Date of Hunt: September 2004

Location: Lower Lupande GMA, Luangwa Valley, Zambia

Animals Taken: Lion (24 7/8), 2-Buffalo, 2-Hippo, Zebra, Puku (17"), Bushbuck (13.5")

Game Hunted But Not Shot: Croc (did not hunt hard, nothing over 12ft seen), Waterbuck (largest seen ~25")

Game Not Hunted: Roan (very limited), Kudu (~45-50"), Warthog (avg), Baboon, Impala (~21-22"), Hyena, Klipspringer, Grysbok

PH/Outfitter: Peter Chipman (Kwalata Safaris) at: kwalatapeter@yahoo.com (do not expect a rapid reply during hunting season)

Booking Agent: Wes Hixon

Travel Agent: Kathi Klimes

Hunt Summary: This was my second lion hunt, the first one in 03 being a "tracking hunt" in the soft sands of the Caprivi Strip. It was a late season low-cost / low-probability hunt, and although I was not successful in shooting one, I did get to follow lion with the Bushman (Sans) trackers, and shot a wonderful ~28" Roan (also tracked down). I decided afterwards that I'd try for lion one more time, before the prices got too high, and after considerable research decided on the Luangwa Valley in Zambia. While not know for "MGM lions", since the re-opening success rates have been high, and nobody has been more consistent then Peter Chipman.

Peter, a native of Zambia living with his wife and two children in Livingston, is an excellent Lion Hunter and a good-natured and sincere individual. He has considerable experience hunting in Tanzania and Zambia, and has shot 63 [70 as of Dec-05] lion in his 15+ year career.

On this trip I was successful in shooting what I personally was after - a mature bush lion. Although his mane is not full and nothing like the South African [put-take] lions, he was estimated at 6 years old and is full of character with numerous scars and missing the end of his tale. Very large bodied with an estimated weight of 450-500lbs and a "Rowland Ward" 24 7/8" skull. I shot him through the heart from a machan (elevated tree blind) at about 50-yards with the .458 Lott and .500gr hand-loaded Woodleigh softpoints. Thankfully, it was a quick, clean kill.

They shot a number of dark-maned lions this year and last (15 for 15 in 2003/04/05). Although a dark-maned lion would have been nice, my main criteria was that the lion be mature, and not with a pride if at all possible. I got a brief glimpse of a huge-maned lion that was calling for several nights near to our camp, from across the river, but he never made a mistake and may have been bait-smart the way he acted. We spent two nights in a tree blind hoping to catch him at first/last light. This was an unbelievable experience, with all types of creatures around including a scrap between lion, and lion and hyena. Given the number of ele in the area, a tree blind was the way to go.

Peter's nephew, Sarge, hunts for Kwalata, and is great company and sure to be an excellent PH. Sarge is also in charge of the camp and related management. Having been born in Zambia, he is very familiar with the people and culture. Unfortunately, this father was killed by a croc back in 01/02 while fishing near to his village. An Australian-born gentleman by the name of Ron Cowan, who owns and runs with his wife a guest lodge located within the concession (Kafunta River Lodge), also hunts for Peter.

The "East African" style, tented camp is located in the middle of the concession along the Luangwa River. It is rebuilt each May, although the huts and dining area are on concrete slabs. Service was great with some 25 friendly, local people working in camp. The guest huts were huge, with a large shower and 7x24 hour hot-water, a real flush-toilet and two big double beds. Food ws excellent and made to order, including game meat, chicken and steak. There is another permanent camp which Peter also uses which we visited but did not stay at.

I can tell that Peter has implemented many of the positive elements that he has seen over the years, while taking steps to avoid the problem areas that he experienced while guiding elsewhere. He seems to get along with everyone, including the gov't officials, game scouts and park rangers, the local tribal chiefs, and other local PH's.

What's nice about this concession from a logistical standpoint is that one can take the Air Zambia flight from Lusaka into Mfuwe (which has a tar runway as the previous president had a place here and had it and the road to Mfuwe paved), which cost me only $150 each way, then drive the ~2hrs to camp. This saves an expensive air charter, and is one of the reasons why Peter went after this area (there were 26 people/companies after the Lower Lupande GMU, second only to Nyampala).

The Lower Lupande concession offers very good hunting, although it does not have a huge diversity of game (no Lichtenstein's hartebeest, sable or Cookson's wildebeest as found in some other GMA's in the Luangwa Valley). The trophy quality of the warthogs, waterbuck and impala is respectable, but not tremendous. I saw just one snare in 17-days of hunting. It is definitely big game country, and we had all sorts of animals in/around camp at night including hyena, leopard, lion, elephant and even a herd of buffalo the last day. We saw lion virtually every day.

The trail-road system throughout the concession is excellent. One can make the buffalo hunting as easy or difficult as one chooses. There are resident herds that contain nice bulls. Or - my preference - later in the year the old dagga boys can be tracked from the Luangwa River into the hills that make up the escarpment. This was great fun, although the dry, open terrain at this time of the year can force shots a bit longer then one might be comfortable with using open sites. I recall thinking that a .375 with a 1.5-6, 2.5-8 or even a 3-9x scope would have been just about perfect. Earlier in the season, the grass is long and the areas around the river are thick, so shooting distances are less as with other parts of Africa.

Regarding buffalo, what is attractive is that on a 7 or 10-day buffalo hunt, one can shoot croc, hyena and hippo in addition to the available plainsgame (based on available quota). The trophy fees for the croc and hippo are quite reasonable compared to other parts of Africa. Peter estimated that there are between 1000-1200 buffalo in the resident herds and in the hills. I think one should expect to shoot a heavy-bossed, old buff of about 36-38-inches, and there is the possibility of 40+ as they shot 4 or 5 this year including one of 44-inches. I saw some with absolutely huge bosses.

Zambia, from my limited experience, appears to be safe, hunter-friendly and well integrated. It also seems to be a country on the rebound, and the attitudes of people I met were positive. Lusaka was clean and far less intimidating then other African cities that I have been in. The process at the airport was not quite as smooth as earlier this year in Harare (Zim), as the police and army guys are a bit "old school" (looking for a "tip"), but I think most outfitters offer a meet-greet service to handle the paperwork.

I'd highly recommend that anybody overnighting in Lusaka considers staying at the Taj Pamodzi Hotel. It is a true 5-star hotel, offering great service and accommodations for just under USD $100/night with Peter's discount (note prices have gone up since 04). Kathi Klimes took care of the flight arrangements, and was just a satellite phone call away when I needed to change my flight schedule home.

One of the most satisfying parts of the safari was a donation of supplies (such as pencils, workbooks, chalk, etc) to the local Malama village schools. I thank Peter for pulling this off, and Sarge for incorporating this into the ~16hr round trip journey to pick up camp supplies. We delivered the materials to the two village school personally, and received a warm thank you from the students and educators. I found the people in the area, who still live a rather primitive existence, to be very friendly and always with a smile. This is truly "Real Africa", and I urge anybody so inclined to spend time interacting with the local villagers, as this experience will not be around forever.


Lusaka,Zambia






Buffalo #1 (Awesome)


Buffalo #2 (Soft Boss)


Delivering Buffalo Meat to the Villagers


Puku


Chobe Bushbuck


Zebra (No Shadow Stripes)


Bull Hippo #1 (for Lion Bait)






Bull Hippo #2 (More Lion Bait - The Females & Cubs Were Eating Well!






Recovered From Buffalo .500gr Woodleigh "Non-Protected Points" (Single Load Selected for Lion)


Peter's Main Bush Camp






Young ~4-Year Old Lion Near a Bait


There Were Many lion Prides in the Area


Machan (Tree Blind for Lion) & Checking Baits




Lion Kill


Celebration After Success on the Lion






A Few of the Many Big Bull Elephants (04 - Prior to Opening of Ele Hunting)






Puku




Hut Ransacked by Elephant Looking for Maize (A man from the village was killed the next day by an ele cow)[/b]


The Malama Bush School




Preparation & Distribution of Supplies at the Malama Village Schools (Peter)















[img]http://i1374.photobucket.com/albums/ag431/bcamp29/zambia/P9220340.jpg]/img]







We Took a Swim in the Luangwa


The End of Another Wonderful Adventure

Great report and great hunt again, Bill. I like that old lion. Also, huge kudos on the visit to the school to pass out school supplies. You can see the excitement in those kids' faces. One of my favorite things to do on safari is to visit with the locals, especially the kids and pass out goodies. They always appreciate anything and everything you do for them!

Hi,
Those are some nice hard-bossed buffalo! How many inches did they go?
The lion looks great too, are you planning a full mount or a flat skin +mounted head?

Bill C

Very nice report and great trophies, what caliber did you use? I commend you on handing out the school supplies, looks like they were appreciated.

CFA

Thanks Hiker & Russell.

Bog - I updated the report w/the buffalo, they measured 38.5 and 39.5 inches. I shot the 1st on the first day of focused buffalo hunting (day 10), and the second on the second to last day. The second does not have the greatest boss, but it happened fast and the events leading up to it was too good not to shoot. The only bull we came up on previously that had the spread I was hoping for was real soft and looked like a big cow/female (Pict's posted on the African hunting forum previously). We tracked small groups each morning that had crossed the dirt track adjacent to the Luangwa River. Sometime we'd get up on them and push them, other times we didn't catch them until they hit the hills about 7km away. It's great fun, but you only really get one shot at it per day. In the evenings, we looked over the herds and checked out new areas in the concession hoping to get onto something.

CFA - I used a Ruger Mark II in .458 Lott with Leopold 1.5x5 illuminated scope (which allowed me to make the shot on the lion at last light) and Warne QR Rings (that broke during the hunt, but I did not find this out until I got home and fortunately I didn't lose any animals).


Scenes from the Lower Lupande - Real Africa!

Thanks for sharing your hunt Bill. I'd might have to try my luck with this outfit.

Please post a picture of the bushbuck, if you have a chance..
What kind of bushbuck will it be btw? Masai bushbuck?

Ups, what did I say... It will definatly not be a Masai bushbuck.. Where did that come from?
Chobe maybe?

I read your report in October, but it was just as good this time around. Thanks for the refresh!

Those pic's are awesome. What camera were you using?

Beautiful! Just beautiful!
A bushbuck is on top of my wish-list (of animals I can afford to hunt in pretty near future).
I must agree, the pictures are very good! Good colours, and so sharp.

Bill C,

How did the Warne rings break? Is there something specific that can be done to prevent this?

Anders, thanks for the feedback. Every hunt should include a bushbuck, and I admire those that have taken them spot/stalk on foot.

MJ - the camera is a 4 mega pixel Olympus C-750 Ultra Zoom, which I bought primarily for the 9x optical zoom (which is good to about 6x before you need a tripod and the remote). It takes real nice close-up's too.

What is really cool is I have one of the Canon CP-330 portable photo printers (dye sublimination) which runs off of AC or battery. With it and the compatible "PictBridge", it is real easy to print lab-quality prints in the bush. The camp staff loved the pictures. I gave one to the trackers, game scout, chef, guards, waiters, etc. Of course I had 18-days to kill too... The trackers loved their pict with them and the lion, saying that it would "prove their manliness to the women".

SBT - I talked with Dave (?) at Warne, heck of a nice guy (as are so many people in this business, so much unlike what I'm accustomed to dealing with in the "IT" world), he said he had never seen this before. He sent me two new sets and a bunch of "tabs", which are a softer metal. I was shooting some hot loads (too hot, I had a case separation also at what others have found to be the upper limit), and using a rest some of the time, and I think this did it. After ~40 rounds, no problem. The Lott, just as others have said, is tuff on scopes/mounts. Maybe I'm the only one this ever happened to, I don't know.

Hey Bill:

Those buff are nice. You didn't mention sable...did you hunt them?

i am looking at Zambia - I had a booking agent quote a hunt for buff, leopard, and sable at 18K, which sound pretty good to me, but I haven't researched squat.

BillC,
That photo says it all. Thanks.

quote:

You didn't mention sable...did you hunt them? i am looking at Zambia - I had a booking agent quote a hunt for buff, leopard, and sable at 18K, which sound pretty good to me, but I haven't researched squat.

No, I did not hunt sable, I would have liked to. Unfortunately not too many of the gov't concessions in the Luangwa Valley have huntable numbers. I think Nyampala has sable, as does Mulobezi (along Kafue Park, Swanepoel & Scandrol) and Tondwa (along boarder w/Tanz, Johnny du Plooy). Of course there are huge ranches in Zambia where sable can be hunted.

Truely a marvelous hunt! I know that you really enjoyed it and the bonus of visiting the school and giving supplies to all those kids! I am hoping to soon be able to go on a mission trip with my church mission team to Africa and am saving for the safari of a "lifetime" like you experienced! Well done! Great trophies and report!

Mike Roesch
Chattanooga, TN

Bill C,
Great trip and photos, ja!
The photo of the Warne Ruger QD is a bummer.
Kevin Robertson recommended that setup in _The Perfect Shot_.

I can't help but think the Ruger design, with a small rounded tab sticking down into a tiny slot on the receiver, may not be the best design.

I know you did not let the mount loosen under recoil and get a run at the stop.

A bad metallurgical batch on those rings?

I still use the Warne stuff happily, especially the QRW-type/Maxima stuff, but I keep a close eye on those Ruger Warne QD's.

Sorry to drudge this back up to the top, but I added/consolidated some additional pictures and realized that I never replied to RIP (sorry RIP!).

This hunt was Sept 04, and since then I am convinced the problem with the Warne mount was a result of loads being a bit too hot (was getting caught up in the lust for velocity as was being debated at that time) and shooting the rifle from a rest. You are right, the levers were tight, which is what maintained the near-zero as well as it did and why I had not noticed the problem sooner. Since this, when sighting in or testing loads, I make sure to remove the back "strap" from the rest so that the rifle rests on my shoulder...which does wonders for the flinch!

In 05 for a buffalo hunt, I topped it with a Burris Posi-Lock 1.75-5x32 Safari Scope which held zero perfectly once "locked-down", and per Burris can stand up to the recoil acceleration of the Lott. No problem either with the Warne's with a total of maybe 75 shots with this setup. Returns to zero nicely, although the 5x seems to be more then the ballistics of a 500gr Woodleigh at ~2300fps can support! Now the Lott is topless, and will likely remain that way for ele.

The Burris is heavy and a bit ugly w/a matte finish, but w/the Posi-Lock it held up thus far and might be a good solution/option for somebody looking to top the Lott. Note on the Ruger, I believe IIRC the 1.5-6x40 would not fit the std bases and rings.

Burris Posi-Lock Safari: http://www.burrisoptics.com/signature.html

I never did get a good digital picture of the lion. I shot him at last light and by the time the truck w/my camera arrived it was dark. Some neat video of the ride back to camp, and the celebrations at the villages near to where this lion was roaming (killed a giraffe about 200 yards from some huts). We took some pictures the next morning before the skinning, but it was not the same cat - bloated and greyish, I don't even like to look at the pictures as they do not do him justice.

Thanks for renewing my memories Bill! I love Zambia!!

John

Excellent picture ,excellent trip thank you.Juan

Great Report. Did I miss the picture of the Lion? Didn't see one.

Fantastic photographs and a tremendous description. Thank you for sharing with us!

Fantastic again.
BTT where this thread belongs.
Five thumbs up: