For a straight up buffalo hunt could you give me any feedback between the two. I know the Lemco herd is small compared to Omay. I was wondering about season, human settlement within each area, and any info you might have. I would be paticularly interested in early(April/May) opportunities.

I have hunted Omay but not Lemco. As you say the number of buff at Lemco are somewhat limited. My PH's from HHk speak very very highly of the quality of buff at Lemco. In April-May you will not see a huge number of buff. That is the time of the rains and the buff as well as other animals are highly scattered and the bush is in full leaf. I personaly would chose Lemco at that time of year especially if I also wanted some good plains game hunting. I hear the numbers of plains game there is awesome as is the quality. Camps are good at Omay but outstanding at Lemco.

Have a great hunt.

465H&H

I don't know the reason, but when booking most Lemco plains game/buff hunts with HHK they usally want you to hunt the buff somehwere else, such as Chirisa. From what I learned from my PH, Howard Hunter, many of the buff at Lemco were moved there from other places as they try to establish a herd that is free of hoof and mouth disease. For this reason, I believe the numbers of buff at Lemco are smaller than in other areas, likely creating the need to encourage most of their buff hunters to do that in places with larger numbers of free-roaming buff.
Here's a picture I took of some Lemco buffalo when there about 19 months ago.

Lemco is close to 1 million acres- but is a private conservancy and stocked and managed as such. The plainsgame hunting is superb. The buff population is relatively small but growing steadily.

Omay is a tribal area. Some fantastic spots, some terrible, with too many villagers, poachers etc. If you hunt with a tape measure in your pocket, the omay delivers the better trophies- provided the PH knows the area, and where to find the hot spots. A contract PH going in cold will do better on average in Lemco.

Depends though on the "whole experience" you are after. Omay is Africa in the Raw, Lemco has dirt roads that are smoother than most of the tared roads in Harare and 5* accomodation.

If it's any help to you I've never been in either place, but this spring I did a ele hunt with clive hallamore, who usually PH's at lemco, but of course has been pretty well all over, & he really like lemco. He likes late season (like oct.) the best because of water etc. He did not care much for omay because of the number of people there (local). also you can do lots more game at lemco. He didn't seem to have any problem with 42" clas buff at lemco

From HHK Web Site:

Buffalo Hunting on Omay
The Omay has a very large and stable population of buffalo and the area consistently produces buffalo in excess of 40", with a number of buffalo exceeding that magical 45" mark each year. Similar to Chirisa and Chete, there is no specific best time of year to hunt buffalo in the Omay as the population is sedentary and the area is not reliant upon any form of migration. However later on in the season as the bush dries and the leaves come off the trees, the hunting becomes easier, in that there is less cover.

Buffalo Hunting on Lemco
Lemco Safari area was formed in 1994 and shortly thereafter a buffalo re-introduction program was started. Today there are in excess of 2000 buffalo in the conservancy and the herd is growing annually by 20%. The rich 'sweet grass" of the Zimbabwe lowveld has resulted in some superb bulls maturing. It is our prediction that, in the very near future, Lemco will become one of the best buffalo hunting areas in Africa with trophies well in excess of 40" being taken each year.

Are the buff hunts the same price at either place?

Nitro- Other than charter it appears to be the same.

I believe the reason that HHK tries to steer clients to other areas away from Lemco is that their quota is much smaller at lemco and it fills out earlier.

465H&H

Crane
I just hunted the Omay April 1-5 with Matupula Hunters. We had five days booked at a concession owned by National Safaris. I Killed a 38 inch Bull with very good Bosses late in the Afternoon of the fifth Day. It was so late in the hunt I actually could hear the Fat Lady singing. There were lots of Buffalo in the Omay and we were always on fresh tracks. The dates of the hunt added greatly to the difficulty of the hunt It was very thick!Apparently the vegetation thins out in a matter of weeks.We were constanly getting close to Buffalo and then bumping them. Often we would get into a herd and be unable to locate a good Bull. The Poaching is Intense!!! We located several snares. We actually drove a herd of Buffalo into a line of snares and two of them were caught one of which died quickly and the other we put down. I will say that the PH Andre Esterhuzen wanted to do something so the Poachers could not get the meat but the Government Game Scout did absolutely nothing except to remove the snares. So the Poaching is not being thwarted. I wish you the best of luck I had an incredible Safari and the time of my life.