It's a little late but better than never. I have to thank Bill C again for helping me post this.

2005 ZAMBIAN BUFFALO HUNT


Date of Hunt: September 18th -24th 2005

Location: Lower Lupande GMA, Luangwa Valley, Zambia

Outfitter: Peter Chipman (Kwalata Safaris) at: kwalatapeter@yahoo.com

Professional Hunter: Leslie Long (Peter’s older Cousin)

Animals Taken: Buffalo, Puku, Chobe Bushbuck, Hyena, Common Waterbuck

Booking Agent: Wes Hixon; Wes Hixon Website

Travel Agent: Kathi Klimes at: kathi@wildtravel.net; Telephone: 708-425-3552

Background Info: This was my third safari but my first DG hunt. I had hunted SA in 02 and Zim in 03 for plains game. This was also my first time hunting in a DG concession. I really wanted a chance to hunt a 40 inch or better buffalo in a wild remote area. I looked at a lot of other buff hunts that people on AR had gone on, and I narrowed it down to the few I could afford that had good buff. After a lengthy discussion, and I mean lengthy, with Bill C, I picked Kwalata Safaris. This area also afforded me the chance to take some animals I hadn’t taken before. I gave Wes a deposit eleven months in advance to hold my hunt date in Sept. I tried to get a buddy to hunt with me, but no takers. This would be the third safari I would do on my own.

I had one other problem, no DG rifle. A good friend of mine lent me a Ruger SM in 375 H&H with a 4X scope and dies. I had some work done on the Ruger, loaded some 375’s, and started a practice routine at 50 and 100 yd. I got a lot of good advice here on AR on shooting large bore rifles. I fired over 300 practice rounds off of shooting sticks before my hunt.

I also spent a week before my safari touring in the Livingstone area. I stayed two nights at the Tree Tops Lodge on the Zambezi River, took a day tour to the Chobe National Park in Botswana, toured Vic Falls and Livingstone, took an all day whitewater raft trip on the Zambezi (scary!), and took a micro light flight over the falls (less scary!). All my travel arrangements in Zambia were done by Lucille of Zamscape Tours. She did a great job for me getting air travel, lodging and tours while in Zambia

Zambian Travel: Lucille at: zamscape@zamnet.zm
Web Site: Zamscape


HUNT DETAILS

Rifles Used:
Rifle #1: Ruger SM in 375 H&H with Barnes TS 270gr hand loads and a 4x Leupold
Rifle #2: Winchester Model 70 Featherweight in 7x57 with Hornady 139gr hand loads and a 2x7 Leupold

I won’t rehash the information that Bill C previously provided on the hunt area from his 04 hunt report with Peter Chipman: https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/6731068

Getting There: I flew on a morning flight from Livingstone to Lusaka, intending to spend the night there and then fly to Mfuwe in the morning to meet my PH. When I arrived at the airport, Kessy met me with my rifles and ammo and told me I’d have to catch the flight to Mfuwe right now. Kessy is Peter’s partner wife, and does the meet and greet at the airport in Lusaka. I had her hold my rifles while I toured. She told me there was a good chance there would be no fuel for tomorrow’s flight. I threw the stuff I had left with her in my bag and got ready to board the flight. She also told me Leslie would meet me in Mfuwe to drive me to the concession. The flight was delayed an hour so I had time to catch my breath and get ready for the adventure to follow.

After a one and a half hour flight, I landed in Mfuwe and met Leslie, Dahlias our tracker and Davison, our driver. On the two hour drive to camp I quizzed Leslie about the hunt. I learned that he would be my PH and we would be staying in an alternate camp about ten miles up the road from the main one. Leslie told me he had been a PH has long as Peter had and the both of them had hunted in Zambia and TZ together. This helped ease my mind a little. When I talked the references, no one had mentioned Leslie as being their PH. I made up my mind then and there to just go with the flow and everything would work out.

The ride through Mfuwe was fascinating. It’s a very small town with a few stores and shops, but mostly mud and thatch houses. There were lots of people walking and riding bikes along the road. Brightly dressed woman carrying babies and some with large bundles on their heads, and men with loads of all kinds on their bikes, were everywhere. There was even a small garrison of Zambian military personal in town. I had finally arrived in Wild Africa. About a half hour past town we turned on to a dirt road and into the concession. I saw a few puku and impala on the ride in and we arrived in camp just before dark, but to late to shoot my rifles. I unpacked and got my gear ready for the hunt.

At dinner, I met another hunter from England and his daughter. They were hunting with Ron and had five more days of their safari left. Ron is a PH that works for Peter, and with his wife operates a lodge in the hunting concession. I ate dinner and wrote as much as I could in my diary before the lights went out around 10 pm and went to bed. Note, I’m the little guy and Leslie is The Big Guy in the photos.



Mfuwe Airport


Leaving for Hunt Area – Leslie, Dahlias & Davison



HUNT RECAP

Day One: I was already awake when Douglas, one of the camp staff, came with coffee to wake me. The excitement and hippos made it hard to sleep. I ate a good breakfast and we left camp an hour after day light to shoot the rifles and see if we could find some buff tracks to follow. About a mile from camp the tracker blazed a mark on a tree 100 yd from the truck. I shot both my 375 H&H and my 7x57 off the tripod shooting sticks they had and both guns were spot on. I had used bipod shooting sticks for all my practice shooting but I really liked their sticks much better. I left mine back in camp from then on.

We hadn’t gone too much further when we started to see some game. Impala and puku were everywhere. Leslie wanted to drive along the base of the hills which are close to the boundary of the concession to look for buff tracks leading up into the hills. The road going into this part of the concession was very rough and rocky and even the vegetation looked different. The going was slow but not without excitement. I saw three kudu bulls and some cows and quite a few warthogs. What really got me excited were the elephants, my first seen in the wild. I saw over thirty and a few cows even charged the truck when we passed too close. We saw many bulls in the 30lb range and a couple that would go 60lb. Leslie pointed out one that would push 70 lb. Not only were his tusks large, but his body size was huge compared to some of the smaller bulls I saw earlier. Peter had three ele tags for 05 and took three that were all over 60lb. The morning passed without finding any fresh buff tracks to follow and we went back to camp around noon By noon it was getting hot, probably in the low 90’s. The late morning heat made the wind swirl which made it hard to stalk close to buff in the thick dry bush. We would head back out around 3 pm and come back well after dark for the rest of the safari.

On the evening hunt, we hunted along the Luangwa River hoping to find some fresh buff tracks to follow or a good warthog or puku. I passed on a 15 inch puku and a 10 inch warthog because my PH said we could do better and I was in no real hurry to shoot the first mediocre animals I saw. We didn’t find any fresh buffalo tracks and my first day ended without seeing or tracking one. I wasn’t one bit disappointed, the rest of the game I saw more than made up for it.

One nice thing about going back to camp in the heat of the day, you can wash the fine dust off yourself and cool down. It’s also gives you time to catch up on your journal and take some photos around camp. For some reason I never slept when I got back and other than the first afternoon, did I eat a big lunch, too hot.

View of Hills that make up the Luangwa Valley Escarpment


Elephant




Camp




Luangwa River View from Camp



DAY TWO: Douglas came to my door at 5 am but I was already well past being up. I got up around 3 am and could not go back to sleep. I had my first vivid Larium dream. Not a scary dream, but it seemed very real while I was having it. I also heard what I thought was a lion grunting across the river from camp. The hippos were making a lot more noise last night and seemed to be agitated by something. Maybe it was the lions?

We left camp at 5:45 am and ran into a herd of around thirty buffalo about two miles down the road. Leslie had seen them before in the same area. He said there weren’t any good bulls in the herd and we drove on.

These were the first buffalo I saw and I was excited and upbeat about seeing them. We drove to the Malama village, a small rural village and school about 15 miles down the dirt track. Leslie and our tracker Dahlias talked to a villager who said he knew where a large lone buffalo was staying close behind the village huts and he had seen a group of 6 bulls around also. Our tracker found the fresh tracks of the small group of bulls and we were off on our first hunt of the safari. We tracked them for about a half hour before we found them. There were six bulls laying down in the shade and we bumped them.

It was very dry and noisy and it was hard to be quiet. We got on them several times more, but could not get a real good look at all of them as they would not leave the thick cover. We decided not to push them too hard and after an hour, we backed off. Leslie said they would be in the same area tomorrow if we didn’t push them too hard, and said that he had seen one bull that would go close to 40 inches. I finally got to track some buffalo and it was very exciting. Dahlias was able to follow the tracks of these bulls on ground that was covered with buff tracks. It was amazing to watch him track and I felt I had a very good chance to kill a good bull with him along. I found out later that Dahlias’ was Peter’s tracker and Peter left him to track for Leslie and me.

We also found the tracks of the lone buff that had been hanging around the village, but it was late in the morning, so we decided to look for him early the next morning when he was up and still feeding.

We drove to an area where Leslie had seen an 18 inch puku earlier in the season but we could not find him. We then drove to another area. We had just crossed over a dry creek on a small concrete bridge, when a large male leopard came out from underneath it. He stood for a few seconds and then took off up the creek bed. I was able to get a real good look at him. He was the first leopard I’ve ever seen - a real treat for me. He must have laid under the bridge on the cool sand to find some shade and we spooked him when we drove over. Leslie said they had baited this cat before, but he would never show in the daylight. He said I was very lucky to see one in broad daylight.

We drove a little further and found a puku that Leslie said was very good, but he took off when we stopped. We followed the ram for around 300 yards or so and I was finally able to get a shot at him. Dahlias set up the sticks and I dropped him with about a 100 yd shot with the 375. This was the first animal I’ve ever shot with a 375 H&H. We loaded the puku then drove back to camp and lunch.

Around 3 pm we headed out to hunt another area near the river to look for buffalo and maybe a waterbuck. We drove to an area where we must have seen over 20 waterbuck but most were females or small males. We saw one that may have gone 24 inches, which is good for the area. We spotted several bushbucks that evening, again most were female or small rams. We did not come across any fresh buff tracks we could follow although we hunted till dark.

Village School


Malama Village




Puku




DAY 3: I woke up at 2 am to the roaring of a lion across the river from camp. This time, there was no mistake about what it was. He would roar a few times and then make a series of four or five very loud grunts. I found it to be a little unnerving, especially when the windows only had screens in them and the door did not lock. I tried to go back to sleep but I stayed awake until Douglas came to wake me at 4:30 am We left camp a little after 5 am and headed back to the village to look for the lone buff tracks. When we drove over the same concrete bridge that I saw the male leopard from the day before, a big female leopard sprang from the brush and ran down the road in front of our truck. She then darted back into the brush and was gone. How lucky could I be, seeing two leopards in two days, in the same place? Leslie said she may be in heat and looking to mate with the male.

How Dahlias was able to find his tracks in the early morning light amongst all the other tracks was beyond me. He had crossed the road from the river side and walked between some huts, heading into the thick brush behind the village. There was also a large heard of buff that crossed the road just before the village. Leslie said we would hunt them if the lone bull failed to pan out. It felt a little strange walking with a loaded rifle near the native’s huts. A few dogs started barking and some of the villagers came out to see what was up. We were soon in the brush and away from the village.

There was fresh buff spoor all over. The native we had talked to the day before was right - this bull did live behind the village. And as no one bothered him, he felt safe there. We tracked the buff for about forty minutes, when Dahlias spotted the bull just over a small rise. He moved back so the bull could not see him and motioned me to come forward and get ready to shoot. Leslie and I moved forward and Dahlias set up the sticks. Leslie peered over the rise and said, “Shoot himâ€. When I got on the sticks the buff was only 40 yd away but the angle was all wrong for me to shoot. Dahlias had moved a good fifteen feet to the left of where he first saw the bull. The sticks were too high for me and I lost some time getting them lowered. My rifle was pointed at a screen of brush in front of the bull. I just couldn’t make it happen and the buff took off.

I immediately could see the frustration in the PH and tracker. To make matters worst, Leslie said he’d go 40 inches. We got on him a few more times, but he always stopped in the thick brush and never offered on real shot. After an hour or so of this, we backed off him, hoping we could find him in the same area tomorrow. I felt a little disappointed but I got to see 40 inch buff up close and gained the experience of tracking a solo animal. I’m not so sure the others felt that way.

We walked back to the road and dirt track to the spot where the herd had crossed it. Leslie decided to drive to another parallel road to see if they had crossed. It took over an hour of slow going to find out they hadn’t. We then drove to a spot in between the two, trying to intersect their tracks. It didn’t take long to find them. There were at least 100 buffalo lying in the thick brush and shade. Leslie said we needed to spook them to the open grass that lay beyond so we could see if any good bulls were with the herd. Next thing I knew, we were running toward them and they took off in a cloud of dust. The herd ran from the small ridge they were on and went into a large open area. From the edge of the ridge we could glass them. They settled down a bit and offered a good view of themselves. We looked hard, but there was not any mature, hard bossed bulls in the entire herd. I now had some experience in tracking a herd and even got to run after them. It was fun for me, but I think they would have liked it better if I had killed the loan bull. We walked back to the truck and went back to the village.

I asked Leslie to take me to the school so I could give out some stuff I had for the kids. I had a bunch of pens my girlfriend collected from drug reps that come to her office to sell their wares. I also had a bunch of small note pads to give out. He said he was sure they could use them but we should talk to the school master first so he could give them to the neediest. He was real happy to get my meager bunch of school supplies. As a show of appreciation, he had all the school kids and teachers come out so I could get a photo of them.

School Kids


After lunch we hunted near the river again, where we met two natives that were fishing. They told us they had seen two buffalo bulls in the area several times. We looked for their tracks but could not find any fresh ones. We did see a 15 inch bushbuck with one broken horn, and a 25 inch waterbuck with some females in tow. We decided to leave the truck and driver behind and walk the river bottom. We saw several small bushbucks and a few more waterbuck cows. Just before dark Leslie sent the tracker back to fetch the truck. All of a sudden Leslie got all excited and pulled me by the arm to the other side of a small bunch of brush we were near. He got the sticks up and said warthog. Out comes this monstrous warthog - he must have weighted close to 200lb - but his teeth were small! Even Leslie could not believe it. We got another treat when we looked across the Luangwa River. A lioness was walking the bank on the far side. It was the first lion I’ve seen in the wild and the end of a near perfect day.

DAY 4: Last night was the first night I slept somewhat soundly. Douglas woke me up late and Leslie was almost done with breakfast when I arrived. I ate a few peaces of toast and drank a cup of the great instant coffee they serve. We wanted to get to the village extra early and hunt the lone bull again while he was still up and feeding. We hit the main road and hadn’t gone but a mile or two when another miracle happened. I saw leopard number 3. She was a smaller female than the first and in a different location than the first two I saw. I could not believe my luck and neither could Leslie. He told me many people come to game view across the river in the Luangwa National Park and never see a leopard, and I had seen three in three days!

We drove ten minuets more when two hyena crossed the road. These were the first I’ve ever seen, and I hoped it would be a sign that this would be my lucky day, and I would kill a buffalo.

We arrived at the village while it was still dark. Somehow Dahlias was able to make out the fresh tracks of six or so buffalo that crossed the road just before it. These were probably the same ones we tracked previously. We drove on to look for the lone bulls tracks. We found them again in almost the same place as yesterday. Again he came from the river, crossed the road, and went behind the village hunts in the thick brush to lie down. It took a while for our tracker to get the tracks sorted because of the rock-hard ground. We had picked up a young new game scout named Mike before we left camp. He was helping Dahlias with the tracking and would search out ahead when Dahlias lost the track. He must have been pretty fair at tracking himself, because he would often find the track and off we go.

We hadn’t walked more than 600 yards past the village when Dahlias spotted two oxpeckers. Leslie told me to get ready because the buffalo was probably in the thick patch of brush just beyond the birds. He was right, but the wind changed and the buffalo scented us and off he ran. It took a bit of tracking to find him again but we did. He was standing across a small draw about 100 yards away and was fully aware that we were following him Dahlias set up the sticks for me but when I put the cross hairs on him there were two small trees the covering his vitals. I need to move the rest to get a shot or shoot off hand.

The buffalo had enough of this and took off. This time Leslie got a real good look at him and said he would go 40 inches for sure. We tracked him for another hour but lost his tracks when they got mixed with the spoor of some other buffalo. I was really excited - I finally got a good look at him myself and he was everything I could hope for in a buffalo. We sent the tracker for the truck and we walked to the road to meet him. We decided to hunt the buffalo whose tracks we passed on the road. We found them about a mile from the road, laying in the shade of some very thick brush. It was very hard to approach them quietly in the dry and crunchy bush, and we spooked them.

They keep to the heavy brush where we could not approach them without making a lot of noise. Leslie said we would never be able to get them in this heavy brush which went on for miles, so we backed off, hoping we could find them earlier the next morning. We had been tracking for five hours straight and I loved every minute of it. I could see why people love to hunt buffalo again and again. Tracking them is very exciting and the outcome is far from certain. We had seen at least two good bulls; we just needed them to cooperate. It was close to noon and getting hot so we headed back to camp.

We hunted near the river in the evening but found no fresh buffalo tracks to follow. We did see some of the usual suspects, (waterbuck, bushbuck and warthog) but no real trophies. We decided to leave camp extra early the next morning and get to the hunt area at first light. Leslie wanted to intercept the buffalo before they made into the thick brush.

DAY 5: We left camp at 4:30 am. This was the first morning I felt tired, as the lack of sound sleep for the last 10 days was finely catching up with me. I guess I never fully adjusted to African time. We arrived at the village in full darkness. How Dahlias could find any fresh tracks was beyond me. The buffalo’s pattern was almost the same as yesterday. The same six or seven bulls crossed the road just before the village. The difference was our lone bull. This time he crossed further up the road from the village and into some very thick brush. Leslie decided not to follow him because he thought it would be too hard to get close enough for a shot in the thick noisy brush. I felt very disappointed we were not going to hunt him, especially after I got a good look at him the day before. He felt there were two bulls in the other group that would go 40 inches or better. He wanted to get on them at first light while they were still up and moving.

We drove back down the road to where they crossed and started tracking them. The tracking went well and we found them about 600 yd from the road Dahlias had spotted them first on the edged of some small trees and brush. He set the sticks up for me and Leslie and I eased forward to him Leslie told me to shoot the bull on the right. I found him in the scope easy enough but I could not tell which way he was facing. H e had his head down and was behind a screen of brush. I fought the urge to look through my binoculars because the added movement might spook them and I knew Leslie would get pissed if I did. The bull was only 40 yards away, but I still could not see him clearly. I finally had to ask him which way he was facing. The bull lifted his head and everything became clearer but there was still brush in front of him. Both Ron and Leslie explained to me that it was rare that a buffalo would be out in the complete open and I would probably have to shoot through some brush. I put the crosshairs on his shoulder and fired.

The buffalo stumbled and almost went down. My bull and six other took off running. Our tracker was congratulating me on a good shot but I had some doubt because of the brush. We went to the spot where he was standing and looked for blood. Dahlias and the game scout immediately got on the buff tracks looking for sign of a hit. They could not find any blood, so we walked back to the spot he was standing when I first shot, no blood. We continued on the tracks for a 100 yards or so and still no blood. Leslie asked me where I was aiming when I fired. The game scout glared at me through his blood shot eyes. I felt like shit. Had I wounded him and just blew my chance to kill a buffalo on my first buff hunt?

We tracked the bulls about 500 yards when we saw some buffalo just ahead of us. We got closer and I got on the sticks. Instead of seven bulls there were over 40 buffalo in this bunch. They were feeding, some as close as 40 yards and some were as far as to 200 yards away. Leslie looked hard but could not find our bulls in this group. We figured our bulls must have crossed their tracks and we followed them thinking they joined the herd. We backed off these and back tracked. We found where we went wrong and ran into our bulls further on the track. They had run only 500 yards or so after I shot.

We saw the bull I hit but I could not get on him before he ran into the thick brush with his buddies. The trackers followed him in the thick brush looking for blood but could find none. Despite what appeared to be a good shot, there was not a single drop of blood or hair that could be found. I was very LUCKY and I would get to hunt buffalo another day. Leslie felt my bullet must have hit some brush and came close to him and he jumped. The thick brush made it almost impossible to follow. We decided to try again in the afternoon and walked back to the truck. I was very disappointed on blowing my first shot on a trophy buffalo, especially after all that practice shooting I did back at home. I knew I would have felt a lot worse if I wounded and lost him.

When we got back to camp we found out that Ron’s client Jeff shot a bull up the road from us. Ron said he saw at least two good bulls in that herd. He told us to use his tracker on the afternoon hunt as he had a good idea where we might find them again. It was Jeff’s last day and he was through hunting and wanted to just relax in camp. I was too pissed at myself to write much in my journal so I went to my cabin and tried to take a nap. No such luck. I wiped down my rifle down and got ready for the afternoon hunt. I walked to the mess hut and had a Coke. Douglas asked if I wanted some lunch, but that was the last thing I wanted.

It was finally time to leave for the afternoon hunt. I wasn’t really into it. We hadn’t tracked a buffalo yet in the afternoon and I didn’t have much faith that we would find them again. I was in a real bad funk. We drove to a new spot on the river that was further past the village where we had been before. We found no buffalo tracks to follow, but we did see some impala, puku and a lone waterbuck. It was getting late and I asked Leslie if we could stop at the village so I could get some photos. He said we need to keep looking for buffalo because we only had two days left to hunt.

The new tracker had us drive down a side track that I knew we had not been to before. The brush was almost touching the sides of our truck and I wondered to myself how were we going to see anything from this road. The brush finally opened up, when some one the back said “Buffaloâ€. I was on the left side of the truck and had not seen them. We piled out and ran to some brush. Dahlias set up the sticks for me and Leslie told me to shoot the bull on the left. There were three bulls about 80 yd away and they were still feeding, unaware of us. I told myself, take your time and hold on his shoulder.

At the shot they ran across 50 yards of semi-open ground and into a bunch of tall brush and trees on the edge of a dry creek bed. Our two trackers, Mike, the game scout and I ran after them. I was able to keep up with them when all of a sudden they stopped and started yelling. I had no idea what was going on. Was the buffalo charging us? Was he down?

Then I saw the problem. There were elephants coming out of the creek bottom the buffalo just ran into. We could not go any further until we scared them off. We were all waving our hats and yelling at them and they finally turned and ran. I saw at least three but Dahlias said there were nine of them. In the mean time Leslie caught up with us. We approached the spot where the buffalo ran into the brush. Leslie yelled there he is and there was my bull looking at us from 30 yards. Somehow Dahlias set the sticks up for me and I shot the bull on the point of the shoulder. At the shot he turned to run but only took a few steps and went down. I started to run up to him for a finishing shot when Leslie grabbed me by my collar to hold me back. I guess he didn’t want me to get mowed down by a half dead buffalo!

We approached slowly from behind and I put two shots between his shoulder blades. He gave a mournful death bellow. We waited a bit and walked up to him. It was only then that I realized I had killed a buffalo and a good one at that. Everyone was shaking my hand and slapping me on the back. I felt some sadness for the buffalo but I was happy all went well and he died fast. Leslie said he may have charged if we moved in closer. He was hurt bad enough with my first shot that he could not follow his buddies through the brush and down into the creek bed. I don’t think we would have followed him if he did. The coming darkness and the elephants would have made it took dangerous to follow.

We sent one of the trackers back to get the truck and help cut a path to the buffalo. We had to work fast to prop him up to get some pictures. We were all helping move him around when Leslie said, “Bob come look at thisâ€. On the right side of my bull was a large fresh gash that Leslie said my bullet from this morning had made. The bullet never entered the body cavity. Somehow I managed to shoot the same buffalo I had shot at in the morning!!! Was I lucky or what?

Buffalo & Crew




DAY 6: We left camp a little later, (5 am) this morning. Everyone, including the crew seemed upbeat and relieved, now that the buffalo was in the salt. I was still hoping to find a good waterbuck, bushbuck or a real good warthog. We drove along the river first but saw very little. We finally hit the main road when Leslie spotted a good waterbuck. He said he’d go 25 to 26 inches. The waterbuck in this part of Zambia don’t get as large as the ones in SA or southern Zim. A 26 inch waterbuck would be a good one for this concession. Ron had told us the day before that he has seen a 27-28 inch waterbuck in an area nearby. A client of his had wounded it a month ago and they could not find it, and he thought it was the same one. We had looked for him briefly the day before but could not find him.

I had to make a decision to shoot this bull, or try to look again for the one Ron had told us about. Leslie said we may never see the bigger one with only two days to left to hunt, I remembered what Bill C had said when we discussed hunting waterbuck: “Would you rather shoot a 25 inch waterbuck on a wild dangerous game concession, or shoot a 32 inch one behind a fence in SA?†I decided to go for this one even though I would have liked to go back to look for the big one, one more time. An inch or two of horn would not matter anyway. The waterbuck and his female companions moved deeper into the brush. We got out and started to track them. I had put my 375 away and I started to second guess if my 7x57 was enough gun, especially with a 139gr Hornady bullet. I actually missed not having the 375 in my hands. Now I could understand why some people like to use it on everything, it just plain works. I’d just have to be extra careful with shot placement with the 7x57.

We tracked the waterbuck 500 to 600 yards when we found them again. The male seemed preoccupied with his females. I got on the sticks several times but the thick brush made it hard to get a shot. The females were very nervous and would run off taking him with them. We got on them several times more before I could get a clear shot. He finally stood a second too long in a small opening and I made a perfect lung shot at about 75 yards. He ran less than 50 yd and went down. I had my waterbuck.

We loaded him up and took him to the skinning shed at Peter’s main camp. I finally got to see his camp in the daylight. Busy hunting the buffalo, I had only been there briefly the night before when we dropped off my buff. We hunted our way back to camp hoping to find a good warthog or bushbuck. We were close to camp when we saw a baby warthog in the road. His mom ran off when we got out to look at him. I thought it odd that he didn’t run when we approached and then I found out why. He had a broken back leg that Leslie said may have been caused by buffalo trampling him. I felt real sorry for the little guy because I knew he wouldn’t make it through the night.

Common Waterbuck



Injured Warthog



Lunch was real different today. Fried buffalo heart and liver with onions were on the menu. I saw my PH eating a bowl of buffalo tripe so I asked if I could try some also. He had Douglas get me some. The stomach was cooked it a spicy tomato sauce and was very good. I did get the feeling that the boys didn’t want to share too much of this and after eating some, I could see why.

After lunch we hunted an area along the river that we had not hunted before. Leslie told me they see a lot of bushbuck along it but they are hard to get a shot at because of the dense brush. We did see a 15 inch bushbuck on the morning hunt but he ran down a dry creek bed and into the brush where we could not follow. We drove slowly and spotted a very good one. We drove past him and walked back to try to get a shot at him. It almost worked but the noisy footing spooked him. We tried to tracking him but the hard ground made that impossible. We drove to the end of the brush and turned around to hunt are way back before it got too late.

We hadn’t gone more than mile or two on the same route when we saw nother bushbuck standing on an anthill. We drove past so as to not startle him, parked and snuck back. We were lucky and he was still standing on the anthill. I leaned up against a tree and fired. He flew off the backside of the anthill like lighting hit him. I ran to the anthill and looked for blood. The backside of the hill was covered with blood and before I could walk twenty feet on the blood trail, Dahlias circled around the other side of the mound and found him dead. He was not as large as the two we saw earlier but he had thick bases and a beautiful coat. I was very happy with him, even more so as he was my first bushbuck.

It thought this to be a lucky day but it was to become better. As we drove back to camp two hyenas crossed the road. When I first arrived in camp I had asked Peter if any hyena were still on quota. He had told me I could shoot one but that it would be hard to do without baiting them. Here was my opportunity. We stopped and I ran back up the road while trying to load my rifle at the same time. For some reason they were still there and looking at me from 40 yards away. Before I left the truck Leslie told me to shoot which ever one I could. I picked what I thought was the bigger of the two and shot him. This was indeed my lucky day.

When we arrived back at camp the staff seemed to be excited with the hyena and wanted to be in a photo with him. Maybe it was it was good juju for them?

Chobe Bushbuck




Spotted Hyena




I have to admit, the hunt for the waterbuck and puku were a little anticlimactic after the buffalo hunt. They just didn’t act to weary and were easy to approach. Not like the plains game animals I hunted in southern Zim. I believe the reason for this is the low quotas on most of the plains game animals and low hunting pressure. Peter’s hunting concession is very large and you just don’t have to beat an area to death to get a good trophy.

DAY 7: My last hunting day. I heard a lion roar and grunt last night and he seemed closer to camp than the one I heard before. Leslie told me at breakfast that a lion had walked through camp and around our sleeping quarters. I walked back to my chalet and there in the path were lion tracks not more than 20 feet away from where I slept. This was very neat but a little scary. I had wanted to experience a hunt in a wild area and I was getting my monies worth.
I had used up all my trophy fee money and really only wanted to take photos on this day. Leslie said we should try one more time for a big warthog. We drove to new area to look. The area we hunted was very hilly and rocky and unlike any of the other areas we had hunted before. We didn’t find any warthogs but we did see some klipspringers and a few grysbok. These two animals were the first I’ve ever seen and I was very happy that I got to see them.

On the way to the Malama village we ran into a bunch of elephants. They were all cows and calf’s but still a treat to see. I decided at lunch that my hunt was over and I left my rifle in camp. I wanted to get some photos of the village and the people living there. The game scout had to ask the village chief if this was ok and he gave me permission. I got some good photos and gave out the last of the candy I had brought. This time I threw the candy to some kids who were around our truck. A few days before, I was almost pulled from the truck by some woman as I handed candy out. Some of them even knocked kids out of the way to get some. The guys in the truck did not come to my aid - they just stood there and grinned. I guess they had a good laugh on me. Even handing out candy can be dangerous in Africa!

I felt a little sadness as we drove back to camp as my hunt was now officially over. We had a good dinner of tenderloin from my buff. I drank a few glasses of scotch and gave the rest of the bottle to our waiter Douglas. I packed my stuff while I still had light from the generator. It had been a great hunt.

The Last Sunset



GOING HOME: We had to leave early in the morning because I had to take the 0830 flight back to Lusaka. This was easy to do. I had heard a lion roaring again last night and I woke up at 2am and could not go back to sleep. I actually got up and locked my door for the first time. The lion sounded really close to camp. Leslie was already at breakfast when I arrived. He told me the cook had seen the lion wonder through camp. Even though I didn’t sleep much last night, it was great to hear him roar one more time. I said my good by’s to the staff and we left. Just before we hit the main road we saw a young male lion less than 75 yards away. I had packed my telephoto lens in my day pack and I was able to get it together to get a photo of the back end of the lion as he went into the brush. It was very nice to see another lion especially when you’re not expecting one. I wanted to get some photos of Mfuwe but we didn’t have time. I said my good by’s to Leslie, Sarge, Dahlias and Mike and boarded the plane for the flight back to Lusaka.

The Final Goodbye


The flight went fast. My safari had started a day earlier than scheduled but I decided to stay the night in Lusaka rather than to try to get home a day early. The Zambian who post here from time to time told me to look him up when my safari ended and he’d buy me dinner. I called him from the hotel and him and his wife and son came to pick me up. He had a very nice BBQ for me at the dirt tack where he races trucks. We drank some beers and ate some sausage and some very nice spicy chicken he prepared. I’d love to get his recipe and try it on quail. I met his friend Jimmy and a few other friends also. It was very nice of him to go out of his way to meet me and make me dinner. This was the first person I’ve met on AR face to face and hope it won’t be the last.

quote:

Donato

Thank you for that well written report. I read with a lot of interest as I'm heading to Zambia this August.steve

Donato- Thanks so much for your report. It was especially of interest to me as I will be hunting in the same relative area from Sept 1 to Sept 22 of this year (a 21 day hunt). You did good Bwana!!

A couple of questions:

How were the bugs?
How was your water treated?
Did you charge camera batteries in the vehicle?
Did you run into any Hippos in the early morning hours out of the water?

I'm sure I will think of a hundred more questions. If it's easier, you can PM me.

Anyway, congratulations again. You got a great buff and one ugly hyena!!

John

John,
The bugs were not bad at all, I used Avon Skin So Soft and it worked for me.
We drank bottled water all the time
I used a film camera and took extra batteries
we didn't hunt close to the river in the mornings but the area had lots of hippos. I could have shot one from camp. PM and I'll give you my phone # if you want to talk more. You need to read Bill C Zambian report on his 18 day hunt. There is a link to it in my report.

Great report there, I appreciate that you posted it in such detail.

Thank You for posting this great report and pictures. I can imagine your anguish on the first buffalo shot that did not connect. Your poise on the first oportunity where the shot was just not there is what being an ethical hunter is all about.

I am booked on my first African hunt this Sept. Buffalo and plains game in the Selous. your report, sure fires a guy up.

Thanks again.

Good report, thanks for sharing with us.

Robert,

Great report. Now I don't feel so bad not getting mine in for so long. That buffalo is awesome, and the bushbuck too! I'm jealous at all the cats you saw. I only saw 1 lioness in a week.

I met Donato at the hotel on his way out of Zambia prior to my hunt in the same area. It was nice to get a day ahead preview and to compare notes and expectations. I won't steal his thunder, but I do have a report I've been working on. Kwalata will be well covered in the hunt reports.

Brian

A wonderful story. I envy you. I hunted buff in Zambia in 1989 and did not get one. I enjoyed the country and did add some plains game to my trophies. Your buff is beautiful.
Good on ya.

Donato,

Damn good hunt...and a hunt it was...

Mike

Outstanding Hunt Sir! Congratulations! Excellent Report!

I'm very much interested in the performance of the 270 TSX on buffalo. Did you do an autopsy? I plan to use the 270 TSX in the future.

Great report!

I really felt for you - losing out on the big buff. Your first shot was potentially from 40 yards. Did your PH brief you about the position of the animal before you popped over the small rise?

Did you consider free-handing it?

You said after this buff got away, you noticed the frustration in your PH? Really? Not very professional of him to throw a vibe your way, is it?

On the second buff, that you apparently just grazed and later took down, you wrote that the game scout "glared" at you, and that you felt like shit. Really? What's up with THAT?

On the one hand, screw him - where does he get off giving you the hard stare. You are the client, and indirectly responsible for his employment - plus....why can't he just be a normal human being and understand that sometimes people miss shots.

On the other hand, I would encourage anyone hunting not to let those on the staff influence your feelings, moods, nor should one allow them to give you shit about anything, as long as you are following rules and ethically hunting. In other words, don't be an ass, but the hunter is not there to please them, meet their expectations etc. The hunter is there to do his best and enjoy the experience.

With your PH, how was your communication with him? Any problems in your interaction/communication?

Did you think or were you told you would be hunting with Peter Chipman?

I ask because I have had good PHs and bad ones- the personal interaction and comfort level is key to a good hunt. Some guys are professional enough in everything they do it is not an issue, but it sure helps. This topic of PH/client "chemistry" has been discussed on this forum before, as has the issue of booking with a black Africian vs. a white African PH.

Did you see any cultural, for lack of a better term, obstacles to your interation with this PH?

Well, don't want to hijack your thread, but you got a great buff, really, and saw those leopards! Heard lion and hippo just outside! Got chased by Elie! What a great experience, I wanna go too!

Donato

Thanks for posting a very enjoyable and informative report.

You were very lucky to see the three leopards and lioness in daylight. As for the lions walking through the camp at night, makes going for a night walk to the 'conveniences' a bit of an adventure too .

Great report. Very nice piece of writing.


BTW, that is an impressive buff.

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the report and pictures!

I'm glad everyone enjoyed the report. I'm sorry I got into so much detail and made it more like a story. If I could write as well as the Judge I would cleaned it up and sent it to African Hunter Mag to see if they would print it. too much work. If it wasn't for Bill C you wouldn't be reading this. Thanks again Bill.

BT: Hope to read your report soon. It will be great to see how you and your family did. Great buffalo. You did well

Mike: I know you will have a great story to tell after your 21 day hunt in TZ. Good Luck.

John: Because of the darkness and the near by elephants we did not look for bullets. My first shot was a little high and may have broken his shoulder because he didn't or couldn't follow his buddies into the creek bed. The second shot put him down with in ten feet of the hit. My PH made me shoot him twice more between the shoulder after he was down. Probably didn't need them but why make him suffer any more than he needed to. I will use that bullet again on buff if I hunt them again. I bought the Ruger 375 off of my friend when he told me he wanted to sell it. Why anyone would sell a rifle that will shoot close to a 1/2 inch is beyond me.

404 J: Yes the was a little bit of miscomunications at first. If the tracker had told me he was just over the rise at 40yd I would have tried an off hand shot at him. My PH and I saw the bull for the first time when he set up the sticks. That lone bull was real smart and I'm glad I got to hunt him two more times. He was the first big bullalo I got close to on the hunt that I could have shot. In a way I'm glad he got away and I will always remember him, maybe more so than the buff I shot. I know he was over 40 inches.
Leslie my PH was not much of a conversationalist and could be short at times. This distracted from the hunt a little, but very little. Maybe because he was a big guy he hunted very smart, but in all fairness he was a very good PH. Human nature is a funny thing and all hunters and PH's aren't created equal. When you hunt buffalo your part of a team and the rest of the team is going to test the new guy. The brush was the only reason I didn't kill the buff with my first shot. Lesson learned, don't shoot through it unless you can find a hole you can put a bullet through. That little episode almost cost me my buffalo but made for a good story. The buffalo I shot was every bit as big as the lone bull that got away.
I didn't ask for a certain PH when I hunted with Peter. I would hunt with him again in a heart beat. His concession is full of game especially big buff and elephants

Great hunt report, and some nice pictures to set the stage.

Donato

Glad you had a successful safari. I personally hunted Lower Lupande in '98 for 17 days. I could easily identify some of the scenes in your pictures. That whole Lunangwa river corridor is a very special place and it really comes into its own in August-September as the water dries up in the bush.

I do agree with the comments about you getting atittude from the crew. There should be absolutely none of this particularly from the crew and game scouts. When hunting shit happens and every shot will not be perfect. A smart PH and crew will keep the safari upbeat all the time and make it apparent that they are working for you which they are.

Mark

Excellent report and pictures...and timely for me as well! I will be hunting the Luangwa Valley in August for buff, hippo and croc and was eager to learn about the area! Thanks...that's what makes these forums great...up-to-date intel.

Congrat's again Bob on a classic buffalo hunt in REAL Africa. In my mind, there are several marquee destinations where one can hunt buffalo, one of which is the Luangwa Valley.

Donato,

Great report.

Don't beat yourself up too much about that first shot. I have been surprised more than once at how little brush it takes to deflect a bullet far enough off course to wound or miss, even with a heavy caliber rifle.

How amazing is it, though, that you caught up with and killed the same buff? You had your ju-ju and mojo both workin'!

Congrats!

Exciting to read, well done and congrats on a super hunt. I will be joing bwanamrm this fall on the Luangwa and I can only hope match your success.

Excellent report..!! You did a fine job communicating some of the angst that can be part of a typical hunt. Too many big-time writers make it seem like everything always goes just right. A well written dose of reality for those that haven't had that experience is welcome.
Congratulations..!!
Don

Donato Thanks for a great report. And a lesson to us all on "cowboying up" when things aren't exactly perfect and making it happen.