Tollie's African Safaris - Hunting Academy For Kids

Hunting Academy dates for 2007: Coming soon!

This 10-Day Camp includes lectures, hunting and field trips. All meals, soft drinks, accommodations and airport pickup and return.

One Springbuck and a choice of one Mountain Reedbuck or Blesbuck to hunt: $2200 Per Child.

Just SOME of the activities during the camp include:

Firearm safety
Sighting in rifles
Target shooting
Using binoculars and scopes
Tracking of animals
Handling of trophies
Loading and transportation of carcasses
Skinning - Demonstrations will be given and students will skin their own animals
Visit to the local taxidermist
Photography
Hiking
Hunting!
A visit to the Addo Elephant Park and The Mountain Zebra Park to learn to identify different Fauna and Flora
A visit to the Snake Park to identify poisonous South African snakes
Night driver will give the opportunity to identify nocturnal animals
First Aid - Basic first aid will be given by the local rescue service on how to treat burns, snake and insect bites

For more information or to book your 2007 Summer Camp in South Africa contact us at:

tollie@isat.co.za - Fax: 011 27 42 2431715 - Tel: 011 27 42 2342157

Comments of the 5 boys on the camp 14 - 23 June 2003:

Hello Tollie and Karen, this is Conor & Sean. First of all, I would really like to thank you all very much for the wonderful hospitality you showed to us as we hunted at your ranch. I cannot describe how much fun I had hunting and learning for the past three weeks. It has been the experience of a lifetime. I will never forget it. I hope that I can persuade my dad to let us go back again and hunt some different animals (and maybe a baboon and a couple more monkeys ). I cannot wait to see the mounts hanging on our wall. Our house will be a jungle in itself. I hope that we have room for all of them in the house.

Anyway, thank you all very much for everything that you have done for us. God Bless!

Kelly & Logan Mercer	918 747 6858
Conor & Sean Murphy	918 749 9454
John Lippe	918 743 6508

Hunting Academy 2003
f.l.t.r.: Sean & Conor Murphy, Tiny Tomsen,
Kelly Mercer, John Lippe, Logan Mercer

Tiny & the boys by the fireside

Sean with the bow

The Hunters

Journal of a Young Hunter

My name is Adam Johnson, I am 11 yrs old and will be 12 in just a few weeks. This summer I had the most exiting experience of my life. I went hunting in SA. This has been my dream for over 2 yrs. I worked every chance I got for 2 yrs around the ranch and at an exotic animal auction. I saved my money, bought a ticket and flew alone across the ocean to hunt Kudu, Springbok and Reedbuck. I was lucky to also shot some rock rabbit and African geese. The place I hunted at was Tollie’s African Safari’s. My mom and step dad helped me choose the place for my hunting safari. They knew Tollie and his family well, because they had visited them in South Africa, and Tollie and Karen have visited us in Texas. Mom told me they are the nicest people on earth, and they would be “KID FRIENDLY”. She was right about the nicest people on earth. I left SA with a whole new family, and I am going back again next year to shoot Nyala, Impala and Blesbuck. I also want a Black Wildebeest.

This article is about my first day hunting. I killed 2 springbok.

This morning I got up at 6:45 getting ready for a big day of hunting springbok. When I got up I was determined that when I saw a springbok I would shoot it where it would not suffer. When I got dressed, I went into the kitchen where Karen served me the best tea I had ever had with a delicious breakfast. Then the men and I grabbed our guns, and loaded up in the truck to drive to the location where we would begin our hunt. We drove a little way until we got a mountain. We got out and began to walk up the mountain. As we walked up we saw some mountain reedbuck running up the hill. The bush was around us and the animals too. After a while of walking up and through the bush, we saw nothing else but reedbuck, so we walked slowly back to the truck and drove to another location.

Again we got out of the truck and began hiking through the bush. But this time there were springbok everywhere. We kept on going up the hill, a big group of springbok ran close by us. Tollie told me, “Adam here is your chance!”

All of a sudden my breathing got heavy like when I hunted whitetail deer with my dad and a big buck walks out. I waited for the biggest springbok to stop. When it stopped, I aimed and shot the springbok. It jumped with its hind legs at least 6 feet off the ground, and then walked a ways and died.

As we stood there loading, Tollie motioned for me to come with him. About that time this springbok saw us and jumped out of the bush and stood there. So, Tollie says, “ Adam, do you want to shoot him?” I said, “Of course man, what do you think?” I used the truck door as a rest for the gun, and shot the springbok…

…I still can’t believe what is happening to me! I am in Africa and I am hunting, and today was only the beginning for me. It sounds fun huh! Since I got back, Tollie has made a deal with me so that I can book hunts for young people like me who want to go hunt in South Africa. But he is going to make a summer camp for young kids. They get to learn all about firearms, they get field trips, and they get to shoot a couple of animals too.

If you are interested you can call me in Texas. My number is 512-768-3302. You better call me after five though because I have to go to school. You can leave a message for me there anytime. And I talked to Mom into helping me with this. You can call her at 512-556-8251 during the days, and the same number at night. Just ask for Adam’s Mom. She is the only one I have, and she will take a message for me. I figured some parents would probably like to talk to her before me. But it doesn’t matter, I will talk to you anytime. Just not at school because they probably wouldn’t like it if I booked hunts and summer camp on a cell phone from my classrooms. If they would let me though I would. I am not sure which hunt they will print next time, but it will be a good one. They all are!