Outfitter: HHK Safaris

Hunt dates: June 1st through June 14th

Game hunted: Bull Elephant and Buffalo

Air travel arrangements: Steve Turner
Total Travel Solutions, Inc

Email : steve@totaltravelsolutions.com

Phone: 866-427-7166

I have been wanting to hunt Elephant for a couple of years but other hunts took precedence for one reason or another, until last year while talking to Graham Hingeston he said that he would come and hunt with me if I wanted an elephant. I have hunted with Graham before and known him since 1995, he told me that the new area in Sengwa had produced good elephant trophies, so I gave him a deposit at the convention.

I asked Steve Turner to make my travel arrangements. A good friend of mine also decided to travel with me and hunt elephant in Chirisa which shares a boundary with the Sengwa research area.

We flew with South African Airlines out of Dulles International Airport. The plane was delayed at Dulles for 4 hours because of malfunction of an air traffic control radar, the flight was long as all of you know but my biggest worry was that we would miss our connection to Harare and end up having to go through the South African firearm hassle; but as luck would have it there were 30 passengers travelling to Harare so SAA delayed the flight for us.

We arrived in Harare minus our luggage and rifles. I also found out that a few days prior to my arrival Graham’s plane stalled and crashed on take off, he and two of his workers survived the crash but he suffered a concussion and so would be unable to hunt with me and another PH would take over.

On Bill’s recommendations we stayed at House Harrison a B&B in Harare and were well looked after.


The B&B in Harare



The next day our bags arrived but still no rifles. There were rifles in camp that we would be able to borrow and our rifles would be Chartered in as soon as they arrived, so we flew to our camps.





The Sengwas research area borders the Chizarira National Park and Chirisa Nyati Safari area. It is very scenic with three rivers flowing through the area surrounded by hills with sheer bluffs suitable for mountain goats, thick Jesse alternating with open mopane forests transitioning to open patches of tall grass on the banks of the Sengwa river. The other two rivers the Manyoni and the Litope join the Sengwa river.















I stayed at the old residence of the chief warden, overlooking the Sengwa river which has been given to HHK.


Camp


View of the Sengwa river from camp

My PH was Steven Brewer a young and quite man with a lot of determination. We made an odd couple he was short around 5’ 4”, and I am 6’ 4”. We got along very well.


I and Steve at the Litope river


Every morning at 6 AM we would leave camp and go to various spots on the three rivers to look for a decent track of a bull to follow, all the time also looking for tracks on the road.


Big foot






Drinking hole that elephants dig in the river beds.

There were many bulls that we tracked, it was very difficult to follow the tracks from the rivers as the grass that extended from the river banks to the Mopane forests and Jesse were flattened out on the ground and hundreds of females in the area made it next to impossible to completely track a bull.

Our best success came when we decided to walk in the Jesse, pick up a bull track in the sandy soil and follow it until we could hear the animal or animals. To see the elephants in the Jesse we would get within 10 to 12 yards of the elephants always making sure we had the wind right, which is easier said than done as the wind would swirl and they would wind us half the time. It is quite unpleasant to have a mock charge in thick Jesse.



We started naming the bull elephants as we saw some of the tracks at the rivers many times. Big foot with a 23 inch track was ultimately successfully tracked but carried no more than 30lbs of ivory, what a disappointment. Knob foot turned out to be only 35 lbs.

I lost count of the number of 25 to 30 pounders that we saw. The area has a large population of females and we saw at least 100 to 200 females a day with numerous tuskless cows.



There are plenty of very good buffalo in this area and I saw hard bossed buffalo every other day. I think a 40 incher is a reasonable expectation in this area on a 10 day hunt.

We would also go up the hills and bluffs to glass the Mopane and Jesse for elephant if the morning was unproductive.






Steve resting after a 10 Km walk

On the 13th day of my hunt, while walking in the Jesse we came across a large bull track that we had not seen before. After following it in the thick Jesse for a Km we lost it, it was around 4:30 PM and Trevor one of our trackers suggested that the bull had been walking a straight line in the direction of the Sengwa river, and so we walked another 4Km in a straight line towards the river and as we came out of the Jess we saw a large bodied bull along with a smaller bull come out of the Jesse about 300 yards to our left and in front and join a group of about 12 to 13 females in the open grass land.

Steve thought it was a good bull for the second last day of the hunt and carried at least 45 lbs per side. We got to within 45 to 50 yards of the bull but could not approach any closer because of the open terrain and 12 cows.

I decided to try for a heart/lung shot, as I fired the bull shuddered, I chambered another round as the bull not knowing where the shot came from decided that the shortest rout for him to get into the Jesse was to run over the bush behind which we were hiding, the females decided to follow the bull. I took a step forward and took a frontal brain shot but as I pulled the trigger I realized I was too high, I missed the brain but managed to change the bulls direction by 40 degrees. Steve told me to shoot again but I had in all the excitement not pulled the bolt of the 458 lott all the way back and ended up with a jam, Steve saw this and took a brain shot, came close but missed the brain, the bull fell to his knees but was up in a fraction of a second, by this time I had cleared the jam and took a lung shot as at this point the females had seen us and departed company and the bull was no longer going to run over us. As the bull ran about 20 yards away I was able to take a side brain shot with the elephant in full stride and to my delight connected and he dropped like a sack of Potatoes.










The elephant was in Mast(temporal gland secretions)



This whole episode took no more than 15 seconds. A total of 5 shots were fired. I now realized that I had been scoped and blood was pouring from my forehead, but who cared.

My first shot had gone through the heart and was a fatal one, but as events would have it I got to take all possible killing shots that one can on an elephant.


Heart with bullet entry wound

For 13 days I had walked an average of 15 Km daily and gone every Jesse and thicket on the concession, in the process we found two female elephants with intact ivory in different areas that had died of natural causes.


First Cow


Cleaning the tusks of the 2nd cow

I must say it was a great learning experience with all the thrill of close quarter stalking in thick Jesse and a finale I could not have dreamt in my wildest dream.

Sengwa had been a major strong hold of the black rhinos until the early 80’s when they were wiped out by poachers. I saw 60 black rhino skulls in the research centers store room with most of them showing damage to the front when the poachers had hacked off the horn’s.


Rhino Skulls





I want to thank all you elephant hunters who made me decide that elephant hunting was something I wanted to do.

Regards
Aziz

Outstanding Aziz!

Did your rifles ever arrive?

I always wonder how many time an elephant like "Big Foot" has been followed....

Congrat's on your elephant hunt...now the test...are you hooked - or will you continue hunting the globe in search of new and exotic locations?!?!?

Another thorough and excellent report.

Well done!

Great bull, Aziz! Well-earned, too.

Congratulations.

Those rhino skulls sure strike a somber note . . . just awful.

Lovely country around the Sengwa. I take it that you were happy with HHK!

I wonder, as BillC does, whatever happened to your rifles?

Aziz Sb, congratulations on a great hunt. It must be exciting to take that second frontal brain shot.

I have hunted with Steve, he is a good hard working PH. How is the cats and other game population in the area?

Congratulations Aziz! A beautiful animal for sure.

Brett

Congrats on a very nice bull elephant, Aziz. Looks like a beautiful area to hunt.

Hello Bill, thank you, I must say elephant hunting is hard tracking and very exciting, I would go back in a heartbeat. I am now debating if I should hunt the forest elephant.

Thank you MR, those rhino skulls were a very sad reminder of the carnage that occurred in this area. HHK did a good job and my rifles arrived on the 3rd day and had to be flown in but I got to shoot the elephant with my own 458 lott.

Thank you Charles you have always been a source of encouragement. Hello Ahmed, Steve told me that you had hunted with him. The cat situation in the area is not great. We saw young lions and the leopards are difficult to bring to the bait in enough light to get a shot, as this is Parks area there is no night hunting. I may come in Jan for the Sindh Ibex.

Hello Brett and Grafton thank you, the area is very beautiful.

Regards
Aziz

Well done Aziz Agha, a reat report and photographs as always.

Your words of thanks at the end of your post are very apt, I hope to be able to send my thanks to you on the same account very soon.

Regards,

GH

Excellent report!
well done and congratulations on your bull

Congratulations Aziz! The picture of you and the PH looks funny. Can absolutely understand your desire to hunt ele in the forest...btw did you get a buff?

Excellent report and congratulations.
Thank you.

Great report, thanks. I had the good fortune to hunt along the Sengwa at the mouth along the lake. I only hunted a management bull and Hippo there along with Grysbok. I haven't made it to Bulgaria yet but still trying to put it all togeather, maybe next spring. Again thanks for the great report.

Thank you all. GH I wish you all the best on your next hunt and would love to hear about it.

I ran out of time and could not get the buffalo. Well that gives me an excuse to go back, not that I need an excuse.

Regards
Aziz

Aziz,

Great hunt, report and as always beautiful pix. Congrats on your bull.

Mark

Congratulations on your hunt! And thank you for the great report and photos.

Very nice elephant!

JPK

Nice report and congrats on your trip. I hunted in Sengwa Research last June. Beautiful area. Was there still a young appy in camp, Andres? The Madula waiter in Sengwa is a delightful person too.

Great report- congrats on your beautiful bull.
I met Steve when I was hunting Charisa, he is a good guy.

Great photos as well...TH

Aziz,

Congratulations!!! Excellent report and photos.Sorry to hear about Graham's accident.

Thank you all. Mike, Andres is in a different hunting area but I heard about him; the waiter is still there and was a delight.

Regards
Aziz

Aziz, you are the man. Thanks for yet another wonderful and enjoyable report!

Inspiring! Were you happy with the Lott? He was still running for a while with a bullet through the heart-tough ele!

Excellent report and pictures Aziz. Congratulations on a wonderful trophy!

Aziz, excellent report and good shooting...

My next question is will you shoot another ele without a scope???

Mike

KG thanks. Mike I have come to the conclusion that you do not need a scope for elephant hunting and most definitely not on a 458 lott, but some of us have to learn it the hard way.

Regards
Aziz

Great report Aziz, congratulations on a great hunt.

Aziz, Ecellent report and great pics, I will be hunting Chirisa in September with HHK for Ele and buff....Oh man, your report just got me Jazzed to go!, Thanks

Great report, What was the weight? Not that it matters I always like to guess and learn to judge them. Congrats

Great report and a good Elephant. I like the looks of the ivory.

quote:

Originally posted by Aziz:
KG thanks. Mike I have come to the conclusion that you do not need a scope for elephant hunting and most definitely not on a 458 lott, but some of us have to learn it the hard way.

Regards
Aziz

I agree....great story and photos. I think you are lucky to have taken the hunt to the end. It makes a guy nervous when you have hunted almost two weeks with no animal...but connecting at the end is a wonderful feeling. Congrats and very well done...makes me feel a bit home sick!

Aziz, another truly wonderful hunt of yours. Lots of time, effort, and money doing something you love. Thanks, for sharing.

Thank you everyone. Jeff the tusks had not been extracted when I left, but the estimate was 45 lbs with the right one may be a little more.

Regards
Aziz

Fantastic Aziz! Congratulations on a successful hunt and a great story and pics!

Thanks for sharing your wonderful pictures and story. Congrats on your elephant.

Small world.

I was on the delayed flight too and I must have chartered out just before you as my charter plane is shown in your pictures. I actually started walking to your plane and the pilot had to tell me I was going to the wrong aircraft.

We talked a few moments in the HRE airport. I finally got my bags and rifles on June 3. Looks like the lost bags were not a big detriment to either of our hunts. You shot a good jumbo and I shot good buff and leopard.

Well Done and welcome home.

Will Parks

Must have missed this thread... great bull, Aziz!

That Sengwa river area is beautiful..

Aziz, congrats on your Elephant and another great story/report. That "jam" you were in made for some exciting reading. No doubt a lifelong memory. Continued success, David