Howdy All:

I have posted a few photos over on the Hunting Report section and will update the report as soon as I get things straightened out at home a bit. But I wanted to let everyone know who might be going soon that Zimbabwe was just fine from August 28th to September 15th. I chartered out of Harare to the Chewore airstrip and then took a boat to Dande North. On the way home, I was at the Harare airport on the morning of the 15th, and saw all the aircraft for the African presidents/prime ministers that attended the conference for Mugabe.

Everything in Zimbabwe was fine for us American hunters; plenty of fuel, food, flights on time, and the security people and airline employees were polite and efficient. I hunted two buffalo (one a PAC) and a tuskless in the CAMPFIRE area and the people really appreciated the meat.

On the other hand, the Johannesburg airport experience was the usual with its indifferent personnel and grouchy SAPS officers. The Paris airport experience was a nightmare where I honest to gosh think they go out of their way to be unhelpful. Give me Zimbabwe any day!

Nice Buff (and ele of course)!! Wink may have a different opinion, but I think that the Frogs haven't got over Waterloo yet, not to mention WW2, and the fact that (for the rest of the world) the Prime Meridian goes through Greenwich and not Paris!
Is the double yours or the PH's?
Peter.

Peter, that's my Krieghoff .470; I really like it. I used it to take the elephant and the PAC buffalo and used a Dakota .416 Rem for that first buffalo. I actually was just the backup guy for the PAC buffalo; the PH shot him first since the cover was so thick.

Very nice. Congratulations.

Thats beautiful Buff's.

Congrats

Just returned from Zimbabwe yesterday myself and will tag-along with my experience here.

I had a fine hunt for buffalo (37 1/2" with 15" bosses, and sable with 40" length) on The Woodlands. Kudos to Dean Stobbs the PH and Silwane Hunters; particularly for getting me a sable opportunity after Unit-2 burned-up and their Plan-B proved to be unworkable.

The trip over went well. We overnighted in Joberg at African Tribes Guest Lodge. They are not quite ready for prime-time, as they are still under construction and somewhat disorganized. (Don't every ask me to tell you how much I had to drink the day-after at check-out.) I would have preferred Afton House.

Two years ago I paid for Optima meet/greet and was very satisfied. This year I paid more for Air 2000 Travel and got good meet/greet, but they parked in a illegal area and we found the wheel clamped when we came out. (Wasted time) The next morning they dropped me off at the airport, found me a cart and said "Adios" at the curb. I stumbled around inside until finding the right SAA queue. (I paid for better than that.)

SAA did a fine job all along the trip, although they were a little confused about ammunition at check-in at Joberg, as was SAP. They couldn't figure-out where the ammo should go.

Zimbabwe and its people were fine. I managed to get Bob and the opposition to sign their power-sharing agreement while I was there, but then by leaving the States I allowed the financial market to collapse, so I will work on getting that straightened out today now that I'm back.

I hunted with a fine PH, Dean Stobbs from Bulawayo. Silwane Hunters did a fine job. Matetse-2 burned-out so I hunted buffalo on The Woodlands. They had a 250-head buffalo herd moving in and out, and some Dagga Boys. The stunning thing was the sable. We saw 100 a day easy and one herd of 52 as we stalked buffalo. I was not allowed to hunt sable on the Woodlands for three days after getting my buffalo until the paperwork could be shifted from Unit-2, but it all worked out.

After the hunt I had a good time visiting with Russell Caldecott and Sandro at Ultimate Guest Lodge in Vic Falls. They are fine company, and Sandro a master chef after getting his pasta special one night.

There is no finer individual than Russell; a real gentleman. I can sleep nights now. He lent me $20 when I was in need two years ago. I paid him back and left him another $20 as seed money this time since I will probably run out again next time. (I always get more than I give to that man.)

Dean and I fished one day and did pretty well, but you have to work at it. I brought two Bomber Long A to try; gold/black and silver. Both worked on tiger.

I met MHO at Russell's and was able to share a few drinks and watch wild dogs together. He should be in a hunt on Unit-3 now. (It's always a little unnerving when you introduce yourself to someone and they immediately connect you to a web persona, but that's life.)

Dean worked hard to get my flights back to the U.S. changed. The SAA woman at the Vic Falls airport is a marvel; bright, smart, eager, intelligent, helpful. You name it, she's it. Go to her if you need help. (The interesting thing was that she said SAA will probably charge me $350 for the ticket change when I got to Joberg, but they charged nothing, a pleasant surprise.)

Food in camp was not as good as it should have been. There were shortages of eggs, meat and ice. Most food has to come in from Botswana, and electrical shutdowns hampered ice production. I don't blame the outfitter as much as Bob and his incompetent leadership.

The trip back to the States went well until Washington and United Airlines got involved. SAA/United sent my bag to the wrong building, then the guidance from United for re-checking was poor. Then after submitting my bag to United two hours before the flight left, they've managed to lose it. They say they will get it to me today.

The friendly people that inspect your weapon at Washington prior to re-checking managed to not close one lock on my gun case and naturally it was lost somewhere in transit. The ladies at the United counter in D.C. were very helpful, but the people they are working with are dunces.

The buffalo/sable hunt combination was very popular this year as the other hunter in my camp, from Kansas, MHO and myself were all after this combination. The hunter from Kansas had a new 375 Ruger whose scope spanked him in the forehead twice. Good thing he wasn't hunting more than a buffalo and sable. (In Washington I saw a woman with stitches that had let her scope smack her in the head too.) You take the good with the bad I guess.