Safari dates: 9/16-9/25 2008
Booking: Mark Young with Adam Clements Safari Trackers
Travel: Melanie Brown at Gracy Travel
PHs: Alister Norton and Abie DuPlooy
Area: Luangwa Valley, Nyaminga Concession, Zambia
Rifles: Wffn Hein .450 Dakota with 1.25-4X Leupold in Talley QR mounts with 450 gr Barnes TSX handload and Winchester M70 .375 H&H Mag with 2-7x Kahles CL in Leupold QR mounts with 270 gr Barnes TSX handload.
Animals hunted and taken: Cape buffalo, Hippopotamus, Puku, Bushbuck, Impala
Animals hunted and not taken: Hyena, Warthog
Animals seen but not hunted: Elephant, Lion, Baboon, Cookson's Wildebeast, Honey Badger, Greater Kudu, Zebra, Waterbuck


We booked this safari through Mark Young with Adam Clements Safari Trackers back in mid-2006. The service we received from Mark, Adam, Jamie, and Chantelle was outstanding. This was the first trip to Africa for all of us; myself, my wife Paula, my hunting partner Tim, and our observer Brian. The entire trip was nothing short of perfect and could not have went better. I have heard and read a lot of horror stories about first trips to Africa but our's could not have been any more different. Everything was superb. We flew the Delta Atlanta-Dakar-Johannesburg route and then SAA from Joburg to Lusaka and then chartered into the concession from Lusaka.

We got into Lusaka on Saturday and spent the next two nights at the Holiday Inn. Johnny and Laura's able assistant, Teresia, picked us up on Sunday and took us to the strip mall where the locals come to sell their wares. We bought a lot of neat souvenirs. If you go to Lusaka don't miss this market, they are only there on Sundays.








Here is Teresia helping Paula negotiate the purchase of a table.




We chartered into camp on Monday. Wayne, the pilot for Staravia, was a delight. We got to know him a bit since he would spend the night in camp before flying out the next morning. Wayne and his father own Staravia, the charter company. When we chartered back to Lusaka at the end of our safari Wayne let me ride in the co-pilot's seat and then gave me a crash course in flying and then actually let me fly the plane. He then asked if I would like to see how the plane flies with only one engine to which I said "Sure!". He cut the starboard engine and then I got to lean into the back of the plane and yell "Oh Shit, we just lost an engine!!!" We all had a good laugh after everyone realized we weren't going to die.

Here's some pics of us chartering in.










Here we are heading for camp.



On the way to our camp we stopped by the Kamira camp where AR member Andy E (one of the new owners of North Fork Bullets) and his party were staying.




After we got to our camp we had a nice lunch. The food in Johnny's camps is excellent. Words can't really describe just how good the food is.




Here is a typical dinner. Yum! That is Abie DuPlooy at the head of the table. When there's lead in the air, there's hope! If you know Abie you know what that means.




The chalets are spacious and very comfortable with toilet, sink, and shower. The beds are comfortable and have good mattresses and mosquito nets.






I hunted with Alister Norton, we could not have been a better match. We became good friends over the course of this hunt. Alister is a fantastic PH and a blast to hang out with. My wife adored him and I really appreciate how attentive he was to her needs and how hard he worked to include her in everything and to make sure that she had a good time and was enjoying herself. Alister had her right up there with us when we stalked the animals (even buffalo), she was right with us when I shot the buff and even when we were tracking him after the shot not knowing if he was dead, alive, or laid up waiting on us. Fun stuff!

Here is my fearless PH, fearless for putting up with my shit for 11 days, he has that in common with my beautiful wife.




Alister and his Uncle Abie. Sort of like the bush version of Batman and Robin or The Lone Ranger and Tonto.






On Day 1 we we woke at about 5:00 am and had breakfast. We were on buffalo by 7:00 am. The typical day consists of driving the roads looking for fresh tracks and then when we would find them we would begin to track on foot. We cut the tracks of a herd of dugga boys that AR member GarBy had actually told me about the night before we left after he had returned from his safari. We tracked them for about 3 hours and finally got to within about 80 to 100 yards of them in some pretty thick forest. One bull was visible which Alister estimated to be about 43". I could see him but he was in some pretty dark cover and here is where I had a snafu with my scope. My .450 wears a 1.25-4x Leupold with a super heavy duplex crosshair. The combination of the too heavy crosshair and only 4x prevented me from getting a shot as I didn't feel I could precisely place the shot into the buff given all the cover he was surrounded by. The buff took off. We caught up to them once more but the only bull we could get up to was a smaller maybe 36" bull, we didn't get close to the big bull again. We tracked them for the rest of the day until we eventually chased them across the river and into the park.

I know it may be heresy here to say this but I will never take a 1.25-4x or 1.5-5x scope with a heavy duplex on a buff hunt again. I am certain that that combination cost me that buffalo. For all you true believers, that scope and its Talley QR rings will be in the classifieds forum shortly. My .450 will wear a 2-7x or 2.5-8x with a standard duplex next time.

We had better luck on Day 2. Shortly after leaving camp Donald, the game scout, spotted a nice bushbuck. We hopped out, did a short stalk, up on the sticks, and bang! I took a nice bushbuck. Aren't they just beautiful? Bushbuck are one of my favorite animals, I love their pluck and pugnacity. They're tough little guys.




We drove on a short distance looking for buffalo tracks when Alister spotted a nice puku. We glassed him and Alister said "That's a nice puku, if we see him again later in the safari we'll take him." I said "Let's shoot him." and Alister said "We don't want to fill all of your tags in one day." to which I asked "Do you think we will do better than him?" Alister said "Probably not" so I said "Let's take him." He spooked and ran a short distance but the trackers were on him and we found him in short order. Up went the sticks and I shot him at about 60 yards. The bushbuck and puku were both taken with the .375.



We loaded the puku and decided to head back to camp to drop it and the bushbuck off at the skinning shed. It was on the way back that we spotted the tracks of the herd of dugga boys that we had chased into the park the previous day. The buffalo had crossed the road after we had passed through a short time earlier that morning. Had I not decided to take the puku we would have missed the tracks because we would have driven on and not come back to go to the skinning shed at that time and we most likely would not have gotten on this buff. Funny how the hunting gods smile on you at times. We went back to camp and dropped off the bushbuck and puku, had coffee and then headed back out to track the buffalo. We only tracked them for about an hour before we were on them. My first shot was at about 90 yards with the .375 and the 270 gr TSX. The buffalo went down and got back up and turned to run off. Alister yelled "Shoot him again!!". I shot him again, a quartering shot through the ass as he ran off. We waited for a few minutes and went to where the buff had been standing. We immediately found blood and took up the track. He had made for the really tall, thick kasense grass where the visibility is effectively zero. We were close and could hear him moving in the grass. Alister asked me if I minded if he shot if the buffalo were to get up. I said "Not at all." I thought it very considerate of him to ask, Alister is no Mark Sullivan type. Alister sent Lamick, the tracker, up a tree to see if he could spot the buff. About that time we heard the death bellow and Alister smiled and whispered "He's dying". Lamick spotted him in the grass and motioned to where he was. We waited for a few minutes and went in. We found him lying down dead but I shot him in the chest again just to make sure. It was a really exciting hunt. I can't wait to do it again.

Here he is.






The skinners recovered this bullet from the buffalo. It was a quartering shot and the bullet penetrated about 5 feet of buffalo and came to rest under the skin on the far side. The load was 74.0gr RL-15 with Fed 215 primer. The 270gr TSX will kill buffalo. The bullet still weighs 270 grains.




After the buff we took a break and, at my request, had a party that night. A good time was had by all.


On Friday, Day 4, we came across a poached elephant. He had been shot in another concession and had come into our concession and died. Alister said he was 25-30 pounds per side. The bastards had chopped out the tusks and left the rest. The game scouts and some of the villagers smoke dried the meat, so nothing went to waste.




Here is what was left after they were done.










On Saturday, Day 5 Brian decided to take an animal. Brian made a perfect broadside shot with Tim's 30-06 on this nice impala.

This is Paula and I with Brian and his impala. This was Brian's first kill ever. He made a good shot and a clean kill, can't ask for more. A hunter is born and has a bright future ahead.




Unfortunately for Brian this was the first kill of his hunting career and Alister informed him that he must respect hunting tradition and eat the impala's balls raw. He was a sport about it but I think that he much preferred them sliced and fried that evening in camp to raw.




On Sunday, Day 6, we had a shooting contest with the big guns, we were shooting at a box out on the dry riverbed at about 300 yards. Abie has a Browning chambered in .450 Watt that weighs about 7 pounds. He got into a shootout with a hippo and was forced to fire 7 shots in rapid succession and it broke off one of his molars. He came back to camp with half a tooth in his shirt pocket. If you have never met Abie you are in for a treat, he is a hoot.

Here I am shooting Abie's .450 Watt.




Speaking of shootouts. Here is Tim right after he killed his old dugga boy buffalo. He had quite a firefight with the old boy, notice that there isn't many rounds left in his ammo carrier!!! Those buffalo are tough!!! That is a story for Tim's report which he will be posting in the near future.





On Monday, Day 7, we found a nice hippo bull and I took him. I wanted to hunt hippo on land but they come back into the river at 3:00 or 4:00 am and it is just not feasible. I shot this guy in the water, not sporting by any means but interesting nonetheless.











My gunbearer on the hippo hunt.





We hired some fishermen for a few kwachas to butcher it. I was just waiting for someone to be decapitated with a native axe during the melee but, alas, no one was.








Here's Freddie, one of the trackers, carrying the hippo's tail to the cruiser. We had hippo tail soup that evening. Delicious.





I thought it was interesting how much grass was in the hippo's stomach. It looks like emptying the grass catcher on a lawn mower.



When the fishermen were finished this is what was left. From hippo to bloody spot in 2 hours. In Africa protein does not go to waste.




On Tuesday, Day 8, we headed to the village to deliver two bales of clothing that had been purchased by Alister with money that had been most generously donated by AR member Jeff H during his safari earlier in the summer.





I snapped this pic of this big old baobab tree on the way to the village.





At the entrance to the village Alister pointed out buffalo bean to us. Nasty stuff!




Alister instructed the villagers to queu up to receive the clothing but this was done entirely for the benefit of my wife and I.

This little guy was quite sad.














Alister said that the orderly distribution of the clothing would last, at most, for only a few minutes before descending into chaos. He could not have been more correct. They mobbed us and we ended up driving off and throwing the clothes at them as they chased the cruiser. My wife and I were on the back of the cruiser and there was a time for a few minutes where I felt like they would have torn us from limb to limb to get the clothing if they could have gotten to us. A mob mentality is quite sobering. We were in no danger, however, and it was neat to experience how such a simple thing as some children's clothing could make them so happy.










We stopped at the school on the way out of the village but the reaction was the same. We had to drive on and throw the clothing to them.




After we cleared the village we stopped for a cold drink and a few more villagers showed up, my wife gave them some candy.




The villagers definitely appreciated Jeff's generosity.

On Day 9 we had some time to kill so Alister dressed my wife up as a PH and took these pictures of her posing with his rifle and shooting sticks. As much as I think of Alister I have to say that she makes a better looking PH than him or, at the very least, I would rather share a machan with her than him (Alister knows what I mean).








There is so much more to tell about this safari, if I only had the time. We had the time of our lives and we are already making plans to return. We have wonderful memories and made some great friends.

Alister.

He told me that the client makes the safari. I beg to differ. The PH made the safari for this client. If you get the chance to hunt with Alister, jump on it. He is one of a kind, the best.

I cannot say enough good things about Johnny DuPlooy's Muchinga Adventures, Johnny runs a phenomenal operation. Everything was perfect. I cannot recommend them highly enough.


Here are some miscellaneous pictures.


Alister got us in close to this guy.



Pod of hippo.





Glassing a pod of hippo looking for a big one.



Herd of puku.




Wall spider, you will share your quarters with these guys but they are friendly and they don't snore.




We also shared quarters with these cute geckos.





and these frogs who lived in the bathroom by the sink!!!






This is a spider that I killed crawling up my bare leg in the cruiser. I took it back to camp and Abie said it was a black velvet spider and that it has a necrotizing bite like the bite of a brown recluse. Glad it didn't take a piece out of me!!!




Here is where the food is cooked. Amazing.




Here is Tim with Samson the cook (a genius) and Mati, one of the waiters.




Here is the fire over which the food is cooked. They build a mopane fire on one side, bake bread on the other side (all of the bread is fresh baked and delicious) and cook on the steel plate over the top.




Here is where the camp staff is quartered.




Here is a typical morning's view from camp of the river. The Luangwa is a zoo, a wonderful, magical place.




Lastly, sunset on the Luangwa River. These two pictures say it all. We started missing the place before we even left.

Congratulation on your successful first African safari. Great report, good to see that you and your wife had lots of fun. Luangwa is a special place indeed, did you had any problem with charging elephants there?

Great report! Thanks

John

Congratulations on a great hunt!

I will be following you out there to hunt Lion with Allister so I just can't wait. Reading stuff like this just whets the appetite!

Chuck Butler

Congrats, sounds like you had a great time. Did you recover any of the 270gr TSX bullets from the buffalo?

Thanks so much for the pics. I really appreciate you sending and posting them. I want to also give credit to my wife's aunt and uncle Henri and Angie they donated half the cloths. Its a shame it had to break out into a riot, but hey that is Africa.
Looks like you had the same experience I had with Alister. What a first class PH and person he is. Old Abie hair has grown out since I gave him a cut over there. Very funny guy to have in camp. Again, thanks so much for the post and letting me know. Congrats on a great hunt. Hunting in that area, with Alister, it was a given before you even left.

What an enjoyable read well done... Good shooting and welcome home...
Tell the boss she is a good looking Ph...

What great memories and fun in a good camp...


Mike

great report - the luangwa is one of my favorite spots in the world.

Great report, I went to Africa in May for the first time. What they say is true, I am eagerly looking forward to someday going back.
Jeff

Most excellent report and pictures -- thanks for posting them!

Hey Adrock, congratulations, you got some good trophies, especially that Buffalo! I see you took my advice and took a fine Puku. those little buggers are unique little antelope, and are not available many places in Africa.

The Luangwa Valley is my favorite place in Africa!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by adrook:






On Monday, Day 7, we found a nice hippo bull and I took him. I wanted to hunt hippo on land but they come back into the river at 3:00 or 4:00 am and it is just not feasible. I shot this guy in the water, not sporting by any means but interesting nonetheless.





if you shoot a bushbuck where he spend 80% of his day is it also unsporting no so idont think its unsporting

congrats on some nice trophies i hope Brian enjoyed his prerry oysters

Congrats on a successful safari, nice trophies.

Andy- I knew you would have the time of your life!! Alister is indeed one of a kind!

That is really a nice buff and your friend's Southern Impala is a good one!

The river has more water in it than in 2006 so the rains must have been good. How were the Mopane Flies?

Anyway, thanks for bringing back fond memories and welcome home!

John

Wonderful report and photos. Congrats on your trophies. I would love to go there.

Andy,

Congratulations!

Great Hunt. Thanks for sharing the photos of the people and country as well as the game.

Three questions:

What is Buffalo Bean; why is it nasty?

Is Brian really wanting to be a hunter after Alister prepared that treat for him?

Thanks for the report and great photos.

Hugh

Andy,

Great report and pics. You guys obviously had fun. I love sending people to the DuPlooy's. Do you have and pics of Tim's trophies?

Mark

Thanks for all of the kind comments, guys.

Ahmed,

No charges but there is one very cheeky bull that knocked down Alister's chalet in the middle of the night a couple of years ago and pinned him to his bed and tried to kill him. That bull acted pretty aggressive when we moved in close for some photos. Great fun!


Scott,

We recovered one bullet from the buffalo, I think the skinners must have lost the other two in the gut pile. I posted a pic of the one that was recovered.

Jeff,

You were right about Alister. He's the best.


Mac,

I sure did take your advice on the puku and what great advice it was!!

375,

I think Brian now prefers his prairie oysters fried.


John,

The mopane flies were a pain in the ass but they only seemed to be in certain spots so they weren't a constant nuisance.


Hugh,

Buffalo bean is a legume which grows on the other trees. They tell me it is sort of like poison ivy but about 100 times worse. I didn't touch it to find out. I think Brian is now hooked. He wants to go back with me in a couple of years as a hunter instead of an observer.


Mark,

I believe that Tim is going to post a report of his own. He took a really neat old, super-hard bossed dugga boy with one broken horn tip, the other tip worn, the whole nine yards as far as a smart old dugga boy who been around the block a time or two when it comes to staying alive.


Cheers,
Andy

Andy's hooked! I knew when we talked you would have the time of your life. I think it's awesome that you got to share it with your friends and especially your wife. Very nice report Andy....I too thought the place was magical. Abie is a riot. He, Alister, Johnny, Terry and Joey and I shared camp for a couple of nights......all of them together is something to behold.
Take care...we'll chat soon.

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

quote:

Ahmed,

No charges but there is one very cheeky bull that knocked down Alister's chalet in the middle of the night a couple of years ago and pinned him to his bed and tried to kill him.

We were hunting across the Luangwa in Luawata area when this happened.

A week prior to our hunt, our Ph had to shoot a cow ele in self defense while it was charging the hunting vehicle. In another incident a local women was killed in our hunting block by eles about 3 weeks prior to our hunt. We got numerous mock charges during our hunt, it was real wild Africa.

Great report and pics!

Andy,
Congrats on a great hunt! The Luangwa Valley was one of my favorite destinations in all of Africa... a true African safari experience. Looks like you and the wife had the adventure of a lifetime... congrats!

BTW, the hippo fries actually turned out to be my favorites!

Andy,

Thanks for the great report and pictures!! I'm using this to try to convince my wife to go to Zambia with me next year.

Outstanding report Andy, thanks very much! Some great photos and stories. Your experience with the low power scope I found interesting though. I used the 1.5X5X20 Leupold with the HD X hairs and found it to be just the ticket for buffalo, although must admit, it is not optimum for low light. Jus how dark was it when you couldn't see him? Too bad you didn't get to use the Dakota on him, but nice buffalo regardless. Thanks for sharing. jorge

Congratulations, that was an excellent report and great photos. I enjoyed it very much.

Regards
Aziz

Beautiful photos and a great hunt!

If only we could all afford to get over to Africa for a 3 wk hunt twice per year.

Fine hunting! Sorry to hear the scope on the
450 was not suitable for the intended purpose.
I am VERY happy that you had he .375 H&H rifle!

Andy, Great hunt report and nice photo's. I hunted buffalo in Zambia in Sept of 05. By chance I met Abie and his client on the booze cruise in Livingstone. As soon as I saw a photo of him in your report I knew I had met him on my hunt. I know what you mean about giving out stuff to the natives. It can be dangerous. I was almost pulled out of the truck while giving out some candy. Woman were knocking kids aside to get at the candy, scary. The Luangwa valley was the best place I ever hunted in Africa. Your right, I's a zoo you can hunt in.

Andy,

Fantastic report, I just read it for the second time! I have referred others to it in order to illustrate what my time the week prior was like. You packed a lot of adventure in there! I just hope we can do it again before too long.

Thanks again for the great report! Did you get the picture I sent to you? Just in case not, and so that others may enjoy, Here you are about to drive off to the adventure of your life...
<a href="http://s229.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/aevans_bucket/?action=view¤t=IMG_0795.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/aevans_bucket/IMG_0795.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Here's another try with the image...
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/aevans_bucket/IMG_0795.jpg

quote:

Originally posted by Andy E:
Here's another try with the image...
http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee242/aevans_bucket/IMG_0795.jpg

Here it is Andy. Thanks a bunch for the pic!

Let's go back to Zambia soon!!!

WOW! I saw this report before and the image of the children running after the land rover stands out the most.It looks like you had a unforgetable hunt, adrook.When two enjoy the hunt,it makes it much more special.I will stay tuned for another report.