Wednesday 1.11 (Day 13)
We agreed that this would be our last full hunting day. In case we would have full hunting day on 2.11, we would need to leave very early on the following morning to catch my flight. As the hunt had been very successful I didn’t feel pressure to get any additional game. So we made arrangements to leave one day before original plan and stay the last night before my flight in Harare. That meant that we had 1 full hunting day left and 1 additional morning for the Hyena (if needed).
We left the camp at 4:00AM. After a short drive we stopped the bakkie, took our shoes off and started the ~500 meter walk to the blind. We arrived the blind just when raising sun started to give additional light to surroundings. We could hear that there was activity at the bait, but when we reached the blind and Pierre took a look, he couldn’t see any Hyenas. Where did they go?
We sat quietly and a moment later Pierre looked again. He glassed through his looking hole (mine was still blocked with some grass) and said that he could see a Hyena at the bait. I would need to take the shot from his looking hole. I slowly stood up and set the rifle on the hole. I looked through my scope and scanned the surroundings but couldn’t find the Hyena. Pierre took a look with his binoculars again and could still see the Hyena in the riverbed but then it left. We waited a while and listened. Then Pierre decided to walk to the riverbed and see if any of the Hyenas would be bedded there. When moving out of the blind we could clearly hear movement from the direction of the bait. It sounded like at least 2 Hyenas would have moved to different directions, up the riverbank on the opposite side. We could find nothing from the riverbed so we just waited for the bakkie to come and pick us up. Then we went for breakfast.
I had had my opportunity to shoot the Hyena but I wasn’t ready for it. I had the scope at 6x power and in retrospect that was simply too much. The distance was only 35-40 meters and right magnification would have been 3 or max 4. That meant that we had one evening and one morning to get our Hyena. Well, at least we knew that Hyena were there, but they were clearly not waiting for sunrise to give an easy shot for me.
After breakfast we drove around looking for Kudu, Impala or Bushbuck. Close to Chewore airstrip we found a group of Impalas. We went after them and Pierre glassed the group. There was a good ram there. They were moving towards an opening so we crawled towards the opening to get prepared for a shot. Then one of the Impalas barked and that group was gone. They got our wind.
Rest of the morning we spent driving in Maura riverbed. Saw some crocs and overall it was nice ride with some beautiful views. But besides 3 Guinea Fowls we didn’t get anything. Riverbed also showed an amazing amount of elephant tracks. Additionally in one pool we found some 10 crocs.
Afternoon we left the camp to search Bushbuck or Kudu. We found a Bushbuck shortly after we had left the camp. One of the trackers spotted it when I was still putting my sunblock on and enjoying the thought of my last bakkie ride for the trip. We continued to drive just long enough for the Bushbuck to continue feeding and then the stalk was on. Pierre was still wearing his flipflops and I had fresh sunblock all over me so rifle felt more slippery than usual. We made a jolly group of hunters. But after the Bushbuck we went.
After a short walk Pierre spotted the Bushbuck some 80 meters from us and we continued stalking. He was in a thick bush (like a proper Bushbuck should be). We quietly continued to walk the road but when we came closer the Bushbuck was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly we spotted him on the other side of the road. Road made a turn and the buck had crossed the road and was now only 30-40 meters from us in an opening. The sticks went up and Pierre glassed the buck to see whether it was a shooter. Pierre checked him and immediately said shoot. The buck was feeding so it’s head was down. I waited for the buck to lift its’ head to make sure I don’t shoot the horns. When it raised its’ head the shot went off and the bushbuck was down. What a beautiful animal!
After taking the pictures and taking the Bushbuck back to the camp we headed to the area manager’s office to get some paperwork completed. The paperwork was completed just on time so that we could get to sit in the blind before dark.
We walked to the blind again from quite far away and then waited patiently for things to settle down and darkness to come. The less I could see, the more I was expecting to hear some noises from the bait. Pierre was glassing the bait every now and then and I was sitting silently on my cushion. And then it came to the bait. Unfortunately it was in this case a Jackal and nothing else came. So we called it a night and returned to the camp for some food and drinks.
Thursday 2.11 (Day 14)
We left the camp again around 4:00AM and repeated the silent walk to the blind. This time my scope was correctly adjusted to low power. We stopped for a while to wait for the sun start to light the surroundings. Wind was whirling a little so we didn’t want to get to the blind too early and take risk that Hyenas would smell us.
Once we arrived to the blind, we could hear that the Hyenas were at the bait. It was still too dark to see anything, but we could hear their sounds. Then a little more far away came a gnarl of some kind and we could hear the Hyenas to leave the bait. The sound acted like a warning call and after the Hyenas left the surroundings fell silent. It was still dark so we continued waiting.
Then there was a sound from the bait. We could clearly hear something feeding at the bait. My heartrate went up. There was definitely enough light to take a shot. Pierre stood up and took a look through his viewing hole. He glassed a while and then slowly bent closer to me and whispered that there was a female Leopard at the bait
It had waited the Hyenas to leave and was now feeding on the meat. I slowly stood up and made sure my safety was on. Then I slowly put the rifle through the viewing hole and took aim to the Leopard. It was nice to view the Leopard through the scope without any rush. The cat was feeding and didn’t have any idea that we were there. I viewed the cat for a few minutes and then we silently left the blind and walked back to the bakkie. No Hyena, but another nice hunting experience. And Leopard number 5 in daylight.
We returned to camp, had breakfast and packed our things for the ride back to Harare. Then it was time for farewells and hitting the road to return to my wife and daughter. Nice feeling, although there was also plenty of sadness to leave. Just like you need to have after a good safari.
Zambesi valley
Closing words:
The hunt was everything I hoped for and more. I didn’t hope to shoot so poorly on the Buffalos, but in the end everything went well. Return to home went well although gun transfer in Addis Ababa airport was still weird. This time the Finnish gun permit was accepted as paperwork to process the gun. In Harare I stayed in York Lodge and that was very nice place for the last night in Zimbabwe.
I can warmly recommend Mbalabala Safaris if you want to get a genuine hunting safari. Everything was as agreed and there were no surprises. I hope Lin can get a deal to continue hunting in Chewore also next year. I certainly enjoyed hunting there and I hope other’s to have same great experiences I had.
Thank you Pierre, Lin, Davey, Furunga, Nomore, Bernie, Tristan, Because, Joe, Bhibo, Shepard, Chamu, Goodwin, Frank, Lucas, Chengeta, John, Chance, Ephert, Artwell and Courage!!! What a privilege I had to hunt with you!