Kingfisher Lodge, lower Zambezi, Zambia.

The boat with all the participants and their luggage has departed.
I’m staying behind to “mop up” and will follow with the last of the empty bottles !

The 2018 Munyamadzi group hunt is over and by every measure it has been a resounding success.

Everyone has enjoyed quality hunting experiences, good humour, great fishing, fine company and great hospitality.

The hunters - Charlie64, Anja, mej and jaegerfrank will hopefully post their own narratives and photo’s.

I believe there are stories to be told about a variety of events. Details of how to mistake the identity of the species being stalked, tips for quicksand management, handholds for elderly trackers, dropped fish and adult beverage breakfasts must be revealed for all the AR readers to enjoy.

Tall tales of individual hunts should include recollections of incredible running shots, sticky guns, single rounds for first light DG and volleys for others.

I’m sure Thor and Andrew, along with the rest of the host team will agree that unforgettable adventures and fun times were had by all and we applaud the good behaviour, great humour and fine company of our guests.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen, best wishes for the coming months and the new year to follow.
Crossing paths with all/any of you again would be an absolute pleasure.

12 x hurra !

Repeat ?


Morten

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I'll happily kick off with an opening post of what will likely be many as this was indeed a wonderful, memorable champagne group hunt!!

Our first group hunt and certainly not our last!

Anja flew in from Germany on LH with our guns - a .450/400 Beesley double (1911) for me to use and Anja's trusty CZ .30-06. More on the guns later. I flew in on SAA from Nigeria. LH charged like an angry buffalo for the guns whereas that near bankrupt failing carrier SAA was on time, upgraded us and did not charge for the guns! (Got that off my chest!)

We spent a day in Johannesburg and then flew up to Lusaka on SAA, stopping at the Duty Free in ORT to stock up heavily on champagne! This was after all a champagne hunt for the ladies!

Thor was in the baggage hall in Lusaka waiting for us and cleared our guns and ammo very quickly (duty paid at USD 3/- per round) and in no time we were in the airport lobby in Lusaka Airport drinking cold beers with Jytte and Julia and waiting for Frank to arrive for the start of our group 10 day hunting and fishing adventure on the Luangwa and Zambezi Rivers!













Ps we also had a checked bag with another 6 champagne and a bottle of Gammel Dansk !!


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Girlpower

I am sure my girl would have enjoyed this …

Shorty Morty

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We chartered in to Munya in a Cessna 208 Caravan - 90 minutes from Lusaka, to be welcomed by Andrew, John and Nicky and the whole Munya team and then sundowners around the first of many campfires in the 20.000 h concession.






Our pilots.





The campfire - so many stories, laughter, drinks, snacks and discussions !





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Charlie;

I was a little worried about the champagne stash until you said there was more packed in luggage.

Looks like you all had a great time. Can't think of people I'd rather share a campfire with than this bunch!!!

Best regards, Darin

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Darin hi !

You should be proud of us ... The ladies were drinking champus the whole hunt! Even had a bottle for the last night!!

You would have enjoyed it as well as the hunting and fishing!

Cheers to the next adventure!

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Very cool.
Pity about the quality of the PH's.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve416:
Very cool.
Pity about the quality of the PH's.

quote:

Originally posted by Steve416:
Very cool.
Pity about the quality of the PH's.

We do offer a significant upgrade if you can afford it mate.

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Not sure Anja, Jytte, Julia and Nicky would go along with that !

Steve that PHs were good value for money and went the extra mile. Well Andrew nearly had had too when the vehicle got stuck in the mud the third time at Munya

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Anja's puku - the ultimate group hunt!





Jytte, having successfully taken her superb hippo bull on day one, we, as a group, opted to retire to the shade of the thorn trees upon the banks of the Luangwa River and monitor the butchering of the hippo whilst rehydrating on cold Mosi beers in the shade.

Andrew, Anja and Frank, drawn in by the sound of heavy rifle fire, had now joined us and a few plastic chairs and a cooler of cold beers appeared and we strategically set up our midday fly camp in the shade of a camel thorn.

Hardly had the bottles been opened and passed around and the first refreshing swallow taken, when John arrived, panting and muttering noises about a grandfather puku, with Vincent, tracking, and Joe the scout close behind

"Forget the beers, grab your rifle and follow me. There is the grandfather of all puku just over there!"

Puku was Anja's main animal for the safari and she wanted an old old old one.

Anja wasted no time at all and had her 30.06 and binocs in a second and set off in front of John after the tracker! I deliberated the half bottle of cold Mosi in my hand for a moment and then common sense took over and I placed it on the tailgate of Andrew's Toyota and set off after Anja and John with Frank and his .300 H&H joining me.

Anja leads the way!






A short tactical stalk, pausing briefly to look at a couple of dozing ele, followed in the by now midday heat (mad dogs and Englishmen!) and it was not long before we were glassing a group of five or six ewes and their ram. From downwind we slowly moved closer but they spied us and fled. We stuck on them and were back on the ewes after a few hundred meters and then the ram reappeared and Anja was on the sticks. We could see clearly that this was a good ram. With pretty thick bush and no clean broadside shot, Anja took what was offered to her and put in a Texas heart shot, at which the ram bolted away into dense cover to the right.





We waited the obligatory cigarette period and then approached the site and very quickly Joe and Vincent had a good blood trail. We all followed, tracking spoor and blood and after a few minutes we heard the ram crash away into thick brush and scrub not far ahead of us.

It was at this point that Anja told Frank that if he had a clear shot at the puku he should not hesitate - getting the ram down was the priority.

We tracked on, by now into the vegetation along the river bank when we sighted the puku, well hit, heading into a deep belt / tract of cover with the river and river bank on the left and open ground shaded by tall acacias on the right. With John, Frank and Joe going left, Anja, myself and Vincent took the right and with whistles and calls to ensure we all knew each other's exact positions all the time we pushed ahead - flanking the ram in the bush.

Suddenly the puku burst out on our side in a blur of rusty orange, but seeing us, he turned and pushed back into the dense cover. We called this out to John and team and a few moments later a shot broke, as Frank put in a snap shot at the puku. His shot was good and by now the puku was pushing back up the river bank and was in some very thick cover. Anja and I could see the ram and Anja handed me the .30-06 to put in a finishing shot. With a clear back stop and calling to Frank to stop shooting and stay left, I put in a neck shot from 2-3 meters to finish the puku.

And a grandfather puku he was! Old, worn teeth, a broomed off left horn and scarred from head to hoof - and not just from the shots of the hunt!






We all exchanged handshakes, hugs, smiles and Waidmannsheils and admired the ultimate group hunt puku with Anja opening, Frank following up and myself putting in the final round! It doesn't get more of a group hunt than that!!





Congrats to Anja on a great old grandfather puku! Exactly what she was after!


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Ps. After pictures and loading the puku, we rejoined the others at the hippo site and with smiles we found out that we were now a few beers behind and that Andrew was extolling the virtues of camel thorn tooth pics dipped in green mint liquor which he planned to market in sets of 10 in carved acacia wood boxes as an exclusive safari souvenir! He's taking orders now - so hurry whilst stocks last!

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Good stuff! Thanks for posting.

John Lacy holding a seriously heavy set of hippos tusks taking on the first day of the safari. Story to come.

The last bite. Paying respect to the game.

Very nice. I’m developing a liking for puku...

Speaking about bushbuck....First let me say that I had a fantastic time with all the outstanding people you see here. I jumped on the hunt because I wanted a relaxed, social hunt with lots of fun. I surely had a good time and met interesting people for which I am grateful. To the bushbuck. It was one of my main animals I wanted to take. I have shot quite a few over the last years in various countries but I still like to hunt them, mainly because it is such a beautiful animal and a really individiual spiral horned species. As the story goes. I tried with Andrew to get an impala by stalking. We saw several but they outsmarted us all the time. Impala here, impala there. Suddenly Andrew pointed out that I should shoot if the animal moves. I could only see a kind of backleg in heavy brush but decided to go for the opportunity if the impala would move one step. Which it did, I took the shot, impala was gone. Nevertheless, I was sure of my shot with a 300 H&H Mauser by Ralf Martini so we followed quickly. What we found after 50m was a very nice bushbuck. You can tell that I was very happy!

quote:

Originally posted by jaegerfrank:
Speaking about bushbuck....First let me say that I had a fantastic time with all the outstanding people you see here. I jumped on the hunt because I wanted a relaxed, social hunt with lots of fun. I surely had a good time and met interesting people for which I am grateful. To the bushbuck. It was one of my main animals I wanted to take. I have shot quite a few over the last years in various countries but I still like to hunt them, mainly because it is such a beautiful animal and a really individiual spiral horned species. As the story goes. I tried with Andrew to get an impala by stalking. We saw several but they outsmarted us all the time. Impala here, impala there. Suddenly Andrew pointed out that I should shoot if the animal moves. I could only see a kind of backleg in heavy brush but decided to go for the opportunity if the impala would move one step. Which it did, I took the shot, impala was gone. Nevertheless, I was sure of my shot with a 300 H&H Mauser by Ralf Martini so we followed quickly. What we found after 50m was a very nice bushbuck. You can tell that I was very happy!

A good hunt following a seam of thicket that flowed down to the Luangwa and what would have been a very good Impala turned out to be an exceptional bushbuck of which Munyamadzi is renowned for. A difficult shot with a fine rifle through tight bush was well executed and this was the result.

Anja shoots beautifully at any range.

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Frank, As I said before - that is one of the best "impala" that I have ever seen! A really great ram! Congrats again

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It looks like you had a blast! Fantastic bushbuck.

Just liked this photo of Charlie and Anja holding hands.

Charlie casting a fly.

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On the rifles ...






I took a .450/400 3 1/4 inch Beesley double, hoping to use it on my hippo hunt. Test firing it on day one we had problems with the handloads firing hot and the brass expanding at the base to the point where the rifle would not open, extract and reset. Hence I couldn't use the rifle on this hunt. Shame.

Anja carried and successfully used her tried and trusted CZ .30-06. She has taken a lot of game with this rifle and it's her go to rifle for most hunts.


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I decided to use a classic bolt action rifle for this hunt. The choice was a Ralf Martini Mauser custom in 300 H&H based on a Steyr 1912 action with Krieger barrel. The rifle is a joy to shoot and carry. I used handloads with 200grain Nosler Partitions.

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Looks like all of you had a good time and hunt. Great pictures and some nice rifles too.

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"Why are you wasting your f@king time shooting?" Stalking bushbuck with Andrew.







Munya is a bushbuck paradise! After Frank shot his monster bushbuck, I had an afternoon out with Andrew, Anja and Frank after a bushbuck to call my own. We saw a good few and put in a few stalks. In fact we probably saw half a dozen plus rams and as many females. Some spotted us and spooked and on an other I just couldn't see him in the bush although Andrew and Anja easily could. "You can see him with a naked eye!" But I couldn't. The challenges of hunting!

The following day we were out early, again Andrew, Anja, Frank and I and driving through a wonderful glade of shady acacia albida trees, Andrew pulled up and announced that we would go for a slow walk.

Andrew, Anja and I followed by a tracker and scout set off in Indian file, slowly walking / stalking the bush. And it was not long before we spotted a solid ram, dark chocolate in colour, feeding slowly through the bush in the early morning shadows from left to right away from us.

Slowly, ever so slowly, we staked in closer and then closer again. The ram spooked a little, probably unsure as to why he spooked, and ran to the right. We followed, slowly, ever so slowly, everyone pointing out the ram in the thickening bush and shadows to everyone else. It was tense. Silent stalking in thick cover.

With the bushbuck stepping into an opening, Andrew flicked up the sticks - like that East African flick where you hold two of the three legs and flick the third leg out, if you have seen it you'll know what I mean - and I bedded Anja's .30-06 into them at which point the ram sensed us and started running - and running fast.

With hindsight I can't really say what happened, other than it was one of those magical moments when it just all came together. As the ram started running, I flipped the safety and still on the sticks swung ahead of the bushbuck, overtook him, lead by a meter plus and squeezed the trigger at which point the ram collapsed with his legs folding underneath him! Dead on the spot! It was classic driven bushbuck the way classic driven bushbuck should be! Andrew's face said it all when he looked at me and I at him as I reloaded the rifle, applied the safety and came off the sticks.

We approached the downed ram and admired his dark coat and muddy horns from his digging. A great ram! I was very pleased.

Later whilst we were taking photographs Andrew confessed that as I stepped into the rifle and started swinging on the ram he thought to himself "Why are you wasting your f@king time shooting?" Anja was smiling, scout and tracker were smiling and I smiled too. We laughed and laughed some more as we opened a very cold very early morning Mosi to celebrate a great bushbuck walk and stalk and a one off (lucky) safari shot! Sometimes the stars align and it all just comes right!

An awesome place for bushbuck and a great early morning hunt. Thank you Andrew and I know you didn't really doubt me nor my driven shooting capabilities for a second!

If memory serves me correctly when we got back to camp we just carried on with cold early morning beers pretty much until lunchtime. After a post lunch siesta, Anja and I went fly fishing on the river in front of camp that afternoon and that too is a story worth telling!


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Brilliant running shot and that bushbuck was in full sprint. You must excuse my language but I had never seen anything like it.

Great bunch of clients, great bunch of PH and by all accounts a great hunt- well done to all involved!

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Andrew mate your language was understandable at the time. I think everyone was surprised at that shot perhaps even me!! And for the benefit and Chatham House rules of AR we are doing full disclosures !!

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Looks like a great time was had by all. Munyamadzi is a special place. Well done to everyone.

Wow! Great hunting, trophies, rifles AND the group.

I just love such hunts.

That bushbuck's daddy was a Kudu!

Thanks for sharing.

Congratulations on a wonderful time. That still looks like a great deal of fun. One of these days...

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The car radio crackled to life, "Did anyone pick up my binos?"





It seemed that everyone on this trip had Swarovski EL 8,5 x 42 binos! And we were always mixing them up. Anja has a new pair, I have an older pair fitted with a harness, Andrew has the pair with built in range finders, Thor has a pair too and there was even a pair hanging at the bar in the fishing camp! It was clear that they would get mixed up!

One evening Anja took the wrong ones to the chalet and another time I walked away with Thor's binos watching the game drinking at the river below the camp.

We were returning from hunting bushbuck when the radio crackled into life - Thor asking if anyone had his Swarovskis? Everyone on the hunting vehicle checked their binos to make sure he / she had not taken the wrong ones and then Thor came through again a few moments later announcing that he had found his! We all had a laugh.

This is just a side note but I have never been on a hunt before where there were so many pairs of the same binos in camp! Anja said that she is going to write her name on hers! That hopefully will not be necessary as we have a pair of the new Swaro O Range binos with the built in range finder for our next hunt in the mountains of Asia and I am pretty sure that the guides will not all be carrying O Range Swaro binos there ! Frank did say however that he has bought the new O Range too! So maybe on the next group hunt we will be mixing up the oranges!

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quote:

Originally posted by Charlie64:
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The car radio crackled to life, "Did anyone pick up my binos?"





It seemed that everyone on this trip had Swarovski EL 8,5 x 42 binos! And we were always mixing them up. Anja has a new pair, I have an older pair fitted with a harness, Andrew has the pair with built in range finders, Thor has a pair too and there was even a pair hanging at the bar in the fishing camp! It was clear that they would get mixed up!

One evening Anja took the wrong ones to the chalet and another time I walked away with Thor's binos watching the game drinking at the river below the camp.

We were returning from hunting bushbuck when the radio crackled into life - Thor asking if anyone had his Swarovskis? Everyone on the hunting vehicle checked their binos to make sure he / she had not taken the wrong ones and then Thor came through again a few moments later announcing that he had found his! We all had a laugh.

This is just a side note but I have never been on a hunt before where there were so many pairs of the same binos in camp! Anja said that she is going to write her name on hers! That hopefully will not be necessary as we have a pair of the new Swaro O Range binos with the built in range finder for our next hunt in the mountains of Asia and I am pretty sure that the guides will not all be carrying O Range Swaro binos there ! Frank did say however that he has bought the new O Range too! So maybe on the next group hunt we will be mixing up the oranges!

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By some miracle I still have mine. I was sort of hoping Andrew would by mistake swap his new model out with my older ones.

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Tsetse!







Interestingly tsetse actually means 'fly' in Tswana!

Munya was stacked out with tsetse traps - blue and black cloth blocks soaked in some nasty anti tsetse chemical at the start of the season and refreshed from time to time. They seemed to work pretty well. There were no tsetse around the camp but they were active in the veld. Not excessive by any means but they are there. I had not seen such traps before so I found them of interest and Thor explained about the traps.

Tsetse fly - large heads, two big eyes and long big sharp bits at the front! Physically they are pretty tough and need to be crushed rather than just swatted away like a common house fly. I got bitten once. This pissed Anja off a bit as she got chowed!

Interestingly, when riding around in the white hunting Cruiser we did not have too much hassle at all with tsetse but one day we had to switch and take Thor's sand coloured Cruiser. We got mobbed by tsetse - in the open cab, up on the raised seat, it didn't matter where you tried to hide in/on the Cruiser they were there! Strange but a fact, in the white Cruiser we had less hassle.

Something to remember when ordering a Cruiser for the Luangwa Valley, order white! And if you are hunting Peaceful Sleep on the legs, arms and neck works well!

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