ZIMBABWE: First Safari Hunt Report - Bubye Valley

Location: Bubye Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe


Outfitter: Martin Pieters Safaris




Dates: May 10–20, 2026


Animals Taken:

• Cape Buffalo
• Zebra
• Impala
• Warthog
• Baboon

Weaponry:

• Ruger RSM 416 Rigby – 400gr Swift A-Frame handloads
• Winchester Model 70 30/06 – 180gr Swift A-Frame handloads

Optics:

• Trijicon accupoint on both rifles
• Old Nikon 8x binos

Ammunition Performance:

• Almost boringly perfect

Travel Route:
TRI → ATL → Johannesburg → Bulawayo

After many years of dreaming and planning, I’m so thankful that this adventure has arrived. Spending this time in Africa with my dad has been one of the highlights of my life, getting to share the experience of my first African hunt has been truly priceless. I can’t thank my Ph, or the trackers Dube, Charity, Jivas & the camp staff enough for putting in so much effort to make this so memorable.

When talking with many outfitters a few years ago, I really felt the most comfortable with Martin and his operation in Zimbabwe. To be quite honest, regardless of how much I read about the BVC I still didn’t grasp what a premium area this was until we got there. Choosing to hunt in May due to our buisness had me admittedly a tad nervous of our success chances for Buffalo but after 3 hrs in the bush on the first day I was laughing at myself for worrying about this. The amount of Buffalo we not only saw but had clear shot opportunities at was totally unexpected considering the bush density, which as I’m told is the thickest they have ever seen. Needless to say expectations were exceeded.

Traveling was pretty much as seamless as things like that can be. Jennifer at Travel Express was very instrumental in that, highly recommend! Upon arrival in Johannesburg, Gilbert was waiting on us and promptly got us in and out of the SAPS office in under 10 minutes and we were on our way to get some much needed rest at Africa Sky before catching our Air Link flight to Bulawayo the following morning. After two fantastic meals, some deep sleep and a few good conversations at Africa sky, we were headed back to the airport the following morning.

Arriving in Bulawayo around noon the following day we were well rested and ready for the adventure to begin. I could write an entire separate post detailing the comedy of traveling through the Bulawayo airport, especially with a firearm, but we save that for another day. Frank (aka Frank the Tank or Rhodesian Rod Stewart) was waiting on us to transport us the next 4 hrs to camp by car. Several hours of laughter and talk about what the next 10 days might hold, we found ourselves greeted by the staff and Chamalaya camp. The evening concluded with a picture perfect sunset and a delicious steak. We were off to a great start and full of expectation as we got settled in.

Note : my PH was was fantastic and as much as I wish to give him the credit he deserves, he very kindly asked that pictures of himself and mention of his name be left off of the internet.

Leaving Tennessee

Sunset at Chamalaya camp

Really looking forward to your report! Congratulations on being able to take this trip with your father! That’s a blessing unto itself!

Well done on the trip with your father and very much looking forward to updates.

Andrew62 said:

Really looking forward to your report! Congratulations on being able to take this trip with your father! That’s a blessing unto itself!

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Very thankful we could share this together!

deewayne2003 said:

Well done on the trip with your father and very much looking forward to updates.

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Thank you, trying to get it all complied and posted over the long weekend. If I don’t, who knows when it will get done .

Great you and your Dad could share the adventure. Looking forward to the rest.

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The first day out started off as a very chilly clear day. Fill up with instant coffee, bacon, eggs & toast we were off. This first animal we come upon is a very lethargic python. Absolutely loathing snakes, I had to get a picture with this thing for some reason.

Carrying on down the trail we decide to drive along a river bed and within 3 minutes we see a lone buffalo bull taunting us with a nice shot opportunity, but he just wasn’t what we were looking for.

I have to admit, not understanding the density of buffalo we were destined to see, I was a little apprehensive to pass this bull but I’m so thankful I did. The rest of our day looked very similar to this. Routinely bumping into groups of bulls 2-5 bulls and even a few herds. Unfortunately I didn’t take any pictures of this but in the evening of day 1, we got the wind right and ended up with a grazing herd of buffalo and let them feed past & around us. This was Extremely thrilling to say the least. Having these things walk 20ft away from you either clueless to our presence or just not caring. Being this close to them for the first time my heart was racing the entire time. However the only moment I was very concerned for our safety was when a calf started carelessly jumping through the grass headed straight for us. Thankfully it realized we were an object and just turned around. I was imagining this situation rapidly deteriorating as its mother found out we were there. There were a few great bulls in the herd but we obviously let them walk. It was a great opportunity to practice on the sticks and watch these buffalo through the scope.

More please...

Day 2 started off much the same, and as lunch approached we started making our way back towards camp. While driving We saw a very nice warthog that would end up being my first African kill. We quickly jumped off the truck, had a short stalk and made an effective shot off of the sticks. It’s funny how your desires change a bit when you are actually here on the ground. Before arriving I was really wanting a waterbuck, and couldn’t care less about a warthog. After seeing that warthog I had to take him, it became a classic trophy to me at first sight. Funny enough, over the next few days I just totally lost the desire to kill a waterbuck, so we shifted gears away from that.

What were your rifles, chamberings and bullets used?

Just want to take a minute to mention how unbelievably good the food was in this camp.

Hornedfrogbbq said:

What were your rifles, chamberings and bullets used?

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Ruger RSM 416 Rigby
Winchester model 70 30/06

Swift A frames for both

On the morning of day 3 we spotted fe buffalo in the distance grazing in the open. Upon moving closer to investigate we kept noticing more and more buffalo. Before long we found ourselves in a dry creek bed with buffalo on both sides of it. Needless to say I wasn’t taking many pictures but here is a quick one. My Ph estimated that the heard we were in the middle of was 4-600 strong. There was one bull in this group that we agreed I would take if he broke from the herd as the morning went on, but it didn’t happen.

No shortage of lions in the Bvc, which we knew about well before arriving. It was a bit surprising to see how fearless they were. Towards the end of our trip a game scout evidently got charged by a lioness and fired 29 5.56mm rounds at it and wounded it, according to the radio transmission that came through on the land cruiser.

Looking like a fantastic trip

Day 4 felt different, even as we all loaded onto the Land Cruiser success was just in the air. We covered quite a bit of ground that morning, spotting countless game as we drove, we made our way to a small rock hill that we would climb to view elephants and smaller game from for about 45 minutes. Once we’d had our fill of that we climbed back down and were on our way.

About 30 minutes after driving away from the hill, we were slowly driving on an elephant destroyed road when Dube spotted a lone buffalo bull about 500 yds to our right side. After a quick glance in the binos I knew this is what we had been waiting on. Quickly jumping from the truck with guns and shooting sticks we start making our way after this buffalo. He is strolling across this open area, and we are walking as fast as we can through the thick grass and it is unclear if we are even closing the distance on him. After about 10 minutes of this he begins to walk in more of an S pattern which works to our advantage and we close some serious ground. Alerted to our presence he doesn’t spook but gradually heads in the direction of a huge group of mopani thickets. As he approaches this, we flank his right side and end up setting the sticks up at 20 yds. As soon as I get set up he briefly stops and gives me a perfect, unfettered broadside shot. As soon as the first shot rang he begins to move into the thicket and luckily I had reloaded, and fired again off the sticks before he entered it (I barely remember doing this). Once in the thicket it was clear that he had only walked maybe 20 ft into it as we could see a mopani shaking. There was zero visibility to shoot him again unless he were to come at us. After a few minutes of the tree shaking we hear a few consecutive death bellows, and Charity looks at me with a mile-wide grin and says “he will not be coming this way now”
Even though we were all confident he was dead, it was hair raising entering that thicket due to the low visibility. Once we finally found where he was laying, it was a chilling realization that we had been that close and couldn’t see him at all.

My life’s hunting dream had been fulfilled in this moment, thankful is the only word I know for it. This is right where he fell

Of all the nice pics we would take, I think this is my favorite.

"It's funny how your desires change a bit when you are actually here on the ground"
That sums up Africa completely. Congrats on your choice of concession, weapons and animals.
Great to share with family!

Congrats on a beautiful buff.

Great hunt! Congratulations on some beautiful trophies. To be able to share it with your father is extremely special. I am headed over in a little over two weeks for my first trip and am blessed to have both my sons hunting with me. Father's Day this year will be quite different and very special.

SCHUNTER73 said:

Congrats on a beautiful buff.

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Thank you!