ZIMBABWE: 12 Days Buffalo/Nyala/PG With Richie Schultz Safaris In NUANETSI Game Reserve

[pimes]

After our coming back from a great 12day hunt for Buffalo and PG in Zimbabwe‘s Nuanetsi Conservancy Area (= a 400.000 acres conservancy in southeast Zimbawe - home of 2500-3000 Buffaloes, 300 Elefant, 120-130 Leopards and abundance of Giraffes a PG) with Richie Schultz Safaris, here a short report about. Please excuse = English is not my mother language = so my report is keyword-like...

Traveling: Start 09.08. my son and I with Qatar (= great service) from Munich via Doha (31/2 hours stopover) and Lusaka (1 hour stopover) to Harare

Attention: existing EU arms embargo against Zimbabwe (= unfortunately also hunting weapons affected) - entry with your own weapon is therefore only possible with a special permit from the respective EU state or via a 3rd state (e.g. South Africa) (= see various threats in this forum )​

Arrival at Harare Airport on 10.08. = immigration/custom formalities therefore completed in 1/2 hour (by helping hands organized by Richie Schultz Safsris) - luggage all arrived.

Overnight stay in BB Woodland (highly recommended = very nice and helpful owners)

11.08. Drive with our PH Richie Schultz to the hunting ground = 71/2 hours - an experience (charter flight to the hunting ground = $ 4000,- = we prefer waste this money for hunting)

Around 5:00 pm arrival in Nuanetsi - Camp Mimbizi (great service, great food = the chef knows what to do!!!

12.08. = 1st day of hunting = test shots with rental guns - Bruno 375H&H and a Winchester Coyote in .300 Win. Short Mag. = everything ok - continue to search at waterholes for buffalo tracks, for getting an overview where the buffalo prefer to stay (due to heavy rain in rainseason still good and sufficient food everywhere, therefore buffalos are spread over the whole area)

12.08. = 1st day of hunting = test shots with rental guns - Bruno 375H&H and a Winchester Coyote in .300 Win. Short Mag. = everything ok - continue to search at waterholes for buffalo tracks, for getting an overview where the buffalo prefer to stay (due to heavy rain in rainseason still good and sufficient food everywhere, therefore buffalos are spread over the whole area)

2nd day of hunting - also looking for fresch trecks - PG and Giraffes every where - lunch spent in the camp

3rd day of hunting - fresh tracks found right away in the morning - we decided to follow. Unfortunately lost track after good a hour - found again after 11/2 hours - after founding tracks again we was shortly on at 3 Dagga Boys. In the dense mopane bush they saw us coming befor we had a look on them and escaped - after 1/2 hour waiting we started tracking them from new - good 1 hour and we was on the buffaloes again - this time we worked up around 50-60 meters and I was in shooting position. Unfortunately the wind changed or they saw any movement from us before we get a closer look at them = the 3 Dagga Boys runs away. After good 4 hours and 8km tracking we decide to let them go …
Lunch in Camp - after a short nap out again. A lot’s of Impala, Kudus arround - in the last light we spotted 2 nice Nyala Bulls in thick bush on a riverbank, one of them shootable = we decided to let them go - if not founded before darkness in the bush, the hyenas would do their job during the night …

continue as soon as possible …

 

[pimes]

4th day … on the way to the first water hole = fresh buffalo tracks on the road - but we decided trying first to locate the buff’s from yesterday = unfortunately we can’t found them. So back to the fresh tracks from the morning and started working on them.

Already after 1/2 hour we heard Oxpeckers = the buffalo were just in front of us. To be on the safe side we looked for coming downwind to the place we assumed the buffaloes and worked our way up to a group of 5 Dagga Boys (= luckily there are trackers like Klever and Tondy who notice even the slightest movement in front of you = without them we wouldn't have had a chance to locate the buffalo in this confusing terrain/thick bush). Only 2 of the Dagga Boys in front was visible to us (= one of them huntable) - the others we could only hear. After a good hour of waiting, Richie had enough, and we carefully worked out our way closer up to the two buffaloes in front of us. 50 Meters to the buffalos, I got in shooting position, there suddenly a 3rd buffalo was visible for us. Richie only = take this one - it's a really good one ...
But for me the shoulder of this buff was still covered by trees. Finally the buff did the necessary steps forward and I shot…
= good reaction of the buff but he runs away out of sight. We immediately followed the buffalo - found good blood. A few minutes later, the redeeming death bellow = after 200 meters (.375H&H = shot was a bit high) Buffalo was down - one security shoot finished the hunt = in front of us a 12+ year old real Dagga Boy = a buff I dreamed of …

It takes 2 hours cleaning a path for the Landcruiser (cutting bushes and a few trees) but than we had the buff on the truck and back to camp = celebrations day

 

[BourbonTrail]

Awesome bull @pimes, congratulations!

 

[pimes]

5th day = PG hunt and looking for Nyalatracks = which was also on my list …
Found a big Leopard track (Nuanetsi offers on of the best Leopard-hunts in Zimbabwe - big cats and nearly 100%

6th day = Morning looking for PG and Nyala - on the way my son was able to shoot an old impala.

In an dry riverbed we spotted e few Elephants. On evening we looked for Nyala again - an anti-poaching scout told us about 2 good bulls they had often seen near their station in the thick bush along the Nuanetsiriver - one of them not in top condition =so we focused our search for a mature Nysl bull in this area. Another big Leopard track.

7th day - in the morning my son was able to shot jackal - no success for Nyala but lots of impala, kudu, waterbuck and giraffe. A good bushbock was to fast for me …

In the evening tried tracking for Nyala - no chance in these thick bush ...

8th day = on the way to our Nyala area, I could shot an old bushpig = a real big boar = very happy about this!!!

After that we started locking for Nyala - only saw young Nyala and females. Lots of PG arround and a young elephant bull - a fresh big Leopard track again …
In the afternoon tries to track an Eland bull, we spotted on a waterhole - we came unfortunately not within shooting distance = wind …
After looking for Nyala again - one bull in thick bush - no chance for a shot. On way back to camp a brown Hyena on the road …

9th day = saw one of the nyala briefly - no chance - tries to track him - impossible in the thick bush too loud. Back to camp we spotted a pack of Wilddogs (two Groups are living in the area)
In the afternoon/evening = relaxing

10th day = morning lots of PG and female nyala - bushbuck escaped - young nyala = no sign of the two older ones... Leopard tracks everywhere.
In the afternoon PG hunt (bushbuck smarter again) in the evening then another search for the nyala - and this time it was easy - followed up 1/2 hour of searching and suddenly one of the Nyala bulls 150 meters in front of us = Nyala down (the physically weak one but ultimately around 7-8 years old) = for me now the hunt was finished …
I got what I was mainly after for = couldn’t run better!!!

11th day = PG hunt with my son = shot old warthog and strong baboon - bushbuck escaped again (thick bush and reed) = we have to come back again

12th day = return with our PH Richie to Harare - relaxing in the BB - waiting for our backflight (= also Qatar - again no Problems and good service)

Resume: NUANETSI with RICHIE SCHULTZ SAFARIS we can only highly recommend = lots of game, top camp and a passionate PH + team!!! - we will come again for Buffalo and Leopard

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[Agrarler]

Congratulations! Nice trophies taken… thanx for sharing this report!

 

[shootist~]

Congratulations on a great hunt!

 

[Edge]

Great Safari and congratulations!

 

[gillettehunter]

Thanks for the great report. English may not be your first language, but we all followed along just fine. Good shooting. Congrats on some fine trophies. That buffalo is a fine trophy. Looks like your son had a great trip also. Good job.
Bruce

 

[pimes]

Thanks for the great report. English may not be your first language, but we all followed along just fine. Good shooting. Congrats on some fine trophies. That buffalo is a fine trophy. Looks like your son had a great trip also. Good job.
Bruce

Thank‘s Bruce for your comment

 

[Pole Pole]

Nice report. Talking of leopard tracts make my trigger finger twitch. You better go back and get him before I do!

 

[AZDAVE]

Really enjoyed following along on your adventure. Thank you for taking the time to write a nice report.

 

[Randy Bo]

Really enjoyed following along on your adventure. Thank you for taking the time to write a nice report.

+1^^^^^

 

[BRICKBURN]

Thanks for sharing your hunt with us. The effort is appreciated.

 

[cpr0312]

Congrats on the hunt and thanks for sharing!

 

[TwoTracks]

Excellent! Thank you for sharing with us. Congratulations

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Grand old buffalo! Congratulations!!

 

[cls]

Congratulations on a successful safari, thanks for posting a report and pictures.

 

[Nevada Wapati]

Congratulations on some beautiful trophies and great memories. Thanks for taking us along with you.

 

[Nyati]

Congrats for a great hunt, very nice buffalo, and thanks for sharing !

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

Well done on that old buffalo, a very good looking bull, nice sweep to the horns, not too deep.