Rino Hals

The sweat stinged my eyes and I wiped it away with the sleeve on the short-sleeved shirt I was wearing. I had stalked a few kilometres in the bottom of a valley in search of nice trophy Nyala bull, but the afternoon's hunt had not been rewarding. I had only seen a couple of small herds containing females and calves and the great Nyala bull was like “gone with the wind..

I had a ridge between myself and the hunting camp at Driefontein and was about to reach the top of the hill on my way up. My double rifle felt heavier than usual where it rested on my shoulder and I could not wait until I reached the top. Up there I would sit down and drink a little bit of the water I was carrying.
Finally, at the top and I sat down on the ground and rested my back against a large stone, I felt the light breeze in my face, and it felt nice and refreshing. The water I had carried with me was warm but tasted just as good as if it was a fresh tin of cold beer.

The valley in front of me was bathed in the afternoon sun and had this beautiful glow. I was watching the surroundings and enjoyed the sight of this beautiful scenery I had in front of me. I had seen him, but I didn’t realise it. I saw him at least two more times before my brain manage to figure out what I saw. Only twelve to fifteen meters away from me and partly hidden by the tall grass and bush stood what for me is the king of all African antelope. The greater Kudu.

I was surprised and my first thought was that I actually had seen a vision, but no, he was no vision.. He was right there. His large ears was pointed in my direction, and he was staring right at me and stood complete motionless. His dark corkscrew-shaped horns was curled a little more than two times, and looked like a crown that crowned a kings head. It is astonishing how this great beast could be so close without me being able to see him, but the colour and stripes in his fur created this perfect camouflage in the bush.
Slowly he turned his head away from me and disappeared silently back into the bush.
I had just met "the gray ghost of the African bush." The greater Kudu .....

A few days later he was mine… I will always remember our first meeting… And his mounted trophy looking down at me from my wall will always remind me of this magic moment…
— in South Africa.

Rino

Used with permission.