i was looking for inspiration on an article i am writing and came across this description of the first day on a safari last year !


First day of hunting – august 7th 2011.
its been pretty cold in the morning and then up to about 80- by 10 am , - normal for this time of the year , we also have the august winds at this time of the year which are great – the wind makes a lot of noise in the leaves and trees and add that to the extra movement and it makes approaching elephants in the jesse that much easier – on the other hand the dry leaves on the ground can be frustrating when trying to approach an animal that’s aware of you – its like walking on cornflakes – very loud and crunchy !!

We are hunting a couple of elephant cows on this safari – we have two tuskless tags and also two ration cow tags , the ration cows are cows that are put on quota from time to time and are used for staff meat rations , its not mandatory to shoot tuskless on these and so one is looking for an old animal , past breeding without a calf – there are lots and lots of elephants in the valley and so I am sure we wont have a hard time finding suitable situations –

Our first day we spent a lot of time on the angwa river , its on the eastern side , very pretty , lots of other wildlife , - we saw three large herds of waterbuck a couople of herds of buffalo and of course the baboons , bushbuck , impala etc not to mention the odd warthog here and there –

Running the vehicle down the sandy riverbeds is highly productive at this time of the year , the elephants are all in the riverine jesse either side of these wide riverbeds and we were able to get into several groups having either spotted them on the sand or seen their fresh sign and followed them in from the sand – they dig into the sandy riverbeds with their trunks and one comes across areas they have been digging its literally littered with sign –

Our first encounter was pretty exciting , we had seen the last of a group walking up the bank and so we eased in behind them , the wind was still (for a few minutes at least) and we could hear them crunching through the bush in front of us , - within a few minutes we could see their legs but were unable to see their heads or anything else – then the wind swirled , - Renz , my cameraman hissed at me and pointed and there to our right in a small clearing was a HUGE cow with a calf , she was still and listening – the tip of her trunk turning towards the wind - I tested the wind with my ash and it was drifting slowly but straight towards her – and at 15 yards this could go south , - if we moved our noise on the dry leaves would probably annoy her and she would come in , if we stayed still our wind would soon be on her. We were all squatting and suddenly a gust on the back of my neck told me it would soon be over !! she immediately raised her head and rushed towards us – her calf close behind , I stood up from my haunches and yelled HEY HEY HEY – she stopped , kicked some sand towards us and trumpeted very loudly then to my great relief turned and hustled out of there – we were not out of the woods yet though , as soon as she trumpeted the rest of the group came running towards her – so now we have ten or 12 cows , three calves and swirling wind all at about 20 yards and we are on cornflakes !!

We remained very still and she rushed in again , this time a little less vigorously , I shouted again and she turned and to my great relief the whole group shuffled off into the jesse – whew , I looked back at the guys , everyone was grinning half in relief half in nervousness !! this was elephant hunting – Renz captured the whole thing and that night as we reviewed the incident on the computer I realized that the whole thing had been just one and a half minutes , it seemed like half an hour !!

The rest of the day passed without incident – we didn’t take an elephant but what an incredible first day of hunting !!

Wow! What a first day!

Its the rush from those type situations that keeps us coming back for more.

You tell a good story too!!

If I ever get to hunt with Ivan, I'm taking extra pants & underwear when we leave the truck!

Documentation renews memories. Thank you Ivan.

Mike

Sounds like high pucker factor.

That sort encounter really gets the blood flowing.

Ivan, When will all these Journal entries be out in book form????

bwanajay ,
when i can learn to write properly ... its a special skill that i find elusive !

Ivan,
As one of your esteemed colleagues stated recently, "When you hunt tuskless cows in the jesse of the Zambezi Valley, it's one shot and run like hell!" Pretty much sums up my July hunt! It was a pleasure to be in camp with yoy--even for only 2 days.
Regards,
Tim