African Hunting Safaris and Hunting Packages South Africa

Tales of big cats ambushing their prey, hundreds of elephants descending on a dusty waterhole and the hippo that rescued a young gazelle from a crocodile... Maybe an account of a Hunting Safaris and Hunting Packages South Africa that went awry, or about "the one that got away". Absolutely, campfire stories told at night with the sound of wild animals close by can make for fascinating listening and can sometimes be better than recounting the tracking, the stalking and the actual shoot of the hunting safari earlier that day - especially when told by senior rangers or local historians with their wealth of knowledge.

Picture the scene outside a cabin at a good hunting lodge such as Doorndraai in the Bela Bela/Thabazimbi area or in the Kwalata Wilderness of the Waterberg Mountains, Limpopo Province... In the cool of the dark next to a crackling fire, after dinner and with a mug of coffee or something stronger to sip from, reflecting on the happenings of the day and on times past is only natural, almost essential in fact. For people on a hunting safari who are new to the bush, campfire stories can help them to get over their anxiety. They can also be good for lifting the mood if it's been an unsuccessful day for the hunters. And in any event, as experienced guys such as members of the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association will tell you, it's hard to imagine a hunting safari where after the evening meal everybody hives off to read a book or just heads straight for their sleeping bag.

One of the endearing things about the accounts of events relived around the fire on a hunting safari is that while most are factual, some of the story-tellers have a tendency to stretch the truth and exaggerate certain details to the point that what they spin is more like a good yarn at the end of the day. And some of the rangers and trackers tell hunting safari stories at a slow, measured pace, and in oh so serious and hushed a tone as to have their audience spellbound. It's because of the "spellbinding" nature of hunting safari tales that whoever's telling or listening to them should in no way be simultaneously involved in camp guard duty...

Being a wild place, the bush demands that you keep your wits about you, and there are more than a few stories doing the rounds about hunting African  Hunting Safaris and Hunting Packages South Africa where the hunters became the hunted at their own campfire and which would have had terrible endings had it not been for a twig snapping underfoot, a bird taking to the air or possibly branches moving for reasons other than the wind that warned the gathering of hungry predators, a rogue tusker or something slithery and poisonous perhaps. No doubt it can be argued that in the interests of human safety one shouldn't sit in a circle around the fire on a hunting safari but rather with a circle of fires around one...