Sitatunga Hunt..Zambia Tondwa Concession






Date: Oct 25 – Nov 4, 6 hunt days 4 travel days

Outfitter: Muchinga Adventures, Johnny and Laura DuPlooy

Agent: Mark Young, Mark’s Exclusive Adventures

Travel Agent: Steve, Travel with Guns

Airlines: AA and SAA

Animals on my “List”: Sitatunga, Puku, Bushpig

Animals Taken: Bushpig, Sitatunga, Puku, Warthog, Blue Duiker

Weapon of Choice: NULA Model 28 in 300 WSM

Crew: Nicky, PH; Kabwe, tracker; John, asst-tracker; Paul, cook; Idin, waiter; James, skinner; White and Joseph, water boys; Kelvin, Driver; and Scouts were Victor and Capital

Additional animals seen: Sable, Roan, Buskbuck, Common Duiker, Reedbuck,
several types of mongoose, Genet, Brown House snake (I think, was in my hut), Hundreds of birds and different types of geese and ducks

Additional animal tracks seen: Hippo, Spotted Hyena


This trip started back in 2004! After my first safari I was very intrigued with the spiral horn antelopes. After doing some research I found the Sitatunga would be on my list and also found the DuPlooys outfit. Wow, with the cost of this hunt I was sure it would just be a dream hunt for this animal. Since I’ve always been fascinated by it. I remember well watching Mr. Jim Shockey hunt one from a machan in a tree overlooking a swamp with tall papyrus. He had seen a few and finally took one with a long shot. Yep, hooked!

Well fast forwarding to 2016…. I had been working on a business deal for 11 months and was to sign papers the following day, when I realized that not everything was as I thought nor told. So in the 11th hour, I backed out to much much much relief. This would have become my own prison 2.5 hours away from home. Wife and kids were thrilled that I was home for good…. remember, I had planning this buyout for 11 months knowing that it would take me away from my family some. Well, now I was “free” for the fall with no hunt scheduled! Not a good place to be in!?! Everybody will agree with that, I’m sure!

So I’m on AR looking at some of the discounted hunts. I’m always amazed at some of the “give a ways” at the end of year. I now have an opportunity to cash in on one of these. Well, well…. A sitatunga hunt for ½ price!!! Could this be true??? And with the DuPlooys! So, I called a friend to get his thoughts, talked to the wife and kids getting their approval, then reached out to Mark Young whom was offering this hunt. After much communicating with Mark and Steve, dates were set, tickets bought and deposits sent. GAME ON!







So how big is Zambia? Here’s are couple of comparisons to western and eastern USA. Very Big. My travel would take me driving to Lexington, KY to the airport, then fly to Charlotte, NC to Dulles to Jo-burg to Lusaka (where I was picked up and stayed at the DuPlooys guest house overnight), up and a flight to Kasama. There I was picked up for the 4 hour drive..oops, it took 6.5 hours. I set a stop watch for this trip over…..from leaving house to camp = 48 hours! Arriving I was greeted by camp staff and PH, Nicky. I got settled in, went to verify rifle on spot and then had a spaghetti lunch.



View from camp.



Here I will not go into great detail of the day to day events. Will be brief and let the pics do a lot of the talking.

Day 1. Morning going after Sitatunga…Glassed from machan..Decided to go to another. Had not went far when trackers spot 3 bush pigs. New target. After a little running around got a 100-125 yrd shot off sticks. For you tape guys, he had 6 ¾” tucks.







For the evening hunt we took the canoe out to look for sitatunga. Got close to a 24” buck, but Nicky knew we could do better, so on we went. Within 15 minutes he spotted 2 that we needed to get a closer look. “Boss,we need to take this one.” After a little rowing closer, the winds really picked up. This was a blessing since there were several females between us and our target and we were jumping many ducks along the way. Nicky’s careful planning and stalking had me on stick within 150 yrds. Taped 28” and 28.5” with 9” bases. This is above their average.











So day one I have 2 of my animals in the salt!



Day 2. By noon we had seen the biggest Puku that I had yet seen. Nicky said that it is the one. So, what else does one do……. we get as close as possible, 180yrds. At the shot it drops straight down. I figured I must have shot high and spined it. After a simple glance on approach we could tell that it was a neck shot. I felt lucky because that was not where my crosshairs were…. The wind was stiff…. rather be lucky than good! Taped 16” with 7.5 bases.




Afternoon we hunt for blue Duiker. Nicky said they don’t really get out of the thick stuff till around 5pm. So we set up around 4:30…At 5:03 we had a one horned duiker right in front of us. I had my rifle and he held a shotgun if the closer shots were to present itself.

Day 3, 4, 5 were much the same. Driving around in the mornings for warthog and sightseeing while we had hunt for the duiker in the evening. We were able to “sleep in” these mornings. I was up by 5:20 every morning..would have my coffee and just sit and enjoy the view and the truly quite environment. I never heard the first jet/plane or any other traffic than that from our camp. Our weather was not as hot as I had expected. We had 85-95 highs and 68-78 lows. We had storms in and around us everyday. We did sit in the rain one evening as we were after blue duiker. We saw 3-4 shooter warthogs that I never could connect with… I was able to get a few guinea fowl for the boys..very happy with them.










Locals bag of catfish they had netted.



Day 6. Causal morning wakeup. I did go back to sleep until a little after 6am then had my coffee and oatmeal. As we drove around we saw another nice warthog. Some fast driving and maneuvering got us in front of our target. I was out and on sticks for a 100-125 yrd shot at a trotting hog. It was just a little back but he was mine. Took some pics then back to camp.





Final afternoon hunt. We sat in the same blind as the evening before. Yesterday we had a male come to the fringes of the bush right at dusk. I never could make out enough to get the shot. We also had had a lot of activity the day before, it had rained earlier in the day. We saw several common duikers, baboons and a puku. This evening was different. NO animals were stirring. It was just a little warmer, but there was nothing moving. The light started to fade and I was thinking what a great trip it had been. Kind of just giving up on on taking the second smallest antelope in the world. Then Kabwe got our attention as Nicky started to glass at the noise he heard. Two blue duikers came running from the thicket and both stopped about 80 yrds in front of us. Nicky quickly told me to take the right one…the male. I double checked that I was on the correct one and squeezed the trigger. I could not make out anything looking in the scope. Was it a male or not? I had to trust my PH. At the shot Kabwe and game scout sprinted to the animal. It had dropped at the shot. I may have been a little over gunned for this one.!!

What a hunt! I had taken all the animals I was wanting and then some. And quality animals at that!



Return home. Left camp at 2am for the long drive. We made it in 4.5 hrs. So, Kasama, Lusaka, JoBurg, JFK, Charlotte, Lexington and 3 hour drive... 46.5 hours to return home.



Some suggestions I shall make….

Don’t take to much stuff! It seems like in the last few hours before I leave on a trip I add a few more shirts, pants, socks, etc, “just in case”. I never need them. I had way too much clothes on this trip. But, I was not for sure what the swamp trekking would be like. You want pants to protect your legs in the reeds. Long sleeve shirt to protect arms from the reeds and the flying beasts. I wore the hat will a brim all around. This protected my ears and neck from the sun.

Shoes for swamp.. sandals with the Velcro straps in back and on top of foot. Need to be able to have a tight fit since the mud will try to keep them.

Electricity convertors…only if you have a phone, tablet, camera battery… to charge. The generator is on in the morning and the evening.

Battery ran fan.. I purchased and took a 10” fan that runs on 8 D-cells. Too big (with batteries), but there are smaller ones to get. A couple of nights the fan made it very comfortable…also, during a mid day siesta, the fan paired with a “chilly pad” is the ticket!!

BUG JUICE… A must have… Avon Skin so Soft! I used and was treated with much respect by the tsetse flies. I noticed several times that everyone, except me, was swatting and slapping at the little biting F-14 fighter flies. Now I was bitten a couple of times, but for the most part I didn’t have any issues with any bugs. I may mention that I was NOT in the swamp after dark!



Cell Phone/Satellite phone… Cell phone (At&T) had service in the mountains but not at camp. I rented a sat phone from Satellite Phone Solutions. Well pleased with their service. Sent the phone a couple days before I left (no charge) and had a week to send it back after return.

Binos.. I took 8 x 32s. From camp I could have used a spotting scope every minute. Take 10 or 12x binos. Know they will get heavy, but we did not do a lot of hiking around. The distance you are looking/judging animals may be in the mile to mile ¼ range. That extra power would have been nice. My PH had 10 x 42s.

Take plenty of pictures. And when you think you have taken enough….double it! I never take enough, even when I “KNOW” that I have.

Also, keep a small journal. It’s amazing how reading it will bring you back to the sounds, smells and emotions of your hunt.



Warnings…..

The ProFlight charters in Zambia will charge $25 fee for carrying a firearm. I’m not for sure if that is per case or per gun..I only took one gun. You are limited to 33lb on the outgoing flight. ALL luggage (yes, carryon included). Return from Kasama.. firearm and overage fees applied.
Now in Lusaka the agent will only take credit card or local currency while in Kasama they will not take a credit card but will take US dollar…go figure.

Zambia ammo tax…I took 40 .300 WSM cartridges. My ammo tax was $99.50 US. I really do not know how they assess this tax.

US dollars.. They will not accept bills printed before 2006.

Roads. Paved roads are in good shape. Dirt roads=we drove as fast as 60mph on the smooth to 10mph (too fast for those parts) on the rougher parts. Be prepared for windshield time.

Hunting Africa…IT’S NOT "A ONE TIME TRIP TO GET IT OUT OF MY SYSTEM!"!

Well done on your fantastic sitatunga.

Congrats on a super Sitatunga! Nothing like hunting new country... even if it takes 48 hours to reachYour luck prevailed again Skip.

Well done on a special trophy Skip. Hard to ever beat Muchinga for a flawless operation.

Fantastic report, and hunt. Glad you had a great time!

Thank you for the report. It's great to hear and see about hunts in Zambia. Looks like Muchinga Safaris took good care of you.

I'm glad my prediction came to fruition for yourself and not many days go by where I don't give thanks for being able to take one myself in Zambia.


Congrats

That is a great sitatunga!

Congrats on the hunt

Skip... great sitatunga! Well done man. Sometimes business deals fail for a reason and this was one of those reasons!

Jay and I were cheering you on in Texas. We need to get together and hunt soon. However we are not going to let you be the official photographer...

Never seen such small pictures in a hunt report. But big enough to tell they are superb trophies.

Great report Skip, interesting place to hunt for sure.

Great stuff Skip. Happy your usual fantastic luck held out for another trip!

Wow! Looks like great fun. Congrats.

Simply fantastic!!!
A dream come true for sure.

Ill be headed your way soon. We will have to atleast get together for dinner one night.

Wow!!! You made it easy!!! Beautiful trophies!

Best regards, D. Nelson

Guys and gals,

Thanks everyone! Zambia is awesome. If you've never hunted Zambia, you need to go!

Andrew, you live in a paradise of a country! Hope to visit you soon!

Jim...the DuPlooys are great and have done a wonderful job with Tondwa...think next year ends their 'lease'.

Jay and Tim...'Rather be lucky than good' ....I have been lucky!

AR man....you called the 28" Sitatunga!

Russ...Have gun and will travel ;-). And yes on the pics, small. I tried watering them to make them grow, didn't work and destroyed an iPad. Lol!


Steve...dinner will be on me!

Others...thanks again. Hope your huntings are fruitful!!