Hi John
The area that we hunted is in the Eastern Cape province. I attached a map to show the area.
The big red oval circle is a area of about 200kmx200km big.
It is very popular with local hunters, as there is a lot of game, prices is still relative cheap and the climate is great. It is also malaria free, and there is a good road infrastructure. It is also possible to hunt big 5 in this area.

Your idea of living a hunting life is very possible in this area, and i know a lot of farmers who grew up like that, and currently all their kids is living the same life. Start with a air gun on birds, then move to .22 for ground squirrels, dassie etc, then on to bigger .223 or .243 for springbuck, blesbuck or impala. and so on...
One can hunt this area on different farms for the whole year, and visit a new farm every weekend.
Unfortenately this area is also changing the last few years to cater for the international market, and some farms only take international hunters! But covid changed things since last year! So owners is again willing to take locals at huge discounted rates! Remember all of our hunting as locals is mostly on private farms, and is self-catering. Accomodation is sometimes excellent, but mostly modest to bare minimum. But is'nt that what hunting is about??
If one live in or around Cape town, Stellenbosch, Franschoek or around, one can be in the great Karoo in about 2 hours drive. There its mostly springbuck, gemsbuck and koedoe.
The area that we hunt in the Eastern Cape is about 800km from there. I have marked the Western Cape near Cape town in small red circle. Myself lives in George, the small red dot.It is a 400km journey to the Eastern Cape from George, but we also have nice hunting about 70km from where i live in George, in the Klein Karoo!
I will maybe later do a complete map of SA with all the different hunting areas, what is the area best for and also price wise??
Regards
Niel