Back from Zimbabwe

[amar911]

Before I close the morning story telling, I do want to introduce you to the camp dogs that accompanied us in the Landcruiser nearly every day and sat with us around the camp when we were there. The first one is Shumba (lion) who is part Rhodesian ridgeback.

 

The second dog is Billy who is shown in the bed of the Landcruiser truck. I don't know what breed he is. They are both good dogs whom we have also known for years.

 

I also need to introduce the children of Gary and Mel. Here is Connor followed by his little brother Mitchell and his mother, Melanie (Mel).

 

 

While I am giving introductions, here is the older PH son, Gary Duckworth (left), with a fellow PH, Hilton Nichols (right) followed by the younger PH son, Neil Duckworth (left) and his doctor client, Tony (right) from Chicago, who has also been on five safaris with the Duckworths.

 

 

I have known Hilton for 13 years now, but he isn't always this jovial:

 

More later.

Allan

[amar911]

Sorry, I got the picture of Shumba in there twice by mistake. Here is the picture of Billy I was trying to post.

 

Allan

[amar911]

I found a little time to post some more pictures of the hunt.The nights and mornings are chilly, so we always take along a couple of sets of sweats that we can lounge in and put on for the morning ride in the Landcruiser. We strip them off when we get out of the truck for the morning "walk". On the first morning Barrie wanted to see how I was shooting, so we went to the target area in an ant hill (termite mound) embankment at the base of a large wild fig tree at the edge of camp to shoot a few arrows. Here I am shooting, looking a little goofy in my green sweatsuit, like I am headed to the gym for a workout rather than out to the bush for a hunt.

 

I purposely would only shoot a single arrow at a time and then retrieve it, because only the first arrow shot at a live animal counts. I kept a hex head blunt tip on one of the arrows in my quiver so I would always be able to have an arrow on hand to practice wherever I was at the time. You can see from the next picture that Barrie was pleased with my shooting.

 

Then Barrie, Annette and I loaded up in the Landcruiser with the trackers, the dogs, the rifles, my bow and arrows, and all the other equipment we needed and took off on the start of day one of our official eleven day hunt. You can see how I started out hanging my bow. After a few days I started noticing some wear on my string where it was hanging and some light polishing of the finish on the bow where it was rubbing, so I added padding around the string and the bow as the days went on. I discovered that a strung bow case would be a very good thing to have, just like the rifle cases you see in the picture that protected our firearms.

 

Again, we saw many giraffes as we drove along as well as hundreds of impala and dozens of wildebeest. This is a very game rich area, especially with some species. Here is a herd of giraffes that we counted as numbering more than 30! They seemed to like the areas along the small roads, but they turn and leave as people approach by truck. If hunters are on foot, it is hard to get within half a mile of a giraffe. There is always at least one giraffe that seems to stick around to pose for pictures.

 

 

During our walks and stalks we saw many lion kills. The lions are really returning to this area with a good breeding population. More on that later. Last August I saw a magnificent blond-maned lion that I would have loved to have been able to hunt. He had the nicest mane I had seen in thorn bush country in Zim. Here is the skin of a lion killed giraffe we came upon as we were stalking the cape buffalo herd that Annette shot her buffalo cow out of.

 

We saw at least a dozen such lion kills during our hunt.

Allan

[amar911]

Darn, I messed up again and put a second picture of the herd instead of the single "posing" giraffe. Here he is:

 

Allan

[amar911]

If you look closely at the picture above you can see all the thorn trees with long, white thorns. These were bad, but it was the claw-shaped "wait-a-bit" thorn bushes that really tore up our skin and clothes. Here is a picture of my legs after a few days of walking in thorn bush country. You can see that we wear safari gaiters to help somewhat with the thorns and with keeping grass seeds and burrs out of our socks and boots.

 

I always get used to being torn up by the thorns. It only hurts when it is happening, then it just looks painful.

Allan

[amar911]

As we moved through the bush looking for buffalo, I always got to take up the rear with my bow and arrows. It was only when we got to a herd that had cows that I was allowed to actually get into the stalk, and that did not happen often enough.

 

At one point we just missed getting in position to try to shoot a cow before the herd headed down into the river bed. Instead, we had to make a wide circle to get ahead of them to try to ambush them when they came to an area where they sometimes drank from a pool in the river. We found a natural blind for me to shoot from. Unfortunately, it got dark before the buffalo arrived and we had to leave.

 

 

Allan

[amar911]

I'm still having a few problems getting the pictures copied correctly, so here is the one I meant to post showing a more distant view of me in the natural blind.

 

Allan

[calgarychef]

Great post, keep em coming!

The chef

[amar911]

Sometimes to get where we needed to go, we had to clear a "road" for the Landcruiser. This was a slow process that required the trackers to use axes and machetes to cut down some of the smaller trees and shrubs. The following picture shows some road building through mopane woodlands where eland, zebra, wildebeest, impala, elephant, some buffalo and even rhino often live, along with various assorted other animals. These woodlands are wonderful places to walk and track animals as there are very few thorns and the ground is fairly clear of clutter and animals can be seen some distance away.

 

If you knew what to look for, you would see that the next picture shows eland tracks with blood on the ground. We tracked this eland for two days. It turns out that the blood was caused by a plant that the eland sometimes eat that causes crystals to form just above their hooves that cuts into the skin and causes them to bleed and ultimately to die from that condition.

 


Allan

[amar911]

I mentioned lion kills earlier and showed a picture of a giraffe that was killed and eaten by lions. Here are some pictures of other lion kills we stumbled across. It takes a lot of dead animals to feed a pride of lions, and there were a number of prides around us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Allan

[amar911]

 

 

See if you can identify the species that were killed. As you can see, the lions were busy here. For those of you who don't know it, lions can be extremely dangerous even when not wounded, especially at night when they are out hunting and feeding. A wounded lion is the animal most likely to kill you if you get near it. An elephant is the most likely to kill you when it is not wounded, assuming you are not hanging around next to rivers where crocs and hippos might be lurking. We did see crocs and hippos in the area where we were, but we stayed away from the green water that is indicative of their presence. If I am going to be killed by a wild animal, I want it to be on dry land!

Allan

[amar911]

We saw one very rare and special sight. A cheetah had just taken an impala and was dragging it off to be eaten and probably had some youngsters it was planning to feed with the kill. We drove up on the cheetah and surprised it. The cheetah dropped the impala and went off a little ways and partially hid behind some small trees and brush. Suddenly, the impala started moving and tried to get to its feet. We called some of the other hunters and told them to quickly come and see this spectacle. Then we drove away. The other hunters later reported to us that they came quickly and saw the impala trying to get away. The cheetah chased it down, killed it and dragged it away into the bush. Here is a picture of the cheetah in the background behind the trees and bushes and the impala lying in the foreground where you can barely see it. Look closely under the branch at the middle bottom of the picture.

 

Allan

[amar911]

Another ball of elephant dung is about to be killed as I have been instructed by my PH to get out of the truck and take a practice shot. He kept me prepared at all times even though I never got a shot at a buff.

 

I was constantly practicing when we would walk to find game, which was about 6 to 12 miles every day. We loved the long walks. They would keep us alert and in shape and also gave us the opportunity to see areas that were unavailable by any other mode of travel.

 

I got to help other people in camp who were hunting leopards by working on hanging baits. I saw Fred Eichler miss a shot at a leopard in a tree on some show when shooting with his recurve. Better a miss than a wounded leopard. I don't know if a leopard ever hit this bait, but I also hung a trial cam in the tree, which is why I was up on the limb trying to position the angle of the camera to get good pictures.

 

 

The vultures will strip a bait in short order if they find it with their eagle-like eyes. Branches are hung around the bait to hide it from these scavengers of the skies.

 

Allan

[amar911]

On one of our walks in the late afternoon, Barrie was looking up in the rocks on a nearby hill for leopards that will hide in the rocks and wait for their prey to pass by. He saw what he thought was a leopard and told me to look in the same spot with my binoculars. We soon realized that it was not a leopard but rather a lion cub sitting up on the rocks like a true to life Lion King. If you look carefully, you will see a speck in the sky that is actually a distant vulture circling. Just below and to the right of the vulture you can see the head and shoulders of the lion cub in a swale in the rocks.

 

We moved to position ourselves for a better view and saw a second head appear, and then a third. I got this picture of the three lion siblings together on the rocks. Soon they decided that we were too aware of their position and slipped away to the right and out of sight. Look carefully where the one cub was in the prior picture and you should see all three.

 

It is sightings like this and the cheetah that make a hunt special even when you don't get a shot at an animal. At least that is my story, and I am sticking to it!

Allan

[amar911]

Almost before we knew it, the days of hunting had passed and we were packing to leave the next morning. We woke early, finished our final packing, ate breakfast and went over to a famous baobab tree that is located at the edge of camp. This tree is almost 150 feet in circumference and is estimated to be about 4000 years old, meaning it was alive at the time of the pharaohs in Egypt. This tree has been filmed and shown in numerous outdoor TV shows and has been painted by many wildlife artists, including John Banovich. The Landcruiser in front of the tree gives scale to the size of the tree.

 

A few minutes later the Cessna 206 buzzed the camp to let us know our ride had arrived. We drove to the airstrip and loaded up for the long journey home, knowing we would be returning to Africa as soon as possible. I still want to put an arrow in that buff!

 

Allan

[JC]

I see wildebeast, eland, zebra (that's zeb-ra, not zeeb-ra), and impala...boy those lions racked up a heck of a bill in short order. Great story and pics have me longing to see Africa again. Once was simply not enough...someday.

I see the tuffpak worked out for you?  I think that one is longer than mine...did you have to pay extra baggage fees for over the volumetric limit? I'd love to have one a bit larger but I got the size I did simply to conform to SA airways 62" and 50# limit.

[Tim Fishell]

What an awesome adventure.  I only hope someday to make it over there if nothing else just to see that part of the world!!  Thanks again buddy for taking us along and very glad to see you and your wife made it home safe!!

[amar911]

JC -- you got all those right, including their pronunciation of zebra! We also so a kudu kill that may not have been in the pictures. They are hungry lions there. I hope you get back. I am not sure how many more years I have left in me, but I know I will be back several more times, God willing. Let me know if you ever want to plan a trip with someone (like me). The Tuffpak was outstanding. I'm not sure which one you have, but the one I got is the original gun case size. I kept the weight at 47 pounds with two rifles, the takedown Shrew, and a dozen arrows, along with the soft cases. It did not cost any extra. I have used that case the last three times I went and think it is the best option out there. The nice part about having one a little bigger is that you can always use the space for clothing or other items.

Tim -- I appreciate the comments. Annette and I had a great time. I have been going to Zimbabwe now for 13 years on five trips, and I have visited and hunted many parts of the country. It is a beautiful, resource rich country that hopefully some day will rebuild its internal structure to be able to regain its former glory days. I have taken my son everytime but this year, and he has doubled his age from 13 to 26. My daughter and wife went with us three years ago, and my wife went again this year, but without our son. There is definitely danger there, but so is there danger anywhere in the US from one source or another. I hope someday you can go to Africa. I fear that the African safari opportunity is fading and may be virtually lost within our lifetimes, so don't wait if you have the opportunity to go. Better sooner than later. As with JC, let me know if you ever want to put something together with some TradGang buddies. I am up for almost anything and can help with arrangements if asked.

It is interesting that in the Save Valley Conservancy there is a camp that caters to high end (read expensive) game viewing clients. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones had just been there. They pay $2000/person/day and donate additional money. I think that is a very worthy cause, but those photo safari dollars are only a fraction of the amount spent by hunters. Without the hunting dollars poaching would be a far bigger problem than what it is anyway, and it is a huge problem now. We found wire snares all the time in the bush, and there are a million acres in the Conservancy, most of them very remote where there are not adequate patrols. Africa desperately needs hunters. The world economy has affected the African hunting interests as much as any other sector in the world. Most of the PHs in our camp had only hunted a fraction of their available dates. I can guarantee you that if you wanted to book a hunt this year almost anywhere, there are plenty of PHs, quotas, and accommodations available to meet your needs, all at drastically reduced rates. If I had not already been and have a full schedule the rest of the summer, I would book a late season hunt for August or September. The biggest disadvantage of a late season hunt is the heat, as the African winter loses its cooler days. In the Zambezi Valley the tsetse flies come out in force starting about now and the daytime temperatures go into the 80s and then well above that. I personally like the cooler temperatures, but I have hunted in the Zambezi Valley several times before in August, and it is not bad. In fact, it is great, and I would love to do it next month. I hunted there last August for a week before heading to the lowvelt.

I have talked to a lot of people who have hunted in other African countries, and the experience was very similar in places like Botswana, Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique -- the various sub-Saharan countries other than South Africa and Namibia where ranch hunts predominate. I think there is very good hunting in SA and Namibia, but it is not always the wilder variety one finds in other countries. I plan to go to Mozambique to hunt in 2011 and am already booked for the Zambezi Valley in 2010. The trouble with some places like Tanzania and Botswana is that you pay double the price to go on some of the hunts there. While I would like to see those places and hunt there, I would rather have twice as many hunts elsewhere. Besides, I still need to get to New Zealand and Australia to hunt and fish there. So little time and so much to see and do!!!

Allan

[Al Kidner]

Well Allan... that sure is a write up...many, many thanks my far off friend. It sure makes one want to rush off and hunt Zim or anywhere in Africa just to got it off the "Bucket List" as such.

I was planning on being there this year but a hunt in CO just had to be done for some high country Elk... but next year looks the deal I think...

Also good to see you get the pics up as well. I'm glad it worked out for you.


Again mate, many thanks,


ak.

[hunt it]

Great story and pictures Allan. Another Zim lover here, I've hunted Chewore North, Matetsi, Chiredzi and south of Bulawayo as well. Looking forward to chasing a cape buff with the stick sometime soon. Shot my last one at 30ft with .458 Lott. Would have been an easy bow shot but my youknowwhats were not big enough then! They've swelled some since and I think I'm ready! The fellow Al is planning on hunting with is a good PH that I hunted with back in 92 and we have kept in touch. That backpacking into Chewore north sounds like my kind of adventure. Headed off to Oz this year but Africa is calling. Thanks for sharing your adventure.