With the decision all but made to book with Limcroma Safaris, there still remained one big item that needed to be taken care of.  I had to get in touch with Hannes Els to make sure that he and I "connected" ok and that he actually had some openings for 2007.  Pete Odland volunteered to give Hannes my contact information in the coming weeks; Hannes would be visiting America in mid January and would be staying at Pete's house during part of his trip.  The only thing for me to do was to wait patiently for Hannes to get in touch with me.

My first contact with Hannes came very quickly.  On January 10th, I got an email from him telling me that he was on his way to America and that he had heard that I was interested in an African safari.  He told me that if I wanted more information I could email him with any questions that I had and that we could talk once he got to America.  I responded immediately, telling him that I wanted to book for 2007 and that my initial thoughts on the animals that I wanted to collect were kudu, gemsbok, zebra, impala, and warthog.  I told Hannes about how Pete had sent me some videos and literature, and that I really liked the looks of Limcroma. 

We traded a few more emails back and forth to cover some basic questions.  Hannes wanted to know if I would be taking the trip on my own, or would I have someone traveling with me.  He also asked about the timeframe for the trip, wanting to know if I was flexible on the month that the safari would happen in.  He also mentioned the possibility of us getting together to talk about the safari while he is visiting America.

I told Hannes that it would just be me hunting this time around.  Like Robert Ruark, I wanted my first safari to be mine.  I didn't want to have to worry about whether or not a partner was happy during the trip, and I didn't want to try to fit my plans in with someone else's.  Sorry pal, this one is for me.  Seriously, although I did think those things, the only thing I told Hannes was that I'd be the only hunter.  Micki may or may not come along as an observer, and I mentioned that I was quite flexible on the timeframe for the trip. 

With my back problems in mind, I also mentioned that I wanted to push the trip out to sometime in mid 2007 to allow me as much time as possible to get in the best shape that I can so that I'll be ready for the safari. 

I was extremely pleased with our initial series of emails.  Hannes was prompt in responding to my questions, and he was always extremely courteous in his notes.  I was becoming more and more confident that this was the outfitter for me.  With our first round of notes coming to a close, the next thing to do was to wait for Hannes to call me so that we could get to know each other a little bit and discuss the safari on the phone.

In the days spent waiting for Hannes, I remembered that Ted Nugent had filmed an episode of his Spirit of the Wild television show at Limcroma the previous year, and that I likely still had that episode recorded on my DVR system.  I went back through the old episodes on the recorder, and sure enough, I found the where he hunted with Hannes.  I sat down and watched it more carefully than I had the first time I saw it, this time paying close attention to everything: the quality of the animals, the comforts of the lodge, and how the hunts were conducted.

Everything I saw looked perfect.  Even before talking in person to Hannes, I grew more and more sure that Limcroma would be my outfitter of choice.