SOUTH AFRICA: ZIMBABWE: Mark & Tim's Big Bull Safari With KMG Hunting Safaris

[Tim Blackwell]

Outfitter: @KMG Hunting Safaris

PH : Marius Goosen, Martin Neuper

Zimbabwe, Limpopo & Eastern Cape


The Background...

Back in 2019, Mark and I made plans with Marius from KMG for the “trip of a lifetime”, the Big Bull Safari. Mark dreamt of walking in the tracks of Bull Elephant, while for me it was all about Cape Buffalo. This was our third safari with KMG so we had every confidence that Marius was the man to put it all together for us.

It started as a simple 7-day, 2-on-1 hunt in the Limpopo region. With two more years of Covid cancellations, we planned and re-planned until the trip morphed into something much bigger. There were certainly times when we thought it would never happen. I’m not sure that we could have faced another year of postponement. But happily, this hunt is now run and won, so it’s time for the report!

This will take some time to complete as we’ll be doing it together stage-by-stage. There were 4 main parts of the safari in the end…

Part 1 – Zimbabwe Elephant Hunt
Part 2 – Limpopo Cape Buffalo Hunt
Part 3 – Eastern Cape PG Hunt
Part 4 – Mark & Steve hunt some more while Tim holidays!

So anyhow, we’ll try and get through it part-by-part!

First and foremost, I want to acknowledge the dedication, flexibility, and absolute commitment of Marius Goosen to make this trip happen. For three long years, and literally right up until we left home, plans were changing and evolving, and nothing was ever too much of a challenge for Marius. There was a solution to every hurdle thrown at us – and let me tell you, there was a few! I’m usually a guy who likes to have everything planned in black and white, so this took a little adjustment. There was even several airfares that were not booked at the time of departure, as we opted to leave them open-ended depending on hunt success or otherwise…our complete trust was with Marius and the KMG team, and it was well-founded.

So by 2022, the Australian Government had finally loosened the shackles sufficiently that we could again travel internationally. The third set of dates for the Big Bull Safari were pencilled in – August 10 to September 2, 2022.

I met Mark in Sydney after two flights from my home, on the afternoon of August 8th; and after several drinks at the Hotel Bar with a local friend, we called it a night, to be ready for the long-haul the next day. That was to be the first of several Qantas delays across the trip unfortunately, but we eventually got to O.R. Tambo where we were met by the Africa Sky representative to go and attend to business in the SAPS office, before we retired for the night. There was a group of US hunters at AS who had just finished their safari, it was great to chat to them over a beer before a steak dinner.

The following morning it was back to the airport where we met Marius off his domestic flight, and checked in together for our next flight to Victoria Falls, where the adventure began…I'll hand over to Mark for this part.

 

[Desperatezulu]

This has all the makings of an epic report! Looking forward to the next instalment!

 

[Jörg Krüger]

Looking forward to this. Great stuff already in the first reading part.
Marius @KMG Hunting Safaris is a real trooper.

 

[Mark R]

Oh shit, righto. When you said we were doing a report I thought you meant you would write it and I would just read it and reminisce I will apologise in advance, my writing skills are not those of many here and certainly not up to Tim's standard but hope to disclose the events from my perspective.
We arrived at our camp on the Zambezi after arriving on our flight, problem was that the security at OR Tambo didn't see fit to load my rifle and ammo. The plan was made to do some scouting and check on leads for elephant on the way back to the airport the next morning as my rifle and ammo were due in on the 1100 plane.
The village network was working as planned and after retrieving rifle and ammo we headed back out to look for bulls or sign of where they may be. After putting a round through my 416RM in a Model 70 @ 50m we declared we were good to go with the Woodleigh Hydro printing where it should.
All that day and the next we went from valley to river and back again crisscrossing and checking on sightings or maybe sightings. The second day out had us sneaking into a valley where the trackers had found some elephants sleeping in the shade during the midday heat. We soon had the drop on the mob and soon discovered that they were 3 big cows that had their 3 calves with them. It was great to finally see a wild elephant again.
On the third day as we were heading to a spot we had a reasonable report from, we got a text come through saying a mob of 3 bulls were heard not far from a river valley we had stopped at the day before for lunch. So off we go with trackers, ph Mike, Marius, myself, Tim and the local who heard the elephants. We tracked the bulls uphill and down dale through country that was more like our sambar country here in Oz except drier. It was quite steep in places and at one stage there were the tracks of the bulls skidding down on their backsides in a steep gully.
It was getting quite warm (about 32 degrees Celsius) and after about 9km's we were entering a dry river valley with thick jess where we thought the bulls would be resting. As we snuck through the thick growth the trackers suddenly stopped causing us to freeze in our boots. The bulls were now feeding and resting 30m in front of us....... We tried to get in close several times but each time we picked out a grey spot the wind would change and we would have to back out and try from another direction. An opportunity arose when we realised we could climb out of the valley and up onto a small ridge overlooking where the bulls were slowly moving about.
It all happened quick, as it sometimes does, and there was the bull we were looking for working his way towards us under the thick tree growth below our position. He was lifting his head up and down and brushing aside the branches when all of a sudden he appeared at under 20m. He was draped in the shade of trees and moving around still pushing branches aside as I let him come forward a bit further trying to make out the detail of his forehead. Now I have shot a fair bit of large game and studied hard on side brain, frontal brain and body shots before I left and while talking to the PH's during the hunt but this was a situation I didn't account for but finally I took the shot @ 15m as the bull faced our direction and way below us.
At the shot the bull turned and as he did Mike and I both put in body shots at the retreating bull. The bush went wild with all 3 bulls taking off and then it all became deathly silent as we weren't sure if the bull went down in all the commotion or manage to escape with 3 hits. After waiting 15 minutes for things to calm down we proceeded to the valley floor where the trackers took up the spoor of the wounded bull. As they tracked them we were shown where they had stopped to turn and face us but then departing again. After about an hour of tense going the trackers finally caught a glimpse of the bulls resting in the shade. They had only travelled about 700-800m. Mike had described to me which was the wounded bull and as we peered through our bino's at the bulls 50m distance we worked out which way he was facing. Finally as he turned his head I fired another Hydro from the M70 off the sticks through the only clear gap and into a point just behind his foreleg. At the shot commotion again reigned as the bulls took off in all directions. we gathered ourselves again and climbed the small ridge to give us some advantage and after about 80m came to a drop-off where, to my greatest relief, was shown the downed bull laying in a twisted heap as he fell.
It was a great result from a poor first shot and the relief of what had just transpired was I must say a little overwhelming.

 

[Jörg Krüger]

Hi @Mark R , thank you for your part of the report. Great stuff mate. Can't wait for the rest!!
Unfortunately I cannot seem to open the photos.

 

[Mark R]

Sorry mate, just having a computer glitch. Trying to sort it

 

[CBH Australia]

Congratulations on your Bull Elephant.
Success so early in the hunt but we are keen to hear more.

 

[BenKK]

Awesome stuff, fellas!

 

[James Patsis]

Looking forward to this report….

 

[Mark R]

I’ll try again….

 

[Jörg Krüger]

Thanks @Mark R. That worked. Nice Ellie and stunning photos

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats @Mark R on the ele! thanks for sharing!

 

[AZDAVE]

I have been looking forward to your report, we finished our safari with Marius, and two days later he was heading out to meet your group. nice elephant.

 

[7mmFan]

great report so far! thanks for sharing and well done on the ele!

 

[TERMINATOR]

I’ll try again….View attachment 487944View attachment 487946View attachment 487947View attachment 487948View attachment 487950View attachment 487951

Congrats on your elephant!

 

[buck wild]

Congrats. Where did the initial shot end up?

 

[Nyati]

That´s a nice one, congrats !

 

[Mark R]

Congrats. Where did the initial shot end up?

Low. Shot angle was lost on me

 

[Mike B.]

Congrats! That is so awesome. How high above him do you think you were when you made that frontal brain shot? I've only seen pictures of angles when looking from even ground, an angle from above would have messed me all up too.

Also, that chair at Africa Sky is absolutely amazing. I want one just like it but I am afraid the cost might actually be as much as an elephant

 

[Mark R]

Congrats! That is so awesome. How high above him do you think you were when you made that frontal brain shot? I've only seen pictures of angles when looking from even ground, an angle from above would have messed me all up too.

Also, that chair at Africa Sky is absolutely amazing. I want one just like it but I am afraid the cost might actually be as much as an elephant

Mike B, I’m guessing we were 5-6m above him at the shot.