I dreamed of Africa
For as long as I could remember, I have always dreamed about going to Africa. As a child, when I would go on camping trips, I would hide out in the woods and imagine that I was stalking the dangerous game of the “Dark Continent”. I would hide in the brush and as stealthily as possible, I would stalk my prey. I would use a stick from the woods as my rifle but it was as accurate as a Remington 700. I never missed. Every shot was carefully placed in the kill zone. Lions, Elephants, Cape Buffalo, I successfully tracked them all. In my minds eye, my trophy room was unsurpassed. I would proudly walk the room admiring my triumphs and victory’s.
When I was ten years old, we had taken a school trip to Sagamore Hill – President Teddy Roosevelt’s house. I was awe-struck from the moment I entered his home. There, in every room of his home were the trophies that I had been dreaming about. There were Lion Rugs, Cape Buffalo, Rhino mounts through out the house. In the great room, two American Bison mounts flanked either side of the huge fire place. I was in complete amazement of his hunting exploits. I knew then, that Teddy Roosevelt had left a life long impression on me that would leave me longing to experience the thrill of the dangerous game of Africa as he did a century before. Through the years, hunting in Africa was never far from my thoughts. Occasionally, I would speak to friends about planning a trip but the answers always seemed the same. “Sure, let’s plan something for next year” but next year would never come. Something always seemed to come up. We are buying a house, we are having a baby. I would love to but…….
A week ago, I received a call from Judge Julie Mogenis. I am part of her pro-staff for her new show “World Wild Adventures”. She began to tell me how bogged down her schedule was and how there just was not enough time to go on all of the hunts that she had booked. I did not expect her next question. She had asked if I would fill in on a hunt for her and co-host the segment of the show for her. I was caught a little off guard but without knowing anything about the hunt Julie was speaking about, I agreed to fill in thinking that maybe it was a deer or an elk hunt.
Awesome! You will have to be in Africa by Monday. I was silent for a moment trying to process what I had just heard. You want me in Africa by Monday to fill in for this hunt, I repeated? What kind of Plains game will we be hunting? No plains game Julie said. This will be a Green Hunt for Rhino. This conversation was getting better by the minute. My first trip to Africa and I will be hunting one of the Big Five? This was like a dream come true. Weather I wanted to fill in for her on this hunt or not was not even a factor. The only issue I had was that we had a family vacation planned to Cabo San Lucus and the dates would overlap by a few days. I needed to speak to my family to shuffle around some dates. After I hung up the phone I woke up my girlfriend to tell her about the conversation. I was not sure how we would work out the dates but she said not to worry about any of that and I should just go to Africa. I really did not have to be told twice so I booked the flights the next day.
All I know is, one minute I was laying on my bed watching the Cartoon Network with my son and the next minute, I am on a plane to South Africa to hunt rhino. It is an experience of a life time. I can honestly say that if you work hard enough and you want it bad enough – Dreams do come true- So follow your dreams.
By Chris Avena 