After more than 3 hours of journey from the capital Pretoria to the north of South Africa, at 5 am we were on a farm in the province of Limpopo located close to the Botswana border. Everyone woke up and was amazed by the surprisingly magnificentness that was lost in the land of tribal times.
The red sun shined nearly 20,000 hectares of Andrew’s farm, filled with large mammals such as wildebeest, Impala antelope, cudu antelope, zebras … running after each herd of thousands of animals. across the golden pasture in mid-winter South Africa. The closely planted thorny forests are the habitat for dozens of small animals such as civet, wild boar …
In the north of the farm, there are large-scale animal raising such as lions, rhinos, wild buffalo, flower … and of course it is an inviolable place with thousands of hectares of nearly primeval forest. separated by an extremely sophisticated electric fence system.
After two hours of training farm owners how to use guns as well as the rules of the farm, we were shot to practice target fixed beer. Pretty hunting rifles originating from Austria with German-mounted glasses, explosion-sized bullets of 7.6 cups do not limit the number until they ensure users to master the shot. Two Ford-branded pickup trucks were fitted with silencer, avoiding the noise when moving us apart into two groups. Andrew explained, the two groups cannot go in the same direction to avoid stray bullets and it is difficult to shoot animals.
I headed towards the thorny forest south of the farm. A busy feeling when the trunk was alone in the wilderness with a gun that had just mastered. The thought that flashed out, suddenly turned off the thorns, who had missed out at a certain bend had a lion, or a flower leopard jumped on the trunk … so the hunting result was the opposite direction.The car slid smoothly, slowly along the trails, and the car immediately braked to prevent the animals from moving. Prices for shooting animals are very detailed. Only glance at the wild buffalo has 14,000 rands (about 2,000 USD); the range of wildebeest ranges from 4,000 to 6,000 rands; The lowest is the wild boar, only 600 rands are the maximum. It is because the price is chosen by the owner and the guest, so with a little reporter, only the material is the main one, we choose the level of 4,000 rands for the whole team.
After nearly 3 hours of draft work mainly for photography, to avoid the eyes of the ranch owner, I decided to choose the wildebeest as the target. With the wildebeest, the farm has more than 6,000 animals for me to target. But the truth is not close to those that are too thick in hiding these amateur hunters. Just the sound of a small cough or the aroma of the smoke of the smoker is the flock of fluttering fled.
Indeed, it is even more difficult for people like us to hunt animals that are difficult and shoot animals at a price. And the luck came when the car came to a halt after the beckoning gesture of the black man. Through the binoculars, about 1,000 meters away from me is the stray antelope. Taking the shoulder as a spear point, shooting a standing posture, a loud explosion tore through the space, the goal collapsed, ending the “contract” to penetrate, documenting the hunting and tourism industry of South Africa.
In response to this situation, 5 types of large mammals of South Africa such as elephants, lions, leopards, rhinos and wild buffaloes are at risk of decline, in May 2010, the South African Government issued a decree to ban hunting of 5 kinds of animals. large (except white rhino), in addition to maintaining this bumper industry for farm scope and some national forests.