I couldn’t believe my time had come. Seeing Jorge head off to hunt with John Sharp was my signal that my time was near. I was scheduled to leave San Francisco on British Airways on 12 July. The only problem I had at SFO was the ticket agent told me that I needed special permission to bring my 460 and 300 Weatherby. Thankfully Gracy Travel provided me with calibers that are excluded from this provision. I used Optima Services to get me through the red tape South Africa provided me. They are well worth it. John Sharp picked me up and got me through Bulawayo customs in no time flat. The next day we headed to Swainsons Safari camp in northern Dande. The next morning John and his trackers picked up a pretty good size group of Cape Buffalo that we had seen the night before. After much walking John got me in a great position to take my Buffalo. I was using my 460 weatherby with factory loaded Barnes X 450 grain. I took my shot and hit him right on the crease of his shoulder. The buff reared up and ran uphill about 20 yards and then went down. That was the end of my Buff hunt.



The next highlight of my hunt was going after my leopard. After providing 3 Zebra baits in the process we finally had our leopard feeding at one of the baits. This hunt was being done at night. I had brought a 1.75 x 6.6 32mm Leopold scope. Because John was using a red light we decided to use his Leopold 50 mm illuminated reticle on his 300 win mag. I have to admit I wanted to use my 300 weatherby but I wanted that leopard more and I didn’t want to take any chances on not seeing it when the time came. About 3 hours into the evening John told me he could hear the leopard feeding. Jeez what an experience. I looked into the scope and saw the leopard grabbing onto the bait. He then sat down and I pulled the trigger. I remember a bright flash and saw the leopard run off. I didn’t hear any growling what so ever. I thought I may have missed him. Turns out he ran off about 30 yards and went down. The bullet went through his lungs and exited through his vocal cords. His head was turned to the left when I shot. We tried to track the Leopard called the Road Warrior but no such luck. Here is his print next to my 300 weatherby cartridge.

Maybe next time.





Next the Kudu. I swear these animals gave me a fit. The Kudu would hide between the heavy bush and I couldn’t see them. John would say “Steve that’s a 60 inch Kudu and you cant see it?†I would say â€NO†many times. I was getting so frustrated after hearing John say this for “3†60 inch Kudus that I missed. Luck was on my side. My 58 inch Kudu walked into a clearing and my 300 weatherby with Barnes X did its job. I did manage to get my 25â€Waterbuck, 4â€klipspringer and 14†Bushbuck.







John Sharp provided me with great opportunities and his trackers were fantastic. John cooked up the game that I shot and It all tasted was great. I even tried a piece of leopard meat. It wasn’t bad. This was my 1st trip to Africa and now I know what you all experienced when you all go. John and I head to Zambia next August for our Lion hunt.
Again thanks for all your advice. It paid off for me.

AKA

Nice trophies, well done and thank you for sharing them with us

Fantastic!! Congrats on a grat safari.

Congratulations and thanks for posting your report. Good pictures and it sounds like you had a great time.

Congratulations, did you do all of hunting at Dande North or did you transfer to a plains game area?

What camp in Dande North?

Regards,

Terry

Great report Steve, I'm still unable to see your pictures here so I guess it muct be my computer but thanks for emailing me the ones yesterday, they were wonderful! I'm also particularly happy that your Weatherbys performed admirably and that 378 Weatherby with the 270 Barnes Xs is a great choice for lion or you might give Superios Ammo a call and see what they have. Good job! jorge

PS: Hey Terry, how come all I'm getting are "x"s for the pics?

Sounds like a great hunt. I'm going to Namibia next year for PG and leopard, maybe the year after that I'll give John a call and try for buff and sable.

quote:

The only problem I had at SFO was the ticket agent told me that I needed special permission to bring my 460 and 300 Weatherby. Thankfully Gracy Travel provided me with calibers that are excluded from this provision.

What's this all about? I know England has an arms embargo against Zimbabwe, so you can't fly through London to Zimbabwe with your firearms. Never heard of it being caliber specific.

Regards,

Terry

Jorge,

No idea. I can see the photos. Try Right Clicking on the red x and Left Click on "Show Picture".

Regards,

Terry

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
Congratulations, did you do all of hunting at Dande North or did you transfer to a plains game area?

What camp in Dande North?

Regards,

Terry

Terry, I was at the Swainsons Safari camp. I believe I came in just as you left. I only hunted the Buff in the North Dande area. I then went down to the Malangani area for my plains game. If you send me your fax number I will fax you the email from BA security regarding the limitations on calibre export.

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Great report Steve, I'm still unable to see your pictures here so I guess it muct be my computer but thanks for emailing me the ones yesterday, they were wonderful! I'm also particularly happy that your Weatherbys performed admirably and that 378 Weatherby with the 270 Barnes Xs is a great choice for lion or you might give Superios Ammo a call and see what they have. Good job! jorge

PS: Hey Terry, how come all I'm getting are "x"s for the pics?

Jorge, Thanks again for your help! fed ex going out to you today. Talk to you soon!

quote:

Originally posted by AKA:

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
Congratulations, did you do all of hunting at Dande North or did you transfer to a plains game area?

What camp in Dande North?

Regards,

Terry

Terry, I was at the Swainsons Safari camp. I believe I came in just as you left. I only hunted the Buff in the North Dande area. I then went down to the Malangani area for my plains game. If you send me your fax number I will fax you the email from BA security regarding the limitations on calibre export.

Where did you go for leopard? I only saw 2 zebras at Dande while I was there.

Thanks,

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:

quote:

Originally posted by AKA:

quote:

Originally posted by T.Carr:
Congratulations, did you do all of hunting at Dande North or did you transfer to a plains game area?

What camp in Dande North?

Regards,

Terry

Terry, I was at the Swainsons Safari camp. I believe I came in just as you left. I only hunted the Buff in the North Dande area. I then went down to the Malangani area for my plains game. If you send me your fax number I will fax you the email from BA security regarding the limitations on calibre export.

Where did you go for leopard? I only saw 2 zebras at Dande while I was there.

Thanks,

Dogcat, For the leopard and plains game John took me to the Malangani area of Masvingo province.

THanks, we had a great hunt in Dande for buff, bushbuck and croc.

Terry: AKA stayed at Mururu just like I did. It's the place John prefers unless he's afer crocs where he goes down where you stayed. jorge

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Terry: AKA stayed at Mururu just like I did. It's the place John prefers unless he's afer crocs where he goes down where you stayed. jorge

Oh, I see whats going on now with the multiple camps. The place I stayed at was called PEDZA PASI(taken off Terrys picture post). John said the other place you stayed at was being used. This camp as I remember was right next to the airstrip.

Oh, ok, you stayed at hte main camp that's run by that couple who was eveicted by Mugabe's thugs. Sad story that one. jorge

quote:

Originally posted by jorge:
Oh, ok, you stayed at hte main camp that's run by that couple who was eveicted by Mugabe's thugs. Sad story that one. jorge

Jorge, Yes those were the people that had their farm taken over by the war vets. They mentioned that they were asked to come back to their old farm and work it for 5 years. They turned down the offer. Who could blame them!

AKA,
Congratulations on a great hunt. For those of us on this Forum who have hunted with John Sharp we all, now like you, have memories for the rest of our lives

Congratulations on a fantastic first safari...don't know what you will do to top that!!!! Maybe a lion/elephant bull hunt in Zambia?

AKA,
Congratulations on a great trip. John is a tremendous PH and outfitter and simply exceeds your expectations.

Phil

Congratulations on your hunt.
I would like to know more about your 460.

quote:

Originally posted by bobga:
AKA,
Congratulations on a great hunt. For those of us on this Forum who have hunted with John Sharp we all, now like you, have memories for the rest of our lives

Bon, Thanks. The cat you got should last 3 lifetimes! Road warrior showed up 2 days before I left. We stayed in the blind one night but he didn't show up. The nerve!

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Congratulations on a fantastic first safari...don't know what you will do to top that!!!! Maybe a lion/elephant bull hunt in Zambia?

thanks. I hope my Zambia trip goes as well as this one did!

quote:

Originally posted by Phil:
AKA,
Congratulations on a great trip. John is a tremendous PH and outfitter and simply exceeds your expectations.

Phil

Phil..Did you hunt with John too?

quote:

Originally posted by Jarrod:
Congratulations on your hunt.
I would like to know more about your 460.

Jarrod. I used a weatherby 460 DGR model! It worked like a charm.

here is the link to weatherby!

http://www.weatherby.com/products/custom.asp?prd=Custom...ub_type=7&prd_id=253

quote:

Originally posted by AKA:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Jarrod:
Congratulations on your hunt.
I would like to know more about your 460.

Jarrod. I used a weatherby 460 DGR model! I believe it comes out of Weatherbys custon shop. It worked like a charm.

AKA,

I hunted with John - a 12-day plains game trip to Malangani - in 2002. Had a fabulous time needless to say!!! I'm going back over soon -hopefully 2007 - for a return engagement. The trip with John was my first to Africa - I think he ruined me for life.

Sure has been fun reading about the trips that you, Jorge, and bobga have made this year and last!!!

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

Phil

AKA

Congratulations on an excellent hunt

Regards
Aziz

AKA:

Great pics and report.

How did you like flying BA? My wife, 11 month old son and myself just flew to Vienna on BA and it was the best service I've ever encountered. We got back on Aug 9th.

quote:

Originally posted by 577NitroExpress:
AKA:

Great pics and report.

How did you like flying BA? My wife, 11 month old son and myself just flew to Vienna on BA and it was the best service I've ever encountered. We got back on Aug 9th.

577Nitro..BA was fantastic to fly on. I could of done without the 2 11 hour flights (one way)but the service in the air was great. I even managed to get a good 4 hours sleep on the fold out seat/beds.

Glad you had a good one!

AKA

Awesome trophies! Gorgeous monster cat!
Congrats and well done!

Tim