I visited many hunting areas in Zimbabwe and I've heard many advises about the best concession for the elephant but I've the impression that in all the country ther'isent a top area for the big tuskers. Someone, like my good friend Boet Van Aarde, says the best is the areas at the border of Go Na Re Zhou N.P. Also on the Botswana - Hwange borde seems good in late season.
I'm curious to hear the forum members opionion and experiences

Hope to find out in about a month - going near Gonarezhou then for Elephant.
But big tuskers pops up here and there you never know im afraid, but some areas have higher averages then other.

mario,
I have heard much the same as csxcs. Near the park borders.

I am afraid I will not be in africa until next year, but, the good news is, I will be in Italy in 4 weeks!

Rob

I'm not sure how it is spelled but the Tjoloto area adjacent to Hwange is the place I've been told is best for a chance at a big boy.

my two came from doma with Gordon Duncan

The Tsholotsho (so?) area is quite famous for its tuskers, but I've been led to believe that it's a night-time spotlight hunt on the pans. I may be wrong but theat's what I've heard from 'reliable sources'.

I've hunted Matetsi 5 in November. Lot of eles but they're dependent on movement from Hwange.

Malapati concession is on the eastern border of Gonerhezhou and has less human activity than the concessions west of the park. It is controlled by Nixon Dzingai of SSG Safaris.

Jeff

One of the AR members is headed to hunt with Nixon in a week. That's an area I would really like to see so I'm looking forward to his report.

Hwange of course produces some big tuskers. The 100 pounder last year was taken from near the park boundary.

Martin Pieters takes some nice ivory out of his area around Lake Kariba.

Ask Ivan Carter too...he always does well as does Charlton McCallum. They see some 60+ pounders every year. That's pretty good for Zim. There's a reason why Zim isn't priced like Botswana.

Don Heath is also a great source of info.

quote:

Originally posted by Mario:
the best is the areas at the border of Go Na Re Zhou N.P. Also on the Botswana - Hwange borde seems good in late season.

This is true but allot of the hunting adjacent to Gonarezhou, Kruger and Wankie is after bulls that leave the Parks during the cover of dark so the hunting may not be your classic track up.

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:

quote:

Originally posted by Mario:
the best is the areas at the border of Go Na Re Zhou N.P. Also on the Botswana - Hwange borde seems good in late season.

This is true but allot of the hunting adjacent to Gonarezhou, Kruger and Wankie is after bulls that leave the Parks during the cover of dark so the hunting may not be your classic track up.

On this point I've been told that in Tsholotsho (might have been one of the other areas adjacent to Wankie/Hwange) and near GhonaReZhou for at least some of the season, you will be done any tracking (or hunting for eles) before lunch, since you will either catch the ele or he will have made the Park boundary.

JPK

Hi guys,

Some of you will have seen some photo's that I posted regarding some ele's hunted in Sengwe.

Here is one that was shot by safaribound in sengwe, 93 pounder taken this year with minimum 55 pounders.

The area is just north of the Kruger Park and borders Mozambique. There is another area north east of Zim called Nyantana (spelling) and they also produce good trophies.

The hunting is real thick stuff. I am going after buff in late october and ele in feb.

Ohh, wow!

I see those tusks with me holding them when I dream at night.

JPK

Malapati seems very good and Tsholotsho also. But both are occasionally frequented from the big elephants in the right period. The first in the wet months the second in dry season. The tusker taken in Sengue is a good news and I never heard about Nyantana.
Rob if you need some advises in your stay in Italy,no problem.

I recently spent a few days kicking around a communal area south-east of Kariba. We saw a huge ele bull that was an honest ~55-65lbs, with beautiful long ivory. Terrific for Zimbabwe. He was with two other bulls, who had hooked up with a herd of cows that also contained some very big-bodied bulls w 40lb+ ivory. Buzz said that the big bull was the best he had seen all season, and we marveled at the fact that we were not even in a trophy hunting concession. How one would hunt this bull is beyond me, as the next day they were out of there. You could hunt 14-days here and never see a fresh ele track. Then the day after you leave, there they are. Not a good choice for a 1st timer, and/or a must-shoot hunter, but a low prob hunt like this with minimal day rates and the trophy fee weighted might be an option for some.

The average coming out of the Valley concessions this year is pretty low, and as we have seen booking a good area is no guarantee, weather and other factors all come into play. Too, I suspect that with the meat hunting that is going on, the ele are a bit more unpredictable in some of the areas.

Mario, to echo Adam's comment, "best" can have different meanings. To me, a classic tracking hunt is the ultimate experience, and my concession of choice would be one where although there might be a boarder with a Park as who knows what might wonder out, it would still allow for tracking and hunting in the interior of the concession. Someplace where one can track down 2 or maybe 3 ele a day, not just do boarder patrol for a few hours in the morning. Don't get me wrong, I lust after a big ele, but the main reason I crave hunting them is for the experience of the hunt itself.

Bill C is right. Best can mean different things depending on your goal. I don't think anyone mentioned the governmnet areas Kazuma and Sikumi bordering Hwange. Mokore safaris has bought most of that elephant quota for several years there and at this point they have had only one failure.

When I was there in Sept'07 the elephant client in camp had looked at 64 bulls in the 4 days of his hunt. He was looking for a vert big ele and in the 11 additional days of his hunt he did not find the "Special" one. Generaly Speaking starting in August and continuing until the first rains a client can expect to see multiple bulls everyday. With 200 bulls being seen in one safari not uncommon. This of course is as much spot and stalk as tracking. The country is quite flat so even a full days of tracking would not be a real tough. Ivory averages 60 pounds year in and year out.

I track my Botswana bull and found it a very fullfilling hunt but to be able to pick through numerous bulls each day would a heck od a lot of fun too.

To me these areas may very well offer the best elephant hunt in Zim. It certainly rivals anything in Botswana. One client last August shot a 76x77 and a 78x79 on the same safari.

Mark

I should say that these Nat Park bounding areas are Best for Big Ivory but for best Ele "Hunting" in Zim, Sapi and Nyakasanga would be up there.

Sapi and Nyakasanga do share boarders with Mana Pools National Park, but again we are talking about Valley ele not Hwange or Gonarezhou bulls.

quote:

..for best Ele "Hunting" in Zim, Sapi and Nyakasanga would be up there.

Agreed!

Once again I agree with your Bill. The average Valley ivory is not big but most everybody scores and the prices are inexpensive. Zambezi Hunters has picked up Mahenye bordering on Gonarezhou. The previous holders of the concession shot up to 80+ ivory there. CSXCS is hunting Mahenye soon and we all are hopeing for big ivory and a nice leopard plus plains game.

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Mario:
Malapati seems very good and Tsholotsho also. But both are occasionally frequented from the big elephants in the right period. The first in the wet months the second in dry season. The tusker taken in Sengue is a good news and I never heard about Nyantana.
Rob if you need some advises in your stay in Italy,no problem.

Mario, Nyantana is north of Gonarezhou, its a very mountainess area, sengwe is in the south of Gonarezhou. Nyantana has a constant population of breeding cows so the bulls are always going back and forth.

quote:

Originally posted by ozhunter:
I should say that these Nat Park bounding areas are Best for Big Ivory but for best Ele "Hunting" in Zim, Sapi and Nyakasanga would be up there.

From my time in Nyakasanga last month I would have to say plenty of elephant there. Saw them daily, and the roads within the area seemed to be made of elephant dung.

I'm absolutely agree with Bill C. In fact my request was properly directed to understand if my opinion about the elephant hunting in zimbabwe was correct. And I've reason to think that most of the famous hunting areas are seasonally frequehnted from some big tuskers but they dont have normally big elephant inside. So the hunt must be done in the night or around the national park border. Is not the classic elephant hunt on foot at Kay Uwe Denker style. About Nyakasanga I hunted there in June. I'm agree that ther' are many and many elephant but mostly cow and young bull. I havent seen one old bull in ten days. So I'm in doubt if this is the right place for looking a big pounder ( the average seems around 45 pounds)