These three photos is what Gache Gache looks like as you approach from the air.

The concession has 160,000 acres of which 120,000 of them are moutains.

The flat portion where most of the hunting takes place is between 30-40,000 acres depending on the time of the year. As Lake Kariba lowers the flood plains open up giving game access to fresh grass and more shot opportunities for hunters.

Hunt Booked: 14 day tuskless/management elephant, buffalo, hippo on land and croc. Once I arrived there was a leopard tag left over and it was offered to me for a slightly exaggerated trophy fee turning this into a Bargain Big Five hunt.

Safari CompaniesBaobab Safaris with Andrew Schoeman from RSA and Track A Hunt Safaris in Zimbabwe owned and operated my Corris Ferreira. Andrew is right in his prime as a PH at 36 years old and having hunted all over Southern Africa and Tanzania since he left High School. Corris is a third generation Zimbo PH full of zest and optimism and has been running Track A Hunt for over twenty years.

The first animal taken was an impala for leopard bait. I shot five impala all taken with one shot kills from my Ruger 375 using plain old 300 grain softs. Gache Gache is primarily a DG hunting area, but does have good impala, bushbuck, warthog, grysbuck, some waterbuck and kudu along with being overun by baboons. The camp is located right on the shores of Lake Kariba which gives good fishing opportunities if you finish your hunt early or just want to take a day off and go fish.

On the morning of the fourth day I took this nice old dagga boy using 400 grain Hornady solids from my 416 Ruger. The first shot killed him, but naturally I put several more into him to help convince him he was dead. I got a lot of mileage out of his carcass as he was used for both Croc and Lion/Hyena bait later.

I got lucky as Corris was out scouting by boat for hippo on land he ran into this young hippo bull that had been killed in a fight. We towed him back to camp to be used as Croc bait.

We chained his carcass right on the waters edge only about 200 yards from my sleeping quarters. The crocs stated to follow him as he was being towed. We built a blind about 40 yards from his carcass and waited. The first night we went to where he lay, shone a light on the water and saw at least 50 pairs of Croc eyes staring back at us. None of them moved. It was quite spooky. That young hippo bull was devoured pretty quick so we refreshed the spot with a quarter from my buffalo.

I have shot hippo before by braining them in the water and what attracted me to this hunt was the promise to only hunt and shoot them while they were out of the water. We had to work hard walking and crawling through the lakeshore bush, but we did come upon a pod of nine hippos sunning themselves on the shoreline just before mid-day. The bull was laying in the back obscured by the cows and we were about 65 yards away trying to figure out how to close enough without spooking them in the water. They spooked anyway and two seconds later I saw the bull rise up with a small shooting lane opening up so I took a quick shot with my 416 Ruger using the Hornady 400 grain solids and hit him perfect with a high heart/lung shot. He was blowing blood before he hit the water. The solid went all the way through him broadside from about 65 yards.

He turned out to be a big old bull with a fine set of teeth.

Corris and his staff told me that had a big black croc that hung out near camp and Corris thought he was probably responsible for taking some of his good trophy bushbuck.

The local bushbuck are now safe because right after lunch we went to the blind and saw three large crocs taking turns feeding on the buffalo. We never saw them fully out of the water, but this black one was clearly bigger than the other two. I waited until he was about a third out of the water diving into the buffalo's cavity. I could see his big neck and aimed two inches to the right to where his smile ended and spined him solid. I immediately followed up with another spine and then a heart lung, but he was paralyzed with the first shot.

On the tape he mearsured 3 inches over 13 feet, but he was missing eight of his twenty one fins so we figured he was an honest 14 foot croc. What helped Andrew to decide to take him was the size of his teeth.



Making a good first shot on a big croc was what I was most worried about, but again using a plain old 300 grain Hornady soft from my 375 Ruger did the trick.

LION I don't have any photos, because it was too dark, but this almost became a Bargain Big Six hunt. Corris gets one lion permit a year, but doesn't sell any lion hunts because there are no resident lions. Lions will pass through on a very infrequent basis, so if you are lucky enough to be there when that happens you have a chance of taking a lion for just a very reasonable trophy fee. I have been trying to get a hyena for years so we put part of my buffalo out as bait and built a blind. We went by to check it during the day and we bumped a pride of lions. One big male, two females and two young males who looked to be about ten months old. We refreshed the bait with some hippo and them came back at dusk to sit in the blind. The lions showed up shortly after dark and he was a big mature male lion. However, he was also the pride male and a real Kojak with no mane. He looked like an extra large lioness. One of the females also looked to be very pregnant. It would have been an easy shot. Gache Gache is a CAMPFIRE area so you can hunt after sunset, use listening devices and put a light up over the bait with a remote switch in the blind. I thought about it bit and decided to pass. He was old enough, but he was the pride lion. I am not sure what I would have done if he would have had a decent mane. I think Corris was a little miffed that I didn't shoot him, but once he saw the trailcam pictures and how bald he was he understood why I passed. Those big snarling beasts made me nervous. I can understand now why Aaron has hunted them so many times.
No lion photos, but here is damn fine grysbuck instead.

I always add these things to my wish list, but never really expect to get one. Damn if this thing didn't just stand off to the side of the road and stare at us.
There was a lot of leopard sign in this area. We must of saw the tracks for eight or nine different leopard, which included four good sized males. Remember, the entire area we are effectively hunting is only 30,000 acres.
On the fifth night of sitting in the blind at about 8:15PM it was:

Bang - Thump - Dead
Once again the 300 grain soft from the Ruger 375 hit it perfect on the shoulder and my tom was killed instantly. He wasn't a huge cat, but a leopard is a leopard. I have hunted leopard from a blind before on several diffent trips, but this was the first time I actually saw one feeding in a tree. They really do exist. What a relief!
I also did what I could to help out with the baboon over population problem.

I think Corris gets around sixty of these things on license every year. It is challenging to nail the big boys in this thick bush. I shot these two out of the same troop on a hillside about 200 yards away with the 375 Ruger using the 300 grain softs again.


The last of my Bargain Big Five was the elephant and being early in the season he was the most difficult to bag. The bush is thick and you need to get really close to these beasts in order to get a proper shot. We had about eight unsuccessful stalks close up with different groups where we either couldn't find a suitable tuskless or a bull with inferior ivory. Corris has the discretion of taking either in this area.

Andrew and I with the young bull I shot out of a herd of eleven bulls.
We tracked these guys along the edge of the lake for about three hours spotting several intermittenly. We heard a few feeding right at the tip of a pennisula we were on and decided to just wait till they came out. I was lucky as the lead bull was on the smallish side with one thin tusk and the other broken off. We were not sure how many of them there were. They came out slowly in line and when the lead bull was about ten yards away I stepped out into the open. He saw me raising his head high when I fired hitting him with a frontal brain shot at nine paces. He dropped instantly with the other bulls stunned and shuffling in place. I was a little shocked that there so many of them when we thought there might be three at the most. I gave him another shot in the chest which exited out his back as the other bulls stumbled backwards into each other before they turned around quickly stampeding away from us. They didn't make much noise, not like those screaming cow herds.

I finished him off with a top of the skull brain shot. I used the Hornady 400 grain solids from my 416 Ruger. Corris was very happy as this young bull was an idea management bull to eliminate from future breeding. He was about twenty years old, smallish and with poor ivory. It was a very exciting final stalk and confrontation with a herd of bulls at very close range.
There is also birding available at Gache Gache with doves, francolin, guiena fowl, sand grouse, along with ducks and geese at certain times of the year. Check with Corris on what is available and at what time of the year. I wanted to say I did a little birding so I used my 375 Ruger to bag this trophy guiena fowl. Penetration was super.

I wanted to say I got some good fish too, but I got skunked on the lake. However, on the way out we stopped at a breem farm adjacent to Kariba and I had excellent results.

Andrew had the good sense to catch a fish smaller that his client.


Why do I refer to this as a Bargain Big Five Safari?Well, because I only had to book 14 days and I got an exciting hunt taking the above. The total cost is less than half of what a 21 day Tanzania/Zambia trophy lion hunt would cost, or a trophy bull elephant from Botswana or a White Rhino hunt in RSA and probably less than less than 20% of what a Black Rhino hunt would cost. I think that spells pretty good value for the money. The hippo and the croc aren't normally considered part of the traditional Big Five despite that they kill more people every year than any of the others. True free range wild trophy lion hunts are very expensive as are any Rhino, White and especially Black. The trophy quality of big tuskers keeps falling and areas with Big Jumbo Ivory are just going to go higher. When I first started hunting Africa a decade ago, a good trophy tusker had to be sixty pounds and now it is down to forty and falling. It might be time to give them more time to grow old and big and concentrate on the more affordable management and tuskless hunts. Hippo hunted out of the water is just as exciting as buffalo and a big croc is a truly impressive trophy. It might be time to adjust our collective outlook a bit.


Possibility of problem animals
Gache Gache does have problem animals to deal with. There are about 3000 residents living in a fenced area of about 1200 acres along with another couple hundred acres in fenced farmland. Conflicts occur as we did receive a report of a hippo in the garden and quickly made our way there to deal with it. Alas, the hippo had already wisely left so I didn't get to shoot it for free. There was also a young man killed by a Croc attack while I was there, but it was in such an area that we really couldn't do much about it. They have had problem elephants and buffalo so the chance always exist for a little extra problem animal control while there. I have also already mentioned the chance of taking a lion, but you have to be really lucky. So, do you feel lucky?

All in all this is a super area to hunt in. The camp is very comfortable and the area is not so big that you don't come back for lunch and siesta in the middle of each day. The meals were excellent and Corris always makes sure there is cream and/or custard served with every dessert. I was surprised at how few mosquitos there were, but that might change as the lake recedes and the flood plains open up. I saw one tsetse fly the entire time. There is cell phone reception and the ability to recharge them and laptops.

Andrew is a very hard working professional that goes the extra mile to make sure you have a successful hunt and I look forward to hunting with him again. Corris is a super guy loaded with a lot of great stories and a lot of fun to be around.
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The staff is dedicated even collecting snares while standing sideways.

This is a Campfire area so it is crucial they receive our support if the wildlife is to remain in these areas. I always try and do a little public relations work so I brought some pens for the local schools.
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Lucky Guns Core with his bag at the end of the safari.

Okay, it is time for the obligatory....

Looks like you had a hellova fine hunt!

Amazing hunt - congratulations!

Great report and super photos. Thanks for posting.
JCHB

What a cracking safari. The croc is a very fine trophy indeed and you did well on the neck shot. Thanks and I enjoyed reading that.

GunsCore

OUTSTANDING.........................

I want to give a personal thanks for such a great report! Why? Because I get on the airplane tomorrow on my way to Africa, and I don't TRAVEL well at all, and in fact dread the travel.

Andrew has been one of my PHs since he was knee hi nearly.... OK, maybe not that long, but since he was in his very early 20s.... We adopted Andrew many years ago and as far as we are concerned he is family.

My wife is South African, and we will be in RSA until we drive up to visit with Andrew and do some test work and plains game first, and then on July 14th we all are flying up to Gache Gache to do some visiting with Corris too. We were there last in 2011 and had a fantastic time with both Andrew and Corris. This Gache Gache area is one of my favorites to visit, and everything you said you nailed it dead on. I have also decided that Andrew, Corris, and Gache Gache will be the area that I take my boys for their very first Cape Buffalo hunt over the next couple of years.

Why my personal thanks? I am sitting here this morning all dreadful about the travel, the airports, the hassles and the general travel BS you have to put up with..... And then comes along your report, and it is refreshing to remember some of the reasons I am going to begin with, and to see the area in your photos again, and your great experiences, now I am starting to believe I can put up with the travel BS and it will all be worth it in the end.......... So thank you, you have invigorated me and lifted my spirits.............

Excellent report, excellent animals and great job..............

Michael

Looks like a superb 14 days! Congrats...

Jeez Mike, save some animals for the rest of us!

Well done. That is quite a bag for 14-days.

Outstanding......Congratulations!!

Looks like a great trip! Congrats!

Great report and am totally envious once again. It was a great morning break to read your report, so I best return from my mental state of Africa and earn some beans so I can return for real.

p.s. one hell of a croc

Great pictures, nice hunt report and a fantastic time. I don't take enough pics when I go. Good job!

Great hunt. Thanks for sharing. I lloved the photos.

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Congratulations!
Great report and photos...enjoyed reading about it

Roland

Thanks for the well written report and great photos! Looks like you had super hunt as well, in a very interesting area!

Great report and very nice trophies! Congrats!

Great report, trophies, and photos!! Congratulations.

Action packed hunt, congratulations on some fine trophies GunsCore! Very well done for popping that grysbuck - hard to come by.

Looks like you had a great hunt. Nice animals. Scenery looks beautiful. Thanks for the fine report. Bruce

Mike- congrats on a GREAT hunt! Good to see that you have at least 1 decent hunting shirt! Coris is certainly a character and very entertaining to say the least- well done Mike!

Wow! That is like a traditional 1930s hunt compressed!

I would not dare even dream of a fantasy hunt like that.

Thanks for sharing.

Hell of a well written adventure, great pics too.
Impressive teeth that croc had, glad you got a dandy like that. Hope you can make another trip before long. Sure wish I could have made one.
George

Excellent report and great photos to boot.


Dutch

Great hunt, congrats. Michael, Thornell was talking about his Ele hunt today and wants to hunt with Andrew & Corris again for Elephant and Buffalo. I think I'll do the waterfowl/Croc/Hippo first, then Buffalo.

Great report ,great trophies ,beautifull photos ,thanks for sharing.