I am typing this on an I pad as we head home. I apologize in advance for typos and those annoying auto-corrects. I will edit later.

Client- Larry Shores

Observer- Dr. Mary Lynn Brown (my wife on her first trip to Africa)

PH- Peter Barnard - I have known him between 15 & 20 years but was my first hunt with him.

Cameraman- Murray Osborne

Trackers- Manager & Emanuel

Game Scout- Megotcha

Guns- Rifles, Inc. 416 Remington Magnum , VC 500 NE

Dates- July 9-19,2017

Camp- Ngali camp of the BVC

PRE-HUNT

The pre-hunt preparation and travel was both entertaining and eventful. Mary Lynn was terrified. We were going to a serious DG area. There are things she had to be told. For example , she could not go running at lunch time for obvious reasons. While these would not phase most of us, to someone who has never been it was terrifying.

Then there was the issue of her being a doctor. When I take my medical materials, my kit is quite small. Not my wife. She must have had at least 20 pounds of medical kit. Fortunately, very little of it was used. There are worse things than being married to a surgeon. This was especially true when I got a thorn deep in my foot. Emphasis on deep.

In Atlanta, we met Cal Pappas and had dinner with him in the Atlanta airport. Much to my surprise, Mary Lynn and Cal had spent a good part of their lives in the same area. We had an enjoyable dinner.

On the flight , Mary Lynn's ankle blew up to at least twice its normal size for some unknown reason. Not good. She was limping badly. Ms. Orthopedic Surgeon had no idea what had happened. I was worried.

We overnighted in Johannesburg. The Intercontinental was as good as always. Mary Lynn was quite surprised to experience a hotel like this in Africa. I took her to the Ocean Basket for prawns. She loved them.

We flew to Bulawayo the next day. All went relatively smoothly with one exception. I noticed that my visa expired before we were scheduled to leave . We had to deal with that. Plus they wanted to count our money. I hate that. Finally we were done. Off we went for a drive to the BVC. We got there too late to do anything such as site in the rifles. One interesting item of note was that we passed the property on which I had my first safari in 1988.

DAY 1- after breakfast, the first order of business was to zero the rifles. I fired one shot with the 416. Perfect. Peter got out sticks for the 500. I told him I would shoot off the jackets piled on the front of the truck much to his surprise. I fired the first shot. Perfect. I shot the second barrel for the hell of it. Damn I love that gun but I don't know why I brought it.

We were not 250 yards from the gate of the camp checking the zero. One of the trackers noticed the tracks of two dagga boys. Off we go.

Tracking conditions suck. The grass is very high from the rains. We go for a few miles. Mary Lynn is limping like crazy. She wouldn't quit if she had a compound fracture. The track is lost several times. I have to explain what is going on. She is totally fascinated. I can also predict what is going to happen as the wind is shifting all over hell and back . Busted. Game over.

I have to add something here. We stopped at one point. I didn't know why. I knew we had not lost the track as I could clearly see them. When Manager and Emanual returned, they had cut Mary Lynn a walking stick which proved to be most helpful. These guys were good . I saw a big tip in their future.

As we walked back to the truck, we see some zebra. We make a stalk. I decide to whack one. We get in position. I am on the sticks. I fired certain that I was on target. Long story short, I missed. I was puzzled. I don't care if I miss but I was certain I was on this zebra. Murray reviews the footage. What appears to have the happened is that I cranked the scope to 6x. As the zebra moved, there were some limbs in the way that I could not see through the scope that were fairly close to me. I hit them. At least I knew why.

We continued hunting. The full moon was coming . We were seeing a lot of game but not as much as the sign we were seeing would indicate that we should see. Later that afternoon, we put a stalk on more zebra. We followed them a ways. I took a shot from maybe 130. I heard the bullet hit. I could see blood blowing out the exit. I knew this one was done. He dropped in a few yards.

It was hysterical to watch Mary Lynn analyze the damage done. Blood and guts don't phase her. She was seriously into the anatomy of the various animals.

DAY 2- We left camp and had not gone far when Manager spotted a bush pig. This was a target of opportunity that I was not expecting. We exited the truck and made a short stalk. I took a shot at slightly less than 100 yards. The pig was clearly hit but ran. Just a few yards away, I saw it's feet kicking in the air. It was down.

We got to the pig. Everyone was happy. I noticed something. There were tooth wounds in it's throat! Hmmmmm. Then we noticed a big wound on the top of it's head. Hmmmm. This pig had escaped a close encounter with something. My guess is a young lion. Damn we all want to know. Fascinating!

When the pig was skinned, the teeth of whatever attacked the pig had gone into the skull in several places. Bush pigs have a honey comb type skull similar to elephants . Thus, this did not kill the pig.

We carry on and find tracks of a group of dagga at a water hole . Game on! Off we go.

We follow the tracks, again in horrible tracking conditions. In about a mile and a half, we spot the bulls. I think there were 8 of them. Some were lying down. They weren't far. Certainly less than 100 yards. There was no cover between us. We were not getting closer. I recon we were about 70 yards. Some were young bulls. One was an old bull. He was gray and limping. Body size wise, he was big. I could never tell about his head gear. We could finally tell the one remaining bull was also an old bull. He stood and started to walk off. I hammered him. He went down on the spot. No drama at all, thank goodness. I sent him another 400 grains in the chest for good measure. Blood was spurting out in a stream about 2 feet long. Of course, that was all Mary Lynn noticed. I laughed my ass off.

This was an old bull. A lot of wear on his head hear. It was the type of bull that should be hunted. I hate like hell that we only walked 1.5 miles .

This bull marked by 50th buffalo.

We elected to walk back to the truck and also back in with the truck. After the buffalo was loaded, we elected to walk out to the road. As we got to the road, I noticed my sticks were missing . As Pete and the trackers went back , Mary Lynn, Murray and I walked a short distance to a waterhole hoping that a warthog would show. Pete told me not to shoot a sow. I told him to F off .

The waterhole proved to be quite entertaining. There was a mass number of these birds called quella(Spelling?). It was fascinating to watch them. It was shocking to hear the noise of their wings as well as seeing the disturbance their wings made on the surface of the water. As interesting as this was, it was about to get better . A peregrine falcon showed up and was attempting to hammer one of these. All I can say was that it was fascinating, absolutely fascinating.

We continued hunting seeing a wide variety of game . Later that afternoon, I shot a jackal offhand at a pretty fair distance.

Not a bad day.

DAY 3- I wanted an nyala and a giraffe. The BVC is loaded with giraffe. We had seen a few good bulls the day before. I have taken a single nyala in my life, that was in 1993. I decided if I had the opportunity, I would take another.

On the way out that morning, I shot another jackal with the 416 at long range. Something over 200 yards. Peter couldn't believe it but there it was dead as a door nail.

We got out to walk near this river to look for nyala. We had only gone a few hundred yards when we spotted one of the giraffe bulls from the day before. Back to the truck we go and I get my 500 NE. We put the slip on the giraffe. I shoot from about 65 yards. The first shot hits him hard. I quickly fire the second barrel also hitting him hard. He went down in less than 50 yards.

As we walk up to him, I have to hold Mary Lynn back. I know what is coming and I don't want to see her get hurt or even killed. The involuntary kicking of the legs is coming. When that started her jaw about hit the ground. She was astounded.

After the kicking was over, she inspected the bull. She had found something of interest. This bull had a very large , very deep abscess. Our theory is that the giraffe has run into a broken limb or tree trunk and gotten this wound at some point in the past. It had to be painful. It may have even been fatal ultimately. It was a nasty wound.

I would comment here that at the BVC, they take damn near everything from an animal. They leave the stomach contents and the large intestines . EVERYTHING else is taken.

After the recovery was finished and we ate, we went hunting again. I passed some kudu bulls . On the way back, we saw a pride of lions.

The success during the first three days was nothing short of phenomenal.

DAY 4- As good as things had been, this day was going to put the others to shame in many respects.

We were going to make a long drive to another area to try for nyala. Honestly, between the full moon and cloudy weather, we had not seen the number of animals one would have expected. I had opined that things would get better later in the week . Well, this was later in the week.

We saw two different prides of lions very early on. We saw a phenomenal amount of PG. Giraffe, impala, zebra, blue wildebeest , eland, etc in numbers we had not seen before. At some point , I looked off to my left. I thought I saw a leopard. Then I realized it was not one but three cheetah! Unbelievable ! What a rare event.

We carried on. We got out to walk. Several nyala were spotted. I was looking and listening. We got very close to a solitary buffalo bull. I never saw him but he had to be close close from the sign. We carried on for a while. Then we spotted an nyala bull that was far larger than the one previously taken in 1993. Up go the sticks, down goes the nyala. What a beautiful animal.

We are a long way from camp. I insist they we must gut the nyala. Also, we must cut branches to covert the nyala to protect it from the sun. Off we go.

That afternoon, we go out again . I pass a variety of PG. We decide to run a spotlight on the way back to see what could see. We were not far from camp. I had seen eyes on the right hand side of the road. Manager has them stop the truck and back up. I am sitting in the back. He is whispering mbada mbada mbada. I am looking all over hell for the leopard. Then I look straight down on the left hand side of the truck(I am in the back of the truck). The damn leopard is less than 10 feet from me laying by the side of the road! It could have easily jumped in the back of the truck. It was acting very strangely. We watched it for a while. Something was not right. We had various theories but who knows why it acted that way.

Day 4 ended with us having seen lion, leopard and cheetah in the same day. Not many can say that. Now, that is impressive enough but that was not all. We also saw brown hyena on two different occasions. In 24 previous safaris, I had never seen one.

What a day. Definitely a memorable day.

DAY 5- We hunted most of the day primarily looking for eland or kudu. I passed some kudu I should not have passed. We never got close enough to the eland.

On the way home, I remember thinking that this may well be a day where I get nothing. A few minutes later, I saw something move in front of us. I wasn't sure what it was. I knew it wasn't a large animal. All of a sudden there was a mad scramble. It was a rather large African wildcat. As best I can recall, the last one of those I saw was in 1988! I shot him with Peter's 22. How lucky could I be?

DAY 6- We left camp that morning. I was primarily thinking about kudu and eland. I was pondering shooting another buffalo but the trophy fee was quite high. There were some other animals available .

We had gone a fair distance when one of the trackers said kongoni, kongoni. We got out to have a look . There was this rather unique blue wildebeest . His left horn was beyond massive. The right side was deformed. We decided to for it.

We got into position. I got on the sticks. I was on the wildebeest . Boom. I could hear the bullet hit. I was confident.

We walked out to where the bull had been . I am looking at the ground. I see tracks but no blood . Hmmmm. I am thinking either we are on the wrong track or I gut shot this critter. I see zebra run. Hmmm. We move up. It is apparent the wildebeest had been standing there hurting. Lots of blood on the ground. The zebra had made him run. Bastards!

We follow. At first, I was hopeful given the blood. At some point, I knew I had gut shot the animal. How I do not know . I was confident of the shot but clearly I had made a mistake. We followed for a long time. The wind was not our friend. It was blowing like hell. At some point , we lost the track when a herd of wildebeest crossed the track of ours. Dejected but realistic, we gave up. I felt like hell. It has been a very very long time since this has happened to me.

I played things back in my mind. I still don't know what went wrong. Clearly, I made a mistake somehow or another . I accept full responsibility.

DAY 7- We continued hunting . Like a total idiot, I passed some kudu that I probably should not have.

Peter had slightly less than a box of shotgun shells. In the afternoon, he asked me to shoot some guinea fowl for the guys. I shot a few. We stopped at a waterhole. I shot the remaining shells at sand grouse. Got quite a few.

DAY 8- We concentrated on primarily looking for kudu and eland. Although warthog, zebra and wildebeest were still on the list.

I continued to pass on kudu that I probably should not have. Having killed a few real whoppers in my life has made me a bit more selective I think. We chased eland a few times. Got close but not close enough.

In the afternoon, we found ourselves surrounded by zebra. There was a big stallion. I decided to take him. I hammered him good and proper right through both shoulders. He ran a few yards and was done. Surprisingly, there was not a drop of blood.

DAY 9- This was the last full day. We were only going to hunt a half day the next day.

Off we go. Near some waterhole we spotted some wildebeest . We made a stalk on them. I put 400 grains through both shoulders. He went down where he stood.

We moved on to look for kudu. However, eland interrupted us. We tracked eland for quite a while. I could have shot a small one but passed. I could never get a shot at the big one. We moved on.

At some point, we spotted 3 kudu bulls. We got out and tried to put the move on them. They started crossing this river. They were way out there. Perhaps 200 yards and the wind was howling . The big one stopped and turned broadside. I fired . The impact of the bullet could be heard . One could clearly see the bull was hit. He had a major reaction. We had to follow him a way but we got him. His left shoulder was totally smashed. The exit made a massive hole in him. How he went anywhere is beyond me but I am glad he did as you will see.

As we were following the kudu, I looked to our left. I could not believe what I saw. There was a massive old boar warthog. The biggest I have seen in 15 years. I hammered him. He dropped in his tracks. I recon he is in excess of 13 inches.

Hell of a day.

Day 10- we were only going out for half a day as we had to go back to Bulawayo. To make a long story short, the day sucked. The weather was bad. It even rained. Regardless, we enjoyed getting out one last time.

OTHER COMMENTS-

Hunt issues- please note that these are not complaints. These are simply issues that arose.

1- Weather had direct and indirect impact on our hunt. The abnormally large rains left a hell of a lot of grass for this time of the year. This made spotting animals and tracking difficult.

We had three days of extreme clouds. These included (at different times) highs winds, fog and even rain on some of the days. This seems to shut down the animals. It is what it is. Nothing anyone can do about it.

2- Allergic reactions. For a while, we thought that both Mary Lynn and I were getting sick. Within two hours of leaving the camp, we were both markedly better. Ultimately, it was clear that we were both having a severe allergic reaction to something in the camp. Murray thinks it is the thatching . He explained it. I doubt I could accurately explain it. I will say the reaction was severe.

3- Birds. Words can not describe the number of birds we encountered. This was my 25th Safari . I figured I had pretty much seen it all. Wrong! I never consider that birds could cause much of an issue on safari . They surely did here. When we got to a water hole, virtually all sign had been obliterated by guinea fowl tracks. There were that many of them. It was shocking. What this required was moving away from the water to look for sign. Say 100 yards or so.

Staff- the trackers and the game scout were excellent. They were polite, skilled and hard working. The even had a great sense of humor. I cannot say enough good about them. We made several video clips on our phones using the trackers. These are hysterical. They were sent to other people. One of our close friend is a PH who was operated on for cancer while we were there. This video they helped make was absolutely hysterical. It helped him through his hospital time. I would post it but his name is in it. Maybe I can edit it. I know our friend laughed like hell when he got it.

Pete- I have known Pete a long time, a very long time. This is the first hunt I have done with him. I would not hesitate to recommend him. I will add that Pete carries more of a medical kit than I have ever seen. In addition, one of the trackers even carries a small medical kit on his back in the field. I have never seen that before. He is a very nice guy, skilled as a PH. Funny as hell.

The BVC- I don't know where to begin. I do not believe that we saw as much game as we might have seen had the grass been at normal levels. Everywhere we looked the ground was just beat the hell down with tracks. There are tons of PG. However, some species are notably missing. Bush buck for example. My guess is that there are too many predators there. Lions and wild dogs have hammered them. Would I go back? Absolutely!

Close calls- We had none while hunting there. The young girl was killed by lions near Chiredzi while we were in Zimbabwe. That sent Mary Lynn into convulsions. We did go the the RSA for a few days. We went on a game drive in Pilanesburg. Our "guide" was a nice girl but knew nothing about DG. She put us in an extremely dangerous situation with elephant cows, emphasis on extremely. This situation could have ended very badly. It was bad enough that I was looking for an avenue of escape.

In retrospect, maybe we did have one. Sort of. While some might call it a close call, I think most would call it funny as hell. We were coming home one night. Peter almost always hooked up a spotlight to see what we could see hoping to see the big cats. Well, one night we saw two young lions off the right hand side of the road . Of course we stopped and looked. No big deal. When Peter cranked the truck , we had a flat tire. I started laughing as did Murray and Peter. Murray held the spotlight. I got out my flashlight as well as my rifle while the trackers changed the tire. At one point, Mary Lynn got out of the truck. She asked why I was shining the light on the left hand side of the road when the lions were on the right hand side? My response was that I was making sure them rest of the pride wasn't slipping up on us in the dark . She decided it was time to get back in the truck. Murray and I were quite amused.

Other interesting matters- We did see a black rhino on the 9th day.

We found the grave of a police officer who died in the 1800's . This was way off in the bush. Mary Lynn took a picture of his grave marker.

The BVC has some impressive anti-poaching activities. One of those activities is that every inch of fence line is walked daily by scouts looking for tracks of poachers. We saw the scouts several times. One day we saw two scouts. One was quite old. We stopped and talked to the old guy. He was born in 1933. He was 84 years old! He walked 10 miles of fence line every day. Impressive.

It was hard not to notice every hut for the scouts. Every single one was surrounded by electric fence for protection from the lions.

One day, we noticed two secretary birds. No big deal. Then we noticed that one had a snake. Out come the binos. It was a puff adder. They had killed it and were eating it. Off we go to take a look minus the trackers. They are shit scared of snakes. I kept asking Manager if he wanted me to get the puff adder for him. He wanted no part of it. I laughed my ass off.

I have not sorted put out how to handle the pictures yet. Mary Lynn took some really good ones. Ultimately, I will post some. It may take a while but her pictures are worth it. She is a far better photographer than me but that doesn't take much.

Great start to your report Larry. Eagerly awaiting the rest.

I want to be you.....

Nice report Larry.

One thing I have heard regarding lions is that clients have been complelled to carry loaded rifles to and from the dining area due to the close proximity of lions in and around camp. Don't recall which BVC camp.

Excellent

And I chased bush pig for 7 days in the save

Glad you did not shoot a honey badger

Mike

This is a great write-up. I look forward to the final.

My first trip to Africa was a buffalo hunt with Peter along the Zambezi just west of Mana Pools. Peter kept us laughing. It was a great hunt and the reason I have made 3 more trips to Africa.

As always a hunt to remember! Can't wait for the pics!!

Glad your wife enjoyed the adventure!!

Congratulations best regards, D. Nelson

Thanks for another great report on another great adventure.
Well done on the bushpig - I'm still chasing one after many years.
Looking forward to the pics.
Any chance you're going to make the video available ?

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:
Nice report Larry.

One thing I have heard regarding lions is that clients have been complelled to carry loaded rifles to and from the dining area due to the close proximity of lions in and around camp. Don't recall which BVC camp.

Mitch, ours was surrounded by an electric fence for that very reason. The amount of lion sign is astounding. I do not know about the others.

quote:

Originally posted by Dale:
This is a great write-up. I look forward to the final.

My first trip to Africa was a buffalo hunt with Peter along the Zambezi just west of Mana Pools. Peter kept us laughing. It was a great hunt and the reason I have made 3 more trips to Africa.

When I first took Mary Lynn to SCI, we went out drinking the night before the show opened with my usual group of friends which included Peter. She woke up and announced that she didn't think she could do that again. I am thinking WTF? We had only been going out a month or two. I was not sure if this was anti- hunting or what. Then she announced that her sides hurt from laughing so hard the night before. This seems to happen often the day before the show each year.

We did have a lot of laughs in camp.

quote:

Originally posted by Ridgeman:
Thanks for another great report on another great adventure.
Well done on the bushpig - I'm still chasing one after many years.
Looking forward to the pics.
Any chance you're going to make the video available ?

As far as the video goes, I will be honest, I am reluctant . I learned that one of my past dvd's was being sold by some unknown person in Germany.

In addition, several entities including DSC and myself were the subject of a frivolous lawsuit. They tried to say that I was in the hunting business due to these videos. I am not in the hunting business and never will be .

I will think about it.

quote:

Originally posted by Beretta682E:
Excellent

And I chased bush pig for 7 days in the save

Glad you did not shoot a honey badger

Mike

I did see one . I passed .

Glad the trip ended up well and that both you and your wife had a great time, also happy to see that despite your lengthy experience in Africa you still managed to be surprised and get some unexpected animals! Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the report and looking forward to the rest of it and the pictures. The BVC is a very special place. The number of lions there is amazing.

Congratulations on an exceptional hunt. Great report, and I look forward to the pictures.

Looks like a great trip, Larry.

Congrats!

Larry,

Nice report. Big congrats on what seems to be your new safari companion for life. Nothing like sharing the experience with someone you love.

Mark

Larry, Congrats on another great Safari! Looking forward to seeing some pics.

BVC is on my short list for one of my next Safaris...

Congrats on a great hunt Larry!

Great report, Larry! You have a gift for putting us right there with you whether you realize it or not. Pete was also my PH for my first trip in 2011. Glad to hear he still has Manager and Emmanuel-both good guys, very attentive. I also shoot a Rifles, Inc 416. In fact, Lex has become one of my best friends-we have traveled to South America for birds many times and hopefully for many more. Rich Tabor told me on my last trip to Hammond in the Save that what you experienced regarding too many tracks due to too much game was his only complaint about BVC. Did your wife enjoy the camp experience? If I would ever make it to the BVC I would want her to go with me.

Thanks.

My wife loved every minute of it except the allergies.

Nice report Larry. BVC is on my to do list.... one day.

Congrats to you and Ol Pete. That's cool that your wife had a great time as well.

Great report Larry! Having hunted the Bubye twice, I was seeing it all in my mind as you told it. My first hunt there was based at Ngali with Shawn Buffee and Martin Nel. The Bubye is indeed a very special place.

Thank you very much for letting us live vicariously through your great experiences! Looking forward to the pictures.

J

What a great trip. Thanks for putting this preliminary report down, looking forward to pictures.

Thanks all. I am slammed with work. I need to figure out a new host for the pictures. I will try and get that done.

Great report even without pictures yet!

Thank you Larry for such a great report!

I really like your writing style: short, succinct, informative, interesting, and very entertaining.

Hell. Now I have to go back and read all of your previous hunt reports!

I forgot to mention, I LMAO reading your wife's reaction to the first animal taken.

My wife is a Physical Therapist. In her schooling she had to take human anatomy disection on cadavers.

I didn't think we would ever leave the kill site on our first animal.

But I learned a lot about tendons, muscles, ligaments, organ positons in the cavity, etc.

A lifetime of knowledge...

Fantastic report Larry
well done on a good safe safari

Outstanding!
Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to see the pictures.

Ski+3

We are having difficulty with the pictures. I am looking for something simple to use from my phone. Any ideas?

Another outstanding report on a full, successful hunt!
I always enjoy them.
While you were there, I was next door at the Bubiana Conservancy and at the same time.

Congratulations.

Awesome report, Larry. I'm glad your wife enjoyed it, also. No one hassled her for transporting medical supplies? I'm finalizing my packing list now and debating what to bring for medical kit.

Not a word Brandon. It was probably not obvious. They were in several different packages which didn't look a whole lot different than what I had my clothes in.

Well done Larry. Glad your trip worked out for the best...even if you had to put up with Barnyard.

Glad you both had a great trip, Larry.

Thanks for posting another wonderful report.

Enjoyed your report. Do we get pictures?

Enjoyed reading your report. I too love the BVC (Lemco). I was there in June (Nengo Camp) and once before in 2013 (Samayangan Camp). My wife has been on three safaris with me and won't go anymore due to allergies. Too bad because she really loved the experience. We saw an amazing amount of lions in June. They were in or around camp most nights and were vocal all night long. Elephants too! High grass made tracking very difficult as you indicated. Thanks for sharing your safari adventure.