ZAMBIA: Upper Luangwa River - Mwanya Fly Camp - First Safari

[AZDAVE]

Congratulation. Beautiful location. looking forward to you complete report.

 

[BJH65]

Congratulations, good shooting and awesome bull!

 

[ACM]

Excellent! What outfit were you hunting with?

 

[Buckums]

We were hunting with friend and long time PH John Oosthuizen (mentioned and pictured in Dr. Robertson's Most Dangerous) and PH Leroy Osborne of Mvu Safaris / Kwalata Safaris on what I believe is known as Peter Chipman’s Upper Lupande concession. We were in the tent camp up river maybe 5-10 miles from the main camp.

 

[Buckums]

The first time I laid eyes on Africa.

 

[Buckums]

First view of the Luangwa

 

[Buckums]

Myself, PH John, PH Leroy and game scout William.

 

[Nyati]

Great buff, congrats !

 

[Buckums]

After landing in Mfuwe, 3 hour drive on single track dirt road in the back of the Land Cruiser. The highlight of the trek was a big male lion walking down the middle of the road and right next to the truck. He paid us little attention and was heading towards a group of zebra we had past a mile or so back.

 

[Doug3006]

First view of the Luangwa
View attachment 701472

I see the fires are burning well in Zambia this year! I also hunted with Kwalata at their Nyamvu property back in 2014. That whole area of the upper and Lower Luwanga Valley is special.

 

[Buckums]

 

[Safari1]

very nice …what can you tell us about the elephant there?

 

[Buckums]

Elephants...they are abundant in this area. We saw a few bulls that were 40-45 lbs range (judging by PH), many younger bulls and several tuskless. Angry cows with calf were around every corner it seemed. I had no idea elephant cows were so unpleasant.

 

[Buckums]

 

[AZDAVE]

Elephants...they are abundant in this area. We saw a few bulls that were 40-45 lbs range (judging by PH), many younger bulls and several tuskless. Angry cows with calf were around every corner it seemed. I had no idea elephant cows were so unpleasant.

The female elephants, buffalo, and lion's are referred to as the "Bitch's of the Bushveld" for a good reason.

 

[Buckums]

Day one - hippo day. Checked rifles. My 9.3x62 CZ 550 was still zeroed perfectly with my hand loaded 250 grain Swift A Frame, 2550 fps. More on this later. The 458 Lott needed slight adjustment but had it zeroed in short order. My first experience with elephants which were charging our truck constantly. ~40 lb bull (Douglas) with cow and calf crossed the river where we were hunting hippo. We crossed paths with at least a dozen different elephants through the day. Moms were always pissed trumpeting and charging. Hippo was a waiting game and it was hot that day. We were set up on the high bank overlooking the Luangwa for two hours or so. We got word two tourists on a photo safari were killed by a cow elephant down river in the park after crossing the river to go to the airstrip very close to our area. So tragic. It clearly shook up the group as Douglas the bull watched on and proceeded closer. I was nervous having my back to him. We took a break for lunch under a tree. Came back after an hour or so and stalked in with good wind. Big hippo bull was finally perfect on our side of the river. DTS brain shot. 9.3 and 250 grain AF did it’s job -top of the inverted V as shown in Kevin’s book. Boat from other camp and six or seven men, along with our trackers took it down to nothing but a few piles of digested grass within a few hours. We saved a leg for hyena bait, a leg for a leopard hunter at the main camp, some backstrap for the table, and the rest was taken to a nearby village. The trackers argued over dividing up the heart on the spot, made a fire and cooked it on the beach.

 

[Hunt anything]

Great hippo! Did you try any of the heart they cooked? I’ve found just about all hearts are quite good when fresh.

 

[Fatback]

Congrats on a fine hippo bull. They make a great euro mount with the skulls and the hides make good leather. You are off to a great start on your adventure. Looking forward to following along.

 

[Buckums]

Congrats on a fine hippo bull. They make a great euro mount with the skulls and the hides make good leather. You are off to a great start on your adventure. Looking forward to following along.

thanks and yes I am getting the skull and i kept the belly for leather.

 

[Buckums]

Second day was kind of a bust as we had to go back to Mufwe six hours round trip because the airline sent my hunting partner's gun to the wrong country, and it was delayed by a few days. we did see some cool animals driving to and from. I drank coffee and ate too much biltong and trail mix. Day three was a doozy and my first real taste of buffalo hunting with a few long stalks on buffalo, one ending with two dagga boys that wouldn't stand up from their nap after our long crawl through the nasty stuff and after an hour and a half on the sticks, a group of warthogs walked right up on us busted us and blew everything out. I wasn't overly upset as neither bulls were exceptional, even to my beginner buffalo hunter eyes. Back to the truck for a sandwich then on to looking for more tracks. Next a long stalk on a big group where there was one younger bull that had to be pushing 44-45 inches wide but still soft boss, and the few hard bossed bulls we saw still looked younger than i wanted, and frankly I didn't come all that way to compromise. My hunting partner got a nice puku, and I got my impala, logging almost 33k steps on my garmin watch that day. All time personal record for me. The impala, shot was at 167 yards... and with the exception of my buffalo (28 yards) and the hippo (maybe 65 yards), was a recurring theme. I was expecting shots no further than 100ish yards, but that was not the norm and i found myself wishing i had brought my 300 WM instead of the 9.3 for PG with shots of 165-297 yards presenting themselves on several occasions for impala, waterbuck and kudu. More detail on the cartridge performance later. Skull mount and full flat skin in store for the impala. We had impala liver for dinner. Exceptional table fare.