Good day to all members. I hope this thread will be acceptable to the Mods and members since this is a type of hunt that I am sure is something you all will appreciate.
It is 1884 in the ZAR. The little Boer republic is 30 years old, recognized by the treaty of London in 1854.
Yes there was that unfortunate interlude of British rule from '77 to '81, but that misunderstanding was clarified at Majuba on 27 February 1881.
Now the flag of the ZAR is flying in Pretoria.
But that is all politics. On the farms around Pretoria some farmers are making ready for their winter hunt in the Waterberg about 100 miles to the north. Gert, Greg and Johan are from Pretoria district.
From the town of Nijlstroom come Herman, Hansie and Willie.
Then there is the Reverend Jaap from the kalahari-desert who is always trying to keep his countrymen civilized - even when they are out hunting.
There under an old camel thorn tree they camp with their wagons, and hunt for meat. They are joined by some friends from the southern sister republic - "De Oranje Vrijstaat" MC, Swannie and Max.
Among the Free staters there is David, a lonely Englishman from Bloemfontein - he has made the Free state his home and befriended the Boers - finding them quite hospitable. This year the group is joined by Georg, an Austrian-Bavarian adventurer hunting in Africa.
Then of course there are two hunters from the Cape Colony - Wallace and Clieve.
The area around the camp abound with Impala, warthog, bushbuck and kudu. Animals are hunted, carried to camp, and processed into biltong - dried meat- which will be taken back to their home farms.
The hunters use a variety of rifles:
The new 450-577 Martini-Henry, the most modern military rifle introduced to the British empire 8 years before.
The Westley-richards monkeytail - trusted rifle among many boers in the fighting at Majuba 3 years ago. Shooting rolled paper cartridges, it can be used as a muzzle loader in a pinch, should you run out of rolled cartridges.
Some boers stil prefer their muzzle loading percussion rifles, and one of them uses a giant 6-bore flintlock.
There is talk of a fancy 11 mm German turnbolt rifle that Georg will be bringing.
Wallace from the Cape brings a lovely bespoke gun - a handmade hunting rifle - the calibre i am uncertain of.
Members as you may see, we are the lucky owners of a time machine that takes us back about 130 years for a traditional hunt. This is the same hunt that gert Odendaal had been telling you about for the last four years.
For some or other reason Gert has failed to start a thread on this year's hunt, so I am helping him out.
I hope he will soon help us out with lots of photos.
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