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Travel Blog: South Africa
Follow the adventures of Diana Rupp, Sports Afield's Editor-in-chief, on her spring 2007 safari to South Africa.

5: THE GREAT KAROO
Heading into the interior of South Africa

Professional hunter William Phillips is a big, ruddy-cheeked, easygoing South African with a ready supply of entertaining stories and a vast knowledge of the countryside. I’d met William at the SCI show in Reno several months before, when outfitter Ralph Koster introduced me to him and said he’d be helping out with my safari.  

When he arrived to pick me up at the hotel in George, William was driving a nice new Toyota king-cab pickup with a high seat in the bed, the kind of rig known in these parts as a bakkie. I climbed in the passenger’s seat just after 9 a.m., surprisingly not feeling too bad after my all-night bus odyssey, settling in for a comfortable ride on good roads for the 2½ hour drive up to the hunting area, which is located just past the town of Beaufort West. Joining us on our ride was William’s likable and energetic little Jack Russell terrier, Patch, who ensconced himself in the bed of the bakkie atop my duffel and gun case.

It was interesting to drive through some of South Africa’s incredibly varied terrain. The verdant green of the coast gave way to more arid country as we wound through tall mountain passes. Eventually we were in the Great Karoo, a huge, dry area with flat-topped peaks and deep canyons. We spotted ostriches and springbok from the highway, but even so the country reminded me mightily of Wyoming and looked like it should be teeming with mule deer and pronghorn.

We arrived at Ko-Ka Tsara Bush Camp just before noon, and were warmly greeted by our hosts, Ralph and Diana Koster, who run Ko-Ka Tsara. A gracious and friendly couple in their late thirties with three delightful kids, the Kosters run their beautiful bush camp as a family-oriented safari and vacation destination.

The central gathering place at the bush camp was a circular patio-type area enclosed by a boma—a wall of sticks traditionally erected around African villages to keep lions out—and it featured a large bonfire area with chairs and picnic tables. Here, we ate a light lunch of sandwiches and I got acquainted with my hosts and the friendly camp staff. After lunch, Ralph’s tracker and all-around right-hand man, Abram Lincoln, brought my gear to my private thatched-roof A-frame chalet. The chalet was complete with kitchenette, bathroom with flush toilet and hot shower, air conditioning, and a loft. Diana’s pet meercat, Minkie, wandered over to visit, and as I petted him I wondered how I’d survive all this rough living.

By early afternoon, it was time to get to the main event. I suited up in safari duds and climbed into Ralph’s bakkie, sitting up front with Ralph while William and Abram rode in back. We drove slowly across the 50,000-acre property, studying a mind-boggling variety of African game, including many species I’d never seen before. The flashy, colorful bontebok were the first to catch my eye. Beautifully marked in a mixture of light brown, black, and white, bontebok were once extremely rare but were brought back to healthy numbers in large part through the efforts of South African game ranchers like Ralph. Blue and black wildebeest were abundant, and they weren’t all in herds as I’d expected. Bachelor bulls stood by themselves, often near a small tree. Giraffe loped by, and herds of lovely mountain zebra—also a formerly rare species—stood out in their full black and white splendor against the arid mountainsides. Sightings of red hartebeest, gemsbok, Cape kudu, and hundreds of springbok kept me glued to my binocular.

That evening, Ralph and I stalked two different blue wildebeest bulls, but both of them gave us the slip. On the first stalk, the wind switched and a hartebeest snorted at us, alerting the blue. On the second stalk, we sneaked up on a bedded group of three females and a male. We waited for agonizing minutes for them to stand, but when they did it was as if a firecracker had been lit beneath them, and they rocketed off into the distance. No matter. I was in Africa again, and I was hunting. Back in the bush camp, we savored a wonderful dinner of Karoo lamb served with a Cape merlot, and enjoyed a nightcap beside a blazing campfire while the eerie wails of jackals serenaded us.

Below: PH William Phillips (left), PH Ralph Koster, and I at dinner in the boma at Ko-Ka Tsara Bush Camp.

Coming soon! 6: A tour of safari camp

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