Hunt Type: Plains Game
Hunt Dates: Sept 7th - 16th, 2010
Hunters: Myself and my Dad
Safari Co: Roger Whittall Safaris
Location: Humani on the Save Conservancy/Zimbabwe
PH: Gareth LeCluse and Barry Poultney
Travel Agent: Debbie Trinidad - Custom Travel


I'm back from my 3rd hunt in Africa and best so far. For years I had read about the Save and the Humani ranch there in particular. Great plains game hunting and plenty of dangerous game running around sold me on going there.

I booked my hunt directly with RWS. They are very responsive to emails and working out the details went smoothly. I booked my flight with Debbie Trinidad at Custom Travel. I had never heard of her before, but was given her name by an agent I was dealing with on a Namibia hunt. Debbie is first rate. We flew SAA Atlanta, DC, Joberg, Harare...arriving at 9:20pm. SAA flights were as good as could be expected riding in coach. Staff was nice and really they fed us too much food. All luggage and guns arrived with us and getting through customs and firearm check was a breeze. Heck they never even opened my gun case. The customs guy stuffed my $30 visa money in his shirt pocket. I thought that was funny. We were greeted by Barry and we made the drive to Roger's house in Harare for a hot shower and a good night’s sleep.

We headed to camp the next morning. Driving through Harare was entertaining. You quickly realize you're not in "Kansas" anymore. Soon we were in the country and the drive to camp went smooth.

Once you cross the Save boundary it's about a 45 minute ride to Humani. We stayed at the Bedford tented camp. I had stayed in tents on my first trip to Namibia and really wanted that experience again. Bedford camp was perfect. The camp is remote but with just the right amount of convenience. The view from the campfire pit is across a large open plain to a water hole. There were normally always some game animals in view. The camp staff made us feel welcome and took excellent care of us. Food was very good too.






After settling in to our tents we headed out to shoot the rifles. I took a Winchester Model 70 30-06 and a CZ 550 9.3x62 both shooting Barnes bullets. 168 TTSX's in the '06 and 250 TSX's in the 9.3. The checking of rifles is always a bit of a nervous time, but I proceeded to put 2 rounds from each rifle in practically in the same hole 1 1/2" high on the target!! I quickly admitted that there was a bit of luck involved as the rifles really don't shoot that tight from my bench at home. But, for sure they were ready to go.



Here is what all our recovered Barnes bullets looked like.



My PH Gareth was late a day coming to camp and I was lucky to have Peter Wood to fill in. After shooting the rifles he told us to load up and we'd get in an hour or so of hunting. Five minutes out of camp I saw my first herd of cape buffalo. We saw several waterbuck and a ton of impala, but nothing worth trying a stalk on. Just before dark on the way back to camp I saw my first elephants of the trip.

Day 1
The only animal that I had as a priority on this trip was a nice kudu. I had yet to get a nice one on my previous 2 trips. Zebra, wildebeest, waterbuck, bushbuck, impala, and warthog were all on the wish list. Oh yeah...and baboons!!

Peter had seen a nice kudu a few days earlier on the river around 11am. We set out the first morning with plans to be at the river around then to look for the kudu. Around 8am we spotted 3 waterbuck from the cruiser and we quickly unloaded and started a stalk. The cover was the typical thick riverine that is located up and down the Turgwe river. We took a line that paralleled the path the waterbuck took and soon Peter stopped and started glassing. How he knew that was where we needed to be I don't know. About 75 yards away through a small opening an impala or 2 walked by and then a wildebeest. Next was the first of the 3 waterbuck. We were in a kneeling position with my '06 rested across shooting sticks. Peter said he was to small. The second walked through...to small. I saw the 3rd one's horns above the brush headed to the opening and honestly thought he was smaller than the others. He stopped perfectly in the opening and Peter gave me the go. The waterbuck reared up at the shot and took off and was soon out of sight. The shot felt good and we quickly followed up. <100 yds we found him piled up. My shot was a few inches behind the
shoulder and the TTSX was under the skin on the point of the off shoulder. We took several pics there and then took him out to the river for a few more.



We headed back to camp and made quick work of skinning the waterbuck and then headed out to look for the kudu on the river. Peter said that at 11am the baboons would come to the river and then all the other animals would come. And that is exactly what happened. We sat and watched the river for the next 2 hours. We saw lots of impala, bushbuck, nyala, warthogs, and kudu cows. The kudu bull didn't show. But, a nice bushbuck did and we decided to take him. It was a long shot, for me anyway, at 210 yds but I made the shot and he only ran about 20 yds. 1pm on the first day and 2 nice animals. We split 2 cold beers on the way back to camp.



We spent the afternoon trying to hunt down some baboons. The baboons won. I did miss one clipping a branch between us.

Day 2
The morning was pretty slow. We did run into a lazy baboon late in the morning that stuck around just a little to long. I shot him at about 125 yds with the 9.3.



Gareth showed up at lunch and I said so long to Peter as he was headed to Moz. for an upcoming safari there.

In the afternoon we took a long walk and saw a fair amount of game, but nothing to get us excited. We found several poacher's snares and pulled them out of service.

Day 3
We headed out to a zebra/wildebeest hot spot for the morning. After walking for about 2.5 hours we decided the spot wasn't that hot!! Once in the truck we drove past a water hole that we had walked past earlier and there were several zebra and impala milling around. We jumped out and the cruiser kept going. The zebra left but we were able to get up on some impala and I shot a nice ram at about 120 yds with the 9.3.



That afternoon we got on 5 wildebeest bulls right out of camp. We made a nice stalk and got in position with them about 125 yds out. Gareth told me which one to shoot and for the next few minutes he either seemed to be facing straight away or was broadside with another behind him....and then here came a truck full of game scouts driving by and the gig was up. We started tracking the 5 bulls and ran into a heard of zebra. The next hour or so we tried to get in position to see all the zebra, but never could find a stallion. Gareth suspected there was one there somewhere, but it was getting dark. We decided to push the zebra and hopefully make something happen. As we started this we ran smack into the middle of 5 wildebeest, probably the same ones as before, and up went the sticks. The largest slipped out of sight but Gareth said that the one quartering to us at about 50 yds was an old guy but not as big in the horns. I told him he looked good to me and he gave me the OK to shoot. He ran about 75 yds and tipped over. We sat and watched a very nice sunset while waiting for the cruiser. It was another fine day of hunting!!



Day 4
No game taken on this day, but saw lot of interesting stuff. We walked close to the river in the morning looking for kudu and there were lots of elephants in the area. Saw one bull close up and there were herds of cows trumpeting around us all morning. I haven't mentioned the butterflies yet. Hundreds and thousands of small white butterflies were everywhere which was very cool. In the
afternoon we saw 9 wild dog pups and then a few miles down the road 3 adults. Opps...I did shoot something on day 4...another baboon.

That night we enjoyed a cookout on the Turgwe river with 20 or so locals from Humani and neighboring ranches and another hunter from Humani's Turgwe camp.

Day 5
We started focusing our efforts pretty much towards where we thought we would find a kudu bull. If there is any plains game animal on Humani that's not a sure thing it's kudu, and I'm starting to realize that can be the case with kudu anywhere. We started the morning walking a dry creek bed hoping to find kudu and soon bumped 3 or 4 bulls. We started following up and got a quick look at a couple of them but couldn't tell a lot about their size. We continued following them and suddenly a zebra snorted and ran, but stopped facing at about 100 yds in a small opening. Up went the sticks and I shot him in the chest with the 9.3. He ran maybe 85 yds and was down and was a really nice stallion.



Nothing exciting in the afternoon. We did find a cow buffalo that had been snared a long time ago.

Day 6
Took a long walk in the morning looking for kudu. The area had lots of large baobab trees and I really enjoyed the walk. We eventually made our way down to the Turgwe river and as soon as the river came into view there was a kudu bull walking along the bank. He looked good to me. Gareth was on the fence on this one guessing him at 50-51". He eventually said we could do better.

Not much game spotted in the afternoon except for a spitting cobra!!! Gareth shot him with his .458 Win.

Day 7
In the morning we went on 2 long tracks of kudu bulls. One ended up getting the wind at his back and we gave up. The other group we eventually got up on but they surprised us and we were not ready for a shot. There was a borderline shooter in the group but they spooked into some of thickest cover on the property I'd seen and we decided it was useless to follow.

OK at this point we were headed to day 8 of 10 and the kudu were being stubborn. I wanted to do some bird shooting and had trophy fee money I didn't want to take home with me. I told Gareth if we saw another nice wildebeest or even a zebra and it was a good hunt I'd be happy to take one. I just didn't want to spend the rest of my safari chasing 1 kudu. He understood. We made a plan to hunt kudu in the mornings and in the afternoons look for other animals and do some bird hunting. Sounded like a great plan to me.

Day 8
We were planning to go to a part of the property we hadn't tried and Gareth wanted to get there around 9am. Through a series of events I won't try to describe around 8am we ended up tracking some kudu bulls no where close to where we planned to go. Forty-five minutes of tracking put us in range of 4 bulls...none of which were shooters. We headed back towards the cruiser at a fast walk.

We hit a road and were walking around a slight bend when all of a sudden a kudu bull feeding under nyala berry tree came into view. Gareth took one look, put up the sticks and said shoot him. He was facing straight on and looking at us. A kudu face on is not real wide and the crosshairs of the 30-06 wouldn't steady up. I whispered I would wait for him to turn. The bull turned quickly to run and as he did I shot and shot once more as he ran away. Everything happened fast and I really couldn't remember the sight picture but he seemed to be laboring some as he ran away. It was easy to pick up the running tracks and we found blood. We found a piece of bone. Not good I thought. He ran about 75 yds in the road and then turned into the thick bush. Another 30 yds and we found him piled up. There were high fives all around!! He was hit perfectly at a slightly quartering away angle. We went back and ranged the shot and found that it was 236 yds!!! No wonder I was having trouble steadying the rifle.





Day 9 and 10
With the kudu in the salt I was pretty much done. We would've taken a warthog if we saw one but they seemed to be scarce. I wanted to do some wingshooting so for the next 2 days we chased doves, francolin, and guinea foul. The bird hunting turned out to be a real highlight of the trip. One can only imagine how much fun it would be to have a nice trained pointer to hunt the francolin.

Another not so highlight was a mamba!! The 20 gauge took care of him.






My dad had a good hunt too although he came up short on the kudu. He could've taken one around 50" but choose to pass. He did take impala, waterbuck, wildebeest, warthog, baboon and a brute of a bushbuck. He shot a Weatherby .308 Win w/Federal 165 TSX’s.


Here are some misc. animal pics.
















Some nice sunrise and sunset pics.








I wanted to say a few words about my PH Gareth. My only apprehension regarding this safari was I didn’t have any references specific to Gareth. I knew he was a young guy (21 I think) and that he had been with RWS for 3 or 4 years. So I basically went on faith that RWS wouldn’t have a bad PH. Any doubts I had were quickly put to rest once I met him and we started hunting. He is mature way beyond his years with the safari smarts of a seasoned PH. We got along great and hunted hard. I’d recommend him as a PH to anyone.

Last sunset of the Safari.

Very nice pics and good shooting.

Mike

Awesome pics!!! great hunt.

Great report, animals, and pics! I, too, had a young PH on my first safari but he was great - I think there are some great young PHs out there now.

Great hunt, great report and that was one big ass spyder. My nephew and I hunted Savuli camp in the Save during July for Buffalo, leopard and plainsgame. Fortunatly we were successful at taking all with the exception of a Kudu for my nephew. I am glad we didn't see a killer spyder like that or i would have been carrying my nephew home on a stretcher...he hates spyders! Thanks for sharing your hunting experience in the Save. Africa is awesome!

Great pictures! It looks like a beautiful concession.

Great hunt. Did you use softs or solids on the spider?

Great report and photos.

The spider was taken with a size 13 Birkenstock. It came sprinting across my bathroom floor as I was getting ready for bed and nearly the whole camp heard me squeeling. I'm sure I looked something like this trying to stomp it. I took it to breakfast the next morning and no one seemed to concerned for my safety. Obviously they're pretty harmless.

Congrats on a great safari!!!

Very nice. I'm glad to see that North Alabama is becoming a hot spot for safari hunters.

I delivered a case of beer from Harare to Humani one time, but that's another story . . .

Were you on Humani when the rhino poacher was killed?

Great report. Congratulations on your kudu and other fine trophies (including the spider)!

Those sunset photos...tear at my heart...I just love Africa!!! Thanks for posting.

Best regards, D. Nelson

Congratulations !!
Great hunt, trophies, report....super pics !!
Bob

The rhino poacher was killed about a week after I left. While I was there some rifle shots were heard by a bowhunter sitting in a blind. Everyone started scrambling to find the source thinking there was a chance it was poachers. Ended up being a hunter near the property line from a neighboring ranch, but it was plain to see they take poaching seriously.

Outstanding!

Great hunt and photos Wyatt! thanks for sharing! jorge

Really enjoyed your report and photos. Thank you.

Very well done.

For the benefit of others, Gray Loeries are protected I think ... certainly in RSA, and it's not a game bird by any stretch. Can understand taking one for a mount, but two??

Excellent report and some nice animals!

Excellent hunt and congratulations.

My wife and I were next door at Mokore when you were on Humani. It is a great area.

Wyatt,

Glad it all worked out and you got the experience you wanted.

Congrats!

Mark

The kudu looks unusually small -- looks old and well-formed. I'm guessing instead that you are a very large man?

Well done!

Great stuff and thanks for sharing. I would really love to do my first African safari like that!

quote:

Originally posted by wyattd:
The spider was taken with a size 13 Birkenstock. It came sprinting across my bathroom floor ...

I'll be bringing a 12 gauge and some #8 shot to the bathroom with me in that case. I hate spiders!

Fantastic looking trophies!

Russ

FYI
Grey Louries ( G/way birds ) are not protected in Zimbabwe. Also pretty good to eat being a fruit eating bird.

Mart

wyattd

Fantastic hunt!! As you know i will be on Humani with my girlfriend in July 2011. I hope our hunt turns out as good as yours did. I bet you had a great first day with Peter Wood, he is a great PH and a very funny guy.

It looks like Roger has made some improvements to Bedford camp since the last time i was there.

Only 8 months to go until we get on that Air Zim flight from London, Gatwick.

Well done!
Congratulations on a great Safari!

I commented on another site but these are some excellent animals, Wyatt!! The commentary with the photos really makes a post a pleasure to read.

Thanks for sharing. Good report from happy days.

Great pictures. That's the camp where I stayed in July 2009. It makes me want to back so bad I can hardly stand it. A picture taken out t6he front door of my tent, last one down the line, is the wallpaper on one of my computers so I am constantly remined.
Thanks

Great stuff...congrats!

What a grand ol bush buck !!!
The Save is a real paradise and your photos captured it well! Congrats on a great safari!