Well, folks, it took a few years, but we did get around to round two.
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In 2019 we arranged with Wayne Van Den Bergh (Nyamazana Safaris) to take a second safari hunt in Zimbabwe, to complete our one item of unfinished business: the cape buffalo. On Mr. Van Den Bergh's advice, we booked a 14-day hunt this time at the Bubye Valley Conservancy for July of 2020.
You can imagine how well that went. BVC held our deposit and rebooked us for July of 2021, but then their new shareholders interfered with that as well, forcing us to delay again until November. Not ideal, but in this age, one takes what one can get. We made the necessary travel arrangements with Jennifer Ginn at Travel Express Agency and, rolling the dice that COVID had run its course, we departed on schedule on the 14th.
Travel via Emirates was fairly effortless, but as on our first trip, only about half of our bags arrived in Bulawayo. Last time, it was Emirates who failed to transfer our bags in Dubai. This time, Airlink decided to leave about half of its luggage load behind in Johannesburg for our flight from there to Bulawayo, we presume on account of weight and balance limitations. (It was a full flight.) Fortunately, we once again had booked an overnight in Bulawayo (and the Hornung Park Lodge, courtesy of hosts Fredi and Rita) prior to our drive out to BVC. We took advantage of that evening to enjoy an excellent steak dinner and do some last-minute shopping, and Airlink was able to deliver our remaining luggage the following day.
We drove down to BVC in Wayne's truck. Fair warning: it's no limousine. It has a back seat in name only, and it's a tight fit for three big men and luggage. The trip was only a few hours, though, and not difficult, including the final 40 minutes traversing the Conservancy from its front gate to our lodging.
The lodging was excellent. On our previous trip, we enjoyed Bubiana's tent camp on the river. Once again we were on a river, once again with a spectacular view, but BVC affords each guest party what amounts to a private lodge, consisting of a suite of separate buildings for the guests--namely two large sleeping cabins plus the living and dining cabin, all of stone construction with thatched roofs and very comfortable appointment--plus a dedicated staff with their own quarters and utility buildings, and a dedicated game-cleaning facility. For the record, the small staff was excellent, providing daily laundry service (on those days when it was not raining continuously, which made line drying impossible) and restaurant-quality meals with meats from wild game at the guest's request, and so we always requested. We are particular fans of the Cornish pasties. Not sure what they would have called them, but if you know what a Cornish pasty is, you know what I'm talking about. A pot-pie without the pot, instead wrapped and crimped. Also, do not miss out on dishes made from the livers of various antelope species.
Once again, Wayne set to work on our primary objective early and with a will. As we got our elephant on the third day of hunting last time, so we got our buffalo on the second day of hunting this time. The buffalo hunting on Bubiana is torturous, with only a few buffalo moving skittishly like goats through thick brush and high kopje passes. On BVC, the buffalo hunt is more traditional, with large herds wandering mostly flat forested land. Wayne's method is to scout herd by herd, driving the property in search of buff sign, locating a herd, and then stalking it patiently to see if it includes a promising bull or two. The large herds ensure that a hunter will, eventually, find a worthy trophy, and the hunt is significantly easier than that on Bubiana, though characterized by much more frequent close encounters. Every time you go to look at a herd, you must approach it stealthily to sufficiently close range to spot the bulls, and then even closer to assess each one for the quality of his horns. In the woods, that is pretty close. You can't get that close without eventually being spotted, so you approach, you look, and he spots you, and you make a decision: this bull is not our bull. We'll pass; we'll wait for the next one.
Then you wait for the bull you're looking at to come to the same decision, because by now he's looking at you, too, from about thirty or forty yards away, and he's making his own life choices. So, you've decided he's not the right bull. But, as your PH will tell you, if he charges, then he's the right bull.
So it went, through several encounters over those two days, following individual herds for several hours only to decide that its best bulls were not quite the ones we wanted, and then disengaging very carefully and returning to the truck to find the next herd. It was not unusual for us to spend fifteen or twenty minutes a literal stone's throw from a thicket of curled black horns and the beady eyes under them, each party staring at the other, until it was safe to withdraw.
We took the buffalo with a .45-70 shooting Buffalo Bore hard-cast bullets. The rifle did its job, but the shot was not as good as we had hoped, a little too far forward in the shoulder for the quick heart-and-lungs kill.
Lessons for the neophyte hunter:
1) Practice shooting off shooting sticks. It's not a typical method for us, and it takes some getting used to, if you're accustomed to doing your rifle shooting from a bench, a sling, or a deer stand. It's not a matter of stabilizing the gun, but stabilizing your body, and you will find yourself inducing more lateral sway than you expect. For my part, I find that I can usually shoot off-hand more accurately than off the sticks, because that's what I've grown up practicing. Know your strengths and weaknesses, and use the best method for yourself.
2) Old PHs don't always make good teachers. Ask questions and manage yourself. We hunt with Wayne for a reason. He has experience and connections the better of which you won't find in Zimbabwe. If you want to get your animal, but you also want a legitimate, ethical hunt for truly wild game, he's your man, and accept no substitute. That said, he's been doing it for a long time, and he expects the client to know the client's business. If you're new to the business of dangerous-game hunting (and your intent is to do it right, rather than just blunder your way through), then do your research beforehand, yes, but also continue to ask Wayne a lot of questions throughout the hunt, about what to bring on the truck, what to bring when you dismount, in what condition to carry your rifle, etc. His focus is on the animal, and it's easy to step off the truck for what seems like a quick ten-minute walk into the woods and find yourself three hours deep, wondering why you left your extra water or extra ammo behind.
Take it from us. Each time we have done this, we have learned lessons. In any case, while the buffalo did not go straight down, it was gravely wounded, and we were able to follow it and finish it in due course, if not without some stress. We can, at least, say we have had the complete buffalo experience. More complete than one might care to repeat.
The rest of our trip we dedicated to birds, fish, and photo safari, and Wayne is no slouch in these areas, either. If you want one of the Big Five, or an assortment of plains game, he can make that happen, but if you want to go fishing or dove hunting, he'll arrange that, too. We spent several evenings by watering holes, as well as running down francolin along the roads, and several days fishing for largemouth bass in the lakes and freshwater tilapia and catfish in the rivers. (While the others raked in tilapia, I preferred to take some cut bait or bird guts and go after the big catfish in the deep pools.) Birds and fish which we harvested landed on the table within a day or two. Wayne has his own ideas about how certain game should be cooked and is not shy about taking over the camp kitchen to ensure his guests get the best culinary experience.
We eventually decided that we would take a wildebeest, and hunted them for a couple of days as well before lining up on a good one. Aside from the buffalo and that bonus, though, we had no particular agenda for terrestrial animals. Our interest was in photography, in getting some good shots of the creatures we had no desire to hunt, including, if possible rhinoceros and lion.
Would you believe the trackers stumbled upon a pair of lioness during our buffalo hunt, not thirty yards from the truck, but we missed 'em? Never even caught a glimpse. Later, another lioness stalked past our camp in the dead of night while we were asleep. Wayne got her photo and showed it to us the next morning. We did find a full-grown black rhino, though, one day, right there on the side of one of the roads, all by itself without even its human security detail nearby.
Lest we go home without our lion encounter, Wayne went to work on this, our last request, contacting Blondie, the Conservancy manager, who reached out to the naturalists who reside on the property. These, a married couple and incredibly kind-hearted, donated several hours of their day to take us out and look for the lion prides they track as a part of their daily duties. We went in their research vehicle, following the signals of the radio collars, and were able to drive up on a pair of females and their cubs for some close, once-in-a-lifetime photos. We went after the males, too, and spotted one, but only from a distance. The big males are like ghosts, truly wild and skittish. At a hundred a fifty yards, this one stirred himself and melted into the thick brush. As our hosts explained, that was the best we were going to get unless we wanted to go crawling in there after him, which they did not advise.
Fortunately, I had my longest lens, so I have the proof that we saw him.
All in all, we have completed our second and, as far as we are planning for now, final trip to Africa for hunting, and we are eminently satisfied. We have the elephant and plains game from our first hunt, the buffalo and wildebeest from our second, have shot birds and caught fish, and have seen and photographed some of Africa's most famous animals--not the semi-tame animals of some drive-through park, surrounded by a hundred other vehicles, but truly wild animals, ready to vanish in a moment, or kill you as soon as look at you.
Just about as we were finishing was when the Omicron panic broke out and Emirates canceled all their flights to or from southern Africa, with "apologies for the inconvenience." Getting home was a whole other adventure. Our thanks to Jennifer Ginn for her assistance in rebooking us. Also, Ethiopian Airlines is still the United of intercontinental carriers.
