A little hunting party...

Yesterday, we finished the gaming season at our club with a Safari game.

The club is finished now till September, so we wanted something fun!

We decided on a small hunting party, in Kenya, having a friendly competition as to who would bag the best haul.

 The river, the most likely place to encounter our quarry.

Ian, our stalwart leader! 

Next to him, Rod, on his ass! 

Phil played a Belgian, and I played a rather scruffy individual! 

We were supported by a large entourage of Askaris and bearers. 

Phil (aka 'Philippe!')- and I moved cautiously toward a group of bushes, where we saw movement.... 

 Philippe and I advanced and spotted a group of grazing Oryx.

Philippe took first shot...

...and downed a fine buck!

The others beat a hasty retreat.

It was my turn to shoot next, so I aimed carefully at the receding herd...


...I had my first kill of the day, another fine buck!

Philippe advanced for another shot....


So, what were Ian and Rod up to?

They spotted a lone figure basking under a tree in the distance.

Ah, a fine lion, surely a head to mount in the drawing room?

Ian, as expedition leader, took the first shot at this fine specimen.

The shot just whanged off the tree!

Rod keenly got off his ass, and reached for his Lee sporter...

The Lion was not going to wait though! - having had his siesta spoiled, he decided it was time for lunch!
The lion went for Rod, scaring the pack animals off into the nearby trees...

Not being loaded, Rod had to swing his rifle like a club, then dove out of the way of the charging beast!
As the lion wheeled for another pounce, Ian cleanly dispatched the monster. 
Rod owed Ian a bottle of Gin for that shot!

Regaining their composure, and leaving the carcase to the bearers, Ian led Rod forward, and saw another target near the river!

An Oryx crumpled. At the same moment, Philippe's round wounded another!

Having wounded a beast, Philippe was obliged to finish the poor beast off. 

Done!

Seeing my friends dealing with the Oryx, I wandered nearer the river...

A couple of Hippopotami looked back!

Not trophy animals, these surprisingly dangerous beasts were best left to their ablutions!

Rod, unable to get a shot as the last Oryx disappeared into the distance, saw a group of targets under another tree....

An excellent shot from range took a lounging lioness from her tree branch resting-place.

Riled, the rest of the pride loped towards the hunters.

We were all together now...

...and Ian directed us to choose our targets!

The real prize, an old shaggy creature fell to a head shot from Ian!

We shot at the others.

Philippe killed his target, Rod only wounded his, my bullet was a clean miss--Oh, the shame!

The last lioness didn't give me a second chance, and disappeared into the distance. 
Rod finished off his animal. 
Ian summoned the bearers to collect the trophies!

We now decided to split up, Philippe and I would cross the river further downstream.

Ian and Rod would continue on and cross at the main ford.

To Philippe's dismay, the bearers and Askaris followed the expedition leader!

I walked towards our crossing point, giving the Hippos a wide berth.

Philippe, having failed to get some of the bearers to join us, followed on.

Behind us, Rod posed next to his trophy!

Ian had gone to the river, and shot at a target he saw...

A Rhino, unconcernedly taking a sip at the river edge.

The rhino now simply trotted away!

Rod came over to join in the fun, but Ian couldn't get another shot at the fine beast.

The rhino stopped, briefly, but only to kick dust back disdainfully before disappearing into the trees! 

On our side, I spotted a Huge prize...

...A massive bull elephant, just stood there!

Philippe was busy cleaning his spectacles, without which he couldn't even see this enormous beast!
He directed me to have a crack at it....

I swear, the round just whanged off its thick hide!
Would he charge?
No, he stood there, bold as brass, just flaring at us!

Philippe now stepped forward. took careful aim...

Straight between the eyes!

Attracted by the racket, a huge Nile Crocodile now slithered out of the river behind us! I fired!

Despite being wounded, the vile thing just kept coming! I stopped it only inches away!
Now, where were those bearers to process our trophies?

Philippe now thought he could see movement over the river and waded  across. I waited on the edge looking for more crocs!

From midstream, Philippe shot a small group of zebra...

As he reloaded, the rest of the herd galloped off into the distance. 
No lions these!

Philippe now saw, horror of horrors, a flock of Vultures on his kill!

Recrossing the river, he took pot-shots at them.

Enraged, he advanced closer, still angrily loading and shooting!

The vultures seemed unconcerned, even with some of them dead, they simply took off before landing on the other side of the massive carcase!

Philippe eventually gave in to the inevitable. 

The bearers and Askaris who could have helped were now crossing the river upstream with Ian and Rod.

As per agreement, Ian and Rod now headed to join us. 
(Ian was still rather peeved at losing that Rhino!)

As we exited the table, all that remained to see were a couple of Giraffes...

...and some spotted Hyena, who had clearly been having a hunting party of their own!

So ended our hunt! - we all had much to talk about, especially our close escapes!

Rod nearly got 'Et by a Lion', and I had a close shave with that croc!

Ian and Philippe were clearly the big winners though, with the best trophies!

So that's it till the second Saturday in September, when we return to the club. Hmmm, what to do till then!