Well I’m finally here!!!!  I’m in Port Elizabeth, South Africa. This is not my final destination, but it is home for a couple of days until the rest of my hunting party arrives. 

My trip took a total of 30 hours 31 minutes and 26 seconds to get from my house in North Carolina to the hotel in Port Elizabeth! I took my truck, 3 air planes and a taxi cab to get here.

This is a beautiful town and I’m glad I get a couple of days to get over the jet lag and do some site seeing.

THE PLANE FLIGHTS

The plane flights were smooth. A short 1 hour flight from Raleigh to DC, a 20 hour flight from DC to Johannesburg with a refueling stop in Dakkar, Senegal, and then a 2 hour flight from J’Burg to Port Elizabeth!

The flight from DC to J’Burg was not as bad as I anticipated, but I did have 2 screaming kids that sat behind me on that flight. They were both under 2 and they were both screaming before the doors on the airplane were shut! I watched 3 movies from DC to Dakkar and then I took a sleeping pill and slept for a while on the next leg of the flight. After I woke up I still had time to watch 10,000 BC before we landed in J’Burg.

Here was my home for 20 hours of the trip!

I think if I had one more flight I might have gone POSTAL on somebody!!!! Like I said, it was a lot of traveling, but not as bad as I had prepared for! Still, I had not done that much flying in 2 days since I was in the Marine Corps back in the 90s.

Once I got to Port Elizabeth I had to catch a cab to the Hotel. The driver told me to hop in while he loaded my bags. Well I did and to my surprise I hopped in the driver’s seat!!!!! That’s when I found out that they drive on the wrong side of the road down here!!!  Since I’ve been here I’ve also found that they walk on the wrong side of the sidewalk also!!! If I die on this trip it will not be from an animal mauling!!! I am sure it will be death by vehicle. I keep looking the wrong way thinking the coast is clear when I’m trying to cross the street. The cars are coming from the direction I’m not looking. I have learned to find someone else who is crossing the street and walk beside them. This will probably save my life!!!

My hotel is Ocean front. I have a beautiful view of the Indian Ocean. Even though it is winter time down here, I have yet to put on a long sleeve shirt. The locals are walking around all bundled up like they are going to freeze to death, but it is a nice break from the 100 degree weather we’re having back home.

The city is beautiful and I’m going to go do some exploring while I have a chance. I’ll leave you guys with a few pictures of the sights.

Sunset over Port Elizabeth

Shark Rock Beach

Port Elizabeth, South Africa

One of the things I love about my job is meeting so many people! I am a people person and I love to talk. My wife has told her friends that I can talk the ears off a telephone pole!

95% of the people I meet on the road are great people and then there’s that 5% that can ruin your day. On my recent trip to the Yukon I had two very different guys I shared my cabin with.

First there was Dr. Shay. He was a dentist from Nebraska and very pleasurable to be around. He was always positive even when his hunt was winding down and he had not taken a moose. Good thing for him is the got a moose on the last couple of days of the hunt! Not only did he get his moose, but he shot a 67″ moose. All I can say is it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!

Here is Dr. Shay with his great Trophy!

And then there was John! John was from Hungary and he wasn’t very talkative. When I arrived in camp, John and Shay had been there several days and there hunt was winding down. I moved my things into the cabin and tried to talk to John and introduce myself. He did not even acknowledge my existance. I just chalked it up to the language barrier and walked out. I got to talking to some of the folks in camp and found out that John was the Head of Economics for Hungary and that if his party wins the next elections that he will probably be the next Vice President of Hungary! OK, to me that’s no big deal. I spent 8 years in the Marine Corps Public Affairs. I have served with some great Marine Corps Generals and have even had diner with the King of Norway! This guy puts his pants on one leg at a time and he is no better than me. His position in his country only means that he was born into money.

Over the next couple of days he became a little more open towards me and we started talking about hunting the states. I had found out that he told Dr. Shay that he was scared to come to the U.S. I told him there was no need to be scared, that it was a great country and he would love hunting elk. He asked a few questions about hunting the western states and I actually thought he was warming up to coming to hunt in our GREAT country!

Well the next day things start to go South! He and Dr. Shay were supposed to fly out of camp, but the weather was terrible and they were not able to get out! When I arrived back to camp after a long day of hunting in the snow, I found Dr. Shay and asked him how his day was. Dr. Shay was very upset. He said it’s not been a good day around here, John has gone off the deep end. I said, “what do you mean?” Dr. Shay said,”I was sitting in the cabin today talking to John and John said ‘You know what I think about America? F*#& America!!!!!”

I could not believe it! My blood started boiling and I had to calm myself down! Even though he was thinking it, why would he say it, especially when he was the only guy that felt that way in camp. I told Dr. Shay that if I wasn’t there on official busness I would walk into that cabin and try to shove his teeth down his throat!

Dr. Shay and I took the diplomatic way out of this one. That night after supper we (Dr. Shay, John & Myself) were laying in the cabin. I started a conversation that went with Dr. Shay that went Something like this:

• Me – “I wish I could watch Fox News and see what’s going on in the Real World!”
• Dr. Shay – “Yeah, I wonder what counrty we’re getting ready to handle next?”
• Me – “Well when I was leaving the states I saw where the U.S. was thinking about bombing 1,200 strategic positions in Iran. Heck they said it would only take 3 days to do it!”
• Dr. Shay – “Yeah, Ain’t America great!”

The conversation went on for about 45 minutes and then we went to sleep! Dr. Shay and John had to stay a total of 4 days extra in camp due to weather and John did not speak to anyone after he had his melt down with Dr. Shay. I guess he knew everyone (Canadians & Americans) were very pissed with him and he had better watch it!

Here is a picture of John (Left) and Dr. Shay (Right). Notice how he even closed his eyes for the picture! What a coward! All I got to say is that if this clown is going to be one of the head guys in charge of a country, I feel sorry for the people that live there!