As some of you may have read in Pagosa's earlier posting, Zimbabwe Parks & Wildlife withdrew all of the hunting permits for the Save Conservancy as soon as I stepped on the plane for Zimbabwe on 31 July. This threw a wrench into my planned hunt in the Save from 2-16 August. The indiginization effort in the Save appears to be driven by greed, bigotry and need for control by the few, and the honest hard working folks (and the hunters) are the ones suffering. This is a sadly familiar story for Zimbabwe. That's the down side.
On the up side, my PH, Mike Payne, had "made a plan" to cover this possibility. So, instead of going to the Save to hunt, Mike and I travelled to Matombo Camp in Dande North for an exportable tuskless elephant / plains game hunt. This hunt was a huge success, and I harvested a mature tuskless and a nice warthog along with doing some fishing for tigerfish in the 6 days spent in Dande. Special thanks to Gavin Rorke and Gavin Rorke Safaris for making this hunt available to Mike Payne and me - your lending a hand to a fellow PH in need is greatly appreciated.
Hoping that our hunting permits for the Save would be signed by the time the tuskless hunt ended, we shifted to Matendere Ranch on the Conservancy on day 8. To make a long story short, the permits were never approved, but we were allowed to shoot some "ration" animals. On the third day at Matendere, I experienced probably the most perfectly executed cape buffalo hunt possible. Every decision made by the PH was spot on, and for once, my shooting was near perfect. I had dropped a running old "ration" cow with my Searcy 450/400 double at about 20 yards, my 2 shots being less than an inch apart in the heart / lung region. This hunt could have ended with the taking of a 42" bull had I shot the 5th buffalo in line vice the second, but the thrill of the hunt would have been no different. So, all in all, it was a great hunt and a great experience in two very different parts of Zimbabwe.
It would have been easy to throw in the towel before this hunt even began, but for those of you have hunted Zim in the past, you know that flexibility is a great asset. In this case, my PH made a plan, and we made lemonade out of the lemons given us. It was a great hunt, and I will post details and photos later this weekend.

Mangwana

subsailor74

I personally appreciate your attitude. You made the most of a crappy situation and allowed yourself to have a great safari. All my SAVE clients for this year have a plan "B". In fact one of my clients just shot a great old Dugga Boy with Terry Anders on a plan "B" hunt.

Big congrats!

Mark

I hope that the hunting world gets together and boycotts the new SAVE operators in Zim. Let them eat dirt.

what happens with all the clients trophies this year that was hunted before "the ban" ? Loved hunting on Hammond and hope all this will settle down soon.

Good job Sir, glad it all worked out for you.

Nice going Admiral. Glad you were able to put together a good hunt. Shame what is going on there.

Excellent hunt and attitude to everything Uncle Bob throws in your path.

Mike and Leon are great guys.

Matendere Ranch and other ranches on the Save Conservancy are a bright light in a other dismal last 15 years in Zim.

Lets hope things return back to normal.

Admiral are you going to DSC in Jan 2013?

Excellent Plan B!
Sorry about the ele.

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Excellent hunt and attitude to everything Uncle Bob throws in your path.

Mike and Leon are great guys.

Matendere Ranch and other ranches on the Save Conservancy are a bright light in a other dismal last 15 years in Zim.

Lets hope things return back to normal.

Admiral are you going to DSC in Jan 2013?

Yep - I'll be there

Congratulations on your hunting and having the type of mind that can adapt to to change!
I doubt that I could have done as well with my foolish thought patterns. Too rigid for my own good! :

Welcome home safe...... hope to hear more of your hunt

Dave-

Great meeting you on our way out. Sorry I didn't get to buy you that beer. How about at DSC or SCI?

I'll be at DSC for sure - let's make a plan!

Congratulations on the lemonade...I look forward to the report.

I can't help but think how this same situation would have been interpreted and described by someone with a less flexible (i.e. less realistic) outlook on life. We would have had 8 or 10 pages of name-calling, threatening, advice-giving, pity-gleaning and belly-aching to look forward to, as so often seems to happen here.

quote:

Originally posted by jwm:
Congratulations on the lemonade...I look forward to the report.

I can't help but think how this same situation would have been interpreted and described by someone with a less flexible (i.e. less realistic) outlook on life. We would have had 8 or 10 pages of name-calling, threatening, advice-giving, pity-gleaning and belly-aching to look forward to, as so often seems to happen here.

I posted the hunt report in the "Hunting Reports - Africa" section of the AR site. You can find it under "Save Conservancy Hunt - Plan B".

Mangwana

quote:

Originally posted by subsailor74:
It would have been easy to throw in the towel before this hunt even began, but for those of you have hunted Zim in the past, you know that flexibility is a great asset. In this case, my PH made a plan, and we made lemonade out of the lemons given us. It was a great hunt, and I will post details and photos later this weekend.

What a great attitude.

As anyone knows who knows anything about Africa, shit happens there, and it can be out of the control of the outfitter/PH. If they make the best possible out of it, go with the flow.

I know the down feeling of having "africans" ffffing up a safari and instead going with the flow and enjoying the make do alternatives.

Well done on the safari and positive attitude.

Gavin is a great guy. Can't wait to hunt with him in what is a fantastic area.