My hunt dates for 2019 may be changing due to work commitments. I was planning a hunt in Tanzania for late August early September and pretty much had the Tanzania hunt researched and planned. Changing the dates to May/June eliminates Tanzania.
I would appreciate hearing from hunters with experiences hunting the Luangwa Valley in the late May early June time frame. We primarily want to hunt free range trophy buffalo and sable. I have a young hunter going with me and this will be his first major hunt. I am trying to eliminate any major mistakes. What are the pros and cons hunting during this early season? Will the long grass and thick bush be too much to allow a successful hunt? What else do we need to overcome on early hunts? Normal weather in this area the end of May?
Also I am from the school of picking the PH first. Any recommendations ( here or by PM) on a PH specializing in the Luangwa Valley would be greatly appreciated .

Luangwa isn't the best place in Zambia for sable. If you look at free range buffalo and sable in Zambia I would look at the Kafue area.
There are some areas with sable in the Luangwa, but they aren't very common there.
Early hunting is usually good for leopards, with baits staying fresh for longer too in the cooler weather in June. The grass will be tall and thick, but early burning will start in May. Hunting buff in the thick stuff makes it even more exciting though. Lots of good PH's in Zambia, just use the search here and you'll see a few names coming up regularly.
In my opinion, the most interesting bag of animals on a hunt, outside maasailand would be the Kafue (buf, sable, roan, hartebeest, sitatunga, oribi, blue duiker plus more usual stuff like impala, zebra etc). And Kafue has monster cats.

Possibly we could move camps/areas to get into the better sable areas. We plan on 14 days of hunting. Others are mentioning we should also be looking into Zim for early season hunting for buffalo.

Nah, lots of buffalo in Zambia!

I know of one area for Sable in Luangwa and it is fully booked.

May is thick with green grass.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
I know of one area for Sable in Luangwa and it is fully booked.

May is thick with green grass.

………………………………..And cold as Ice in early mornings so take a nice wind breaker jacket with you for those early morning and late evening rides back to camp!

I've hunted both upper and lower Lupande concessions and have never seen a Sable, but both Buffalo and Cookson's wildebeest are abundant along with puku, and tons of Hippo!


Enjoy your safari. The Luangwa valley is my favorite place in Africa.

Hunted Luawata on the Luangwa in June a while back, frustrating because foliage made seeing animals (buff) difficult when tracking so you seemed to bump them more often. That said the cooler temps were nice.

Andrew knows everything you need to know about hunting in Zambia. PM him and have a great hunt. MMP