31 July 2016, 01:33
Rob HZimbabwe with Chattaronga Safaris (Croc/Hippo/Sable)
Country: ZimbabweTiming: July 17th to 27th, 2016
Locations: Matetsie Unit 4 and Sengwe River off Lake Kariba
Targeted Animals: Sable, Hippo, Croc
Harvested Animals: Sable, Reedbuck, Zebra, Hippo, Croc
Outfitter: Chattaronga Safaris (http://chattaronga.co.za)
PH: Alex and Divan
Last February, my dad won a raffle at a charity fund raiser for my brother’s group home (he has Downs Syndrome). Chattaronga Safaris participates in donating hunting opportunities – and we are very grateful for them for this!
Anyway, Dad won a 10 day Buffalo hunt. He and I got our Buffalo’s back in 2012, so they allowed us to credit the hunt in on alternative hunts. We elected to go for a houseboat trip on Lake Kariba for a croc/hippo combo for me, and a Sable for my dad in their Matetsie area..
My dad is 80 years old and this is our 3rd trip to Africa together. It will probably the last time he will head over there so the hunt was pretty important to me!
We were treated to a great safari! We started in Matetsi Unit #4 for four days. Here I picked up a bait zebra (for the next group coming in) and dad got his Sable as well as a very nice Reedbuck.
For the Hippo and Croc, we boarded a houseboat in Binga and traveled 1.5 days up Lake Kariba to hunt the Sengwa River. Very remote area. Lots of hippos, and big crocs. This was a real interesting experience to say the least! Our Houseboat was called the Abangane.
We did the hippo hunt first. We took small boats from the Abangane into the Sengwa river and talked with the local fishing villagers. They were more than happy to help us get some hippos and crocs out of their backyards! Some of the little kids had never seen a white person before and were scared of us. They yelled "white!" and ran into the bushes/corn to watch us from afar.
This place was thick with hippo and croc! note the Pink hippo!
This small hippo had been beat up badly by a bull and was resting with the crocs who paid him no mind. He looked like pink scrimshaw work had been done on him, and he had a large gaping tusk hole in his abdomen. I do not think he lasted much longer.
These were the first wild Hippos I have ever seen! I was surprised to see that they spout like whales and wiggle their ears just like the ride at Disneyland use to point out! (but I am sorry to report that ear wiggling does not mean they are ready to charge!)
It did not take us long to find a good Bull Hippo. I took the shot from shore at about 50 yards - it was a brain shot and he went right down. I was not prepared for what would happen next. The Villagers came out in droves. Some got boats and long sticks and started poking the water where the hippo went down. They found it in short order and tied a rope to it, ran the rope to shore and gave it to other folks who lined up and pulled it in. My hippo was large, and was around 3 tons. They pulled it to shore pretty easily, but it took about 45 to 60 minutes and 100 plus people and a grappling hook to get it the last 6 feet onto shore! The whole village turned out (150-200 people) and they all lined up (old women, women with babies strapped to them, kids, men, everyone!) and went to work to try and get it out of the water. We tied multiple ropes to it, but brute force just did not work. We broke ropes at least 3 times pulling. In the end, we took three ropes (one to each set of feet, and one to the head) and then stuck a hook into the back and with all 100-150 of us pulling, rolled it 2x to get it on the beach.
Let the butchering begin! Our skinner managed about 6 villagers and they did the skinning work. The folks who did the work kept a portion for themselves. We took all four legs with us. One we kept for us and the crew. One we used for bait, and the other two we gave to the villagers for helping with the croc.
It took 6 of us to get the cape and head on the front of the boat – I am guessing it was 500 to 800 pounds. The rest of the skin was taken off in a single panel and was about 7 feet wide, and I am guessing 12 feet long. This was rolled up like a carpet and another 6 to 8 people were needed to get that on the boat.
I plan on seeing if Jerry Huffaker can make a floor mount of the head (top portion only, coming out of the floor like it is underwater). I want to make two of the feet into ice buckets, and two into table legs or something. I am going to have the tail mounted as well. The skin panel will be made into leather. I may have a jacket made, and some rifle cases. Heck, I could do a couch!
After we were done, we pulled away and all hell broke loose! The whole village charged the hippo carcass! Axes were flying and knives were flashing. They went crazy and pulled it apart and divided it up. Old women, little kids, everyone was involved. They ripped it up. I have no idea how they managed not to cut each other’s arms off in the process.
Hunting this hippo was a lot of fun. But as I found out, it was more than fun for the hunter. It is important to the Village as well. Here are the benefits hunting this hippo provided:
1. Much needed meat. This literally fed a whole village for several days. They had some cattle, however I was told cattle ownership is like cash for them so they rarely eat them. The hippo may be the only red meat these fishermen and their families get all year long.
2. Crop damage. The hippos come out of the water nightly and eat. They will trample their crops and eat them in short order. You think Elk are bad? Picture a pod of 1 to 3 ton hippos in a corn field!
3. Life damage. Every year hippos attack and wound/kill these villagers as they fish. It is the big bulls, or cows with calves that are doing this damage. Keeping the population in check reduces stress on the hippos and reduces human/hippo conflict.
4. Perks. Hunters bring candy, clothing and toys with them. My dad and I handed out candy to the kids (or "sweets" as they call them). Many had never had candy before. They mobbed us! Dad handed out some t-shirts, and I brought a soccer ball with pump - that was a huge hit! I should have waited to hand that out because once I did, we lost about 40 kids to help pull the hippo on shore! They had some handmade balls they were using (looked like plastic sheeting rolled up and tied into a ball shape). They were amazingly good with the soccer ball!
5. Entertainment. We were their TV. They sat on the banks and watched us hunt. Then came out and watched/helped us butcher.
Onto the croc.
I messed up a shot a monster. It was hard to tell, the shot looked solid - perhaps an inch or so low but should have broken the spine. Estimate is that he was 16 plus feet long. Very disappointing. the only animal I have ever lost.
I elected to try again, and was successful on a 13.5 foot croc.
We did put some bait out to try and draw in the big guy, but it did not work. Funny side story though. As we were getting ready to put out the bait, the Scout said there was no way the bait would make it through the night. He said the villagers would take it and eat it. Sure enough, as we started to put out the bait, the villagers came by to see what we were doing. Our PH told them we were going to poison the meat. I gave Alex two naproxen I had in my pocket and he ground them up on a rock, and then sprinkeled the powder all over the meat. Divan then cut holes in the meat and rubbed in the powder. We all then made a show of washing our hands in the river to get the “poison” off our hands!
One of the villagers asked us, “what about the other animals?” We told him that it only worked on humans, would not hurt the other animals. He looked skeptical and said, but what about our dogs? What will we do with you if tomorrow we find our dogs all dead? We assured him it only worked on humans and they reluctantly walked away. We were all praying that some oddball event that killed dogs would not occur overnight! The crocs did not come near the meat overnight, but the vultures sure found it! We saw them coming in to the bait in waves the next day! I am betting those vultures never had better feeling joints after eating the naproxen laced hippo meat!
We later found a good croc. This time we took no chances and I told everyone to back me up! I took a neck shot and both PH's we had with us opened up as well. My first shot was good, and he started shaking like they do when the spine is severed. But he was shaking is way into the water! We shot a total of 10 shots. In looking at the footage over and over, here is what happened:
Shot 1. My shot, in the neck. he was quivering, but moving towards the water. This was a fatal shot. It was a quartering shot and went through the brain and lodged into the ear. I later removed the bullet with my Leatherman.
Shot 2: PH Divan. Way way high in the water
Shot 3: PH Alex. Shot over him about 6 inches
Shot 4: My Shot. I hit low, in the dirt.
Shot 5: PH Divan. Good solid hit. behind the front leg, quartering away. he hunched when this one hit
Shot 6: Last shot with him on land. PH Divan shot and went high.
Shot 7: PH Alex in the water, no idea if it was a hit
Shot 8, 9 and 10. Me. I shot every time I saw a piece of croc rolling in the water.
One of the water shots that Alex and I made nicked the tail. So only 2 hits total. Both looked pretty good.
You may laugh at us for taking 10 shots, heck, when I took the last shot Alex asked me if I was mad at the Croc! But after losing one, I was not going to stop shooting until I saw a dead croc on shore, or no longer had bullets left! Basically, if I saw croc moving, I shot at it!
Here is the bullet in the ear, and the same bullet once recovered.
I found it interesting that the bullet I was using did not go through and through on a 40-yard Croc shot. We think that this may be why I did not recover the first croc. that was an 80 yard shot and the bullet may not have broken the spine. I was using 275 grain Cutting Edge Bullets. Non-Con BBW#13’s in a 375 H&H. MV of 2,480 FPS.
Some photos.
With our hunt over, we headed back to Binga, then on to Matetsi for the night. We had some good swells on Kariba on the trip home – Probably 3-4 foot swells with whitecaps on top. Made for a very rocking and rolling trip on the second floor of a flat bottomed houseboat! I thought it was great, but I was not in the majority. I guess growing up so close to Salt water has it’s benefits in terms of being use to moderate seas! We were also treated to the armada of Kapenda fishing boats. Looked like a city at night as they lit up the water for their nets.
The next morning we got up early so we could hit Vic Falls and see the waterfall before boarding a plane back to the States!
Can’t say enough good things about Chattaronga. The took good care of us, treated us like family, and made a very memorable trip for my dad and I.
