09 August 2006, 05:54
T.CarrSwainson's Safaris -ZIM [June, 2006]
Date of Safari:June 12 through June 23, 2006
Outfitter:
Swainson's Safaris
Dande North
Swainson's Website
Dande North is located in the north central part of Zimbabwe, bordering Chewore Safari Area to the west, the Zambezi River to the north, Mozambique to the east and Dande South to the south.
Professional Hunter:
Kevin du Boil (pronounced "due Bwah"). Kevin is 46 years old. This was our second safari with Kevin and he is an honest and ethical PH who likes to hunt buffalo on foot. Kevin is also a great story teller and amazingly funny. Kevin is married and has a five year old son. As they did last season, Kevin's wife and son were able to join us on safari for a few days. I can recommend Kevin without reservation.
Camp:
We hunted out of Mukanga Camp.
Our Chalet
The Dining Room
Looking from the Dining Room to campfire area.
Weather:
It was abnormally hot in the Zambezi Valley for this time of the year. Temperatures were in the low 90's the first few days then the lower to mid 80's for the rest of the safari. Evenings were cool, down to the low 60's to mid 50's.
There had been good rain and this area of the Valley was unusually green for this time of the year.
Hotel:
As always, we spend a night or two on arrival at the Afton Guest House. Over the years, Louie and Annelise have become like family. They cater to traveling hunters. The rooms are comfortable and spotlessly clean. Airport pick up and drop off is included, as well as transfers for shopping, lunch and dinner (full English breakfast is included). Louie worked for South African Airlines for years, so he can work magic in finding lost/delayed luggage. Just remember to give him a copy of the description of your luggage and photos of the luggage when you arrive (see the Tips and Packing List).
Firearms Permit.
I used Edo at Rifle Permits, he was waiting with my permit when I arrived and assisted me in the SAPS office. While applying for the firearms permit, all email communication was promptly answered. Edo is a young attorney who works in Pretoria, so he has immediate access to the office that issues the permits (as it is located in Pretoria). He is also related to Louie at Afton House, so everything is very coordinated and efficient.
The Safari:
When chartering to camp, I try to sit in the copilot's seat. The charter pilots are always up on the latest safari gossip. Plus, you can point out the runway to the pilot.
This safari was for buffalo and sable. We did have a few other plains game on quota, but they were only going to be targets of opportunity. Last season, we hunted with Kevin and took a nice buffalo but I missed the shot on my sable. Last season, we also took a zebra in Dande, then moved to Lemco for some other plains game. Link to last year's Hunt Report.
The first two days of the safari were spent chasing a very nice sable. It was physically demanding (for an old, fat guy) because of the heat, hilly terrain and tse tse flies. We spotted the sable on a ridge early in the morning and we stalked up on them. They were bedded down in heavy cover. We got very close before they spotted us. There was one exceptional bull (probably 40" with very thick bases) along with another bull, several cows and some juveniles. Five miles of tracking over hilly terrain before we broke it off for a late lunch.
On the drive back to camp we saw vultures near the road and investigated. We found a young bull elephant that had been poached.
Dinner was steak, egg and chips with lemon tart for dessert. [A note about the food, it was even better than last year. We really enjoyed all of our meals. Our chef was named Because, he also cooked for us last season.]
The next day we returned to the ridge where we had spotted the sable on the previous day. We were lucky and bumped into the sable again. It seems they had returned to almost the same place as the day before. After 4.5 miles of tracking, we broke off the pursuit for lunch. We resumed our pursuit in the afternoon and logged about 4 miles. We saw the sable several times, they were usually heading over the opposite ridge.
Dinner that night was impala roast, roasted potatoes, broccoli and carrots. Chocolate mousse for dessert. We always had an appetizer with our sundowners before dinner.
Lunch was always very good. Here is a typical lunch and one of my favorites, bush pies.
On the third day, we decided to lay off the sable as we had pressured them pretty hard for two days. We were hoping they would eventually return to the ridge which seemed to be their home base. During the second day, we had pushed them quite far away from their home range.
There was a big party of hunters arriving that day (15 in total, including 3 film crews). Craig Boddington, Steve Hornady and several others were arriving to film episodes for the TV show Tracks Across Africa. We had to drop off one of our trackers so he could help with that large hunting party. Kevin works with two excellent trackers. Skelly, who was born in the area and is the chief for his local village along with George who is Ndebele. We hunted with both of them last season and they are hard working and very dedicated.
We were able to get onto a herd of buffalo that morning, but they crossed the river into the adjoining concession before we could catch up to them.
George was recovering from malaria, so he stopped and cut some root (which he placed in his water bottle).
That afternoon we bumped into a dugga boy, but didn't see much else.
Dinner that night was buffalo tail, rice, pumpkin and orange mousse for dessert.
On the fourth day, we followed a buffalo herd from 7:30 to 11:00. They were in the jesse and we kept trying to push them into the mopane. We broke for lunch and got back on the herd. More "jesse chess" (as my wife labeled it) was in store for us. We got up on the buffalo several times, but could get no good view as the jesse was thick.
Chicken fried buffalo steaks, mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots. Chocolate éclairs for dessert (very yummy).
On the fifth day, we followed another herd of buffalo for 4.6 miles. Again they crossed the river into the other concession before we could get up to them. After lunch, we opened a track down to a spring. Very little sign at the spring. So we headed for camp. Dinner was shepherd's pie, salad and a tart for dessert.
The sixth day was a full day of jesse chess. We were following the tracks of one herd and had just crossed a small clearing which had an old ant hill in the middle. A few yards into the jesse, we surprised a small herd of elephant with several young calves. One cow charged us, we retreated to the ant hill and she canceled her charge as she came into the clearing. I think it surprised her because of our elevation on the ant hill. Both Kevin and I had our rifles aimed at her, she seemed quite serious about the matter. Later we were able to get in front of the buffalo herd and watch them pass. We didn't see any really good bulls, so we walked out to the nearest road and radioed for the cruiser.
On the way back, we drove over the Angwa River.
Dinner that night was spaghetti and salad with pineapple mousse for desert.
Day seven, we got on a buffalo herd early and caught up with them after a couple of hours. We didn't see any really good bulls so we returned to the cruiser. Shortly thereafter we came across the tracks of a large buffalo herd. We followed them and in 30 minutes came up on the herd which had bedded down for their midday siesta. George, Kevin and I approached the herd using a large tree for cover. After a few minutes, we retreated and moved to a large over-grown ant hill. We could see the buffalo, they had bedded down in the other side of a clearing about 100 yards away from us. We were able to glass them for almost an hour. There seemed to be a good bull on the edge of the herd. He appeared a little soft just above his eyes, but he looked pretty solid in the rest of his boss. After an hour, the herd started to move and I was able to take a shot on that bull. The bull stood up and was facing us, angling slightly to our left. I placed the shot just inside his left front shoulder (between his shoulder and neck). The bull staggered forward about 5 steps then fell onto his right side. He was still kicking so a I put an insurance shot into his left shoulder.
Photo of me about to fire the insurance shot.
Looking back from the bull's position to the ant hill.
The buffalo, he was a bit soft between bosses (more than we thought). He measured 42"
We loaded the buffalo in the Cruiser and headed back to camp. Dinner that night was roast chicken and potatoes, pumpkin and lemon meringue pie.
Day 8 found us driving out of camp early and we spotted a sable crossing the road. We did a quick stalk on him and I was able to get a 120 yard shot on him. He was standing almost broadside in tall grass. It was a clean miss. No excuses, I just missed the shot. For those keeping track, I also missed an easy shot on a sable last season. I beginning to wonder if I'm cursed when it comes to sable?
For lunch the trackers had buffalo stomach (from my buffalo the day before) and sadza. After lunch, we drove to an area which Kevin knew had a resident sable herd. We picked up some fresh tracks and followed them for 2 hours. We saw them on a couple of occasions, but they were always moving and too far for a shot. We had buffalo stroganoff, rice, carrots and green beans for dinner. Fruit salad was the dessert.
Day 9, we returned to the same area and tracked the sable again. We saw them a couple of times, but again they were always one step ahead of us. After lunch we changed areas and checked a large pan, there were some old tracks of a sable bull. As it was late in the afternoon, we headed back to camp. Dinner was buffalo neck stew, sadza, cabbage with apricot pudding for dessert.
Day 10, we returned to the ridge where we had spotted sable on the first two days of the safari. We located the herd but the sable bull was not with them. After lunch, we returned to the area where I had missed the shot on the sable. Kevin had never seen sable in the area before, so we walked the entire area and found no fresh tracks. That sable bull must have just been passing through when we saw him from the road on Day 8. Back to camp for a buffalo steak dinner with mashed potatoes, broccoli and carrots. Mango whip for dessert.
Days 11 and 12 had us driving to several locations looking for fresh sable spoor. Kevin's wife and son arrived on Day 11.
We had a really nice lunch on Day 11 of grilled peri peri huku (chicken) and sadza.
Muno making sadza.
All in all, it was a great safari. Kevin is a pleasure to be around and the Zambezi Valley (especially Dande North) is one of the most beautiful areas in all of Africa.
Here are a few miscellaneous photos.
Checking spoor with our appy.
Catching up on the news (with a two week old Zimbabwe newspaper).
Carol's photo (she made me post this one).
My skull next to a couple of dugga boys from the safari just before we arrived.
Heading back to Harare.
Co piloting again, I swear these charter pilots are the biggest gossips!
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Additional photos have been added HERE.
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A post on bullet performance on the buffalo.
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Received this email from Kevin. The sable he is referring to is the one we chased for the first two days of our safari.
The hunting side has been good, I took a beautiful 16 1/2" boss dagga boy with a client from New Hampshire after you left and I also got a 41 1/2" bull with a client from Dallas so things are looking good. Our record bull has just been broken by a 46" taken yesterday by a guy from Spain, nice to know we have that quality in the Dande.
Terry, that damn sable needs a good stern warning. After you left I was driving the same area and he was standing on the side of the road not a 100 yards from us. My client and I both took pictures of the guy - he's beautiful. We saw him about 4 times in 10 days. Then on my next hunt with some Italians he walks across the road in front of us again sharing his glory. Then to top it all on the first day of another client's hunt he walks in front of us about 50 yds and stops to look at the truck. I couldn't believe what was going on! I told the client to shoot but he didn't want a sable. The trackers and I just bowed our heads. Well word has travelled fast and now we have 3 hunters looking for the "Carr Bull" (his given name). Something just tells me he's not that silly and will be around for a few more days to come.
