Written by Dustin Bomley
Africa has been a mystical dream since I was 15 and started hunting with my uncle’s hand-me-down recurve bow. As I grew older and began shooting in 3D archery tournaments around the region, I always most enjoyed shooting the exotic African replica foam targets. Fast forward to my 40s, travelling across states carting my son to his “A” level hockey team practices, another hockey dad and I begin talking about hunting and shooting. We instantly became friends, as not only were our sons teammates, but our interests were aligned. I told my new friend, Chad, that someday I would love to hunt Africa.
Chad’s response, “I know just the guy and outfitter to go with!”
The next day at practice Chad arrived sporting a memory book that he had made from his trip to South Africa just a few years previously, hunting with Mike Birch’s Hunt the Sun Safaris. While I thumbed through the pages Chad described the very aspects that draw many sportsmen to the Dark Continent!
I was sold! When do we go? This was February of 2021 and Chad got the wheels rolling.
As we touched down in Johannesburg in late June 2022 my expectations were high, and I was absorbing everything I could. We lodged overnight at the Afton Safari Lodge, a transition spot for safari goers, and then were off on an early flight to Port Elizabeth the next morning. We didn’t arrive at our camp until the first evening, as we had to wait all day for a second flight from Joburg due to our rifle cases not arriving on our earlier flight. We rushed to get rifles shot while checking zero before dark so we could begin our hunt the next morning.
The first morning of my African safari was everything that I could have imagined! We made our way high onto a mountaintop in search of one of several target animals. My PH, James, and tracker Sperlo were glassing mountain reedbuck when I spotted a small group of kudu 800 yards away, making their way across an open area below and to the east of our position. Once it was determined that the bull was worth going after, we began our slow and methodical descent from our elevated perch. Moving into a good position and with a solid rest established, we waited as the kudu bull moved slowly into my predetermined shooting lane. The bull was 330 yards, and I squeezed the flat trigger on my custom 7mm SAUM to bag my very first African animal.
Little did I know that I had begun a quest—a quest that I would not completely realize until planning my second trip with Hunt the Sun Safaris.
The first trip to South Africa had been spectacular and I also had my then 16-year-old son in tow. We took a variety of animals during our trip, but not until a year and a half after returning home did I realize that I wanted to pursue what many call the Spiral Horn Slam which consists of African animals with horns that spiral from the base to the tip. The primary four in this “Slam” is the kudu also known as the Grey Ghost of Africa, eland, nyala and bushbuck. Each is entrenched in its own unique habitat, and as I began to study these wary animals, I learned each hunt would require its own strategy.
Chad and I began discussions regarding our future goals and dreams for returning to Africa. As can be imagined, Cape buffalo entered the conversation! Chad and I both have this crazy disease (more of an addiction) to firearms. In our talks we decided that we should buy a pair of matching rifles for our next safari. Thinking along the lines of buffalo, we elected to go with the venerable .375 H&H Magnum.
We then had to decide what brand of rifle we wanted to purchase or have built. In my research I came across Parkwest Arms and immediately fell in love with the look and options available on the SD-76 model. After much research and banter, Chad and I both ordered our first Parkwest rifles. Mine was a splendid Savanna, including wood fine enough to drive any fine furniture maker crazy. Chad’s rifle was a Dark Continent with the fit and finish of a Rolls Royce and a walnut stock that will make any safari goer drool with envy.
Planning began, airline flights were booked, but Chad had a medical issue crop up out of nowhere. We were a few months from leaving on this much looked forward to safari with Hunt the Sun Safaris, when my hunting buddy was forced to bow out of the trip…
Scrambling, I assembled a fine group of friends to join me, and they were all greatly anticipating the journey, just as I had during my first trip. The only problem was that I didn’t want to hunt buffalo with the new Parkwest Savanna without Chad and his Dark Continent along. Shifting gears, I began to revisit the Spiral Horn Slam.
Day three of my second trip to RSA, with a few animals taken by my accompanying friends and a few failed stalks made on eland, I began to have doubts about my spiral-horn ambitions.
We were on our way back to the Arnotsdale Lodge following my friend Adam’s successful barbary sheep hunt when our PH Brenley stopped the Toyota Land Cruiser to look over a herd of springbok. Off to the left at about 100 yards stood a small herd of eland. Looking over them, Brenley said there was a big bull in the herd. After a bit of maneuvering and checking the wind, we made a short stalk. The eland bull stood sandwiched between a younger bull and a few cows as they became aware of our presence. With a nervous wander, the bull cleared itself from the others and offered a 211-yard shot. I quickly turned the turret of the Leupold VX6 1-6 and anchored myself on the shooting sticks. A well-placed 270-grain Barnes TSX from my Parkwest Savanna, and the bull stumbled and fell. I must admit, the size of the eland bull stunned me! They look large on the hoof, but walking up to him it blew my mind just how enormous the largest African antelope actually is!
Day six came with an early morning departure from the lodge as we were headed south to where my new PH, JJ, knew of an area that held a good quantity of nyala. Nyala like brush and cover and finding them wasn’t so much the issue as finding a good bull. Once in the area we began to see nyala ewes and some young bulls, but finding one that was mature was becoming increasingly difficult. We were supposed to be moving the entire camp from the Northern Cape on the edge of the Kalahari to the Eastern Cape in the Karoo, and my little impromptu nyala hunt had delayed our departure. JJ and I were ready to call it a morning and begin our move with the rest of the group, when he whispered from behind his binoculars, “There’s a good bull!”
My heart leapt and I quickly grabbed my Swarovski 10x42s to scan in the direction JJ was looking. There, about 350 yards away was the bull, walking and feeding with the sun behind him, his white mane glistening in the light, creating a glowing halo around his body. I immediately noticed his orange legs and his lofty spiral horns silhouetted in the blue sky. This was everything I imagined a nyala hunt would be! Once he made his way behind some thorn brush, JJ and I began working our way toward him with the wind in our favor. Keeping a small ridge between us we worked our way into an ambush position. We anticipated a 150-yard shot, but the bull instead appeared from behind a green hedge at just 90 yards. I was already on the sticks and pressed into a stable hold. With the crosshairs burned on his right shoulder, the shot broke and the magnificent bull lunged up and into the next hedge. JJ turned and high-fived me, but then said, “Get another round loaded, these critters are tough, and those horns are sharp and dangerous!”
We approached the downed nyala, both its shoulders broken from the Barnes TSX. JJ had me shoot once more for insurance. I had taken my top target animal and was overwhelmed. Such a beautiful creature!
On day eight we settled into a beautiful farmhouse named Whytebank in the Eastern Cape, about three hours outside of Port Elizabeth. The temperature was a frigid 26 degrees F and for the second time in 18 years (according to the farm owners) there was snow on the ground in the mountains surrounding us. I was back with my original PH, Brenley, and we were headed out to see what we could find. Adam was looking for bushbuck, mountain reedbuck or blesbok. I was focused on bushbuck, as that would complete my Spiral Horn Slam. We started out, heading south to an area that Brenley knew had some good mountain reedbuck, when the radio began to sputter. One of the other trackers, Albert, was on the radio with Brenley speaking one of the 11 official different languages used in RSA. I picked up enough to know there had been a bushbuck spotted and Albert knew that our Cruiser had the bushbuck guys in it. A quick U-turn to the north and an 80 kph ride on a dirt road, and we soon approached an area called Many Waters. As we were looking up the hill, our tracker Anton spotted a long-horned ram and ewe on the downhill side. Brenley glassed him over and decided he was a mature ram. A 239-yard shot delivered from my trusty Parkwest Savanna and my Spiral Horn Slam was complete!
It took me two trips to complete my slam. Today Chad is on the mend from his medical issue, and we are beginning the planning for our third trip. This foray will also be outfitted by Mike Birch, Hunt the Sun Safaris, but we will be going a different direction. The third trip will take place in the Timbavati area of South Africa, and we both will be targeting the elusive Cape buffalo on his home turf while toting Parkwest rifles!
A couple of pre-safari, 100-yard practice groups with the Parkwest SD-76 Savanna chambered in 375 H&H Magnum.
