Hunter: Ahmed & Shahmeer Sultan


Area: Bubye Conservancy, Zimbabwe
Camp: Lamulas Lodge
Booking Agent: Brent Hein Safaris
PH: Mark Brewer
Rilfe: .470 N.E., 300 Win Mag and .22 Mag for Shahmeer
Game Hunted: Cheetah, Buffalo and plains game.
Game Hunted but not taken: Cheetah and Eland.
Date: 01st to 10th July, 2012.

The whole idea of this hunt was to introduce my 9 year old son to Africa and for him to hunt few small game and along the way I wanted to collect a Cheetah and a few good trophies of plains game that I could find. The safari was booked through Brent Hein Safaris, who did an exceptional job sorting all the details. We took a total new battery of rifles from which we had never hunted before but they all worked great! Especially that Blaser is just a topnotch piece of equipment and a real delight to operate and shoot.

Travel: Emirates Airline has started a new service to Harare via Lusaka from Dubai and it worked very well for us with the traditional unrivaled top quality travel experience with Emirates. However, on the way back our pilot got sick during the Harare-Lusaka leg and we had to spend a night in Lusaka, things went haywire at Lusaka airport where we had to wait long, the mismanagement by Emirates caused some real problems for passenger and that reflected in everyone’s behavior with quite a few arguments. Anyways that delay cost us two days as we had to spent another night in Dubai.


Ph: Mark Brewer is a very hard working PH who knows his job well. He is a thorough gentlemen and a pleasure to hunt with. I have earlier in 2008 hunted with Mark’s brother Steve both are excellent guys. The fact that Mark has been hunting / working on Bubye conservancy for over 10 years now, greatly helps as he has very extensive knowledge of the area.


Camp: Lamulas lodge is a ultra-luxurious 5 star camp in the middle of African bush.












Food: The food was great and as good as any African Camp that I have been to:


Usually we had lunch in camp




Hunting:
I had earlier hunted Bubye back in 2004 with my father, back then it was good but it is even better now. We saw a lot more buffalo and lions this time but increase in lion population has resulted in a severe decline in Cheetah population and we never saw a male Cheetah in 10 days of hunting. The abundance of plains game is the same, however, one really has to work hard to get good trophies.
















Shahmeer’s first Guineafowl and Francolin


Shahmeer’s first animal, he shot it on the second day, what a moment for him and I really enjoyed seeing him take his first trophy.


Shahmeer’s First Impala






For the first six days we kept on looking for a good trophy of any animal on the license and tried as hard as we could but despite seeing thousand and thousand animals we just couldn’t find what we were looking for. That elusive Cheetah was also nowhere to be found. We then lowered our target from good to respectable trophies and this resulted in getting this water buck, my first animal on day 7!




We continued our search, with the time running out I don’t wanted to shoot just any Buffalo, so I decided to take a Zebra and Giraffe as I wanted to try the double.











We continued our search, Shahmeer would shoot Francolin and Guineafowl when he could, he also tried to shoot Jackal, Civet and Genet but was not successful.








We then got lucky with a Buffalo with a herd of 7 Dagga boys. We chased them for couple of hours before a long opportunity from about 110 yards presented itself in a clearing, it was now or never situation, I took the shot hitting the bull, the buffalos ran, I fired the second barrel but did not connected. We walked upto where the bull was standing and after 10 yards found blood, then a bit further we started seeing frothy blood indicating a lung hit, we gave the bull 30 mins then followed it in some thick stuff, we found the bull and had to dispatch him at close quarters with Shahmeer sticking right with me the whole time what an great experience for him.




We continued our search for Cheetah without much success…..




We did find a nice Kudu though on the last day.




On the way back Shameer said that he enjoyed his safari very much and he wants to Come to the same area, same camp with the same PH next year! I managed to hook him for life to the great sport of hunting.

What a great introduction to hunting in Africa you have offered your son. Heck, that would be a great safari for anyone!

Very nice start to a lifetime of hunting memories.

Congrats to you both!

Love the giraffe/double photo.

Congratulations on a successful introduction to hunting for your son. A wonderful experience for both of you.

Congratulations to both you and your son on a great safari! What memories you will share.

A truly great trip, I am sure your Shameer will never forget! Congrats, and thanks for sharing your pics.

Beautiful double...what make is it?

What a great way to introduce your son to Africa. I still remember some of the hunting trips my father took me on (no, not Africa) and I am sure he will always remember this experience. Eid Mubarak

Regards
"The other Saeed" lol

Absolutely a great hunt, I really enjoyed the pictures and tales of your son and his trophies. Taking a child hunting is an important step in raising a son to become a man.
Congratulations to you both.

Another generation of great African hunters has been started!

I just love it when kids go hunting.

I can't think of better way for you to have spent time with Shahmeer.

Thanks for taking us along with the pictures.

Congratulations on a great hunt and memories that your son will treasure or the rest of his life.

What a great safari!
Love the photo of the impala & Shameer with his hat cocked a little sideways. Cool Dude.

Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

quote:

Originally posted by Grafton:
Love the giraffe/double photo.

Grafton, the Giraffe was missing his left eye! so it seemed like a nice idea to cover it with the rifle :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Beautiful double...what make is it?

Biebs, thanks that is a Krieghoff .470 N.E. lot of people have many things to say about the Krieghoff doubles, I found it to have a great balance and it is very accurate. This was the first time ever I used a double and I liked it.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Another generation of great African hunters has been started!

Yup, time is flying and we are getting old :-)

What a wonderful introduction to a future African hunter. Way to go Dad!

Shahmeer outstanding with the eye of a hawk. Made the shots. The best in your future hunts.

Mike

Shahmeer will always remember this first safari no matter how many he goes on. Some great photos and thanks for introducing a child to hunting. Enjoyed the report.
It does not get any better than hunting with your children.

Ahmed my friend! OUTSTANDING!!! What a great report and pics! I'll be hunting the Bubye Conservancy in 12 days!

A very cool read! Congratulations to you both! Did your son really take an impala with a .22?

Fantastic trip, and amazing way to introduce him to africa!

Orvar

Handsome boy, great trophies and excellent report!!

Ahmed,

You are doing the right thing. Time spent with the boys will be something that becomes part of them. Your gift to your son will last a lifetime.

Thank you for sharing!

Best

Great looking hunt and proud for you for introducing your son into our sport!

What a perfect hunt and destination for the lads first trip to Africa. I am envious, you guys are going to have such great times together in the coming years. Well done Ahmed!

Truly a wonderful hunt...I love the father-and-son trophy photos.

Well done sir. A few more years and I hope to post a similar report.

Congratulations on a great hunt. I get all choked up when I see young kids get into hunting! What an experience it must have been for him to be in Africa, shoot game and actuially be present when a buffalo is shot!

Thanks for sharing.

I still remember my first big game hunt with my father so many years ago. The man and the trophies taken are now gone but the smell and sights still come back in my mind.

Ahmed congratulations on a great safari to you both.

Arjun

Congratulations! There nothing better than hunting with your kids!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

quote:

Originally posted by Harry: Shahmeer will always remember this first safari no matter how many he goes on.

Very true Harry, not long ago (well 15 years earlier) my father took me to my first African Safari and after so many hunts I still remember that hunt and I really appreciate my father taking me along and giving me opportunity to shoot trophies.

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Ahmed my friend! OUTSTANDING!!! What a great report and pics! I'll be hunting the Bubye Conservancy in 12 days!

Thanks UEG, good luck for your safari what are you hunting there? it is a very very dry in the conservancy now.

quote:

Originally posted by Muntjac:
A very cool read! Congratulations to you both! Did your son really take an impala with a .22?

Thanks Muntjac, yup with one very accurately placed .22 Mag Solid bullet, we had to work to get an impala to stand long enough broad side on max range of 80-90 yards. Shahmeer hit him on the crease and the bullet exited on the middle of far shoulder. The impala ran 50 to 60 yards before giving up, no other shot by anyone was fired. I have worked with him on shooting range quite a lot and he is very accurate with that .22 Mag, on 10 days Safari he shot over 100 Francolins and some Guineafowl as well.

Some very special memories that will last a life time.

quote:

Originally posted by Bill C:
What a perfect hunt and destination for the lads first trip to Africa.

Thanks Bill, I put a lot of thought and then decided Bubye has to be the place for this hunt.

quote:

Originally posted by Nicholosi:
Well done sir. A few more years and I hope to post a similar report.

Thanks Nicholosi, good luck and I will look forward to your report in time.

Ahmed, Cograts to you and Shahmeer on a great sfari. I will be taking my son to Africa next year for his first as well. Nicely done...

I was brought up by my grandfather, who went nowhere without his rifle.

In fact, I used to take my 410 shotgun to school with me, and leave it behind the class room door. On the way home I used to shoot see birds for us to have for dinner.

Ahmed,

Congratulations to you and Shahmeer. How nice for you to be able to take your son to Africa on his first safari. If time allows I'll get to visit the Bubye in a few days and I'm really looking forward to it.

Mark

Outstanding!! You are both so lucky to have shared this experience.

Cheers
Jim