Dates trip:
August 21, 2009 to September 1, 2009

Dates hunt:
August 25 to August 29

Location:
Omay North Communal Area

Airline:
S.A.A. Dulles to Bulawayo via Joburg (guns checked straight through)

P.H.:
Pierre Hundermark

Trackers:
Furunga and Wedzy

Rifles:
Verney-Carron Azur .577 Nitro
Midland .450 No.2 Nitro

Game taken:
Tuskless cow
Impala

Game seen:
Buffalo
Kudu
Waterbuck
Hippo
Croc
Warthog
Jackel
Duiker
Baboon
Bush pig
Bush buck

Weather:
About perfect. Upper 70's (F) daytime with nice breeze, upper 50's night.

I booked this hunt after seeing the post by Bill C on AR. I e-mailed Martin Pieters (Bulembi Safaris) and was pleasantly surprised at his very prompt responses over the next several days as we quickly closed the deal.

Dulles is about a half hour from my home so went to Bulawayo via Joburg with an overnite stay at Afton Guest House which went smooth as always. Next morning it was off to the airport for my flight to Bulawayo where I was met by my PH Pierre and taken to the Bulawayo Club for my overnite stay. Side note here. This club was an old Colonial Men's Club (right out of the movie "Out of Africa") that had just been re-opened. Really cool old place, oil portraits on the wall, great Austrian chef. If those walls could only talk. Next morning I was picked up by Pierre for the drive to Omay.

I had been to Zim several times but had chosen to miss 2008 due to the elections. I was pleasantly surprised to see fuel and supplies much more available now. Also, didn't have all those road check points as in the past. The US dollar is now the official currency. We stopped at a couple of fast food joints and found the burgers and fries good, safe (didn't get sick) and prices in line with the US.

We arrived that afternoon in Omay North and stayed at the Mackenzies Point Camp which is on the Sengwa River at the confluence with Lake Kariba. Beautiful views of Zambia across the lake and we could see the lights on the lake from the sardine boats at night. Camp manager Shawn and assistant manager/appee PH Steven as well as the rest of the staff made camp life good.

The hunt began the next day. I had booked a tuskless hunt and at the time was told by Martin that a second tuskless was available. One hundred percent my fault by not making the commitment to the second tuskless. A buffalo hunter in camp who killed his trophy early, killed that last remaining tuskless on quota. Due to my poor assumption of thinking I could take twe eles, I took two doubles which I think of as primarily elephant guns, neither of which have a scope. That day, after several hours of tracking, we got amongst a herd of cows only to find there was not a tuskless.

The next day, we found tracks at 6:45 AM not too far from camp. The tracks were from that night and Pierre decided to check them out. A couple hours later the herd was caught up with and there was indeed a nice tuskless without a calf. The herd was feeding towards us with the tuskless in front. Just as things were going so well, the Matriarch stepped into the lead and prepared to charge. We promptly hauled ass away! She obviously heard or smelled us and off they went.

The Furunga and Wedzy continued to track the same herd. On occasion we would get a glimpse of them moving off in the distance. At 11:30 we caught up with them standing under a tree. Leaving the trackers behind, Pierre and I moved slowly in for the kill. As they were bunched up about 20 yards away, we could finally pick out the tuskless. A brain shot was not an option with the branches. As we waited for the tuskless to get clear of the herd, they suddenly sensed that something was wrong. As they began walking off from right to left, Pierre said "take her now". As she was 30 yards, moving off, quartering away I gave her a double tap from the .577. Heart shot, she went about 30 yards and crashed. Off went the rest of the herd until they realized one of their buddies were missing. Back they came for revenge. We scampered off, upwind, and from a distance waited until they had paid their respects and moved off. We celebrated and the rest of the day was dedicated to recovery.

With nothing better to do, the next 3 days were spent Buffalo hunting. At this point I switched to my 1910 British .450 No.2 nitro. This was a great experience and there was a possible shot opportunity at a couple dugga boys we bumped into while tracking a herd. I never saw the big guys till it was too late and off they went. I will assume any blame.

Late in the afternoon of the last day, I remarked to Pierre that I would like to shoot something with the old Midland. This old gun I'm certain had been to the Great Continent earlier in it's life and I wished for it to prove it's worth once more. Pierre agreed and we went down to the flood plain on Lake Kariba. We stalked to within about 40 yards of a nice impala ram which I unceremoniously dumped. Mission accomplished. We enjoyed fresh impala backstrap as an appetizer that evening.

Next day was a ride back to Bulawayo with Chris (camp manager of Martin's Ume River camp) and his friend Debbie. Chris is also Martin's father in law. We had lot's of fun. Upon arrival in Bulawayo, I was greeted by Martin's wife Candi and his two children, Camryn and Jason. These folks absolutely went above and beyond and could not have been any more hospitable!

Next day was a ride to town to pick up a new pair of Courtney's and a ride to the airport by the extremely pleasant and efficient Muffy. Muffy is Martin's office assistant. She is well experienced at making all phases run smoothly.

All in all a great time. Vary well run outfit from A to Z. I've never been on a safari where nothing went wrong. The beauty of the Omay and the abundance of game was remarkable to say the least.

I am already planning a return trip for 2010. Need I say more?

Great hunt, I have visited Mackenzie point camp when it was being rebuilt in 2004, we were hunting from the Ume camp at that time. It sure is a beautiful part of Africa.

We will also appreciate a few pics of your hunt if you can kindly post them.

Congrats on a safe and fruitful hunt. Would love to see the pics.

Nice report!

Did you (or anyone in camp) do any fishing?

That was a quick trip!

Sounds like a good way to get your Africa fix and be back in the office before anyone notices you are gone.

Great report. In three weeks from today I will bei n Jo'berg on my way to hunt Omay with Martin Pieters. I als booked the hunt after seeing it posted on AR (I tried booking it through an agent on another site the day before and was unsuccessful so I nearly missed out). I also added a couple of days and buff. This makes me even more excited.

Thanks guys.

Ahmed, Bill C has kindly offered to post some pix in my behalf. I did not take many as each time I took the camera out, I put it back feeling any pix would not give the true beauty justice. True story.

Judge, no one in camp fished while I was there, but fishing for tiger fish, bream and cats is an option. I hope to explore this next trip.

Mike, for sure take your battery operated fan next month. You will certainly need it then.

It was a great, spur of the moment trip. I should have added more days and will do so next year.

Don

Don, Great hunt. The VC 577 speaks! Ken's got another 600 that just came into stock. Hmmmmmm!...Biebs

PS: Of course, with the 577 T-Rex now, I could always bring a dolly to get it into position for the kill!!!!

Biebs

Hey Don, I'm glad you had a nice trip, and congrat's on the tuskless. That should hold you over till next year! They are some beautiful doubles too. Regards, Bill

Very nice! Congratulations!