where in Zim is this and what can anyone tell me about it as an area to go plains game hunting?

On the map the Save river start's about 100kms south of Harare "Salisbury" runing southeast into the Lowveldt (Save conservancy) down to the northern boundary of Gonarezhou national park then east into Mozambique through the area known as Zinave which was the hunting grounds of Werner von Alvensleben, one of original Moz hunting outfiters.Some of the Save valley conservancy hunting operaters are, Roger Whittall,Barry Duckworth ,Jumbo Moore and the Style brothers.
If anyone can add to the list of outfitters would be appreciated.
Some friends have hunted on the Whittall's Ranch and say it's loaded with plains game and has Elephant, Big Leopard and Buffalo and some Lion and you may also see some of the Saves Rino.

Here's an approximate map of the Save.

Shangaan Hunters operates their Senuko operation here.

Well they are culling eland, Wildebeest and Zebra there at the moment in the north (Pasbt holdings) and in the south they cull impala on a almost contiuous basis.

Not a "game ranch" but plenty + of the main species.

wombat,
The previous posts do a good job of letting you know where it is at. Check this thread for a recent description of my hunt in the Mkwasine and Hammond Blocks of the Save Conservancy. https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/6321043/m/514107892

Lots of excellent plainsgame hunting, plus a chance to view the Big Five as well. Check out Charlton McCallum Safaris website also, for another option in the Humani, Hammond or Mkwasine Blocks. http://www.buzzcharltonsafaris.com

Buzz Charlton and Myles McCallum safari's have a new website, http://www.cmsafaris.com

I've hunted with Buzz for elephant in Chewore North, and he runs a first rate operation. The Save is said to have large plains game and large leopard as well. Good luck.

Here's a vote for Shangaan Hunters. Went with them last year for plains game and had tremendous success. I can't say enough good about them.

Wombat - the following is from the "hunt report" that I just did on my July-05 trip with CM Safaris in part to the Humani Concession in Save. You may not have been able to pull up due to all the pict's. Humani is owned by Roger Whittall, and is located in the southern part of the Save. Wherever you go, make sure to check out the CURRENT situation at that time.

Link to Full Report -->Hunt Report

CONCESSION & CAMP (HUMANI; SAVE CONSERVANCY)
Buzz had pre-arranged with Roger Whittall of Roger Whittall Safaris for a trip to the southern (“lowveldâ€) region of Zimbabwe, dependent upon how the elephant hunt transpired. As the elephant was shot early in the hunt, we made the decision to drive the ~9hrs from Sapi to Harare, overnight at Buzz's house, then drive ~5hrs to Roger's concession in the Save Conservancy.

Although fully booked for the season, fortunately for us the main camp was empty except for the first night when we stayed with a nice couple from the US on their 7th trip with Roger. This was Buzz's first trip to Roger's area, called Humani, and he wanted to scope it out for future clients. Given the relaxed “holiday†atmosphere, Buzz's girlfriend Nikki accompanied us. Having never been to the Save, I was not sure what to expect exactly, but anticipated and hoped the boys would see a lot of game, while offering us the opportunity to take some management animals.

Roger's camp is beautiful, located high atop and overlooking the scenic Turgwe River. Although there is no hippo to keep one company at night, we did hear troops of baboon being harassed by leopard, waterbuck and bushbuck crossing the river, and lots of bird life come morning. The sad situation is that 40,000 of Humani’s 140,000 acres, including the area outside Roger’s camp, has been turned over to the so-called "war vets" by the ruling Zanu-PF party. In my opinion, these are really just relocated people living mostly traditional lives, although they have seen more then the typical African villager. For me, having visited other parts of Africa such as the Luangwa Valley where people and hunting coexist, this was not a problem.

As Roger will be the first to say, they are poaching all game within "their" area. Other farms in the Save have been completely taken over. Those farms with foreign investors have been spared, as the party does not know what trade agreements and such are in place. There are efforts being made to relocate the people elsewhere, as there is no good reason for them to be in what was previously "cattle country" and therefore not suited to farming. With organizations like the WWF present, and the Trans-Frontier Park which is to stretch from Kruger to the southeast lowveld (which Save is part of) to Mozambique, hopefully the problems will be resolved. Others are welcome to disagree, but I continue in my belief that the hunting community should support the outfitters still operating in Zimbabwe. Feel free to debate this, but please do so on the general African Hunting Forum.

Concerning the hunting, there are LOTS of animals in Humani in the remaining ~100,000 acres, and one should have no problem taking good trophy kudu, wildebeest, zebra, waterbuck, bushbuck, warthog, impala, leopard (said to be very good) and eland (especially later in the year). Buffalo are there and can be hunted, as can cow elephant on a limited basis.

Although the kudu were hit by anthrax in the Conservancy, they seem to have fared okay in Humani, as we saw numerous 50" plus and many young bulls. The gentleman in camp the first day was unable to connect with one that his PH (William, a neat guy with a lot of experience and stories to tell) judged to be “about 60 inches". It is surprising how the different areas can vary within the Conservancy. For example, Buzz said on a recent hunt they saw very few warthog, whereas right next door they were everywhere. There was one field where they were digging where literally we saw over 100 warthogs!

The cow ele's are very aggressive in the Save, having been initially relocated from Gonarezhou National Park where the elephants have quite a reputation. One cow in particular always charges on sight. Our Cruiser was charged once, but we sort of asked for it…got a good picture though. We saw several bulls, which are considerably larger in body size then those from the Valley. We took pictures of a cheetah on an impala kill, giraffe including some old boys, and a group of sable including an awesome ~44" bull, and a majestic ~30" Nyala. We tracked down and took pictures of a black rhino, and saw tracks of white rhino, but never got on one. Lion are present although we did not hear or see them in our limited stay.

Gentlemen. I am hunting with Brooklands in March of 2006. My PH has advised me that we will hunt my 2 buff in the Save, as that is where the big buff are at. What is your opinion?

I saw several bulls that would break the 40" mark in the Hammond block. They were in a really large herd though, probably 150 animals. I am sure there are smaller groups of old kakulis around that would be easier hunting ie. not as many eyes to avoid. We didn't run into them though we did see their tracks frequently.

I'll be hunting with Roger Whittall's group this Oct. The current plan is to spend some time in Chewore (for two buff), then move to Humani for lepard, sable, kudu, eland, bushbuck, zebra...Total time is 16 hunting days between the two areas.

References I spoke with, seven or eight guys, some provided by RWS, some by Atcheson's and some found here on AR, were all eager to tell of their experiences and uniformally pleased with their hunts. All reported lots of game and oportunities at Humani. The hunters varried from lots of Africa experience to the first and only trip of a lifetime.

One first timer older fellow had some pretty limiting physical issues and still managed a great hunt with his PH working around the limitations and always kindly aware, never pushing the fellow beyond his capabilities. To me that speaks really well of the PH and the orginization. I have no such limitations but do hunt some with a couple of guys that do here at home and know how difficult and at times frustrating this can be.

I will report my hunt on return.

JPK
PS this will be my first Safari.