Trip report – Dande North Safari Area and adjoining communal lands, Zambezi Valley, Zimbabwe

Outfitter: Charlton McCallum Safaris

PH: Keith Wall. This is my second safari with Keith as PH. I hope there's a third!

Trackers: Gari, Matsika, and Ford

Others: Martin, the Parks Ranger, and Shylet, the Communal Game Scout - both helped building blinds, cutting brush, and hoisting baits.

Dates: July 4-17, 2024

Species hunted (planned): Leopard, Hippo, and Croc + bait

Species hunted (unplanned): Hyena, jackal, klipspringer.

Game species seen but not hunted: : Elephant, lion, buff, duiker, grysbok, impala, warthog, baboon

Rifles: Whitworth 375 H&H shooting (mostly) 275 grain CEB Raptor bullets. I also brought a Winchester Model 70 in 416 Rem Mag, but other than checking the sights it went unused.

Travel arrangements: Based on the debacle from two years ago where American Airlines in Stillwater, Oklahoma refused to load my rifles, I booked two trips: Stillwater to DFW and DFW-Doha-Harare-Doha-DFW-Stillwater via Kathi on Qatar Airways. I stayed one night in the Amanzi Lodge in Harare, then rode to camp and back to Harare with Keith.

Accommodations: Matombo Camp is on a high bluff above the Zambezi river with great views. It’s a very pleasant tented camp, complete with a small swimming pool, which I used one day when we were back in camp mid-day.

Hunting situation: The hippo and croc were hunted on islands in the Zambezi; the leopard was hunted on communal lands.

Days 1-10: Leopard, Hippo, and Croc – I’m grateful to report success on the 10th day of my first leopard hunt. Since the leopard, hippo, and croc hunting are all intertwined, I’ll try to briefly cover it on a day-by-day basis. I know that many of the AR members have experience hunting leopards, but for those of you who haven’t here’s my description of how it went.

Day 1 – We checked the rifle sights; looked for bait animals, then went out on the Zambezi in the afternoon and watched both hippos and crocs but didn’t have a shot opportunity. Late afternoon, we tracked some zebras, but never caught up with them.

Day 2- We started again in the early morning looking for bait. We had an opportunity on some zebra, but, per Lou Hallamore, my shot was above the “pay line”, and we tracked the zebra into Mozambique, when we had to give up. Sigh… not a great start! A little later we spotted some kudu and we were able to stalk close enough to get a clear shot at a kudu cow, which dropped at the shot, and which we cut up into four quarters for bait. We also collected intestines for dragging and a mix of blood and stomach contents to throw on the bait trees. We were able to hang two baits that day. For each bait site, we hung the bait on tree limbs that would be out of reach of lions, or at least that we hoped would be out of reach – we had one male lion climb far enough up the tree to get some of the meat! We also cut shooting lanes so that, once a leopard was feeding on the bait, we would only have to build a blind.







Day 3 – We hung the two remaining baits and checked the first two. No hits yet, though civet cats had found the bait. We also heard that Gareth Lecluse had been mauled by a leopard! Not that I needed any pressure to get the shot right!

Day 4 – Good news – Gareth had no broken bones or tendon damage. We checked the four baits in the morning; no hits, though civet cats and hyenas had found the bait trees. In the afternoon, we went back out on the river, looking for a hippo or croc. We landed on one of the islands upstream from camp, on the upstream side of the island and worked our way down towards a croc we had spotted before he went back in the river. We waited quietly for an hour and he never came back. We walked back up to the upstream island and spotted another large croc on the mainland. I set up to shoot, but couldn’t get completely comfortable to shoot the golf ball sized brain, and he slipped back into the water before I was able to shoot. So, we decided to get something to eat and drink on the boat, and took a short break. We then worked our way back down the island and found a croc lying on the sand bar tip of the island. We slowly worked our way into position, and I was able to shoot from 50 yards, sitting, and his only movement was a few swishes of the tail.



Day 5 – We inherited three baits from clients that had departed, or at least I think it was three baits- I started to lose track of the number of baits. [Two of the departed clients were Norwegian – I think Odin here on AR was one of the clients.] We checked our baits and the inherited baits; we moved some of the inherited baits to suit Keith’s preferences. When we got to the 4th bait, we found a male leopard had fed at 4 pm the day before and around 8 am in the morning. We set up a blind and settled in around 3:45. Nothing happened until about 5:45 when four lionesses gathered around the bait tree. We stayed until dark before sneaking out.

Day 6 – We went back again to the same blind, arriving about 8:30. We stayed for two hours, then checked the game cam to find the leopard had fed in the morning, but left about 8:15. We went on to check the other baits and found a bait we had set on Day 3, but hadn’t been able to check had been hit, and most of the bait eaten. We then moved another nearby bait to this site and built a blind. We sat down in the blind late afternoon, but the swirling wind convinced us to give up and go back to camp.

Day 7 – We got up early and went back to the blind where we saw the lionesses – no joy – so we went on to check the next bait, which had been hit. Over lunch, Keith compared photos of the two leopards – careful analysis of the spot shapes confirmed that it was the same leopard. So we took down the first blind and took down the bait; we set up the blind at the new site and spent the evening in the blind. As we walked out in the dark, we heard a leopard sawing.

Day 8 – In the morning, we sat un the blind where we had the swirling wind on Day 6. We found the leopard had walked right past our blind in the night. We then proceeded to check baits and found a third leopard had hit another bait that morning. So we built a blind by noon, and then went to look for more bait – a hippo.





So, we went out again on the Zambezi and landed at the upstream side of an island with the intention to walk the length of the island to put a stalk on some hippos that were on a sandbar near the downstream tip of the island. We found our way blocked by a herd of elephants, so we retreated to the boat and drifted partway down the island; we got out and there were buffalo right there! But they decided to move away from us, so we started quietly towards the downstream tip of the island. There was a hippo sleeping on a submerged sandbar with its head above water. I set up for the shot and was able to shoot it in the brain – at the shot, its head came up an inch or two, then slumped down. I was much relieved that we could recover the hippo – we needed the bait!

The recovery took several hours, but we got back to camp with the last load of hippo before dark. We were approached by some Zambians hoping to get some meat. Keith and the staff asked them to go back and said we would yell for them when we had some. As we were finishing up the recovery, the staff yelled for them to come over and we gave them the lungs and some other parts, along with 5 kg or so of meat. I was quite surprised how effusive their thanks were.



Day 9 – We sat in the same leopard blind morning and evening; in between we hung three hippo quarters. This was a really long day – between getting up early and staying well into dark in the blind, I was up for 19 hours. In the evening, after dark, a troop of baboons near the bait sounded off for quite awhile. It seemed the leopard might be nearby, but, if so, he never came in.

Day 10 – Another early start, arriving in the blind well before light. After several hours in the blind, we checked the game cam. The leopard had fed sporadically between 10:30 pm (an hour after we left) and 4 am. We checked more baits mid-day, then sat down in the blind about 4:20. Sunset was at 5:30; at 5:40 Keith whispered “the leopard’s in the tree” and shortly thereafter he had me get ready after confirming the leopard was male and old enough. I watched the leopard feed from the hippo leg for five minutes, while the leopard wasn’t in a good position to shoot. At 5:50, he sat down, presenting a clear shot, which I took. He fell out of the tree – a good sign – but when Keith and I approached, he wasn’t under the tree. We waited for the trackers to arrive. They got there quickly, but it was dark by the time we started. They were armed with axes; the parks ranger was armed with his AK-47, Keith had his 50 Nitro Express double, and I had my 375. Gari led the tracking and was able to go quite fast because of the copious blood sign. We followed the tracks down into a creek bed, then back up the bank, where we found him dead, having gone about 50 yards after being shot through both lungs. Still, not knowing the outcome, I think we had just enough drama!



Ford holding the leopard

Days 11-14 The rest of the safari was fun, even if a bit anticlimactic. I requested that Day 11 be a rest day, which we took, but went out in the afternoon and picked up trail cams, dropped the baits, and put out the hippo rib cage as a hyena bait. The hippo legs were all recovered and turned into biltong, even the leg the leopard ate off of! In the following days, we fished, hunted for hyena, klipspringer, and Keith called in a couple jackal – I shot one with a solid bullet, which still had a surprisingly large exit hole.

The fishing was moderately successful – I added two fish to my “life list” a chessa (a small perch-like fish) and a small tigerfish, both of which were caught on worms! In a later fishing outing, I had one really strong take, which broke me off.





On Day 13, we looked for klipspringer – we drove down to Maonde Gorge, where we stopped to look at rock paintings and enjoyed the dramatic scenery. We saw a few klipspringer, but the swirling winds betrayed us. I still had a pleasant day, but on the way back, Gari spotted several klipspringer a hundred yards or so off the road. A short stalk put us in position and I was able to shoot the male.



We closed out the last day with fishing and taking photos of elephants, hippos, and crocs.

Conclusion – Ahead of the trip, I tried to keep expectations low for the leopard, having some idea of success levels for leopard hunts. Keith, Gari, Matsika, Ford, Martin, and Shylet all put in a big effort hoisting baits, chopping brush, building blinds. Thanks to all! I was blessed with everything coming together to have the leopard in the tree, in daylight on Day 10. And the rest of the safari was great, too!

Miscellaneous photos














Maonde Gorge






Popup blind Nice setup, but, in the event, we used the site-built blind shown above to shoot the leopard.





A few camp photos








Last evening of the safari!

Jeff,

Well done! Love the Zambesi and all it has to offer.

Don't feel too bad about the zebra as we all eventually lose a trophy. I lost a black bear and hartebeest. Totally my fault in both cases.

Glad Mr. Spots cooperated. He is my favorite animal to hunt.

Mark

Jeff,

Congrats on a successful safari & a beautiful, well earned leopard!

Jim

Congratulations on a hunt well done!

Congrats! What a hunt. Matombo is such a great camp and the Mahonde gorge - those were my two favorite places in Dande.

I texted with Keith in the last night of your hunt. He told me it had been a good one, but damn. That was good!

Thanks for the report! This summer has been very slow as far as reports go.

Thanks for sharing a great hunt. I'm missing Africa and the recent (though, smaller than years ago) influx of hunt reports helps. 1 more year to go, almost to the day....

Any comments on the CEB's performance on the cat?

Great hunt report. I'm missing Africa as well. I'm hoping to get back there next year with CMS.

Lovely cat and very fine Klippie! Congratulations on an outstanding hunt!
Before I hunted leopard on Chewore North a friend remarked that this would be the only one I would ever take. I was surprised and he said. "Leopard hunting consists of ten days of boredom, hanging baits, ten seconds of excitement when you see him in the tree before you shoot, then ten minutes of sheer terror while you look for him.
And so it proved.
He knew how much fun I got from buffalo and how much I would hate seeing good meat rot in the tree in a hungry country.
I appreciate how much some people love leopard hunting but for me, one was enough.

quote:

Any comments on the CEB's performance on the cat?

The 275 gr CEB Raptor worked flawlessly, judging from results. Whether it performed better or worse than any other soft is hard to say. I also used this bullet on the hippo, croc, kudu and zebra; I used the 300 gr solids on the jackal and klipspringer.

FWIW, the two loads I used, which shot pretty close to the same POI were:
73.8 gr Big Game, 300 gr CEB solid, R-P brass, Fed 215 primer, 2646 FPS average
72.5 gr IMR 4064, 275gr CEB Raptor, R-P brass, Fed 215 primer, 2699 FPS average

Congrats!!!

Hell of safari, congrats! Matombo is a very cool camp.

Tbankyou for this fine report. And congrats on the Leopard especially which you ceratainly earned well.
Seems several of us have fond memories of Matombo. I hope to return to that camp myself some day.

Super report and congrats on mr. spots !
Day 10 ehh! You earned it for sure.
Happy to provide you with some baits

Well done!!!! Love that cat and great write up!

Hannay: As a fellow Oppi Kopi patron I follow your postings closely. Outstanding report and trophies! We’ll played!

Very nice report! Well done. May Matombo is fantastic, we stayed there a couple of days in May, my wife is working up a trip for non-hunting lady friends to stay at Matombo while the gentlemen hunters do their thing. Would be fun, glad you had a good hunt!

Congratulations on a great hunt in a very special part of Africa. Great report and pictures, and looks like you made the most of the few remaining days after the cat!

A very easy enjoyable read with great pictures and well written story.

Congrats on the great hunt.
George

Nice! Leopard especially. Keith is one of the best.

Congratulations!

Well done sir!

Did you shoot the leopard, the croc, and the hippo with those 275 gr CEB Raptors?

Congratulations! It is both a pleasure and a privilege to read you report and see you pictures. Thank you very much, Brian

quote:

Did you shoot the leopard, the croc, and the hippo with those 275 gr CEB Raptors?

Lane,
Yes - the leopard was a double lung shot and the croc and hippo were brain shots. I only shot small game (jackal, klipspringer) with solids.
Jeff

Jeff- hat is off to you. Well done! Great cat, great hunt, great report!

.

Only seeing this now after returning home. Looks like you had a great hunt with CMS. Well done on the spots! Good stuff and thanks for writing it up for all to enjoy!

Cheers

.