SOUTH AFRICA: Cape Buffalo Hunt With Shumba Safaris

Arinjit

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Cape Buffalo Hunt with Shumba Safaris

This was a short notice hunt offered by Jan of Shumba Safaris and was aimed at raising funds for rhino anti-poaching units in the Balule Reserve. Balule is part of the APNR and is open to Kruger. Between the rest of APNR and all of Kruger, it is a huge piece of wild Africa. I have hunted in South Africa before in the Northwest Province and Free State, but the terrain here was different. At this time of the year, it was very green and the brush was pretty thick. I am not the experienced hunter as many of you here, but for me it was one of the most scenic places I have ever hunted. It has all of the Big 5 roaming wild. We ran into some huge herds of buffalo and also a lot of elephants. We did not see any lions, leopards or rhino, but ran into many fresh tracks of these as well as hippo and crocs.
My wife joined me on this hunt, although she spent a lot of her time in camp. Jan's camp is set at the foothills of the Drakensburg Mountains just outside Hoedspruit and has all the modern amenities you can ask for (even wifi) without losing the rustic charm of an African Camp. I don't really blame her for wanting to stay in camp rather than bounce around on the back of a cruiser. Food and service was also excellent.
I am not much for writing long hunt reports, so will let some pictures tell most of the story. Please excuse the quality of some of the photos. We are not professional photographers either.

Balule:

Skulls from poached rhinos lined up outside the warden's office. Most have been hacked off with machetes and have portions of the skulls missing.



Wife outside the chalet.



Jan and Riaan (warden at Balule)













Rhino midden


We were looking for a Dugga Boy at least over 12 yrs of age. We were into buffalo by the hundreds and it was an awesome experience to be able to stalk these animals through the bush. We found our bull on day 2 of the hunt after a lot of busted stalks and looking over a lot of animals. He was at 25 yards at the shot and I took him with a 500NE double offhand. He didn't go down right away and decided to charge us twice. It was extremely exciting to say the least and without going into a lot of details, it took 5 shots from the 500, all offhand, to take him for good, including an insurance shot and I was shaking with all the excitement at the end of it. It was all I had hoped for regarding a classic buffalo hunt (in my mind) with a double rifle.




I tried playing with Photoshop on this one. The color of the dirt is not that red.





The Team



I also took a buffalo cow. To find a suitable cow without calf, etc in the long grass was more difficult that I thought. It took us two days to find her. This time I used a scoped 9.3x62 and she fell where she was shot.




Eddie got creative while we waited for the truck.



We took a day to look around Hoedspruit and went to the Blyde River Canyon and the Cheetah Rehab Program.








We left Hoedspruit and spent a week in Cape Town. This was our first time there and we really enjoyed our time there. Beautiful landscape and lots to do. We drove down to Cape of Good Hope, did the wine route, hit the beaches to see some penguins, hiked Table Mountain and even went cage diving with great white sharks, which was an exciting adventure in itself. There pics are not strictly related to hunting, but figure some would enjoy. Moderators can delete if not allowed.










Many thanks to Jan, his family, Eddie, Max, Calvin and everybody else involved with the hunt, for the great experience and wonderful memories.
 

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Thank-you Arinjit,
great report with some incredible pictures.

Classic hunt, close and personal, with a classic weapon in the perfect caliber !, well done.
Beautiful buffalo !

Chuffed to see you loaded with the C.E.B's, they seem to be working quite well for you.

What make is that gorgeous double, if I may ask ?

Thanks again for a great report.
 
There pics are not strictly related to hunting, but figure some would enjoy. Moderators can delete if not allowed.
we'd saw off their toes with a rusty knife if they did.

Looks like a great trip.
 
Thanks.

Savage Hunter - very funny and graphic...

Paul - I used Jan's double for the hunt. The reloads are his. The rifle is a Sabatti and I have an identical one in 470NE. I know they have mixed reviews, but here's my experience. I have taken 3 of the Big 5. Two of them now with Sabattis. Besides this one, I took a lion with my 470 on a head shot at about 50 yds. It is very accurate for my needs. I have about 200 rnds through it and other than copper fouling in the rifling that I need to take care of, there has been no damage.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
thanks arinjit . great report and for a great and noble cause .
that buffalo is a bueaty.
and them bullets look like theyd stop a meteorite, five shots to pull that big fella up says something about their character.
really like the holiday snaps at the end ,mate
that fish you swam with looks like the real deal.
and its a fantastic show of conservation support on SHUMBA SAFARIS behalf to donate their time and effort , to make this all happen .
 
Congratulations on your successful trip.
You made a great trip of it.

Thanks for sharing the whole experience.
Good job on the pictures.
 
Nice pictures, congrats on the Cape buffalo! Thanks for the hunt report!
 
Looks like a great trip. Nice photos. Thanks for the report. Bruce
 
Great trip report and wonderful pics. Thanks for taking the time to put it together for us.
 
Thank you for taking the time to share your adventure with us as well as all of the great photos.
 
Congrats for a great hunt, and thanks for sharing !
 
OUTSTANDING!!!
 
It sounds like you had a great hunt at a great price for a great cause.

Thanks for sharing your hunting experience, vacation and photos.
 
Very nice read! Great pictures. I hope to go after a Cape Buffalo in 2015. Congratulations!
 
Arinjit,

Exellent.

The photo of the wild dogs all looking to their left and the one of the buffalo, standing in the middle of a dirt track and glaring at you, are my favorites.

Also, the small trout shown, as it was released at the the back of a boat, did you take that on a grasshopper pattern or stone fly nymph?

Again I say...Excellent!

Thank you for the story and photos.

"Baseball, what's that, I like to go hunting."

Cheers,
Velo Dog
 
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Awesome trip! Thanks for sharing your trip and your fantastic photos.
 
Great hunt and great report. Thanks for sharing
 

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