African Safari

African Safari

by Les Reynolds

Publication Date: October 1997

The hospitality of two South African women high in the Himalayas in 1995 led Louisville Kentucky's David Sympson, his daughter Laura, and friend Emil Peter III to an adventure of another kind a world.

Sympson, 56 and retired from the soft drink industry, is a proven and an able adventurer. He has climbed as high as 21,000 feet in some of the highest mountain ranges in the world including the Pamirs, Karakoram and Andes. He has also summited Mt. Ranier in the United States. Sympson, who has suffered frostbite and edema effects, says he only stays on a mountain expedition up to six weeks and each time has failed to summit. However, the entire team came up short as well. There have also been times he's chosen not to summit (such as K2 and Makalu) due to his desire not to buy the summit permit. Other times he wasn't able to summit because of not being physically prepared or injured. Sympson noted that there are commercial climbs and expeditions. Commercial climbs allow only a certain window of time to make the summit, while Expeditions allow as long as needed. On K2, for example, after Sympson departed, the remaining team spent 89 more days in its successful attempt.

However, it was the trek to Mt. Makalu, (positioned next to Mount Everest, the fifth highest and one of the world's most technically difficult to climb) that began an adventure a continent away. In a Kathmandu (Nepal) restaurant, Sympson encountered two women, Afrikaaners, from South Africa (descendents of the Dutch who fought in the Boer Wars at the turn of the century). Lizl LeRoux, a University of Pretoria student, and her cousin were trekking in the mountains there and the dinner conversation eventually turned to hunting and an invitation to come to S. Africa.

Sympson said he thought about it, then wrote in November but didn't get a reply until April '96. He also got permission for Emil and Laura. They went during the summer of '96.

Sympson, Peter and Laura stayed in the town of Sterkrivier, Republic of South Africa, at the home of Gert and Paulette LeRoux along with daughter Lizl and son Wilhelm. Paulette taught school and Wilhelm helped his father on the family farm, cleverly converted to an ostrich ranch to combat the drought conditions in the Transvaal Region. Both Sympson and Peter, 55, a financial adviser in Louisville, complimented the LeRoux's kindness.

"They were a very high class family, very generous," said Sympson.

Peter noted their "helpful hospitality," and both noted their willingness to make all sorts of arrangements for the American trio. They set them up in Phalaborwa with the Matomani Lodge, owned by Sikke and Annalie Visser. There, from sunup until sunset for roughly eight days, they engaged in some of their most exotic sightseeing in and around Kruger National Park.

Another thing Sympson mentioned was the inherent danger, although every precaution was taken and trackers were assigned to the group. "Even stepping a few yards from the van, the tracker was with you, because lions lurked about. They were, as were all the wildlife there, extremely well camouflaged. You have to learn to look for these animals."

The tall, dry grass hid the lions well. There were also some 30 species of poisonous snakes in the area, which should have made an African elephant seem rather tame...not quite. Sympson's slide show of the safari shows a rather large blurry-looking elephant with ears flapping. Sympson's camera fired off one clear shot of the bull before he charged their van. Laura, nervous, jumped across her dad in the seat, causing him to miss a shot of the elephant charging. "An elephant gives a three-step warning it's going to charge," Sympson offered. The initial trumpeting, ear flapping and yanking up vegetation. "We didn't stick around for step four." The threesome did see much of the indigenous wildlife, including what's known in hunting circles as The Big Five: Cape buffalo, lion, tiger, rhino and elephant -- none of which were hunted by the American group. They also saw giraffe, zebra, baboons and hippos.

Concerning hunting -

Peter, who had made two previous hunting trips to Africa to hunt birds, chose wildebeest and impala as his target this time out. Sympson's goal was to hunt a kudu and an impala. Impala is an African antelope with ringed, lyre-shaped horns and is an extremely swift runner. A kudu is much larger with corkscrew-like horns and not quite as quick. Sympson said that hunting in Africa was much different from in the States.

Sympson, who quipped "filming wildlife lets you get lots closer than hunting it," noted that the impala emerged into his rifle sights from 200 yards to nearly a quarter mile from his group. Thus making a clean shot very difficult. Sympson said "we don't shoot to cripple," so firing from 400 yards was out of the question. Although both men eventually got their respective prizes, it took their best abilities and the help of expert trackers. "These were vast, not just little places where we were hunting," Sympson said. "The trackers were amazing in the fieldthey could spot the tiniest little blood tracks," Sympson recalled. Peter shot his animal at 250 yards, while Sympson, who didn't say how near his successful shot was, noted "my impala didn't even see us." The trackers helped lift the bagged animals, notably the bulky kudu, into the truckbeds.

Both he and Peter mentioned the very controlled, well-managed wildlife "ranches," operated by individuals who charge trophy fees to take certain animals. Fees range from as little as $100 to as much as nearly $1000 depending on the availability and species of the animal in question. The fees included a tracker, night meals and dead animal pickup. One owner may have an abundance of impala and allow plenty of huntingwhile another may restrict hunting the same species and allow it to rebuild. Fences were used, Sympson noted, but these were vast expanses of acreage and would scarcely be noticed They were there in part to keep poachers out. "We weren't exactly fishing in a barrel," Sympson noted. "That whole area of the country seems set up for the hunting experience," Peter recalled. "It's highly controlled and managed to produce game." Both men said the trophy fee was in large part used to replenish the herds. Some of the proceeds went to the government as an umbrella agency charged with general natural resource conservation. Sympson stated that natives will work for the rancher or farmer and keep poachers off the property. Some of their hunting was on the DeKlerk land where the owner declined to allow kudu hunting as he rebuilt the herd from the devastating effects of a decade-long drought.

Sympson rebuffed the naysayers who tell him it's not real hunting in such controlled conditions. "It's no different than hunting deer in Kentucky (which he does) because you don't know if you are going to get one or not." He also reminded that distances in Africa are usually greater and the animals have more camouflage. He also mentioned again the abundance of poisonous snakes.

Sympson's own hunting philosophy? "I don't mind culling the herd if it needs to be done," he said. "I will be the predator, but absolutely will not shoot if the animal that is in the least way scarce or endangered." "I didn't go there to slaughter animals and have always been conservation-minded."

Following the hunt, (the trip lasted under a month total) Sympson and Laura boarded a raft for a Class-Five+ run down the Zambezi River. The Zambezi River is rated as one of the most treacherous in the world. Over fifteen major whitewater rapids marked this trip and Laura, along with a few others, took a spill into the churning river. Fortunately they were pulled back into the raft quite soon thereafter. The rafters are afforded the opportunity to get a video of the rafting trip a few hours after it is finished. While Peter opted for the more tame-sounding canoe trip, the historical and environmentally educational sightseeing trip included quite a number of crocodiles.

Dangers aside, each of them really enjoyed the experience. Peter summed it up: "Overall it was pleasant and worthwhile, in general quite relaxing."