Mexican American hunters Antonio Vazquez, Lalo Alba, Dany Cuevas, Noe Lopez, Sergio Gonzalez and Vince Anaya hunted with Big Water Safaris during April of 2025.
Professional hunters: Thinus Steyn, Dewald Kearns and Bennie Breytenbach.
Antonio Vazquez with his eland bull. The eland is the largest antelope found on Laohu Valley Reserve. Despite their huge size, they are difficult to find and hard to hunt. Eland can travel long distances and are surprisingly good at hiding.Lalo Alba with his waterbuck bull. One of the lesser-known antelope, waterbuck are challenging to hunt and make impressive trophies when shoulder mounted.Sergio Gonzalez with his zebra stallion. Burchell’s zebra, also known as the plain’s zebra frequent both the plains and mountains of Laohu Valley Reserve. They are difficult to hunt due to their nervous nature, bordering on paranoia. A zebra flat skin or shoulder mount make an impressive trophy to remind you of your African hunt. Also, zebra fillets are one of the finest meats you will ever eat. Noe Lopez with his impala ram. These graceful antelope are known for their ability to jump both far and high. Only the rams (males) wear horns. An excellent trophy that does not take up a lot of space in a trophy room or man cave.Vince Anaya with his gemsbok (oryx). Gemsbok are hardy antelope that can survive in arid areas. They are tenacious antelope and are known to fight of predators like lion. When wounded they should be approached with care as they can be dangerous.Dany Cuevas and Antonio Vazquez with Antonio’s golden wildebeest. Golden wildebeest are a colour variant of the better-known blue wildebeest (brindled gnu).Dany Cuevas with a black backed jackal he hunted with Big Water Safaris. These little canines cause a lot of damage during the lambing season of the smaller antelope, like springbok.After a hard day’s hunt Sergio Gonzalez, Antonio Vazquez, Lalo Alba and Noe Lopez enjoy a well-deserved drink at the Big Water Safaris bar.Vince Anaya with his springbok ram. The springbok is South Africa’s national antelope, and our national rugby team are also called the Springboks. Springbok meat is delicious, and these little antelope are a challenging quarry due to their excellent eyesight and nervous disposition. Springbok are preyed on by man, cheetah, caracal, jackal and the lambs are occasionally taken by Verreaux’s eagle. Lalo Alba and Vince Anaya with Lalo’s excellent black wildebeest (white tailed gnu) bull. Black wildebeest frequent open plains, relying on their excellent eyesight to avoid danger. Dany Cuevas, Antonio Vazquez and the Big Water Safaris recovery team with Antonio’s waterbuck bull. On the far right is the manager of the skinning, caping and recovery team, Jack Louw. These gentlemen play an important role in the success of a safari, despite the fact that they work mostly behind the scenes. Lunchbreak out in the bush, no one goes hungry at Big Water Safaris. From left: Thinus Steyn, Dany Cuevas and Antonio Vazquez. Antonio Vazquez and the recovery crew with Antonio’s kudu.
