ZIMBABWE: My Excellent Adventure In Dande North With Charlton McCallum Safaris

Great hunt. That’s a special kudu. Congrats.
Bruce
 
Great animals throughout the hunt, that old GIANT Kudu is magnificent!
 
An unbelievable trophy my friend!
 
You harvested a once in a lifetime Kudu. Congratz!!! Thanks for taking us all along on your adventure.
 
Seventh hunt day - Going out to look in a different area for Sable sign and radio Dean if any tracks look fresh. Bringing the 375 and a 22. Alan had brought the 22 that belongs to his 12 year old son. Hiked through a valley that was full of petrified wood, giant logs every where. This rivals the petrified forest in the US. I would have liked a piece for a souvenir but was advised against it as all minerals belong to the government and had heard a story of a lady spending 5 days in jail for trying to take some rocks home. Came across a group of guinea fowl and it was time to uncase the 22. After the first shot they were running in circles, shot another one on the ground and two more after they roosted in a nearby tree. I had eaten guineas in soup but had heard they could be tough when grilled. We are going to brine them overnight, grill them the next day and then slow cook in a covered pan with vegetables. A recipe we use on some game birds back home.
Did not see any fresh Sable sign, did see impala, duikers, klipspringers and baboons.

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Martin one of our trackers and a fellow from the parks council. Martin can be identified in the picture by his lack of antenna.
 
Hunting days 8 through 12 - One day seemed to blend into the next, listening to the birds every morning, watching the sun rise with a vivid red sky thanks to the smoke from Mozambique brush fires and looking for Sable tracks and sign. Took the occasional guinea fowl for the trackers and explored some areas I had not yet been to. Woke up one night about 2:00 AM after a crazy dream (malarone or bourbon) and had a bat flying inside the mosquito net with me. We had hyenas in camp every night and I used a recorded call on my Ipad bring them close to the window, not very smart. Had a hyena following the truck on day that kept responding to calls from the trackers. Saw impala, wart hogs, kudu, grysbok, klipspringers, duikers and elephants also over these last days. Enjoyed the sundowners, great food and stories from Dean and Alan our PHs. The hunt was everything Buzz and Myles said it would be. It‘s never to early to start think about the next trip.

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Hunting days 8 through 12 - One day seemed to blend into the next, listening to the birds every morning, watching the sun rise with a vivid red sky thanks to the smoke from Mozambique brush fires and looking for Sable tracks and sign. Took the occasional guinea fowl for the trackers and explored some areas I had not yet been to. Woke up one night about 2:00 AM after a crazy dream (malarone or bourbon) and had a bat flying inside the mosquito net with me. We had hyenas in camp every night and I used a recorded call on my Ipad bring them close to the window, not very smart. Had a hyena following the truck on day that kept responding to calls from the trackers. Saw impala, wart hogs, kudu, grysbok, klipspringers, duikers and elephants also over these last days. Enjoyed the sundowners, great food and stories from Dean and Alan our PHs. The hunt was everything Buzz and Myles said it would be. It‘s never to early to start think about the next trip.

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I already have some “next Safari” ideas to share! Folks, having a good friend to share the adventure with is a blessing. Four safaris in the salt with hopefully more to come.
 
I’m sitting on the dining deck at Pedza Pasi camp having just finished packing up for my return home. The bush plane arrives in a couple of hours so I have time to start my hunt report. My friend Jeff505 and I spent the last 12 days chasing Buffalo and Sable in the beautiful Zambezi Valley. I’ll let Jeff tell his stories separately and he has some great ones to tell!

Before I get started with the story, I thought some background might help anyone who is about to make the trip to Dande or maybe considering a Safari here.

United from St. Louis to Houston. The aircraft was a mid-sized commuter flown by a partner. I paid for first class since there were no baggage fees. The price difference between coach and first was not much if you add the coach class baggage fees. However, I was pissed when I saw the seats in first class (tiny even for a regular coach seat) and near total lack of carry on overhead space.

We flew Emirates business class from Houston to Dubai. Super efficient check in. They had our firearms paperwork in hand and a supervisor walked us to TSA, waited for them to check our guns, and then he delivered them to the Emirates baggage handlers. No fuss at all. Shawn at Gracey Travel took care of the details for us. I can’t stress enough how simple things are when you use a company like Gracey or TWG.

Covid tests dealt us a fit! Getting results back within 48 hours of departure is really tough when you are traveling mid week. That means you have to take the test over the weekend and pray that you get the results back before you leave. The testing labs warn you that weekends may delay your results. Jeff‘s test hadn‘t been emailed to him by the time he arrived in Houston. So he had to pay $250 bucks for a rapid PCR test in Houston. They have a lab in Terminal E. Of course he got his results emailed to him just a bit after shelling out for the test in the airport!

The aircraft was a newer 777 with the better “pod” layout. Very comfortable seats that fold flat. I had no problem getting a full 8 hours of sleep.

We overnighted in Dubai at the airport hotel. It was fine for a 15 hour layover. A good hotel, but kinda dated. The price was $200 a night which would have been highway robbery if the hotel wasn’t right in the middle of concourse B. Location, location, location. We hit the business class lounge for a few free Heinekens then off to bed.

We had breakfast in the lounge the next morning. Nothing like free Mimosas to start your day!

The flight from Dubai to Harare was 9 hours, a couple of hours of which were spent offloading and reloading in Lusaka, Zambia. The plane was an older 777 but still very nice.

CMS had a government employee meet us at the end of the jet way when we landed in Harare. We handed him the stack of papers that CMS had given us to complete ahead of time. He walked us through customs and gun clearance in about 30 minutes. Buzz Charlton met us outside the terminal and drove us to the Amanzi Lodge. What a nice place! Great restaurant too! Another restless night, breakfast in the morning and then back to the airport for the 45 minute bush plane flight to Pedza Pasi airstrip.

Our PHs (Allan Shearing and Dean Kendall) met us at the strip with Jack, an hunter from Texas who had just wrapped up his Buffalo hunt. Jack was highly complementary about the whole experience and promised us we would have a great time. That was nice to hear.

I’d be hunting with Dean as my PH. We got settled in and then checked the zero on my rifles. I brought 2 Kimber Caprivis. One in 458 Lott for Buffalo and another in 375 H&H for Sable and anything else. They shot where I was aiming so we were good to go.

Pedza Pasi camp is beautiful and comfortable. I’ll send pictures when I get to where there’s more bandwidth.

That takes care of the preliminarie. The hunt report will follow soon.

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Nice!
 
On day 3 we returned to the same general area and followed some tracks for an hour to no avail. Dean decided to take a look at a spring he knew of. As we were pulling out of this particular valley, Teddy the tracker said he’d like to follow up another trail to see if he could find any tracks while we would go check out the spring. Teddy and Leonard bailed out and took a radio with them.

We hadn’t gone 500 yards when Teddy radioed us and said to get back there. When we arrived Teddy said he had spotted a lone dugga boy that was old and beautiful. I joked…”old and beautiful like me?” He looked me in the eye and said, “better.” We broke up.

Then Teddy led us to the most magnificent site I’ve seen in my hunting career. This was a super bull and he was standing perfectly broadside at 40 yards. All Dean said was “shoot him now please.” I shot the 458 Lott and he dropped in his tracks and immediately started his death bellow. A couple of insurance shots and then the celebration started.

This is a bull of my lifetime for sure. Super old. Just shy of 44 inches wide. Large bosses. Broomed tips. Everything I ever wanted….more than I dreamed actually. Dean and Allan Shearing said he’s the biggest taken this year and right up there with the best they’ve taken in the Dande when you consider age and measurements.

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Beast!
 
Very nice hunts both of you congrats.
 
A little humbling, I am sure I will never see another like that. The humbling part is all the work the trackers and PH put in to make it possible. Compared to that my role was a small one. Now for the expensive part, although the kids are grown and out of the house my wife would like some rooms in our home that do not contain “dead animals”. We will be looking after the first of the year to build a larger house that will be better able to contain the exploits of my hunts over the years with room for expansion.
 
You gents and a great hunt and took some amazing trophies. Congratulations to you both.
 
Excellent hunting report, congrats to both of you! Waidmannsheil !
 
Hmmmm, sleeping under a sausage tree is brave! Great hunt and great trophies, especially that kudu, well done.
 

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