SOUTH AFRICA: Hunt With Chumanzi Zulu Safaris

iGala Productions said:

Excellent report thus far, look forward to the rest. Johann is an awesome guy, great hunter. Iv been to the area you hunted with Johann, awesome terrain, very steep but super exciting to hunt. You never know what you will walk into. Muzie is an excellent tracker! Awesome trophies taken so far.

Pierre

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Thank you. I cannot agree with you more on your opinion of Johann! The country is just incredible, advantage to the animals at every turn. And yes, noticing a buffalo when we had a 9mm pistol between us was a touch exciting. Thank goodness he was in a good mood! Muzie is just amazing, even if we communicated mostly in point-and-nod. Thank you again, they are all great trophies to me.

Day 7, Chumanzi lodge:
1700 58 degrees, 54% humidity, clear, wind SE light

An interesting last day in camp. We dragged the roads around the area where we bumped into the surprise buffalo yesterday and headed out to see what had happened overnight. After about 45 min of checking roads even the blind American noticed the fresh pile of buffalo "sign" in the road. Hopped out with Johann and Muzie. After a discussion in Zulu, I got the info that it was still warm. And the following conversation: (Johann) "Jason, do you want to go for a little walk?" (me) "Sure why not?" "Ok go get your rifle, do you still have your solids with you? Load those if you do." Pause for the 'wait a minute here' moment. So in the next 10 minutes or so we are out in the bush trying to get a look at the two buffalo that were trespassing. And I was trying to figure out how exactly I ended up hunting buffalo. After following tracks for about 45 min we caught sight of the two bulls. One good one and one younger one. Having not found a buyer for my soul overnight I still had no funding for even a discount buff so we left them be and went back to the truck. But Johann now knew what, where and how many buffalo had come up the river.
After lunch we left Muzie in camp to work on a truck and went to a really pretty spot along the Mkuze river to snap some pictures. A beautiful spot. I was clicking away when I noticed Johann looking down and following something. I wandered over and got the statement "leopard track". Yet another animal moving along the drying up river. On our way out I admit I wasn't paying overly close attention. It was the last ride back to camp so i was trying to drink in as much African scenery as I could. Suddeny Johann slammed on the brakes and said "Jason, see that pig over there? Shoot him." It was a really nice warthog. I started a "I don't really want to buy another warthog" speech and got "Don't worry SHOOT THE BLOODY PIG!" I then got busy shooting said bloody pig. One round at 50 yards and I had upgraded my warthog trophy.
Back to camp for a roast leg of impala and one last time around the fire. I will have to say I developed a taste for Hansa beer while in South Africa it has a nice flavor, must come from the corn.

This picture series is Johann bringing our trusty steed around to pick up my new warthog, me and said hog, looking at the tracks along the Mkuze river and a leopard track.

The last pig was well worth waiting for. Good to see that it worked well in the end. Bruce

gillettehunter said:

The last pig was well worth waiting for. Good to see that it worked well in the end. Bruce

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Thank you. Yes, once I figured out where to aim on the dang hogs I finally could hit them! A heck of a way to end the last day.

Great hunt and nice wright up, thanks for posting. Really like the horn shape on the nayala.

Sand Rat said:

Great hunt and nice wright up, thanks for posting. Really like the horn shape on the nayala.

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Thank you. If I didn't have to come back I wouldn't have! Nyala make a pretty trophy in my opinion and this wasgreat nyalaya country.

Thanks for taking the time to write up your hunt. I really enjoyed reading it.

Great report, thanks for sharing.

Fantastic hunt. Thanks for the write-up.

Neale said:

Thanks for taking the time to write up your hunt. I really enjoyed reading it.

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You are welcome! I had an amazing time making the story.

Outdoorlad said:

Great report, thanks for sharing.

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Thanks! It was my pleasure.

Lrntolive said:

Fantastic hunt. Thanks for the write-up.

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Thanks for agreeing with me. You're welcome. I cant wait to work on another one!

Congrats on a great trip. Nice to see another Nebraskan in the group. Heading over next year for my first trip.

twilly24 said:

Congrats on a great trip. Nice to see another Nebraskan in the group. Heading over next year for my first trip.

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Thank you! Great to see another Husker also. Where are you headed to? I'd be more thn happy to share my limited experience with a fellow first timer.

Great report and excellent trophies sir!

That is one really nice cape buffalo, you took a photo of above. For the right price he would have taken a dirt nap.

CAustin said:

Great report and excellent trophies sir!

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Thank you! They may not make any record books but they are all trophies to me.

enysse said:

That is one really nice cape buffalo, you took a photo of above. For the right price he would have taken a dirt nap.

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Yes, I was desperately trying to figure out how much I could sell my rifle, clothes, boots and soul for. I still couldn't afford it. What was rather unnerving was this buff was at about 30 yards, about the same distance at a 90 degree angle to the truck, where our rifles were. But next time may be different!

30winmag said:

Thank you! They may not make any record books but they are all trophies to me.

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You got some nice ones WinMag! Now let's get them on the wall!