Who has control of these areas right now and what is the huntng situation there? Ii was still a bit of a mess 2 years ago. Is it all sorted out and how has the hunting been?

Mike,

I can find out who actually controls the areas but that really is not relevant as long as the hunting is good. It is straightened out now hunts run smoothly.

Kafue flats is good but DuPlooy is hunting the Blue Lagoon side and doing excellent. My clients shot 34" there this year. Bangweulu is not so great for sitatunga anymore but black lechwe and tsessbe are excellent with very good trophies available.

Both lechwe and the tsessbe are sold as packages including daily fees and trophy fees. In the case of the Kafue lechwe and the black lechwe plus tseesbe at Bangweulu the hunt can be done in one day and often is.

An idea for a good short safari might be take the Kafue lechwe and then move to Bangweulu for a few days for black lechwe, tsessbe, reedbuck and oribi.

Mark

Mark I had heard that they had changed the minimum hunting days in this area to 3 days. This makes a specialized trip to pick up a Black Lechwe pricey even as a add on to another Zambian venue. Is my info inaccurate?

as i get it - there is one of the east indians that owns the areas - he sort of wholesales the hunts to other outfitters. as of dec 08 i have heard nothing about a 3 day hunt. by the time you get to kafue from lusaka and back & pay the fees a lechwe is $5200. black lechwe isn't much different, so yes it is a damn expensive add on, much of it due to travel fees (plus a pretty good trophy fee) neat addition though.

doclee,

They call it a 3 day package but the price is the same regardless if the hunt takes 1, 2 or 3 days. As the kafue lechwe is only found on the Kafue river flats, the black lechwe only around lake Bangweulu and the tsessbe at Bangweulu the best in Africa the prices are very high.

Kafue lechwe at Blue Lagoon $5,000

Black lechwe at Bangweulu $5,000

Tsessbe at Bangweulu $4,000

If I needed the Zambian oddities I'd book the above and a 10 day sitatunga in DuPlooy's Tondwa area (100% success on sitatunga). All could be done in 14 days and you should shoot some excellent trophies. I have a discounted sitatunga available and offered here on AR. The lechwes and tseesbe are a perfect attachment to the sitatunga.

Mark

I've hunted both area's, bangweulu for Sitatunga 9 days unsuccessfully, plenty Lechwe. In 2004 you could charter into or out of Luangwa and actually have the pilot stop for lunch, shoot a Blk lechwe and continue on to camp or back to Lusaka. From what I hear from the duPlooy's the area around shoebill camp won't be hunted anymore requiring the extra days. The guy that owned it (Ed Farmer)then was a real bad cheapskate his equipment was the worst I'd seen anywhere in Africa all the boats could barely make it across a 50 yard piece of swamp without sinking, the hunting cars mostly did not run. The poaching activity was horendous other than that it was marvelous. Kafue flats last year was in one afternoon back out in the morning. My only observation was the village encroachment, but again plenty of Lechwe. It took me 5 safaris to hunt the flats due to foot and mouth closures every year I was there. So if its open during your trip go!! TVR is very good at the Lechwe's. Without the influence of the current economy the prices will only go up. In 2004 Kafue lechwe was (I think) 2950.00 all in.
Chipolopolo

When I hunted Bangweulu in '98 and again in 2000 it really was a litte bit of paradise. We hunted the other side of the swamp from what Chipolopolo did were there were no villages just remains of a few seasonal fisherman's camps. At that time the sitatunga were very good there and I shot quite a big one on my second try. I understand now that sitatunga are are difficult but black lechwe and tsessbe excellent as always with literally thousands of animals on the short grass plain.

Mark

I thought about a side trip to this area when I hunted Kansoso Busanga in 2006. I took a nice sitatunga in the Basanga swamp hunting with PH Gavin Hume.

Seems to me I remember that ZAWA also required a change of area surcharge.