ZIMBABWE: 2018 Cast & Blast x2 With Nyamazana Safaris

Tough animals that can soak up some lead. Enjoying the story. Looking forward to more.
Bruce

Thanks for sharing the pics of the cave paintings!! Really cool!

Edge said:

NOTHING!!!
Admit it, hook line and sinker!

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Yep you got me!

I can only imagine how disappointed in yourself after shooting so well up to now, but...their toughness is why they call them “the poor man’s buffalo”.

Great writing, awesome adventures.
The highs and lows of hunting in Africa are difficult to explain sometimes, you are doing an excellent job presenting that.
Sharing Africa with your spouse, Priceless

Ridgewalker said:

Yep you got me!

I can only imagine how disappointed in yourself after shooting so well up to now, but...their toughness is why they call them “the poor man’s buffalo”.

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Someone did actually read the dribble!

Just to be clear, wasn’t me (Edge) that wounded the Wildebeest, that was @AfricanEclipse

Oops! Sorry at my age I get confused easily!

Ridgewalker said:

Oops! Sorry at my age I get confused easily!

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The minor confusion is understandable. We do tend to go on a bit a times!

Sunday 22 July, Day 5 of Safari:

After a delicious dinner of spinach and cheese wrapped by Impala filet and another 8.5 miles logged, sleep came quickly. During the night the winds picked up again and we were greeted by gray skies in the morning. We had noticed some eland sign in the area we had visited the previous night and headed in that direction hoping to spot some fresh sign made during the night.

We are in luck and the eland have been along the road feeding and breaking branches, excitement grows as there is a lot of sign, almost too much. It takes some time for the trackers to sort things out and we get a direction and head towards a line of hills through some forest type of terrain following eland sign. I had the scope turned down on the 375, if we were to see them it was going to be at close range.

After 20 minutes or so of sneaking through the trees the terrain changed along base of the line of rocky hills and became thick grass and scrub and we busted a grysbok or two, never really seeing them only a flash of a bit of hide and waving grass. We climbed up the rocks and scanned the terrain below us hoping to spot our quarry but it was thick and with the leaves still on the trees, making it difficult to see very far. The trackers went to the top of the rocky spine and crossed over to the other side as we waited, still hopeful the eland were around.

Snapped a photo of this tree living on top of rock with its roots winding around and into some earth.



The trackers come back and they hadn’t seen the eland. The eland had milled all around during the night making it almost impossible to sort out their final direction. We head back towards the truck and a few drops of rain begin to fall.

After a short break we haul our tails up a large hill on the opposite side of the road to once again gain elevation while the trackers tried to find a line for the eland. Crossing over into the next valley looking for any fresh sign. Nothing. The rain came down a bit harder and we headed back to the truck after covering 6 miles that morning.



We drove the roads around the surrounding blocks trying to cut the eland tracks while Sam and Sunday continued looking for the eland. Michelle rode up in the high seat with Cowboy and I. We did spot a good warthog and I had the cross hairs centered but Wayne couldn’t see the opposite tusks and he moved on into some thick brush. Wayne gave me the green light but my only shot was through a group of trees where the tusks were sticking out each side. Yes, the 300 grain Woodleigh Hydro would have probably gone through trees and through the skull for a quick ending but I wanted a whole skull and have it plated, not a skull with a .375 inch hole through it. The boar didn’t wait around and disappeared. It turns out that was the biggest warthog we saw during the 10 days of hunting, heavy but not overly long.




Wayne knew of a natural water hole and we stopped and hiked into a great looking area that looked as if it held a lot of game until relatively recently but again the eland eluded us.



We headed back to the eland area, had some apples and oranges for lunch and napped while the trackers continued looking. The sun had come out and it was nice and warm, this called for a nap. Well, Wayne napped in the cab, I napped on Michelle’s lap in the high seat and she listened to the two of us carry on! I’ll skip those pictures and videos as it never happened!

We finally packed it in and headed back towards the camp, the warm sun bringing the African bush to life.

Hey, who is peaking out of the bushes at us?



Ahhh, Mr Kudu! Still needs a few years to grow.



Further down the road his daddy decided to show himself to us! We ended up seeing this particular Kudu a few times as he was in the same general area every time we saw him, at least I believe it was the same one.



Back on the main road toward camp and Wayne comes to a halt, what have we here? Mr Puff Adder!


We end up back at the camp around dusk and have a wonderful meal of a venison pepper steak. The night is still young, lets do a night drive to see what we can see! We kept this drive relatively short with only a female grysbok spotted. Sleep came with relative ease as we logged 10 miles walking today, just getting us ready for the marathon awaiting us in the days ahead.

Jeff and Dana: Day 5,
(Sunday, 22/7/2018)

We wakened to a change in the weather – again. It is a bit colder today and the skies look a bit threatening. Nevertheless we make our way to the dining hall for some well needed breakfast and coffee.

The morning plan was to continue the search for the Wildebeest from yesterday. We step outside and feel a few drops of light rain. That's just great. We get to the spot where the trackers left off and continue the search.

After a few hours, Tiger, Pizza, and Crank call us on the radio to come to a watering hole a few minutes away. We gather around and the trackers tell us the Wildebeest kept moving all night, stopping only briefly once or twice. They came here to this spot, drank, and moved on. My heart was sinking yet further as the rain had picked up again and I knew what they were saying was not conducive to finding an animal let alone tracking it.

Dana and me went back to the truck while they continued to chat and the rain continued. A few moments later Mike came to the truck with Crank (a game manager for the conservancy that was accompanying us) not far behind. They had concluded that the animal must have only been grazed by my shot and he would, in all likelihood, continue on in a healthy manner. They were very confident with the assessment. At this point they called the tracking off and closed that chapter of the book. While this came as a bit of a relief to me, there was still something gnawing in my mind. I know my crosshairs were on the target... Perhaps with the excitement and commotion the target moved and I pulled resulting in a grazing shot...

We all piled back into the truck and proceeded on. I still had Kudu, Bushbuck, Warthog (if we happen upon one), and Wildebeest on my list to hunt! The game is still ON!

We had been scouting about for some time when Mike suggested we break for lunch. (A couple days ago Mike had suggested we have a picnic in the bush. We tried yesterday but not enough notice had been given to the cook, Cynthia. Plus we went gallivanting all over creation tracking a Wildebeest.) He chose a decent area and drove right off into the bush! We stopped a short ways into the bush and out came a cooler, some folding camp chairs, a couple cocktails, and hor d'oeuvres made with thinly sliced Impala steaks wrapped around spinach mixed with a little thick, creamy, herb sause. They were actually leftovers from last nights dinner but were so good they melted in your mouth! Absolutely scrumptious!! In addition there was some delightful quiche and fried potato slices. Mike shared his snack which was fresh Wildebeest jerky! Ironic, huh? While Dana and me were finishing up our lunch, the guys set up hammocks for Dana and me to take an afternoon siesta in. That whole picnic was a nice touch by our PH, Mike Blignaut! Thanks Mike!

After our siesta everything got packed back up and we were off to view some new area from a high vantage point. While we neglected to take photos of our dining in the bush, we did manage a picture of Dana next to a huge Baobab tree.


We parked the truck almost a kilometer away from the chosen area and hiked across the plain to the great granite boulders we were to climb. On the way we caught a wiff of something quite rank! Up in a tree was an old Impala used for Leopard bait. There wasn't much left of it but apparently enough to make a heck of a stink! Yes, this was cat country.

Climbing to the top and out across the rock we plopped our selves down for a time to glass. The view, as usual, was amazing!




A nice, shootable, Impala was spotted some 400 yards away but after the Wildebeest debacle I was a little unsure of myself and my rifle so I passed on him. As we sat there, small furry creatures started coming out of the rocks to see who was on their back porch! The longer we sat still the more of them that came out. The Rock Hyrax or rock rabbits, rock badgers, dassies, boulder gophers (as I like to call them) were there in plentiful numbers. I counted 18 at one time. Look closely at the photos below.




Mike and Pizza spotted a female Kudu but no male. I don't think much else was seen. We finished up the day searching for game on the way back to camp. Dinner awaited and it was suspenseful wondering what delicious delights we were going to have this evening! (Every evening was like this.)

There is much more to come! Stay tuned!
(But not too tuned up... )

Great report guys. Really enjoying it. Sounds like a tough hunt where you earn every trophy you get. Looking forward to hearing more.

kudukid said:

Great report guys. Really enjoying it. Sounds like a tough hunt where you earn every trophy you get. Looking forward to hearing more.

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Five more days of hunting action to come! This area is not a stocked game ranch, you will see animals every day but you won’t see hundreds a day. There is only a fence along one edge of the property that borders the Lemco game area and a small section of fence to keep the neighboring villagers cows out. I imagine there was even more and varied game, Black Rhino and large herds of buffalo, before Mugabe allowed settlers to take over the neighboring farms and destroyed them.

Lots of great pics fellas. Looks like the gals are having a good time hanging with you two yahoos

jacques smith said:

Lots of great pics fellas. Looks like the gals are having a good time hanging with you two yahoos

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You mean my faithful gun bearer, camera carrier and backpack hauler all done with a smile at the 15 mile point of a trek?

Yup that’s one of themwhat are U putting in her water?

jacques smith said:

Yup that’s one of themwhat are U putting in her water?

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Love potion #9!

Monday 23 July, Day 6 of Safari:

We are at the half-way point of our Safari, five glorious days left to enjoy this beautiful country. We head back to the same general area we were searching for the eland the day before, hoping to find some fresh sign we could follow-up.

We didn’t see much fresh sign and struck off into the back country looking into some hidden deep pockets well off the road. As big as they are, we couldn’t locate them that morning either, although it wasn’t for the lack of trying as we logged close to 7 miles. We did see some zebra and giraffe, the ranch is full of both species. We were again entertained by mother nature with a rain shower combined with the tall thick grass wetted us out once again, but not nearly as bad as the first day.

The sun came out and quickly dried us out as we snacked on some apples and oranges while awaiting Sam to bring the Toyota around to us as we had cut across a hunting block looking in all the nooks and crannies. Wayne had a quick discussion with Cowboy and Sunday and they struck off to check out a natural water hole a few clicks away, we would meet them at the next road in an hour or so.

Sam shows up with the truck and we drive a few clicks around the block to the general location they were to come out. After some time Sunday and Cowboy appear with some ugly news. A giraffe has been caught in a snare and has been dead for a few days. The snare was purposely set for giraffe. Sunday holds a couple of additional snares he has pulled from around the waterhole. Wayne calls in the bad news over the radio, the poaching patrol will come in and search the area for additional snares.



There was some feeding activity that had taken place and the guys has spooked a group of African Wild Dogs from the vicinity of the kill. They said it didn’t appear that hyenas or leopard had fed, the wild dogs keeping the other predators away.

We headed back to camp for a late lunch and enjoyed a few hours of relaxation. I took the opportunity to string up my new Fenwick travel rod and reel and take a few casts with a buzz bait. I only had one slurp and the bass missed the bait, the water was quite cold.



Michelle went to work with her camera, biltong hanging to dry.



Flap-necked Chameleon trying to warm up the body temperature in the afternoon sun.



Nature can be so beautiful







Relaxing on the porch watching my wonderful wife stalking the grounds.




We gather everyone up and head towards the big cave @AfricanEclipse and Dana saw yesterday. Sunday spotted a leopard up in a tree, by the time we reversed the truck the leopard had disappeared into the bush. I won’t repeat the cave pics but wanted to point out the leopard track that was on top of the footprints from the day before.



We left the cave and headed into a corner of the property that we hadn’t visited before, seeing some zebra and impala but nothing big enough to shoot. Wayne sent the three trackers to check out another natural water hole and to climb the granite mountain to see if we could locate some eland and have a plan for the morning as the sun was quickly setting. At dusk, Sam and Sunday returned without Cowboy. He had gone around the other side of the rock to get a different vantage point.

We waited a few minutes and began shouting for Cowboy to give him some direction as it was getting very dark, no response. Wayne pulled out the 22 hornet and took a shot to give him some direction. We were all getting concerned and I was giving Sam and Sunday some grief for leaving their comrade on the hill. The guys were all whistling and shouting his name and we thought we heard a faint response. We all climbed back into the truck and sped down the track hoping he had come out onto the road and was waiting for us. After a km or so we found him, but all was not well. Cowboy had his hat in his hand, was out of breath and was very agitated as he literally jumped into the back of the truck and started explaining to everyone what had happened.

The translation to English then took place. Cowboy had gone around to the other side of the hill and climbed down the rock and ran into two poachers with spears at the bottom and they proceeded to chase him down but was able to evade without harm. Wayne immediately called the info in over the radio so an anti-poaching unit could scour the area.

We broke out the spotlight and began the drive back towards camp but since it was still early we headed towards the fenced off agricultural fields to see if we could find some night critters. Even with the many stranded and electrified fence the wildlife still manages to find a way through. We saw a group of warthogs running away from of us and Wayne called in asking if we should shoot them, affirmative was the answer. Warthog was now on the night critter list within the agricultural area.

Sam was shining the light across the fields and we passed a group of small round buildings that housed the farm workers. The guys in the back with me are laughing and joking with the ladies as we passed on by and Sam shines a cat sitting across a draw next to a large tree about 80 yards away. Wayne confers with the guys as they study the cat under the tree with binoculars, African Wildcat! The lady farmworkers are yelling about their housecat, don’t shoot the housecat! I ask out loud, are you guys sure? Yes, yes shoot!

I have the 22 hornet in my hands and already have a steady rest with the crosshairs on the wildcat. The cat is lying down facing us and I have a quartering shot into the front right side of the chest. I set the rear trigger and touch the front trigger, pow. Perfect shot and the cat hardly moves as the hornet entered the chest and did decisive damage. I tell everyone, that better not be a housecat as I don’t want to deal with a bunch of pissed off ladies! I was serious but the guys were sure and we all had a good laugh and congratulations all around.

The guys run down and across the draw and start up the other side when a black and white housecat jumps out of the tree! The wildcat was either waiting for the housecat to come down for an easy meal or for a little late evening rendezvous! Returning home, I did some research on the African Wildcat and it is an ancestor of our domestic cats and the biggest danger is interbreeding with housecats.



What a beautiful animal and I wonder out loud if this is the same wildcat we had seen the first night as we were very close to where we spotted him the first time. The 22 Hornet did not exit so little to no patching will have to be done by Dennis Harris @The Artistry of Wildlife for a full mount.

You can identify the wildcat by a black tip on the relatively short tail and black markings on the underside of its legs and paws.



We all climb back into the truck with high spirits as its been a few days since I pulled the trigger. We head to the skinning shed and find Homerai the skinner, he has some work to do this evening. We drive around the agricultural area a bit longer but the warthogs have disappeared and we didn’t see anything else to shoot.

We leave the area and head the truck towards camp, a 15-20 minute drive away. Sam is still shining the spotlight and I’m holding an over/under 12 gauge with 2 ¾ shells with #4 shot, expecting something at close range along the road. After a few kilometers, Sam shines up a Civet cat in the deep grass beside the road!

Wayne and I have discussed shooting a Civet at the beginning of the Safari, he explained you must aim a bit low as they have a lot of hair on the back. He also said the 30-06 will be good as they can tend to be quite large. A little research on the African civet, Civettictis civetta, revealed they average 15 to 44 pounds! The civet is an omnivore and will also eat carrion. The civet excretion from the perineal glands is used to mark their territory and was used in the fragrance industry to stabilize perfume. Ok, enough about the animal, google African Civet and you can get all the details!

I start going for the 30-06 in the case at my knees but decide the civet is close enough and two quick blasts from the 12 gauge and we have our second night critter of the evening! We all bail out of the truck to get a close-up view of this beautifully marked nocturnal creature. High five’s and handshakes with plenty of smiles all around. This one is a female and the fur is very interesting with an undercoat and longer courser guard hairs.




What an evening as we all load back up and head to the skinning shed once more for another delivery to Homerai. It’s gotten very cold riding in the back of the truck and we all button up tight for the ride back to camp. Sam is a trooper and is still spotlighting as we are all hunkered down in the back of the truck, our bellies thinking about some dinner. We are about half way home and a Genet bounces across the road in front of us and into the deep grass on the right side of the road. Cowboy is attempting to get the shotgun out of its case and I grab it and pull off the soft case in one motion, line up and squeeze off a round before the truck has even come to a stop! Sam jumps down and runs into the deep grass and holds up a Genet!




A great evening for the night creatures! We head back to camp and have a few drinks around the fire and a late meal. We covered another 10 miles today according the iPhone.

Yowza! Three Cats in one night. That has to be exciting! Africa certainly has an amazing variety of, flora, and fauna.

Holy smokes. 3 in a row! Not a common thing to have happen.......Beautiful cats.
Bruce

kudukid said:

Great report guys. Really enjoying it. Sounds like a tough hunt where you earn every trophy you get. Looking forward to hearing more.

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Thank you! Adding to what Ed already said, this is about as o'natural as it gets. Sometimes we had LUCK on our side (Laboring Under Correct Knowledge) and what was presented to us couldn't be passed up. Maybe the trophy didn't quite make Rowland Ward criteria but the effort used to acquire the opportunity made it all the more worthwhile.
The bush giveth and the bush taketh away. The last day of my hunt was one of the most rewarding but you'll have to wait!

Jeff and Dana: Day 6,
(Monday, 23/7/2018)

I'm not sure how this particular morning went but most assuredly Dana and myself dragged our bodies out of bed and to the dining hall for breakfast!

We piled into the truck and made our way to the far Northeastern part of the property. We hiked up and over a rock hill (every hill was solid rock!) overlooking the stream bed behind the dam hoping to see some Bushbuck or Kudu in the early morning light. Generally, if you're lucky enough to see Bushbuck it'll be in the early morning or just as the sun starts going down.

I couldn't believe the view! It was as if we stepped back in time a million years or so. I half expected to see a pterodactyl flying over the valley or a T Rex picking its way through the bush.





We didn't see much of anything and made our way back to the truck to check some prime grazing areas.
Driving along Mike points out some female Kudu on the left and confers with the eagle-eye trackers up top. There is a bull with them! Mike goes on high alert and continues on down the road some 40 yards and stops behind a great bush. He jumps out and so do I.

Gun – check. Sticks – check. Binos – check! We off into the bush! We do our best to sneak up on these Kudu as they have ears like satellite dishes. 60 yards are crossed in a blink. Another ant hill. Over there. We get close to the anthill and the Kudu spot us. We clamber up the back side being careful not to break our legs in the leg-swallowing holes that were all over it like a giant block of Swiss cheese.
The Kudu are moving. The bull is trailing behind two (maybe three?) females. There is NO TIME! The sticks plop down and I'm on them. Target acquired. “Wait till I get a look... Yes!” says Mike. “Shoot him!” The bull is still moving and I have a chance. It's now or never. He's above us a tad and quartering away left... The 300 WM unleashes its fiery breath and spits a venomous silver stinger at the Bull! He's hit!! The females take off left across a low hill line. The excitement on that anthill would have lit the Aurora Borealis.

The bull does not follow but makes his way some 20 yards and stands behind THE ONLY BUSH IN THE AREA! Go figure... He's not moving much at all. We can see parts of him through the bush. Mike sends Pizza back to the truck to get Sweet Pea (his 375 H&H) and Dana, Tiger, and Crank. We relocate the sticks for a better position to aim at the bush and move me away from the edge of the 4 ft deep hole I was standing over.

I can tell you my eyes were glued to the scope and that bush! Dana arrives and the situation is explained to her. We had only to wait for him to step out. In the off chance he started moving away with the bush between us the 375 would plow through those twigs and finish him off.

Seconds tick by in slow motion... He wearily steps out to the left. He's not well. Looks in the direction the females went. I line up on the shoulder and unleash a second salvo of spinning nightmare at him. He drops like a rock and we rejoice!

We scamper across the grass and rocks like Klipspringers with too much caffeine and climb atop the rock shelf.






The first shot entered the lower rear of the left rib cage and came to rest in the crease of skin behind his right shoulder. The bullet tore open his liver and ruptured the hepatic artery and/or the abdominal aorta. He was bleeding profusely internally. He was dead on his feet but didn't know it. The second shot went through both shoulders and his spine. The bullet hit higher than I was aiming (perfect shot though!) and this was only 70 yards. I was very steady... Hmmm...



Quick measurements revealed the horns were 50.5 and 51.5 inches. Probably longer after the skin is removed. Off to the skinning shed after getting him in the truck!!

I can't remember what we did the rest of the day other than drive around looking for animals and maybe check the hyena bait. Dana says that I was in Kudu utopia! The following pics tell a story that we went out to try to find Bushbuck or warthogs at a remote reservoir.


There was a fish eagle perched in a tree on the far side of the reservoir that we watched with interest.




The sandman was kind to me that night.

Tomorrow will prove to be one heck of a day!