The Grey Ghost of Africa is the most sought after trophy on every hunter’s wish list. These majestic and regal looking animals are shy in nature and often known as the ballerina of antelope because of their fleet footedness.
The main rutting period is the month of May and we urge any serious kudu hunter to book during this time. The bulls are distracted by the cows (females) and come across in a daze and are absent minded. They appear over every rolling hill, riverbed and bush thicket, chasing one herd of cows to the next. Joining up with a new territorial herd every day. Scientifcally known as the Tragelaphus Strepsiceros, this is a hunt never to be forgotten.
At Blaauwkrantz, we are famous for our Eastern Cape Kudu hunting (sub-specie of the Southern Greater Kudu) - we have the largest herd in Africa that roam freely in over 100 square miles of contiguous Kudu habitat. Over the past 8 years we have successfully hunted over 90 trophy Kudu bulls a year. We have a 99.5% kudu hunting success rate of trophy bulls by our clients on Blaauwkrantz. A record no other outfitter in Africa can match. The SCI Record book is our testimony.
Average bull size is between 44-47” , with a really big bull being 50-55”. The Eastern Cape Kudu is slightly darker in color of both the hide and horn to the Southern Greater Kudu. Clients often hunt a second, third and fourth Kudu bull while on safari at a reduced rate. August & September clients can hunt Kudu cows at $100/cow.
We are also proud to have the largest numbers of Cape Bushbuck, Bushpig, Cape Grysbok and a wide variety of other species on Blaauwkrantz. There are 25 huntable species and an estimated 20 000 antelope on our property. We also hunt in the wider Eastern Cape, offering over 44 species. Sustainable utilisation is our cornerstone when managing our wildlife resource. This is real African hunting at its best!
"The greater kudu, with his massive yet delicate spirals of deep nutmeg brown, tipped with almost translucent ivory, seems to me the handsomest." Peter Hathaway Capstick, Safari, The Last Adventure
"There is something about this lovely beast that makes him a hunter's grail. Perhaps it is the tremendous sweep of those double-curling horns, as brown and clean as rubbed mahogany, heavy-ridged from the base around the curls, and ending in polished ivory points. Perhaps it is the chevron on the nose, or his clean, gray, white-barred hide, the skin thin as parchment. Perhaps it is the delicacy of his long-legged deer's body, slimness of his deer's legs, the heavy-maned swell of his neck, the enormity of his ears that pick up whispers at radar range. ...The kudu is just under your hand, and yet he always manages to escape you. Robert Ruark, Horn of the Hunter
"The "gray ghost," ubiquitous cliche that it is, is still about the best description anyone has come up with to describe the greater kudu. A kudu doesn't emerge from the bush, it materializes; they do not walk into deep cover, they vanish like smoke in a stiff breeze. ...there is no more impressive single trophy to be had than the horns of a mature greater kudu." Terry Wieland, Spiral Horn Dreams