Area: Dande North
Dates: 20 - 26 November
Outfitter: CM Safaris
PH: Buzz Charlton
Trackers: Norest and Morgan
Driver: Paul
Apprentice: David Mann
Species: Tuskless elephant
Rifle: 416 Rem Mag Wincheste M70
Navigation: Garmin ETrex35 and Fenix 5x
Comms: Garmin InReach mini
Airline: SA Airlink

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair.”
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two cities

Published in 1859, it just as well describes the turmoil we have all experienced in 2020 perfectly.

My last contact with CMS was earlier this year cancelling a his and hers hunt that we had planned for 2021; with a family of 5 that have no child minders, the Rand plummeting against the US$ and economic prospects uncertain we thought that was the prudent thing to do.

Knowing in the back of my mind that it could be a good year to go up to Dande for a quick hunt I looked straight ahead and convinced myself that no such opportunity would or should surface.

I was packing early on a Friday morning late in October to take the kids on a game viewing trip to the Lowveld when the cat was thrown amongst the pigeons. Buzz Charlton sent me a Whatsapp to gauge my interest in a 7 day tuskless hunt. By this time I had already taken advantage on a couple of never to be repeated specials locally (including lioness and buffalo), the hunting fund had been used but not drained terminally.

The 5 hour drive to the Lowveld did give me some time to reflect on how to broach this delicate subject to the love of my life. She is just as an avid hunter and it would obviously be tough on her not to be going along to such an iconic destination as the Zambezi Valley. Like many other things in life the direct approach is usually the wisest and to my surprise her blessing was immediately pronounced on pursuing this opportunity.

A quick bit of research highlighted a couple of minor problems; I could not get a straight answer if I could fly with a gun, land borders with Zimbabwe is closed for tourism and November is traditionally a busy month at work.

This was quickly solved by planning to fly up, borrow a gun and ignoring the work (rather too well it turned out).
Alan Shearing kindly lent me his Winchester M70 in 416RM, nearly identical to mine.

Friday morning at 04:45 my wife drops me at OR Tambo airport to go back home, get the kids dressed, sorted and at school to go to work herself. Getting through the formalities with Covid19 takes a little bit longer but can’t be described as unpleasant.

It is a relief to finally rip off my mask when Buzz picks me up from the airport and get a breath of fresh air. He kindly takes me to his home for breakfast before we transfer my kit to the Land Cruiser and set off for Mukanga Camp in Dande. Driving into the Valley it is hot and dry, here and there the light green new foliage of the mopane is filled with the promise of the imminent breaking of the rains to welcome the wet season. This is actually my favourite time of year, the bush is grey, dry and barren but the promise of new life to blossom is thinly veiled beneath all this harshness.



We arrive in due time to still have lots of daylight for me to familarise myself with Alan’s gun before dark on the shooting range.

Saturday Day 1: 24km, 39 degrees C
We work a set of tracks early but the trackers can’t get it figured out and then rather walk a spring line searching for fresh tracks.



Understanding my keen sense for exploration and beauty in nature Buzz takes us for a walk down Mukanga Gorge, Norest disturbs a lioness that growls in displeasure and retreats reluctantly up the wall of the gorge with us blocking the exit of a herd of 5 elephants drinking water in her seep. We retreat to the opposite sandbank and I see a lion cub walking past us behind a boulder on the same bank. Interesting situation! As the elephants climb out of the gorge we make ourselves scarce and continue downstream.






A huge boulder blocks most of the riverbed, as I skirt round we hear something growl (with lion on the mind) behind us. Norest, Buzz and I stop and wait for the team, nobody follows and puzzled we walk back to find David vomiting. We realise he is suffering from heatstroke, the pace slows right down as we rest and water him frequently. His youth allows for a quick recovery and his grit and determination is commendable.

Sunday Day 2: 18km, 41 degrees C
We follow a set of tracks from the Angwa River but find no tuskless in the herd. We do a walk into and then bump a herd close to Sandgrouse spring, but also no tuskless. After a long circuitous drive we set off to walk back to Sandgrouse spring via another spring but the walk is a lemon for elephant. We do however spot Ground Hornbill which is always a great sighting in my books.




Monday Day 3: 14km, 42 degrees C
A set of tracks early is found early on the security road, we find the elephants quickly but no tuskless in the herd. Two further walks produces no results.





Tuesday Day 4: 14km, 42 degrees C
Picking up tracks from a village on the Angwa we catch up with elephants as they start to settle down for a rest in a riverline deep in the jess. There is a suitably sized tuskless but with a dependant calf in close proximity. Two other elephant herds join up to make up a total of close to thirty elephant, as the trackers maneuvre to inspect all the elephants they catch a whiff of human scent and in final confirmation the calf joins the tuskless cow in running off.





In the midday heat we work a riverline deep in the jess where we meet up with 3 different herds of elephants but none contain a shootable tuskless. The setting is beautiful and ancient, in the fantasy created by the heat and unspoilt denseness of the jess one can’t be sure if it is 2020 or 1920 and if you are going to meet one of the old time ivory hunters around a corner.




Wednesday Day 5: 9km, 41 degrees C
We look for tracks in Ward 11 coming up from the Mukanga or Angwa River. We find tracks of an elephant bull dragging a back leg probably from a snare, close to Masoko village. As the road moves away from the river we find the tracks of a herd. We catch up after about 3km of tracking with the herd feeding about 300m ahead of us, there is 2 tuskless in the herd. They catch our scent, split up and move off.

We mess around trying to find the tracks of the group containing the one tuskless we saw. Buzz tells Norest just to get a set of tracks we can follow as the elephants will probably meet up again. His prediction proves correct as we find them resting in a group of 18 in the shade with 2 tuskless in the group. The one tuskless is standing in the shade with the other one lying down and poorly visible. As the wind starts swirling we retreat and observe from a distance. We come to the conclusion that the tuskless lying down has a calf and that the one standing is a shooter.

The team positions me 20m from the group with the tuskless eyeing us suspiciously and I pull off my first frontal brain shot on elephant. I was very satisfied to see her drop in the prescribed manner as by chance all my previous elephant had been side brain shots.







Recovery proves to be fairly easy with a nearby road and some quick, hard work from the team.



Thursday Day 6: 8km 38 degrees C
Buzz kindly makes the offer that we can go fishing on the Zambezi, but during the week I had picked up there is some issues that needs his attention. Specifically an elephant bull with a snare around a leg for which a donor would kindly carry the cost of darting from the air and offer that we could rather spend the day attending to issues he would like to follow up on.
He then plans a day to attend to some things but also show me some new and beautiful country, including Mururu camp which I have never visited.
Doing a walk to a spring we catch a poacher with a impala and 24 snares. He is arrested and the process to get him in police custody and charged is started by David. Unfortunately, regarding the elephant with the snare we couldn’t find any tracks.





Friday Day 7:
We leave the Valley to get back to Harare and get my Covid 19 test done for the flight back home.



Travelling was actually very pleasant, both Johannesburg and Harare airports as well as the airline was well organised.
I want to encourage those of you with bookings from 2020 rolled over to 2021 to come and hunt, having hunters in the field is as vital a part of the cogs in keeping our hunting areas safe and operators functional in these trying times. Land Cruiser wheels turning on the tracks and hunters footprints in the bush is equally as important as the anti-poaching teams.
A good opportunity to show society at large that we as hunters are serious about maintaining our hunting and conservation heritage in the face of adversity.

My gratitude to Buzz for reaching out to me and to my wife for her graciousness in fielding all the responsibility I left behind!

It was the best of times…….

Well done Martinus. I have to say though, I am surprised that Lorinda did not suggest that you stay home and she would go. Congrats again, I am sure a week in the wild was medicine for your soul.

[PS A walk down that gorge that is not for the faint of heart in terms of effort. I have many great memories of that gorge.]

The poacher who is a third time offender got a nine month suspended sentence, it would turn out.

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:


[PS A walk down that gorge that is not for the faint of heart in terms of effort. I have many great memories of that gorge.]

I've been down that gorge a few times myself. Makes me long to go back.

Very nice, thanks for posting the story

Thanks for the report, brought back some wonderful memories

Well done on a successful hunt!

As Per Mike and Todd, I too have been in that very gorge in late November , and it was hot!!!

Anything hunted in the Zambezi valley late Nov. is well earned !

CMS are at the top of the game . Well done to all and thanks for posting.

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Congratulations on a successful tuskless hunt and thanks for posting and sharing!


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quote:

Originally posted by Balule:
The poacher who is a third time offender got a nine month suspended sentence, it would turn out.

That sentence is too light to deter poaching.

Geluk Martinus!

Thank you for sharing and setting up the story with good photos. See you at the next shoot in FEB.

Nice

Martinus- it was such a pleasure hunting with you and spending quality time in the bush together! I really enjoyed, apart from the hard hunting, showing you how beautiful Dande is!

Steph and the kids also loved having you for the night! We all look forward to having you Lorinda and the kids on a fishing trip with us soon!!! Thankyou for supporting us and Zim in our time of need! Cheers Buzz

Well done and thanks for posting!

Well done gents!

Lekker!

Thanks for letting us join you

Beautifully wriiten!