Cape Buff & Plains Game

[Vince]

Which province are they in SA?
Blue or black wildebeest?
And which zebra? Mountain, Hartman, or Burchell's? (I know one has the shadow stripe, while another does not)
Which eland? Cape or Livingston's? (Livingston's are striped (IIRC) and very handsome)
Which kudu? Eastern Cape or Southern Greater? (SG can be bigger)
The nice part is that SA has all of these animals, and is about the least expensive country in Africa to hunt.
And the easiest it seems for taking your own firearms to hunt with. (You are taking your own? Or renting to save on hassle (permitting) an additional costs (baggage fees and permitting?)

As we never know if we will make that next trip, make sure you get your priority bucket list animals that you can afford on the first trip...then you'll have no regrets.
If the cape buffalo bull is high on your list, make it the priority and set aside the gemsbok and impala.
Impala may be cheap enough that if you do not get one of your other target species, you may take one as a contingency if the opportunity presents itself.
(On my hunt the common impala was a $500 extra fee, so not a big cost. It may be more in your area depending on its availability and subspecies, as some are more expensive (e.g. black-faced, Southern or white-flanked).)

I have a good list of animals that I want to get from Africa, some of which I may never be able to afford, such as bongo and mountain nyala. The ones that may afford may have to wait until I can...leopard, cape buffalo, sitatunga, the gazelles in Tanzania (an expensive place to hunt as compared to South Africa and Namibia).
The ones I can afford, I have prioritized...and went with kudu, nyala and bushbuck on my first trip. I did want impala and warthog, and while not priority on my trip, I did get as incidentals when the opportunities presented themselves, and were still within my contingency budget on the trip. Otherwise, as they are so common, I had them lower on the list. Gemsbok and blue wildebeest are also on my list, but lower ranked and potential for a third trip.
I still want eland, but was willing to set it aside for the next trip (of the spiral horns with my outfitter, it was the most expensive), so that I could focus on enjoying the trip and ensuring that my wife could get her animals, and we would still have some extra spending money for contingency and taxidermy if plans changed in the field. Example; I was going to just do a European mount and flat skin on the nyala, but opted for the shoulder mount after seeing how beautiful this animal was in the field. The other factor here was to ensure we had fun on the trip, and did not put any additional pressure on ourselves that we must get every animal on our list and forget to have fun and enjoy the trip!

I had thought about lechwe, but as it wasn't as high on the priority list, I knew that I would set it aside for the second trip. After seeing the red and Kafue Lechwe in the field, and a beautiful black Lechwe shoulder mount, these have risen on the priority list and are high on the list for the next trip with the eland, lechwe, and sitatunga (the spiral horns have always been the highest priority for me), if we go to Zambia. Botswana may be my best chance for the sitatunga...
Am also looking at Namibia. But would be happy to hunt another province in SA (Limpopo???) in order to get the chance for the honey badger!
Susan's bucket list top priority was the sable, so we ensured that was a must have on the hunt, and she was successful. Springbok was also high on her list, along with black wildebeest and gemsbok. She decided that she could wait for the next trip for these last two animals.

Bucket list animals do tend to change after experiencing them first-hand in the field.
Kudu was always my number one. The more research I did on the bushbuck, my ranking of this animal rose, and changed once seeing the two animals in the field, and hunting them. While successful on both, I found the kudu earned its name grey ghost well, but we saw them on almost every day...they were hard easy enough to stalk but hard to get a good shot opportunity on. I got the eastern cape variety.
The bushbuck was a tougher hunt. While we did see a couple females over the course of 7 days, we only found the one old male (cape variety) and had to make a long drive and final stalk around for the proper approach from downwind. We were most fortunate and I got the shot opportunity on a specific male that seven hunters had hunted for 4 years, with one hunter making seven trips over the span of 4 years for this particular animal. Of which he only laid eyes on the buck on 3 of those hunts, and never got a shot opportunity! The bushbuck was a fun hunt, and has taken over the number one spot on the ranking scale for me. There are several subspecies, and I hope to add more of the subspecies as I can, as they are not too expensive for some, in some places, compared to others. There are also several subspecies of kudu, and I hope to get another someday, but for now, I am happy with one...I really want to hunt bushbuck again!
I am looking at the planning process for the return trip...but am thinking that we'll probably do Argentina first, as there are some species there that we want to hunt (axis deer, blackbuck, fallow buck and mouflon), and we haven't been there yet...hoping for 2026 or 2027, and then perhaps Africa again in 2028 or 2029 (for eland (hopefully Livingston's, but would still be happy with the cape), lechwe (all 3, but would be happy with Kafue if only able to get one), black wildebeest, gemsbok and honey badger. A Limpopo bushbuck, and the other colour phases of springbok (black, white and copper) are the additional animals that hope to include).

In New Zealand, I found the same thing with the red stag and fallow buck. The red stag was always number 1 on my list. Fallow buck was on the list but lower (partly because I can also hunt it in Texas, Argentina, Spain and Africa too). The red stag was easy to find, harder to get a shot opportunity on, but ultimately not as challenging, or as fun, as stalking and hunting the fallow buck. I really want to hunt fallow buck again! (I got the dark, spotted buck, and hope to get the lighter coloured or white spotted one next time)

I hope this helps, and doesn't add to your decision-making process complexity...these are just things I learned on our journey so far...
I wish you all the best, and hope you get everything you hope to get on your adventure!
And I look forward to hearing about your adventure!

This is what I know so far.

“Sundays River Valley, near the town of Kirkwood in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. With its unspoilt emerald green coastline, its semi-arid Karoo region of grassy plains and rolling hills.”

I want a Blue Wildebeest.
Eastern Cape Kudu
As for the rest I’ll take what’s offered.

Vince

 

[Blkram]

Nice!
We really enjoyed the Eastern Cape! Beautiful country, with a nice variety in terrain and cover (almost completely open flatlands (prairie-like), to thick brush and mountains). I would definitely go back to hunt the Eastern Cape again. Although if we return to SA on our next trip, it may well be to Limpopo so I can hunt that subspecies of bushbuck, or west in the Karoo or Kalahari for seeing the red sand part of the country too, and for the Kalahari springbok, as Susan got the common springbok.
We hit it right for temperatures by going in early May. April had been in the 40's (Celsius), while it was in the high 20s to low 30s while we were there. What rains we did get were light and only during a couple of nights, so we didn't get wet hunting, and the ground didn't get muddy and slippery.
We didn't have to worry about snakes or spiders, which really pleased Susan!

May is also the kudu rut and makes for easier spotting of the Grey Ghost bulls, and stalking as they are distracted by the females, and moving more during the day looking for females, so more visible.

Hoping you have a great adventure!