Anthony Howland benefit hunt for buffalo with Charlton McCallum Safaris.

Location: Dande Safari Area – Mururu Camp

PH: Alan Shearing

Date: August 7th/August 13th 2014

Cameraman: Brad Wroe

Trackers: Mplan & Martin

Driver: Bernie

Game scout: Kloppers

Weapon: Blaser .375

Ammo: Norma

Observer: Julia, my daughter

Christmas 2013 saw me busy bidding for this hunt. There was the obvious call, giving a hand to a young man whose future as a PH was shattered, the selfish reason; another hunt with CMS/Alan Shearing.

Every time I believed it was in the salt, someone else stepped into the arena. Which of course is how it is and that is just fine. I was outbid, the highest bidder was however, not interested in the hunt itself and so I lucked in and I looked forward.

Meantime I exchanged emails with Anthony Howland and sadly we did not meet up as he moved to Zambia earlier than expected.

Thanks go out to CMS, Saaed, Aaron Neilson, and Brad Wroe. You will be happy to hear the hunt was a fine and successful one. Let me tell you about it.

We flew out of Copenhagen on August 4th, arrived at Johannesburg the next morning with enough time to connect to the SAA flight to Harare at 10.40. When we reached security, the number of passengers waiting to pass through were overwhelming, I have never seen so many at this security area, and with only two security stations available I knew there and then we would never make our connection to Harare. I approached a young official standing on the side with a wheelchair and asked him for help. One minute later I was in that wheelchair, wheeled past everyone, Julia “my nurse” following us and within a short time, we were cleared. Yes, I did tip him.

Myles McCallum picked us up at Harare Airport; we had booked one night at the Amanzie Lodge, not something we regret. Myles later joined us for dinner. A lovely place to unwind, get into hunting mode and just enjoy.

Alan arrived next morning in the company of Siraaj, head of DAPU, the Dande Anti-Poaching Unit; we had breakfast together and then took off for Dande, picking up our game scout and our trackers on the way in.

I could write a whole chapter on Siraaj. For those of you who have met him, I am sure you agree he is a unique and very capable young man.

Mururu welcomed us, Crispin, Simba, Goodlife and Goodfun. Coming home, that is how it felt. We were upgraded this year, and checked-in at cottage number 1.

Next morning, zeroing in. And then the hunt could begin. We drove, found tracks, followed tracks, followed herds, were among herds, were winded, the bulls took off, repeated the exercise and generally drove and walked a lot.

Enjoyed spectacular scenery in the hills, I will never tire of this area.

The morning of August 10th, we find fine fresh tracks from a herd and follow these. There are tracks from a couple of good bulls in this herd. It is a mixture of open and thick as we make our way towards them. The wind played havoc and at one stage, climbing up towards them, I see the ashes fly past my cheek and right into the buffalo’s noses. They take off, but we have a seen a massive old guy with a huge boss that gleams like silver, a monster, a beauty. And we continue, up and down, following them.

We came up to the herd after some hours; they are below us, relaxed and not aware. The sticks come up; we look at this fine old silver bossed beauty; hidden behind Mopani with his back to us, he does not co-operate. Alan whistles, he muuhs and tries several other sounds to get the big boy into the open. No response, no luck.

Then another bull catches Al’s attention. Standing facing us somewhere on my right and I get the “first look with your eyes Jytte” comment since I cannot find him through the scope. A frontal shot at some 80 meters from uphill and the bullet hits him hard. He leaps at the shot and limp out and up a hill with great difficulty, not able to keep up with the herd and we know he must be dead soon.

And so we sit around for half an hour awaiting a death bellow. Julia lies on her back munching through an apple, relaxed and happy, certain her mother did the job.

I am not quite as relaxed although I pretend to be while sucking on an orange. On previous buff hunts, it has taken some time to find and finish off my quarry. Including lion charges and a wounded buffalo one, and so I badly wanted to hunt and kill a buff all in one go. Shoot and fall over sort of scenery.

It was my decision to pull the trigger, the fact of the matter is that the scenario, the unknowing buffalo with plenty in the open was the finest opportunity, a one in a ten chance. And I knew that if I chose not to shoot, then I might turn down other less favorable scenarios.

No death bellow after the half hour so we got our gear together and continued on a search for the old buffalo. Plenty of blood to follow, I kept my “back in the head” eyes out for Julia who was right behind me as we tracked and looked for him. Very intense it was, fifteen minutes later Alan reacts quickly, the bull is moving in front of us, but Alan cannot get a shot off. So now we know the bull is not dead, but he is sick and unable to climb and move into heavy cover. Alan spots him one hour later and after several shots from Al and me he is dead. Pheew!

The relief was tangible.

A beauty he was, with as gnarled a boss as I have ever seen. Not a massive bodied bull, but very black and with scars on his body from many lion encounters.

My initial shot, while meant for vital organs, had skirted his left shoulder, doing serious damage, a question of a few centimeters left instead of right.

As per usual we were in the middle of nowhere. Not difficult to be in this huge area.

Four hours later the Cruiser winds its way into the area and the loading of our buffalo started. In the meantime we had enjoyed a buffalo filet, cooked over a fire Brad my cameraman started; it tasted great and was our lunch that day.

We returned to Mururu and Goodfun late that afternoon where we dropped off the old fellow, meanwhile the sundowner chairs and tables had been moved into the dry river bed, Rich Tabor (with his chilli concoctions) and Siraaj had checked in at camp, and we enjoyed life that evening (and the next few) with the full moon shining upon us and the fire warming us. Elephant in the thick behind us, relief and happiness, the hunt was a success.

Seven days hunting, four days and the hunt was over. We carried on and looked at cave paintings, walked riverbeds, studied birds and also shot a few. Brad Wroe, a fine gent and ditto cameraman, brought out a Beretta shotgun that I had the great pleasure of shooting. A beautiful weapon, easy on the shoulder and although a bit too long for me, the weapon and I managed a pigeon and three. It was great fun.

Sijaar drove us to Harare where we spent three nights with friends, visited Patrick Mavros studio where I finally got that elephant ring I had wanted for a long time. Enjoyed brunch with Brita and Richard Harland where Richard confirmed that he had had the greatest time with the Dagga boys.

Air Zimbabwe to Victoria Falls, a fine experience, and then Julia and I were tourists in a big way for two days. We stayed at Victoria Falls Safari Club, a most inviting place, we had dinner at the Boma, did the Falls on our own, lunched at the Victoria Falls Hotel, Julia did flight of the angels over the Falls, and on the last evening, we cruised the Zambezi River. Extraordinary all.

All bookings, hotels, transfers, heli ride, Boma dinner, Zambezi cruise were arranged by GetAway Safaris, Candy Pieters for us. It worked to perfection and once again, I’d like to thank her. She has the finest staff.

And so it leaves us with memories never to be forgotten. An outstanding hunt and visit in a country we hold close to heart.

Thank you.
Jytte

PS Brad and Julia talked photography a lot and the pictures posted here are a mixture of both their efforts.
Julia’s website www.hulujay.com and on Facebook: Julia Mejnertsen Photography. More pictures from our trip on these sites.

Posts: 215 | Location: Denmark | Registered: 13 December 2010

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