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One of the highlights of my year is my annual journey to South Africa to hunt with my good friend Carl Van Zyl and John X Safaris. Each safari and experience is totally unique unto itself and trip number 7 with Carl was no exception. On this episode we sat down at their Woodlands base camp and reflected on our latest adventure. Over the years, Carl and I have repeatedly tried to push the envelope and raise awareness on certain species as well as conservation success stories and failures. The underlying theme of every story we tell always goes back to science based wildlife management and the undeniable truth that “if it pays, it stays”. When wildlife has a value, wildlife flourishes.

On this episode we talk about the Cape Mountain Zebra, once hunted to near extinction in the early 1900s but brought back from the brink due to private landowners/conservationists investing in the future of the species. The onery little zebra species has the most striking cape of all zebra. We dive in deep on the history of the species and why we chose to hunt one in 2024. What do the numbers and science say? Why is the USFWS dragging their feet on allowing U.S. hunters to import their trophies and why do they continue to try to dictate to African countries how they should be managing their wildlife?

Next we head to a unique area of the Eastern Cape in search of giant kudu bulls. How has management and the kudu’s continued expansion of their historic range created this little gem? It truly is a special place where the bulls attain a body size and horn length unlike anywhere else in the region. Carl explains the strict quotas and how they work with the land owners to help manage this diamond in the rough, a true trophy kudu honey hole.

We then recap our hunt for red lechwe, a species not endemic to South Africa at all, but one that is thriving on the Eastern Cape and has become a favorite for safari hunters. So where is the red lechwe from and why aren’t hunters pursuing it there? Carl and I had pursued lechwe (unsuccessfully) on a previous safari. I have to admit that it’s one of the most stunning antelope species we’ve pursued to date.  We wrap up the conversation by talking youth hunters on safari. Something that is near and dear to Carl and the John X philosophy.