The following is my report on a recent hunt in Zimbabwe.

OUTFITTER- Lures & Lead

PH- Shawn Kelly

DATES- August 2021

AREAS- Riverside Ranch, Colliery and Options

BACKGROUND- I purchased this hunt in early 2020 at the GASCI fundraiser. I extended it for 5 days . The hunt was for tusk-less. I hoped to add other things such as buff and croc.

The following are my comments:

PH- Shawn is nice young man. In his late 30’s. He spent 8 years in the British army as a sniper . We got along fine and he put forth plenty of effort.

AREA- The area is a bit complex. Riverside Ranch is privately owned. The other 2 areas are government owned . Each has different quotas and different game scouts .

One very significant issue is coal mining . Since last season, a major road has been put through the area to gain access to a new, massive coal mine . This road is wide, very wide. At least four semis could be placed side to side on the road. Maybe five . They run large trucks to and from the mine all day . It is my opinion that this road has a major negative impact on the wildlife .

In addition, we heard massive explosions from time to time . Apparently, they were blasting at the coal mine .

The country is rugged. Visibility is not good as the bush is thick .

CAMP- The camp had the most spectacular view of any camp I have ever been in. It overlooked a river . The lodging was individual huts . These were pretty decent accommodations.

We routinely saw hippo & crocs in the river . Across the river we routinely saw a variety of animals . However , it was in a high fence area in which we saw these animals .

FOOD- the food was excellent with the exception of a single lunch .

GAME- we saw as many as 100 elephants in a day. Buff were scarce . We saw tracks twice outside the high fence . We saw a smattering of PG here and there . Numbers are not large . We saw some crocs but no large crocs . Some things were quite shocking . For example, we never saw a zebra nor a zebra track .

HUNTING- the hunt itself was difficult. The game populations were low with the possible exception of elephants. The thickness of the bush made things tough as well.

I took a tuskless under very challenging conditions. I took a small number of PG species .

OTHER INTERESTING THINGS-

1-Shawn used a garden variety predator call to call klipspringer. As crazy as it sounds, they definitely come to investigate.

2- We took a day off and went fishing on the Zambezi. We caught 10-15 tiger fish and a few nembwe . It was fun.

3- we made a visit to the Falls on the day I got
my COVID test . That is always interesting.

4- we caught a poacher one day . He seemed a little nuts . They took all of his gear and let him go.

5- The game scouts were the best I have ever seen. There was a tiny guy from Parks named Billion. He was hysterical.

ZIMBABWE OBSERVATIONS- The impact of COVID was obvious. Few people the airport . Few people in public places . Vic Falls was a ghost town. The people are desperate.

Zimbabwe seems to be taking COVID quite seriously. For example, masks are required . Upon entering public places , they take your temperature. You must sanitize your hands. Often one must walk through a device with some sort of mist.

OVERALL COMMENTS- I had a great time . Lots of laughs . While I would hunt with Shawn again, I would not go back to this area except for possible a late season elephant hunt .

Sounds like a fun trip Larry.

nice report Larry,

plus that you enjoyed yourself and had a great time.

Congratulations, Larry! Sounds like a challenging but fun hunt.

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Good story, interesting info and congrats on your tuskless and the fishing !!


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Larry, good friend: thank You for keeping many of us in the loop concerning your trip. I think you have come to an important truth - which is, this Covid dilemma is not going away. Therefore, we need to do as you have done…get vaccinated, take precautions, then go about planning and living your life to the fullest. That is what my wife and I are doing also. We are off to Munyamadzi in Zambia in 10 days.
Personally, I sure appreciate this thorough report from the Zim side. Breaks my heart however, how so many of my friends in Vic Falls town are suffering. Well done on your hunt. Thumbs up!

Good luck brother!

Wonderful trip.

Larry, glad you made the most of your trip and had a good time. Interesting that the bush is so thick in August, I’d hate to think what it was like in May.

Safe travels home!

Thanks for the report Larry! Glad you enjoyed yourself and made the most of your safari.

quote:

Originally posted by bcolyer:
I think you have come to an important truth - which is, this Covid dilemma is not going away. Therefore, we need to do as you have done…get vaccinated, take precautions, then go about planning and living your life to the fullest.

100%!! That's what we are doing as well.

Thanks for the hunt report Larry. Glad you had a good time.

Nice hunt and report Larry. Only way it could be improved is with a few trophy pics and some camp/ scenery shots.

Thanks for sharing, Larry. Congratulations on another successful hunt. I leave in 7 days for South Africa. I'm almost counting the minutes.

Good luck Brandon.

Gets me fired up. I leave in 8 days….

Good stuff Larry. Glad you had a good trip.

quote:

Originally posted by jdollar:
Gets me fired up. I leave in 8 days….

Back to Botswana?