ZIMBABWE: Elephant Hunt With Nyamazana Safaris

Malambo

AH senior member
Joined
Apr 8, 2018
Messages
67
Reaction score
83
Media
3
Hunting reports
Africa
1
Hunted
RSA, Zimbabwe
My hunting trip was supposed to had place last year. Due to Covid 19 pandemic the flights were cancelled, so we had to postponed it to 2021. We settled the dates for April 2021 and I bought new tickets. Not far from departure date, with permits already filed, the airline reduced frequency on the route and cancelled my flight so we had to move and arrange the dates again. Later, there was big uncertainty were my flight was going to happen o not, because of the raise of cases and virus variants, with authorities announcing more restrictions.

Nevertheless, Wayne Van Den Berg was always supporting and helping to make my dream trip came true. I am thankful for his understanding and kind behaviour towards me in those matters.

That said, let me tell you about my hunting experience that was great. We had several places where to hunt. Each of them was beautiful with different environments, i.e. mopane tree areas, acacia forest, riversides, etc. I was very glad to see many kinds of birds including pied crows, eagles, francolins, spur winged goose, hornbills, saddle billed stork, herons, vultures and three majestic grey crowned cranes flying over us. I also found weaver nests and heard woodpeckers. But in the bird department, this time my best experience was to be called insistently by a honeyguide.

PH Bruce Cronje was knowledgeable, nice to chat and very kind to response to all my inquiries, but more important, he was proficient in his business. So were the whole team. We hunted hard every day, cleaning paths, searching for tracks, following them, etc. i enjoyed each day.

After some days and some daytime approaches to elephants, we planned to catch them in the crop’s fields for the villagers nearby were asking for help with crops raiders. We camped on a local homestead waiting for the night when the raids take place. We tried to ambush by the previous night tracks of a big bull, but he didn´t show. So later we marched to the crop fields. The night was dark, no moon at all. We could hear the noise of elephants eating corn, it was a herd. To see them and chase them away the lamp torch was turned on, and then I could see lots of elephants. They raised their heads to the light for a moment and then they all run away to the same direction. What a magnificent scene! More than forty elephants of all sizes stampeding not far from us. By the end of the herd, standing out for his size we could see a big bull. It was not possible to do something about it, because of the distance and him running at escaping speed among that many females and calfs. PH Bruce said that he was carrying nice tusks as well.

On the other side of my exciting experience, I could understand the anguish of the villagers by witnessing the damage that the animals cause, by eating and stomping the crops, every night.

We moved to another place where we had heard of elephant movement. Not a herd this time. We were walking through a mopane tree area. It was completely dark, I couldn´t see anything other from the narrow sand path we were taking. Bruce was telling me to get ready when we heard loud noise. The lamp went on and surprisingly I found a big elephant facing us very near and closing in. I fired almost in an instinct’s way, followed by Bruce. Getting hit, fortunely the elephant turned away. We finished the job not far from there. When the heat of the moment was gone, we measured the distance from where we shot him. It was only 7 metres.

He was a mature bull, with the tusks worn out. His right tusk was sharp ended, most probably by rubbing on trees to peel the bark off them. His feet also showed age and he carried not much hair in his tail.

Next morning villagers gathered for the meat distribution and many showed thankfulness. Nothing was to waste.

I had a great time and a good hunting with Nyamasana Safaris.

Thank you, Wayne, for making possible my first elephant hunt, and I hope we will meet again.

DSC03554 (2).jpg
IMG_0182 (2).jpg
IMG_0188 (2).jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
It was a pleasure to have you hunt with us. Thank you for your efforts and making a plan to come. As we speak there are still major elephant problems and I have had to send someone to go and take care of the issue.. Anyway again thank you for coming over we will definitely be hunting together again.. All the best Wayne
 
Congratulations on your successful hunt. Thanks for sharing the report.

It is good to see the photo of Graham. Graham and Cowboy tracked a bull many miles for me awhile back. Amazing abilities!
 
Congratulations on your successful safari and thanks for the report.
 
Congrats and thanks for sharing!
 
Well done to all!
 
Congratulations! Thank you for the report!

I'm headed out for my first elephant in 63 days!
 
Congrats! 7 meters, wow!
 
That sounds awesome!!! Congratulations!!! I always wondered how a night hunt for crop raiding jumbos and that's about what I imagined lol sounds cool!!
 
Well done and thank you for writing that up. Nice, old bull. Sounds like a fantastic experience. I am looking forward to hunting with Wanye soon myself.

What were you shooting?
 
Congratulations on your hunt!
 
Congrats for a great experience !
 
Thank you all for the nice words!
 
There is something in this story, that screams TRUE AFRICA! Congrats on the great hunt, and thanks for sharing this story with us!
 
To those that are interested in booking a hunt for next year please email me for Prime Dates.

All the best Wayne
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Forum statistics

Threads
53,613
Messages
1,131,117
Members
92,666
Latest member
ModestaHac
 

 

 

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
Living life like a lion for 1 day is better than living life like a jackal for 100 years.
 
Top