Yo !

It has been about ten days since I arrived home from the AR Zambian group hunt. Unfortunately I must have picked up a bug from some diseased passenger on the magnificent Emirates flight and have been coughing non stop for much of that time. Chest infection and antibiotics and on my way back up to the light ..

If that is the worst thing that happens to me in the immediate future - that ain't too bad.

I was all paid up to go on this hunt in 2018 and at the very last moment one of my family members became quite ill and had to cancel. It was quite a financial hit but much more than that I missed out on a safari to Zambia.

I really needed to go to Zambia, however, so I booked again for October 5 - 15 to hunt on Richard Bell-Cross's concession of 1,000,000 acres and to be guided on and off by both Richard and Andrew Baldry.

I was to hunt with my long time buddy Ol' Sir Phill of Namibian/Arizona notoriety and a chap from Reno who called himself Chris.

Now Phill and I, when we buy a novel we read the final chapter first. Chris is much younger and we could not have found a better hunting companion or a nicer man. Sometimes after a safari you wish that you could have fed your partner to the hyenas before you left .. Hell! I invited Chris to come to Uruguay with me sometime and hunt some South American game. I hope that he can make it.

Guns:

Although I have my share of rifles and shotguns (along with a lot more than that) I have really decided that I hate travelling with guns. Luckily Phill is a gun whore and always travels with high end smoke poles. Also the dude shoots left handed as do I and after a lot of whining, he said that I could use either his 30 06 or the 375 depending on what I was chasing around at the time. They were both drop dead gorgeous and I started to look mighty haughty whenever folks came around while I had one in my arms ..

Flights:

I used Emirates this time and had to endure a 14 hour flight from Seattle to Dubai and then overnighted in that very city. No problem although I was astonished that the beautiful hotel that I stayed in allowed smoking in some rooms along with the English pub where I had a pint and some genuine fish and chips. I would fly Emirates again.

Weather:

Like a summer day in July in Southern Alberta. Lovely weather with it being rather warm during the 3 hours or so after lunch when we took a break. I like not freezing like I normally do in Southern Africa at night in June and July.

Bugs:

I did not see any mosquitos and have now finished my malaria pills and seem to be just fine there. I did see way too many bloody tsetse flies and we were constantly burning elephant dung in a smudge pot in the back of the bakkie to try to keep them at bay. It did not always work and we spent a lot of time scratching bites from days earlier. My wife said that she was afraid that I would get sleeping sickness but was unsure how she would even know that I had it?

Phill was given a cream to salve the itch.

Snakes:

Saw one Black Mamba that Phill wanted to go back and shoot with one of his fine rifles. He had just missed an impala a day or so before so I thought that the odds were not in his or our favour on that idea.

Food:

High end food at all times. We always had a fire going first thing along with hot water for tea or coffee. Normally we hadeggs and and bacon and toast for breakfast. Our choice. Lunch could be a pizza or enchiladas etc. A salad, of course.

Supper was usually game meat or chicken or fish. Their roast potatoes are incredible and I do not seem to know how to duplicate them here in the Great White North. Always a gravy and salad and desserts were invariably a pudding with a sauce.

One sable meat pie was a little dry. Everything else was a 10/10.

Drinks:

Excellent Zambian beer called Mossi (I believe). Rum and coke and gin and tonic were also available for sundowners.. And the sun did go down every day.

Vehicles:

Normal hunting safari vehicles .. no break downs and only a few flats.

Just a small taster and Phil was after a big croc



A perfect shot above the smile. Croc never moved

Lions:

We heard them roar most nights in the vicinity of the camp. No better serenade in Africa for me.

Elephants:

We ran into these big dudes four or five times with the matriarch of one herd deciding that she hated Canadians and Americans equally and did her best to run us down so that she could kill us all. For her sake, she did not succeed.

Laundry:

Done daily.

Beasts of the Hinterland:

Countless puku, huge numbers of the charming warthogs with wee piglets, yellow baboons every where and impala.

Hippo, crocs, buffalo, guinea fowl, reed buck, Defassa water buck, sable, roan, oribi, hartebeest, sable, civet, bush buck … certainly others but these stick out right now ..

Guides:

Both Andrew and Richard are at the top of their game. The best of the best, for sure. (I have been on about 20 safaris so have some expertise when it comes to having an opinion)


Game hunted:

Hippo, croc, puku, 2 wart hogs, oribi, water buck, sable, impala, 2 bush bucks, reed buck, even a guinea fowl with a 17 HMR camp rifle.. The common bush duiker was much too elusive ..The varmint eluded us day after day and since I have taken three of them in days of yesteryear, it did not bother me too much. It probably did for the fellow who has none, however.

Roads:

Lots of bouncing around. They told me that you could not drive to the end of the concession in 5 hours. Closest village is three hours away.

Fishing:

We did three evenings of this and had great fun catching pike and bream and barbels. Two hours later we were eating bream for supper.. Superb! It is interesting fishing knowing that you might die - from a croc or hippo. Nobody was napping on the shore, I can assure you.

Andrew prides himself on his photography as he has an art degree. He tried to bring me up to snuff but there wasn't enough to work with.

Game Scouts and such..

Interesting dudes with AK 47s and SKS rifles. Poachers were in a lot of trouble if caught - 9 years for royal game killed … Lions and jumbo and such..


Tom Baldry and a Texan named Jake also helped us out. Both are well on their way to becoming outstanding professional hunters . Jake is a 6 year Army veteran who has served in some hairy spots overseas .. plus he has done a lot of guiding in OZ for the buffalo ..

Looking back on the safari, we all had our priority animals. I wanted an old hippo bull. I had tried in the past to set up such a hunt in Mozambique but the prices quoted gave me a serious case of the vapors.

The Zambian hunt was fair for all concerned.

We found the ancient bull in very shallow water one morning. I am sure he was reminiscing of past loves and great battles in his long life. I shot him well. He had no body fat yet was still about as round as such a varmint can be. The following day they took him away three hours to feed a village. I was told that hippos had killed three fishermen this year.

There is not much left on my bucket list.

Ol' Sir Phill wanted a big croc. Now the brain is about the size of a golf ball and even though the rifles are sighted in perfectly at 80 yards .. I have seen both Phill and I miss entire antelope at that range .. ( I dare not mention a long ago tuskless in the Zambezi Valley)

It was quite a struggle but Andrew was very patient and Phill brained the big saurian at 80 yards .. Ancient with a lot of his tail missing .. a 13 1/2 foot croc is going back with him to Arizona.

Chris wanted a big sable bull and along with that he whacked a half dozen or so other antelope. It seemed like all of the game taken were old animals well past their prime. He could have shot all kinds of puku within minutes of camp but the ancient ram was two hours away … spotted on some previous hunt, I presume. These well past their prime animals are what we wanted to take.

Chris is a very good rifle man. A couple of animals had to be tracked a ways as always happens. This is nerve wracking but all were found in a short while . Good on him!


If you want to hunt Zambia .. and who does not.. I recommend the AR group hunt hosted each year by Andrew Baldry (Fairgame) and his associates … 100%



I hope that photos will follow … Happy Trails ..

Richard (Scruffy)

The AR hunt with Andrew IS on my bucket list! Sounds like you had an excellent hunt.

What I would add is that Scruffy, Phil, and Chris were the perfect hosts. Great fun to be around and just a pleasure to hunt with.

We did laugh and every evening we celebrated the game we hunted.

For me one of the best group hunts but poorly attended.

But so what

High-end left-handed rifles on loan? I knew I was going to regret not taking Andrew up on this offer. Can't wait to read the rest of the story.

George

quote:

Originally posted by Jorge400:
High-end left-handed rifles on loan? I knew I was going to regret not taking Andrew up on this offer. Can't wait to read the rest of the story.

George

They were Sir Phil’s rifles, I believe.

I must do one of these hunts eventually.

.

Scruffy, great start to the report. Look forward to seeing more of the pictures. Andrew is a top host and I am sure this was a great group hunt.

Thanks for sharing.

Charlie

.

Sounds like a fun hunt with a fine
bunch of guys.

Hope to see more pictures. Great
croc Phill!

Scruffy: thanks for the note.

George

Sounds like great fun for all!

Well done.

BH63

nice crocodile good shooting

I am going to figure out how to post photos . I am way too good looking not to share my good fortune with the AR folk …

quote:

Originally posted by scruffy:
I am going to figure out how to post photos . I am way too good looking not to share my good fortune with the AR folk …

Send to Chris or me mate.

Great animal! congrats!

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Just a small taster and Phil was after a big croc



A perfect shot above the smile. Croc never moved

Great hunt!

Nice sable Chris. I would love to see the rest of your Plains game.

Tsetse control



Hippo control



Hippo controlled by the desperados

Very nice.

Great start on a good hunt...

Looking like some nice trophies were taken.

Looking for the rope for your seat belt. Or just to hang on when they take a corner too fast.

Good stuff mate.

Outstanding. Love the report and pics. Glad you could finally make it! I can taste that breakfast!

Great report and some damned fine trophies! Congratulations!

The quality of plains game was very high and everyone took their desired species.

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:
Great hunt!

Nice sable Chris. I would love to see the rest of your Plains game.

Posted

That top warthog looks very familiar. I think we chased that same pig when I hunted with Richard a year earlier. He told me then that he’d been trying to get that pig for 2 years. He was very alert and elusive. Congratulations on taking an excellent warthog.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
That top warthog looks very familiar. I think we chased that same pig when I hunted with Richard a year earlier. He told me then that he’d been trying to get that pig for 2 years. He was very alert and elusive. Congratulations on taking an excellent warthog.

Richard did mention that!

Too bad the name "Motley Crew" is already taken :-)

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Too bad the name "Motley Crew" is already taken :-)

Blaser haters

quote:

Blaser haters

Infidels!!!!

Wow what a Great Adventure

quote:

Originally posted by Biebs:
Too bad the name "Motley Crew" is already taken :-)

Damn Andrew you guys are making me homesick! It has been several years since I've hunted Zambia!
I'm 83 years old now an I doubt I will ever get back to Africa, but it doesn't keep me from enjoying hunts on the old lap-top seeing others there!

...…………………......Thanks for the pictures! Mac