy the crops.”

Brent’s highlight, of course, was shooting a kudu.

“I had a moment there, I think I teared up a bit,” he said.

He said the kudus weighed in at about 500 pounds and an impala would be about 80 pounds.

Leteshia took her bow and arrow with her.

She said that she purchased the bow about three years ago, but has been unable to use it because of a shoulder injury. She was using it on this hunt for the first time to maximum draw weight.

Early in the hunt she was able to shoot and draw blood on a nice size kudu. However, it got away.

“After that, I borrowed a gun to hunt I didn’t want to take another chance on just wounding an animal. I think my animals were bigger than the guys. My kudu that I wounded was bigger I think and my gemsbok was, but they didn’t bother measuring. My impala was definitely bigger.

“It was definitely a different experience hunting there and the animals are so resilient,” she adds. “I really enjoyed it though, especially since I was able to hunt with my dad. It was a great bonding experience for us and a great memory.”

Derek was able to shoot 14 animals including a monster-sized black wildebeest, gemsbok, Impala, warthog, blesbok, fallow deer and baboon. He used both his bow and .308 rifle.

“Everyone was pretty excited about the black Wildebeest including the locals that were with us,” said Brent. “Derek’s rough scored on the black wildebeest came in unofficially six inches under the current SCI world record.”

He noted that for tracker dogs they used Jack Russell terriers, who turn out to be very good blood trackers.

Now the group awaits their hides, skull and horns for taxidermy back home. They will be packaged and shipped back to Canada within about nine months, which will be a long wait for these hunters to see their trophies again.

The meat from all the animals does get used and eaten by the workers at the farm.

Want your chance to go?

“Everyone should go,” said Brent.

The Kindersley Wildlife Federation are selling tickets to take in a safari, just like these guys did. The winner will be drawn at the Kindersley Wildlife Federation awards banquet that will be held in March 2019. Tickets are $100 each.

He added that, even if you are not a hunter the guides will take you on a photo safari that you will never forget. Contact Brent or anyone of the local Federation committee members for your chance to purchase a ticket.

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