Outfitter: Charlton McCallum Safaris
PH: Myles McCallum
Trackers: Morgan, Tiki, and driver Mouno
Game Scouts: Reggie and Howard
Dates: 16 June - 30 June 2018
Area Hunted: Dande North and Dande East
Rifles: Home built .378 Wby and 30’ 06 VZ 24
Animals taken: Daylight Leopard, Impala, Warthog
Animals seen: Lion, Leopard, Impala, Buffalo, Elephant, Zebra, Waterbuck, Bushbuck, Hippo, Crocodile, Jackel, Hyena, Civet, Mongoose, Diker

My wife and I just spent two incredible weeks with Myles McCallum of Charlton McCallum Safaris.

We arrived in Johannesburg and went to Africa Sky Guest house where we spent two nights
prior to catching our flight to Harare. Shawn at Gracy made all our arrangements for meet and greet clearing the rifles etc. As usual everything went without a hitch and we were checking in to Africa Sky about two hours after landing.

We departed for Harare on the morning of the 15th. Arrival in Harare was interesting but we were prepared thanks to the comments a few of you have made in the past. The visa charge paid we then proceeded to customs check being escorted by a semi-official pair. The whole affair was a little off but as you all said just go with the flow and avoid any conflict. Once out of the secure area we were met by Kirsty of CMS and our 206 driver for the flight to camp. The departure check was about the same as the arrival minutes before. Then off to the ramp to stuff our gear in the 206. After an interesting hour flight we landed in the Chewore safari area where Myles met us along with a million Mopane flies reminding us that we were “not in Kansas anymore”. A short drive back to Makanga camp where we settled in. A cool drink and then out to the range to check the rifles.

We were up at five the next morning for breakfast and then off at dawn to check tracks on the roads and visit some old baits left by the previous PH. We saw numerous leopard tracks but one big male on one of the old baits. While checking the other baits I took an impala for bait the bullet hitting a branch enroute managing to ruin the tender loins: a ‘bit’ high and far back.

We proceeded to the bait where we had seen the large tracks and hung the fresh impala and built a blind before retiring to a comfortable spot in the shade for a late lunch. At about 1530 we headed back to the refreshed bait to see what might show up.

Myles, Cathy and I settled into the blind and Cathy set up her camera just in case. Then we all settled down for a wait. Within 30 minutes we were alerted to some activity on the bait by the sound of bone being crushed. Myles carefully moved Cathy to the camera to start it and then moved her back out of the way, I moved forward to get my first look at the Leopard. We watched while Myles sexed the cat. Myles said that we were looking at a male as the big cat slipped off the tree and out of sight. After a long two minutes he was once again in the tree and on the bait as I watched. He worked on the bait and finally paused and looked right at the blind. That moment is when I took him. He made it about 10 yards from the tree where we found him. So my Leopard of a lifetime was in the salt after 45 minutes in the blind. This was the first Leopard in 25 years that Myles had taken on the first night.

Our great good fortune gave us 13 days to find the right Sable as well as photograph the beautiful areas in Dande North, Ward 11, and Dande East. We set about that early the next morning and spent the next three days on tracks from shortly after dawn to dark averaging 12k a day of low to medium intensity walking in the sometimes heavy brush of an early season with some late rains. While doing that we encountered herds of Buffalo and took a little time for photos tracking the herd. We found a pride of Lions was also tracking this herd when we happened upon one at about 10 meters in the tall grass. That is not a growl I will ever forget. Once they knew we were there we each dogged the herd from our own side until we broke off to head back to the truck. We saw five Lions total with one probably young male. Lion and Elephant tracks were seen every day throughout the concessions.

We moved to Matombo camp for a couple of days in new terrain and our first look at the Zambezi. After settling we went down to the river for a cruise to look for Hippo and Crocks of which there were many. The highlight was an over 16 footer that we came across in one of the backwaters before watching the sun go down on the river. We tracked a Sable on the first morning and came upon a Warthog walking at us. I took him at just under 50 yards with the 378 with a 300 grain Northfork which penetrated full length. We found it under the skin on the inside of a hind leg. The next day we spent scouting and glassing along ridges. Later in the afternoon while driving we spotted a Sable and got off to follow him. He was in a herd of about 17 and was likely the dominant bull. We made a plan to intercept him paralleling the herd from the next ridge. Myles got me to within 80 yards but I could not see him. I finally did see him when he and the herd were over 500 yards and moving off. He was not the Sable I really wanted with no secondary growth and Myles characterized him as an average young bull. We decided that a change of venue was in order.
The next morning we moved to Dande East and Karunga Camp where we would spend our final four days. Tracking Sable here was somewhat difficult due to the heavy brush.
This was exacerbated by a very large herd of Roan that seemed to be thriving in the area. Their tracks while similar to the Sable are much larger but the whole small Roan big Sable conundrum was constantly looming in the trackers mind. I asked Myles if we should switch to Roan as this was clearly a target rich environment on which nobody had hunted Roan in at least 35 years. Unfortunately one has to apply for a tag well in advance. CMS still has one on quota for this year. If you are looking for a later season Buffalo you could add a Roan to make a great hunt out of a very comfortable camp. We did shoot a nice Impala on the second afternoon and he made a fine meal the next evening.

In the end we did not connect with a Sable walking well over 60 miles in our 12 days. We saw a large portion of Buzz’ and Myles’ beautiful concessions, experienced 5 of their camps, photographed Buffalo, Elephant, Sable, Impala and some absolutely breathtaking scenery.

I would not hesitate to recommend CMS to anyone looking for a wonderful experience. Myles took great care of us and made sure that Cathy had time for pictures as our hunt progressed. It is sometimes difficult balancing to disparate goals but Myles did it well.

Our trip home was slightly different returning via Amsterdam vice JNB,ATL direct. While the rifle red tape before hand was expensive, no one even asked about the weapons or the permits in Amsterdam.
Minneapolis was a pretty easy arrival but it is clear that not too many weapons come through here. TSA there opened my weapon case but customs did not. The TSA guy required my combinations and told me that I could leave. I chose to stay until I saw him close the case. I thanked him and left. When I got home I discovered that both bolts which were out of the rifles had been uncocked. That is not something that just happens. The TSA drone obviously wanted me to know he reopened the case.

Some pictures are up on the cmsafaris.com site.

A big congrats to you and your wife on your hunt. Myles and Buzz are "Good People"!

Hearing about your uncocked bolts is discouraging.

Well don indeed!!
I’ve hunted out of all of CMS
Camps and they have always produced a great safari. Getting your leopard on the first sighting is incredible!
Well done, and it gives you an excuse Togo back for a Sable/Roan combo out of there Dande East concession.

Cheers

Nick

That's great.

Africa makes you pay one way or the other; 45 minutes for a leopard and 60 miles for no sable.

Outstanding! Thanks for sharing.

Ski+3
Kalispell, MT

Thanks for sharing your hunt.

Sounds like a great safari!

A couple of shots of our leopard:

Enjoyed the report and pics.

A couple of crocks we saw on the Zambezi. Myles estimated this one at over 16.5 feet.


A shot of some buffalo. There were at least 150 in this herd but the thick brush made photos a challenge.



The smaller crock maybe 13 feet. They still have some on quota.

16.5 ft Nile croc is like a 22 ft Salt water croc

I know of a South African stock killer croc killed a few years ago that was around 18 ft - not a true wilderness one I was told.

An Aussie saltie was captured a few weeks ago that was around 21 ft.

Crocs that size seem to come up about once in 20 years.

Congrats on your leopard!

I sat a lot and had to make multiple hunts before I managed to do what you did in one hunt! Sable are certainly tricky to get and you will pull it off one of these days.

Thanks for the report.

Myles is a good man to spend some serious windshield time with. It sounds like a wonderful hunt.

I have to visit that Dande East camp some day

Nice report - thanks for sharing


Morten

Very nice report thank you .

Great report! Congrats on a great hunt.

Hi Russ

Many thanks for coming with us and as in my email I am sorry we did not meet up in Dande! Congrats on a great leopard in the day time as well! We are now 7 for 7 with 6 in day light hours as the 7th was missed at 5 pm and then shot at 7pm the same night! Thanks again and we look forward to sharing a campfire you you and Cathy again soon! All the best Buzz