This report was composed for our friends, some of whom are non-hunters (but are all pro-hunting!). It's quite basic for many AR posters, but I thought it might be of interest for hunters considering their first African trip...My wife, Ruthie, and I hunted with a Jr PH in the Bubye Conservancy...

Day 1- We arrived late in the day and had the first of many excellent game dinners. During the week we would dine on cape buffalo, sable, impala, kudu, and plenty of other game. We also admired the first of many glorious sunsets. After dinner, we night hunted. We didn’t have any shots, but saw a honey badger and several genets, and even saw an aardvark. We came back to camp and enjoyed cocktails by an open fire. We marveled at the amazing sky, jam packed with stars and the milky way. We saw shooting stars like mini fireworks through the constellations. Overnight in our bungalow we listened to the sounds of the bush, including an elephant splashing in a watering hole down the hill.

Day 2 –It was the first full hunting day. We saw vultures and came upon an eviscerated zebra that was fresh lion kill. We did not stick around. We had an elephant false charge the land rover, waving its ears, raking the ground with its front feet, and blowing plumes of dusty earth through its trunk--all this at 30 yards! We saw a white rhino. We stalked some impala and baboons during the day, but got busted every time. As soon as we got onto the bush, we saw game in every direction, but we were continually spotted or scented. The wildebeest and zebra had particularly attuned senses, and would leave a cloud of dust in their path. The impalas would race away, leaping high into the air. The giraffes would run in a kind of slow motion. We saw cape buffalo, eland, kudu, warthogs, baboons, and the list goes on. At dinner we met Paul, a young guy working on his PhD in zoology at Oxford on a Rhodes Scholarship (note, the scholarship and Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, have in common the same guy: Cecil Rhodes). Paul invited us to tag along, literally, later in the week as he tried to dart/ un-collar a lioness. Paul was the evening' s wheelman as we hunted for hyena, using an electronic caller w/hyena-mob sounds. Very soon we had a leopard huffing at us just behind the vehicle. We tried two more spots, but no go. We did see a sub-adult male lion crouched behind a downed tree as we spotlighted. He growled and also false charged. We saw several angry elephants on the way back to camp. It was only the first full hunting day, and we already encountered all of the "African Big 5": lion, elephant, rhino, leopard, and cape buffalo! Pretty cool.

Day 3 - We saw both white and black rhino just past camp. We had several fun-but-failed stalks again on impala, jackal, and baboons. We drove to a riverine area where we spooked a nice waterbuck. I shot and the PH and I both thought I'd missed. The main tracker, Maguch, found one drop of blood, smaller than a match head. He tracked that animal for several hours and many kms, unraveling its hoof prints among a thousand others. We quit at dark. I was glum. On the drive back there were hyenas in the headlights, running every which way. 2 shots = 2 clean misses. Ugggh. That night we used the caller again and a pack of hyenas responded--howling, yipping, and laughing. They clearly saw the truck in the darkness and would not approach the caller closer than 125 meters, maybe further. I could not hit one at that distance with the 24mm scope. But my shots didn' t stop them from returning, twice--each time further out. What a rush! As we grabbed the speaker and turned around, there are yet two more sets of eyes! "Shoot, Shoot" the other tracker and skinner are yelling into my ears. Then the PH hollers, "Lions!" There stood two 100 kilogram "cubs", owning the road. We'd barely gone 500 meters down the road when another hyena was spotted, close. It took three rounds of .375 Holland & Holland soft points to anchor him, plus the killing shot. I can see why lions will leave a kill if too many hyenas show up. That night we heard leopards, lions and hyenas right under our bungalow screen windows!

Day 4 – We began at first light to pick up the trail of yesterday's waterbuck. The exact place we'd left off, deep in the bush, was found easily via "Bushman GPS": our driver, Elephas, had marked the trail last night by dragging a pointed stick! Maguch again followed the trail for hours. The TOTAL blood spore we found was much less than a teaspoon, even including where the animal had bedded. You could've dropped a hula hoop anywhere in that bush and inside it would be dozens of different hoof prints. The tracking ability of Maguch, and the younger Takara, was literally awe-inspiring. Maguch and the PH saw the waterbuck swim the river with two females, but no shot. We ran upstream to a bridge, guarded by five lions, but they obliged and let us cross. Then we saw them. There were probably 80-100 waterbucks in various herds. "My" animal was home free. When I shot the day before, we saw dust explode under and behind the animal, so I must have just creased the brisket. He’ll live to keep doing whatever waterbucks do. Although I had to pay the trophy fee because I drew blood, Ruthie said it was worth every penny to observe Maguch working his magic. I agree. On the ride back we stopped to trail a big baboon and spotted a nice kudu--just what Ruthie was after. Up went the shooting sticks, and it was down with one shot. She was ecstatic. Elephas named her "sniper". (I forgot to mention that when initially sighting the .375, she hit the bulls eye--a matchbook sized piece of duct tape--dead center at about 80 meters). Maybe she'll give me lessons. No night hunt that day--G&T's instead. Another gorgeous sunset and beautiful evening.

Day 5 – We woke to find that the wind had blown open the door of our bungalow. Fortunately no baboons or other critters had ventured in! The day was windy and dusty and the animals were laying low. We had several fun stalks. I missed a baboon and Ruthie missed (!) an impala--both far shots. We met Paul to dart the lioness, but she wouldn't cooperate. Her two large cubs hung around as she skulked off. Paul wanted to retrieve her collar because she had decided to roam and had left the general study area. It was neat watching the cubs as they checked us out. Later on, the guys left a kms-long trail of kudu offal bits along the 2-track, while dragging 20 kgs of guts behind the truck w/a rope--"chumming" for night creatures for our after-supper hunt. It worked. We saw all sorts of animals and I shot a nice civet with a Browning A-5 12 gauge, #4 shot.

Day 6 - We stalked multiple baboons and impala, and hiked some picturesque dry river bottoms. No shots, but had a great time. On a baboon stalk, a warthog "flushed" right at my feet in heavy grass. Then I saw the hole. I went over to peer into the hole, and six more exploded out, running for their lives. Ruthie screamed. It was a dumb move on my part. At noon we had Ruthie's kudu tongue, per my request, for lunch. On the drive back, a mama and baby black rhino came close to the truck. They are prehistoric. Then we saw and stalked a jackal, which I shot at about 160 mtrs. That evening, Paul and Byron, a fellow Rhodes Scholar doing leopard research, joined us for dinner. It was among the most enjoyable and enlightening dinner conversations I've ever had. They are neat guys who we hope to see again.

Day 7 - Ruthie stalked and missed a big baboon-- long shot. Soon after, we see a big one bending over, facing away from us. I shot him with what I now call The Jersey Heart Shot: through the scrotum and out between the shoulder blades. The skull, which I wanted, was unscathed. We had more stalks, but no shots were fired. At one point we snuck up on an elephant to watch it topple a tree to get its salad for dinner. Every morning the trackers had had to clear elephant-downed trees w/axes so we could drive on through. We came up on a lone bull elephant while we were on foot—we were really close. And then the elephant turned and headed toward us! He stopped right in front of us. We did not move a muscle. We stared at the elephant, almost without breathing, while he stared at us. Then he seemed to lose interest, and turned aside. It was our chance to walk briskly away! One the drive back to camp, we saw large numbers of cape buffalo, that also did a lot of staring, and saw more elephants, kudu, eland, impala, giraffes, zebras, and wildebeest. We night hunted and did not have any shots, but again had a great time, seeing wild dogs, civets, genets, bush babies, and more elephants.

Day 8 - Last day, we slept in and hunted near camp. We saw game everywhere, as we had every day, and had two stalks on impala. Then we spotted two bush pigs, and the stalk was on. Maguch tracked them for over an hour--incredible in these thickets and with thousands of other tracks. They hit the riverbed and we lost them in the thickest of cover. We also saw several warthog, but not the bruiser I wanted. Next time! Overall...What a hunt!! Our best hunt, by far, seeing free ranging animals in their natural state...Cannot wait for next year!

Good adventure! Bring-on next time, eh!

Interesting safari indeed

The bush certainly came ALIVE at night for you folks...great write-up!

Thanks!

Great report

A hunting experience is actually all the small stuff - birds, insects (a pain), heat etc. along with camp, food, company and so on. the actual shooting and taking of game is only a part of the whole experience.

The most disaapointing trips are when you do not even see any game.