My family and I returned from a trip to southern Zimbabwe in late June. I�m finally getting around to posting a few pictures and at least part of the story.
We had a good trip, with no problems. The hunting was difficult, but rewarding, and we harvested a number of fine animals. We spent 13 days near Triangle, with PH Boet Van Aarde. I was accompanied by my wife and two teenage sons, age 14 and 16. We were all hunting, with my family limited to plains game and I hunted for a few more selected animals like leopard, sable and hippo.
Having hunted in Zimbabwe last year near Gwayi, I noticed a significant deterioration in conditions in Zim. Fuel may now be available, but tensions seemed higher in the cities. Very few farms have been unaffected in this area. It is really quite sad, as most properties are falling into obvious disrepair. Again, we had no problems, but it doesn�t take much imagination to see that the situation can change without much warning. I probably wouldn�t hunt this part of Zim again unless the political situation stabilizes.

Now for the hunt. We spent a day and a half very close to Harare hunting a property called the Carolina Wilderness. Fairly similar to many RSA game ranches, and the hunting wasn�t very difficult. My family enjoyed this area a lot, and the boys took a few decent animals.

Billy (16) with eland.

Kenny (14) with his ostrich and his older brother

My sable.
It was fortunate we had scheduled a brief stay here, as most of my luggage was lost overnight, and this property isn�t far from the airport. Lots of animals to see on this property, and great photo opportunities, but this isn�t the unspoiled free ranging hunting that I enjoy in Zim. Again, very nice RSA style lodge and hunting, with good animals.
After collecting bags, we made the long drive to the property south of Triangle, adjoining the Nuanetsi ranch. This drive was very beautiful, but long, going through some real mountainous country and finally reaching the typical lowveld south of Triangle.
Camp here was a fairly remote, rustic arrangement, that suited us just fine. This is entirely low cattle fence country, with free ranging game populations. The vegetations was very dense in June, and the animals quite skittish (poaching pressure??), so we worked very hard to harvest these animals.
My wife took a good Nyala, and was very pleased. This was her top priority for the trip. They are really beautiful animals.


My son managed to take a nice bushbuck on the last morning of the hunt, after many days of hearing only a bark and /or just seeing the flash of a departing bushbuck. He hunted the bushbusk alone each morning with just a tracker to minimize noise, quite an experience for a 16 year old. (They stayed within a mile or two of camp) He is rightfully proud of doing it �on his own� and sticking with it until successful. While I was sometimes nervous there wasn�t a PH present with him, it was a rare opportunity that wouldn�t be afforded in many camps, and it worked out well. (Heck, I�m rarely left to hunt alone with just a tracker in Africa!) The photo was taken by the tracker as well, so a little poorly composed.

My primary goal on this property was Leopard, and also on the last night of the hunt I managed to take a very old, mature female. While not the old Tom I was hoping for and that continually frustrated our baiting efforts, I am very pleased to have taken this fine cat.


She had both canines on the right side of her mouth broken off from an old injury, presumably making it hard for her hunt effectively. She was in perfect condition, however, and now I have a reason to take another leopard someday as well. She succumbed to one shot from the 375, but did manage to run a couple hundred yards, and was only recovered early the next morning.

Other animals taken included (for me) giraffe, hippo, and tsessebbe, while my wife also shot a waterbuck. My oldest son took the a zebra along with his bushbuck and eland. My youngest son shot an wildebeest, warthog, and baboon to go along with his ostrich. Both boys also put quite a dent in the francolin and guinea fowl population, keeping the staff well supplied with birds. It�s amazing how fast two boys can shoot up 100 rounds of shotgun ammo just jump shooting while walking through the bush. The trackers never lost an opportunity to point out the birds either, as after the first couple each day for our table, the remainder disappeared on the trackers dinner table.

My wife and sons all used Winchester model 70 featherweights in 30.06 using 180 grain Nosler partitions. (Three different rifles.) Only one bullet was recovered, from the zebra, and it is a classic Nosler, well mushroomed, but the front half essentially missing. I also used model 70�s, in both 300 Win mag, (wood) and 375 H+H (synthetic). I was shooting Barnes triple shock bullets, 180 grain and 300 grain, respectively. These 300 Grains Barnes bullets were hot of the presses, only becoming available from Barnes 2 weeks before departure. I only recovered 2 bullets, both from the hippo, and they are beautiful Barnes advertisements. These triple shocks seem to perform as well as the old X bullets in my 375, and they definitely shoot faster and group better in my guns. This 300 grain load was chronographed at 2550 fps.
I�ll follow up with a few more pictures soon�.

Bill

Great report on a great hunt !

Looks like your whole family had a fun hunt.

Jim

Glad to see you had a successful hunt with no major issues. Family hunts are a treasure - good job including the family! May they always want to take to the field.

Brad

llp,

Great pics of your trip and of a proud dad...and mom...

Mike

Congrats on a great trip. I was happy to see a whole family hunting together! Memories for a lifetime.