Red Oxx Manufacturing co-owner Jim Markel traveled to Zambia in September 2003. Yes, he brought lots of Red Oxx gear! Keep watch as new gear Jim tested in Africa is made available for purchase. Here's Jim's story, part II:

"Our arrival in Lusaka was mid afternoon and the temperature was quite nice. We were able to clear customs without incident since our Professional Hunter Abie DuPlooy was there to smooth things over with a small consideration of game meat....

"It is the dry season in Zambia and you can smell the fires burning in the bush. That mixed with the smell of diesel and burning plastic lets you know that you have arrived in a very different place. We piled our kit into Abie's ancient Hilux and headed out to parts unknown.

"Our PH is quite the character. Born in Zambia, he has been a Professional Hunter for over 30 years. Gregarious and possessing a keen sense of humor, his encyclopedic knowledge of wildlife and hunting is amazing. We would all come to respect him as the hunt progressed.

"Chateau DuPlooy, what can I say! This place is too cool. Abie has a farm in the Kafue district and the house he built in 1971. The roof collapsed twice before he figured out how to make it stay up. Professional Hunter he may be, building contractor no. Once settled in, we made plans for the hunt. The major draw has to be the Kafue Lechwe and we all planned on taking one. Other species included Eland, Zebra, Puku, Lichtenstein Hartebeast, Kudu and Impala.

"We piled all our Red Oxx gear into the cruiser grabbed our guns, all safely covered in the new Flat Dog rifle slips. After some coaxing the old beast fired up and we were off. Just down the way from the farm is an ancient Baobab tree. The size of this tree is enormous. It is probably 4,000 years old. It is hard to imagine something that something can live for that long.

"Abie's father measured the tree in the 1950's and Abie measured it again 30 years later and it had only grown an inch!"

Part 3 coming soon.