This is my first attempt at posting a hunt report and covers a period of two days when I recently received my “conversionâ€.
If the report turns out to be rubbish blame Yukon Delta who goaded me into it.


I had been to Africa twice before, two years ago for plains game and then last year for an ill fated Buffalo safari to Zim, when my rifle was lost on the way out and the outfitter couldn’t offer any loan alternative. I had no choice but to return home after four days and await my rifle which eventually turned up some five weeks later. Even the senior security adviser of British Airways who was chasing it for me couldn’t tell me where it had been. That says a lot for international airline security doesn’t it?
That story obviously has a lot more mileage, but that’s for another time.

Enough of the negative,-- now down to the interesting bits.
My eagerness to hunt Buffalo wasn’t dented by the bad experiences, but I did take a good length of time researching for the next outfitter that I would use.
After much consideration I opted for CM Safaris and my subsequent experiences would prove it to have been an excellent choice.
I read many posts on this forum regarding the conditions in Zimbabwe during the seven months in between booking and shipping out, some of which proved to be factual and some of which were obviously written by sad mischief makers. Cm Safaris issued a general email to its clients in May outlining the current situation which put our minds at rest and which in the final analysis proved to be spot on. From the moment we put down in Harare to the moment we left we didn’t feel one single moment’s concern and everyone that we met was friendly and helpful. I ‘m sure that this comment will set off the sad faction again, but I can only relate the facts as we experienced them on our trip and leave the theorists to guess at the future situation. My only contribution will be to state that the Zimbabwean people deserve a dammed site better and lets all hope it comes soon.

My wife and I left on Friday the 13th July 07 for Harare via Dubai and Johannesburg. Perhaps I should have taken more notice of the date because – yep you guessed it!
The rifle arrived, but the bags didn’t. Never mind at least we could hunt.
The overnight in Harare and the road trip out to camp were uneventful, but I was glad that we had chosen the road transfer because even though the three of us were cramped in the front of the truck we got a better feel for the country and its people.
Alan Shearing the Ph who I had heard so much about proved to be the consummate professional that I was expecting. I joked that I would try and spread all of the first meeting mundane client questions over the full ten days of the hunt, but I think I failed. Alan has both a great sense of humour and endless patience so I don’t think he minded.

The tented camp at Makuti was just as we had expected following previous reports and photographs provided by Charles Helm and Yukon Delta. (All of these consecutive reports about the same place and outfitter will have people thinking that sexual favours are being exchanged.)
Buzz Charlton and his client Marius Gericke were already in camp and part way through a full bag hunt. Buzz fits his nickname well and is a bundle of enthusiasm and hard work (ask Marius’ feet) Marius was a charming South African with a great sense of humour and when he wasn’t falling asleep from Buzz’s route marches was the life and soul of the camp. They had already scored with buff, sable, leopard, bushbuck and grysbok. They were now chasing lion and a trophy bull ele. They had lion feeding, but that big male was proving illusive. I won’t elaborate any more on his hunt because we were encouraging him on to the forum and hopefully he will read this and post his own report. (Come on Marius get those little fat fingers on the key board)

Day 1

The following morning Alan loaned me a box of Federal trophy bonded bear claw for my .375 and off we went to book in at the area ranger station at Morongara and to collect our game scout.

The dirt road from camp led on to the main road that goes straight through Zim from South Africa to Zambia and the only traffic seemed to be heavy articulated trucks making for Zambia. The road winds steeply down the side of the escarpment on to the Zambezi valley plain and Alan pointed out all of the wrecks on the corners where the under educated lorry drivers had chosen to ride their brakes rather that use a low gear as advised by the roadside signs.
We could smell the brakes of the truck in front and Alan said he would drop back and give him some room. He had just finished explaining how the next bend was particularly famous when our friend in front decided to demonstrate by burying his rig into the cliff side. The thirty ton flat bed load of concrete bags ensuring that the tractor unit did a very good job of disintegrated in front of us.—Welcome to your first hunting day in Zimbabwe !!
Alan pulled over and told us to be prepared for a mess, as the trucks normally pick up a cab full of hitch hiking locals. He went over to the wreck while we kept a discreet distance and looked out for the next suicide candidate to round the bend.
To everyone’s absolute amazement a blooded figure started to squeeze out through the only semblance of body work that remained. Not only was it an absolute miracle that he was alive and walking, but it transpired that he was also alone. He had injured ribs and a cut hand, but otherwise seemed ok. Alan and I inspected the wreck, but we still couldn’t find a space big enough that he could have fitted in. I guess it just wasn’t his time.
Whilst all this was going on another truck stopped (just), and a pick up that had been going in the other direction pulled over and a white couple got out and came over to offer their concern. While we were all embroiled in events my wife noticed that the guy from the pick up had overcome his concern just long enough to lift one of the concrete bags into the back of his truck and cover it over. He then went back to looking concerned. I suppose some things are the same the world over.
The victim insisted on being left in the safe care of the other lorry driver and so we resumed our trip. Alan suggested that his real plan may be to jump the border before his bosses learned of his handiwork.

The events at the ranger station were as we expected with everyone being pleasant and helpful. The situation changed a little however when we went to collect our game scout who, after initially recognising our presence proceeded to keep us waiting for nearly an hour. That was one of the only two occasions when Alan’s calm exterior almost slipped, - but more later.

The borrowed ammo, whilst not the PMC Barnes X that I had been practicing with for months surprised me when it found its way into the bull on the sighting shot.( bulls eyes and I are normally strangers) We were now finally hunting, although the mornings events could not have exactly been described as boring.

After lunch we found where a herd had crossed the road and a plan was made to follow ( those of you who have visited Zim will know that there is always â€a planâ€)
We hadn’t been tracking long when we had to back off and divert around a feeding herd of elephant, but this gave my wife the opportunity to start her photograph collection. We found the buff herd grazing up a slight hill in an area of mixed scrub and long grass .We made our way into their path and Alan encouraged me to familiarise myself with the buffs anatomy and to visualise the shot placement while he scanned for a shooter. Some of the herd were as close as thirty yards as they fed towards us when one of the trackers pointed out a small group of eles that were walking directly towards us from our left. They were oblivious of our presence and Alan allowed them to get to about eighty yards before he backed us all away to a safe distance and allowed them to pass up wind between ourselves and the buff.
When they had gone we moved back in and resumed our work with the herd. Alan having me practice on the sticks for the time that he would indicate a shooter.
Within minutes the identical situation occurred with another small group of eles and again we backed off and let them pass into the hollow to our right. Unbeknown to us the eles must have then changed direction out of our sight and crossed our wind. Suddenly there was a shout from one of the trackers and I turned to see a cow ele come boiling out of the hollow behind us in mid charge. Alan stepped forward and had just started a shout down when our game scout decided that artillery should prevail and fired his AK over the cows head.( and a little too close to Alan’s ear) The cow stopped, turned on its heels and made off.
Alan tried to shake his ears into use and then slowly turned to the game scout saying, through very clenched teeth, “that’s my job†That was the second time that I saw his patience tested.

I would never purport to be a brave individual and so my reaction to the events astounded me. I was suddenly aware that at the charge I had calmly stepped in to the clear to one side of the game scout, turned my scope down, put the safety off and raised my rifle. I also remember thinking “don’t shoot until Alan has.†All this in two to three seconds. The calmness that I was now feeling worried me more than the charge had. Afterwards my wife also admitted to feeling relatively unconcerned throughout the whole event.
What had gone on? Was it that it had all happened so quickly that we had no time to be frightened? Were we suffering from blind faith in the team around us? Or, the other, and more frightening question – is it possible to become desensitized by reading too many books and watching too many videos of dangerous situations?
Who knows? I only know that I found it exciting.

We caught up with the herd again, got in close, looked it over and then returned to camp having decided that there wasn’t a shooter.
A normal day at the office for Alan, but a hell of an introduction for me!!

Day 2
When we left our tent the following morning the tracks in front of the tent flap showed that we had been visited in the night by the now infamous female camp leopard. My wife seemed unconcerned and observed that it had probably been attracted by the sound of my snoring and that it was lovesick and in search of its mate that Marius had shot some days earlier. Some of my so called friends at home have been known to comment that I did go out with a few “dogs†when I was young and single, but I never thought that my animal attraction would extend into middle age and include leopards.

All of the food in camp was excellent, and having ate a good breakfast we set off towards the Kariba boundary of the concession .On the way, and whilst travelling at about thirty five miles an hour Taka the head tracker spotted a group of dagga boys about three quarters of a mile away that the rest of us struggled to see with our binoculars. We stopped and glassed them, but they were deemed not good enough and we drove on. We turned off the tarmac and on to a dirt road that led into an area of small hills and valleys covered mostly with long grass and the odd scrubby tree. Alan suddenly stopped the cruiser saying that he thought he had seen the back end of a buff disappearing in to one of the valleys. The trackers on the back gave one of those “if we didn’t see it then it can’t be true†looks, but Alan was adamant so we off loaded.

We took a line for the top of one of the ridges so we could look down into the next valley. After about half an hour we spotted him making his way through the long grass. He was an old dagga boy on his own and Alan deemed him “worth a lookâ€. We had to cross the valley behind him and then make the opposite ridge as he disappeared in to the next valley. We had a good wind and speeded up to try to get in front of him while we were out of sight.
As we crested the hill slowly at a point that should have had us in front, he was nowhere to be seen. After some glassing Alan detected a slight movement in the tall grass of the gully about fifty yards away. The bull had bedded down in the gully under the only little scrubby bush that offered any shade. You could just make out the end of one horn and it took Alan quite some studying before he announced that he was “a good’unâ€.
I got comfortable on the sticks and we waited. I was using Alan’s sticks which were the traditional bamboo bipod, unlike the telescopic tripod ones on which I had practiced for months and which were now in my baggage, wherever that was?
It was now eleven o’clock and it was decided that we would have to stand him up rather than risk waiting there all afternoon. Alan pointed out that if he ran after the shot he would be running up the opposite hillside which would offer plenty of clear opportunity for follow ups.
The first whistle from Alan brought no response; neither did the second or third.
The first clap of his hands brought the bull slowly to his feet, but he just poked his nose out of the grass in our direction and stood. I had the cross hairs surprisingly steady in between his eyes, but I decided that this wasn’t the time for showboating. After standing for about five minutes he must have got bored because he laid down again. This gave me time to rest, as the back of my wrist was getting sore from where I was resting it on the sticks.
A look from Alan and a nod got me back on the sticks and at the clap of his hands the bull quickly stood and turned broadside giving me a classical shoulder.
I felt confident at the shot as the bull lurched and almost went down. He then spun around and ran up the hill at a quartering angle. He presented a fairly straight forward target as he ran up the hill just as Alan had predicted, and the next shot went squarely in the ribs behind the shoulder. The third was meant to find the base of the neck and finish things, but my overconfidence and eagerness to avoid the horns put it in the brisket. He went down any way.
We waited the customary amount of time and then made a wide looping approach to where we could see his dark outline under a tree about eighty yards away. Alan said we would come at him from behind and then to put another one into the spine. When we rounded the tree about twenty yards from the bull we had a surprise. He had changed position and he was facing us. He got to his feet and took an uncertain step towards us. I quickly buried another round in his chest which made up his mind for him and he turned at right angles. Another in the shoulder and he was staggering back down the hill. Another one and then a reload.
I tried to select a vital area with the next two, but in all honesty I think that the excitement had overtaken me by this stage. I only know that I hit a black mass. I was forced to concentrate with the next shot as it was my last bullet. A steadier aim just below the tail and he dropped.
A wait, a death bellow and then hand shakes all round. I was told that he was thirty nine inches, but what did that really matter.
I had been converted !!

When we butchered the bull Alan was surprised at the bits of bullet that we were finding as he said he was a great fan of TBBC and that he had never experienced a failure. When we examined the ammo box again we found that although the box and the bullets themselves looked identical the small descriptive writing on the side confirmed that the bullets were in fact Nosler Partition.
Of the nine bullet holes in the buff we only recovered two bullets from the opposite shoulder and they had lost 30% of their original weight .We both agreed that we would have been happier with my Barnes X , but as Alan said – “dead is deadâ€.

I had just experienced an awesome two days of initiation !!

Needless to say, our bags including ammo and sticks arrived in camp that evening.
I wonder if that was the first buffalo to be shot by someone wearing Armani jeans?

We went on to complete our safari with some excellent plains game trophies, -- but they’re not “the real thing†are they?
I was a buffalo virgin, and now I class myself as a “new apprenticeâ€


Loosing my buffalo virginity wasn’t as gentle as I had expected, in fact, I felt as though I had been roughly violated.
All I know is that I now feel as though I have been transformed into an African hunting nymphomaniac.

COME ON YOU BIG BUFFALO !!!!!!!!!!

Soudns excellent, and congratulations on a great buffalo, but Where Are the Pictures!!!

Hi Charles
We Brits aren't as technically qualified as you "colonials".Will do my best to oblige ASAP.
Regards
Robert

Excellent story Mr Jolly.

I find it hard to believe that your last years outfitter couldn't find a gun for you. In 05 we lost all our luggage in Joberg in the baggage handlers strike. We had to borrow clothes, guns, ammo. My wife hunted for seven days in Teva flip flops!

Congrats again...
troy

A great and exciting report!!! Congratulations. Can't wait to see photos.

D. Nelson

Excellent report! FYI, Noslers will often have the front separate from the rear, losing about 1/3 their weight. Still, they've been killing game since 1948....

I hate to say it, but although you've lost your "virginity", you are now afflicted with a disease without cure---buffalo hunting. No two buffalo hunts are the same and always exciting. I was hunting with Alick Roberts in Tanzania, who is now in his mid-60's and has hunted professionally over 40 years. While stalking some buffalo up close I noticed his back was covered in sweat (and it wasn't that hot). Afterwards I mentioned this to him and he replied that his heart still races and still has the same excitement with buffalo. Other than sex, what else compares!

You will now contemplate on how to return for #2. Cheers!

Nice, well written story and I'm anxious to see the pictures!

It's a good thing your report turned out well because it's sure not going to be my fault! Does this mean that I get the credit for it being good? For the record...I did not exchange any favors with anyone or anything including the leopard but I can only speak for myself.

You actually had a really interesting hunt what with the car wrecks, lost luggage, AK47 discharges, shooting 1/2 a box of ammo into a buff...I'm kind of envious in a purely platonic sense.

We do need photos though or we might think that you just made up the good stuff.

R. Jolly,
That was a great report! It contained an element of suspense, humor and excitement. Sounds like you had an excellent safari. Well done!

Great story... look forward to pics of your buff.

Robert,

Great story. Looking forward to the pics.

Tell me. How did you get on with the flight via Dubai? It's a bit lnger than the direct one but I was thinking of taking the Emirates flights next year to J'burg, and meeting my father in Dubai.

Regards,
FB

Fallow Buck
Emirates were great. Treat yourself and go business. Ironically, whilst they purport to be the best airline in the world they also offer the cheapest business fare. They also throw in a complimentary limousine service to and from home. The trip is longer, but one half is overnight and the seats make into flat beds so very comfortable. Having said that, they do have one thing in common with all the other airlines, my rifle didnt make the transfer in Dubai and arrived a day later.
Pics on the way for my report as soon as I can figure out the technical stuff !!!
Thanks for everyones kind comments.

Hope this works -

Nice buff. Now that you have it figured out feel free to post some more pictures!

I notice you looked very clean after the kill!
What happened to being bloodied as you insist on on our European driven wild boar trips for anyone shooting their first boar?
Great story and excellent pics glad you had a good trip this time.

Phil

Great Buff

Seloushunter

That is a great Buff

Good stuff, Glad you saw first hand the situation in Zim. I Always find it hard to explain to fellow brits how things "Work" in Zim. Post some more pics if you have them...

Great report and Congratulations on your beautiful Buff.

Alans Tracker 'Taka' always has a smile on his face and has a great set of eyes. I really enjoyed him when I hunted with Alan last year.

Have you re-booked for next year?

Mau Mau
Does this make your point?

I am currently looking to book something for next year, probably a trophy bull ele plus buff of course. I am awaiting various quotes at present. I would certainly like to re-book with Cm Safaris, but obviously rates and availability will have a bearing on the outcome. I am also off to Zambia in three weeks time for another Buff hunt. (told you I was hooked)
Regards
Robert