Dates: July 2nd – 13th
Outfitter: John Sharp Safaris
Area: Malangani Ranch, Zimbabwe Loveld
Type Hunt: 2x2 Plains game
PH’s: John Sharp and William (Willie) Mills

My Dad and I recently hunted with John Sharp in Zimbabwe for plainsgame. We had a wonderful safari despite the deteriorating economic conditions in Zim. The only problems I could see there now for the hunter is the supply problems for the camps. If your operator has a good plan to get supplies then everything is great. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess. No one that we talked to seemed to have the answer to turn the country around and every decision the government makes sends things spiraling even more. I say hunt there while you still can and be sure you’re going with someone you can trust.

We started out our travels in the Atlanta airport on June 29th via tickets bought from Kathi Klimes. As always she was very helpful in all my planning for travel which included several changes from me. A United flight to Dulles and then SAA on to Joberg. We overnighted in Joberg at Afton and flew on to Bulawayo the next morning. We used Riflepermits.com to obtain pre-approved temporary import gun permits into RSA. I think this is money well spent as the circus that I observed for the 10 +/- guys that didn’t have pre-approved permits looked frustrating. We were in and out in less than 15 minutes. The lady we had at the Bulawayo airport to check us through customs was quite the perfectionist. She checked all gun serial #’s, 2 camera serial #’s, video camera serial #, counted all ammunition and verified head stamps. We were then pulled over at the first police check point 5 miles from the airport for a search!! John chewed on the police guy for a few minutes and after just looking at our passports we were on our way. All other checkpoints we were waived right through. In the Bulawayo airport for the flight back home the power was turned off, a common occurrence all over Bulawayo. This meant hand searching all luggage. Our large checked bags actually didn’t make the flight, but the guns did. Not sure if that was because of the power issue or room on the plane. The bags were delivered to my house a few days later. Clearing customs with my bags/guns at Dulles and rechecking them for my connecting flight was a breeze. It was such a breeze that they never asked me for anything. I didn’t have to open my gun case, I didn’t have to show them a 4457 or anything. They ran my gun case through a scanner and sent me on my way. Strange! Scary!

Accommodations and food at the Malangani camp were awesome. All the camp staff were friendly and made sure you were always taken care of. We had coffee delivered to our cabins for wakeup and breakfast 30 minutes later. We came back to camp most days for lunch and had campfire appetizers, supper and dessert at night. We ate all wild game from impala to giraffe. We also had largemouth bass that my Dad and I caught from Malangani dam and some francolin that we shot. It was all good stuff.

For this safari I was looking for pretty much any of the common plainsgame offered with kudu, eland, and bushbuck being top 3. So we began our hunt with these 3 animals in mind and if we saw others then we’d take a crack at them.

The first day my dad and I hunted 2x1 with John as Willie was scheduled to come in a day late because of a previous hunt. This was fine as first days are usually needed to just kind of get settled in. We shot the guns first thing and all was well there. We then headed out looking for some animals.

The weather the first morning, and for several more after that, was not what I had expected. Cloudy and cold with strong winds. Heck it even looked like it might rain!! Despite that we saw animals that first morning and dad made a nice shot on an impala. We also made a couple quick stalks on wildebeest and kudu that didn’t work out.

That afternoon we spotted a nice bushbuck from the truck and it hightailed it around the edge of a large granite koppie. The brush was thick up close to the koppie so we assumed he’d stay close to it. We climbed over the top hoping to spot him on the other side. We topped over and began to glass. About 5 minutes later Issac our tracker spotted him in the thick stuff watching his back trail. He had no idea we looking right down on top of him. We sat down and spread out the shooting sticks for a shot. The wind was blowing the trees around and one second there would be a clear shot and the next I could barely see him at all. I finally squeezed off a shot and dropped him where he stood. The one animal I assumed may be the toughest to get was down the first day!



The next morning we headed out and 10 minutes from camp spotted a lone wildebeest bull. A quick stalk using a mound of dirt for cover put us about 70 yds from the bull. I slowly raised up with the shooting sticks and shot him straight in the chest. We followed up and found him in less than 100 yds.



That afternoon we spotted 3 eland bulls and had a couple very exciting hours stalking. The end result was that I had easy clear shots at the young bull and one with a broken horn but the one we were after though never offered a clear shot and we ran out of daylight.

The next morning the trackers spotted fresh eland tracks crossing the road and we were off again tracking eland. Two and a half hours later we figured out that they had us figured out and gave up the track. We could never get the wind right to catch up to them.

Later that day we spotted another small herd of eland in thick cover. We slipped out of the truck and crawled 40 yds or so to get into position to glass. They were on to us but not spooked enough to run. A good bull finally worked its way into a position for a shot so from my knees over the sticks I took about an 80 yd quartering to me shot with my 9.3x62. If anything was wrong with my shot it would be that it was a bit high, but it busted up a shoulder and I assume got him high through at least 1 lung. He made it about 50 yds and stopped not able to follow the rest of the herd. I shot him 2 more times at hard quartering away angles and once more broadside and he finally tipped over. I’ve read that eland aren’t that tough compared to their size but you can’t prove it to me by this one!!



Oh I almost forgot…on the way to look for eland I shot a zebra. The owner of the property wanted a zebra skin for something so I was offered a chance to shoot a free one. No problem here. A herd was spotted a few minutes out of camp on the way to look for eland so we took the opportunity to take one. Only created about a 1 hour delay to our eland hunting and then I got the eland. It was a good afternoon!



With eland and bushbuck from my top 3 wish list in the salt I was feeling pretty good. It was now a 9 day kudu hunt for me. No problem in Zim…right? The next several days were spent looking for kudu. We spent a lot of time driving and climbing koppies and glassing. Sometime around day 6 we got onto a bull at mid-day and spent about 1.5 hours tracking. We got to within about 50 yds on one occasion but he slipped through our fingers and we could never catch back up.

During the days looking for kudu I took impala, duiker, bushpig, and baboon.







We were just having problems finding kudu bulls. We’d climb favorite koppies and glass and see eland, zebra, impala, warthogs, giraffe, etc….but no kudu. I was starting to feel the kudu crunch and I believe John was also. If we’d been onto bulls every day we’d have felt different but most days we were seeing no bulls at all. The kudu crunch for me was made worse by the fact that on my only other safari I came home without a kudu.

On day 8 we decided to stay out all day. There were no sightings in the morning. We ate lunch overlooking a water hole and the afternoon back to driving and glassing. As it started to get late in the day and we turned the truck back towards camp I said to myself that it was now a 4 day kudu hunt.

We had just crossed a deep dry riverbed lined with thicker than normal green cover when the trackers signaled to stop the truck. As I looked to the right I saw a small bull break and run about 50 yds away. Thinking that was it I relaxed, but John turned to me and whispered to quickly get out and get my gun. As I got out one of the trackers Kevin handed me my rifle. I quietly chambered a round and quickly moved around the truck. I really don’t remember John telling me to shoot, but he said he did. My kudu stepped out into an opening and stopped dead still and looked right at me. His shoulder was covered by a small bush so I tucked the crosshairs up as close as I could and squeezed off. He bolted and then all was quite. I was fairly certain of my shot but there’s always some doubt. Tracker Issac said, with no clue to me how good the shot was, that he thought I hit him. We immediately followed up the track and found blood which looked mostly like liver blood to me. John made a comment that maybe the shot was high as the sign was high on the bushes. Oh CRAP I thought. But there was plenty of blood and we found the bull in less than 100 yds shot exactly where I was aiming. I’m sure he’s not the biggest bull on the property but we were damn proud of him. The kudu crunch was over!



The only other animal I was really looking for was a warthog. The next day we spent looking in areas where John had seen some good pigs on earlier hunts. Early in the afternoon we spotted a good pig crossing the road in front of us and we stopped the truck. He moved on off into the cover and Issac and I followed up a ways with the shooting sticks. We found him not paying any attention to us and set up and made a short 40 yd shot and I had my warthog.



During these days my dad had been having good luck also. He shot a 2nd impala, wildebeest, kudu, bushbuck, and a toad of a warthog. He also did some fishing on Lake Malangani which has been stocked with Florida strain largemouth bass. My dad is a dedicated bass fisherman and has fished for more the 40 years here in the States. He has a Ranger boat and who knows how much invested in fishing gear. Well, he can now say that the 2 largest bass he’s ever caught in his life were caught in a canoe with a cheap spinning rod in Africa!! The primitive scales we had put them both around 9.5 lbs though they sure looked like they would break 10 lbs.









The next morning dad and I road out together looking to shoot some leopard bait for the next hunter coming into camp. Do you know how hard it can be to find a kudu cow when you’re really looking? Late in the morning we finally got onto one and dad made the shot with me videoing. That afternoon we spent on the lake bass fishing.

All during our hunt we had seen lots of francolins and I love to bird hunt so on day 11 we asked to go walk up some birds. I assumed we could walk up 10 or so in short order. Well, these francolins didn’t read the script and always seemed to flush when I was ducking under something or flushed in the thickest cover. We were able to only scratch down 3. Lot’s of fun though and enough for francolin appetizers around the fire that night.

That afternoon with everything in the bag that I wanted to hunt we decided to go out and look for some more baboons. We had seen a couple troops around one particular water hole so we climbed a koppie close by to glass. We were to late getting there and spooked them. They moved off, but about 45 minutes later showed back up and hung up about 500 yds out. They knew we were there and wouldn’t come closer. For some reason a lone male baboon got a bit closer and climbed a tree. My range finder said 269 yds to the tree. John said that was probably the best shot I’d get and I had a good rest so I took a poke at him with my 30-06 and dropped him stone cold. It was the longest shot this Southern deer hunter has every made.



We headed back to the truck which was parked near the waterhole. I couldn’t help but notice the doves flying in for water and we still had a shotgun with us. So I shot some doves for the last 20 minutes of daylight. A great way to end the day.



Our last day in camp we slept in and had a late breakfast, packed up and headed back to Bulawayo. We were greeted with the news in town about the Government’s half price sale going on and that the shops in town were being over run by shoppers trying to find deals. I had planned some shopping myself, but choose to stay away. We had dinner at a nice Italian restaurant that night and flew home the next day.

I took two rifles on this hunt. A Model 70 30-06 shooting 168 TSX’s and a CZ-American 9.3x62 w/286 NP’s. The 9.3 accounted for bushbuck, wildebeest, zebra, eland, duiker, bushpig and baboon. With the ’06 I took impala, kudu, warthog and baboon. Both performed very well. Based on this safari and one other where I only used the 30-06 I didn’t see a lot of difference in performance on game. I actually felt handicapped with the 9.3 when we would climb the koppies and glass and so started only carrying the ’06 up the koppies. I’m sure the 9.3 hits with a bit more punch but even in the loveld where we expected shots under 200 yds there’s always somewhere where you may have to stretch it out and the .30 cal’s allow you to do that. My dad shot a .308 Winchester with Federal High Energy 180 NP’s and that combo worked well also.

Thanks for the report and pictures. It looks like you both had a great trip!

Great report and some awesome animals. Do you have a website from this place you hunted?

Welcome back, Wyatt. Great story & pictures and I'm very glad the safari was up to expectations for you. I really enjoyed my hunts in that place. Looks like your dad won the "big kudu" award! Post more pics when you get a chance.
nube: www.john-sharp-safaris.com

jorge

Nice hunt and report.

Great report Wyatt!! First day bushbuck - that is something.

Thanks for taking the time to give us some details. Your hunt description and photos bring back memories of my trip with John at Malangani. Hope everything continues to go well for him.

Congratulations on a great trip.

By the way - I think the Malangani Dam is a realy trophy spot - I was lucky to pull a 10-pounder out of there also!!


Phil

Congratulations on a great hunt and thanks for sharing it with us.

Wyatt,

Great report and photos. Congratulations. The eland, bushbuck and warthogs are excellent! Thanks. Hugh

Sounds like you had a great trip. Thanks for sharing it with us!

Sounds like you had a great time, great pics.

Great report and fantastic adventure to share with your Dad... something you and he will fondly remember for a long time!

Wyatt


Nice Report with great Pics.
Well done

Seloushunter

Glad you got your Kudu. Thanks for the report and pics. Good hunting, David

Looks like a great father/son trip. Thanks for sharing it with us.
Jeff

Congrats on a great hunt. Those are some fine trophies.

Great report. Congratulations on the bushpig. Looks like yall did well.

I'm envious of your father/son trip. I hope to get in one trip with my dad to Africa.

We don't see many trip reports with John Sharp for some reason. Do you have any photos of the camp? Thanks for posting.

Hell of a Blue Wildebeest

What rifles and loads were you and your dad using, apart from the 9.3X62? And what bullets did you use in the 9.3?

Cheers,

Blair.

A few more pics of Malangani camp and some of the scenic pics.....

My dad and I each had our own chalet.



Very nicely furnished.



John cooking up supper.





Dining area



View in front of camp. Lake is down from a couple year drought they are experiencing.



A few scenic pics....

great pictures Wyatt, brings back great memories for my wife and I. Man that lake IS dry! Was that zebra tenderloin John was cooking? We stayed at the last cabin on the other side of the dining area. jorge

Jorge,

Not sure what was being cooked on the grill. Over the fire John was cooking giraffe. It turned out to be tuff as shoe leather. It had good flavor but man was it tuff. John called Peter (the cook) down to the fire where we were eating and handed him a piece to try. Of course he bit through it like it was prime rib. It was a joke before every supper from then on whether or not we were having giraffe again. John said that they have eaten a bunch of giraffe and that's the first one to turn out like that.

Dad and I had the first two cabins. The one you stayed in was having some kind of problem.

Great report and great pics!

Thanks, Wyatt. The only giraffe we had was giraffe tail soup and it was very good. Isn't Peter a trip? The end cabin where we stayed had an outdoor "single-seat" tub that my wife enjoyed a lot
jorge

dear wyattd

good safari photos and good description.
i notice you hunted with your dad. i do not know what your feelings are but after doing four african safaris with my son ahmad i can say without hesitation that i enjoyed every second of them.
for rifles to africa i will prefer a .375 h&h mag and either a 7mm mag or .300 mag as sometimes you have to shoot good trophy plains game well over 350 meters.

quote:

Originally posted by mahmood sultan
african safaris i can say without hesitation that i enjoyed every second of them.

Wyatt - some great trophies and really like your Bushbuck. Glad you had a great time, and sharing that time with your father will be great memories.

You did well. Great pictires.