I just made a hunt with Wayne, and I am pictured in the top two photos above.
I booked the hunt directly with Wayne last fall, which was an easy experience.
I arrived in Bulawayo, after transiting through and overnighting in JHB. I got the typical runaround getting my guns inspected and such, but Wayne was still waiting for me when I left the airport, even though I was the very last passenger to depart.
I stayed at his tent camp near the town of Gwai, which was very well placed in a grove of mature Mopane trees. The food was good and the camp staff were all very pleasant. Wayne's son Dave accompanied us for the entire hunt as an apprentice PH. He is a pleasure to be around and we really enjoyed having him there. He was especially useful for translating African slang into American English. Sho!!
We had some issues with a pride of lions that liked to wander around camp and steal the trackers biltong. Wayne assured me he arranges that for every hunt, to enhance the African wilderness experience.
While this is true, wild, free-range hunting and nothing is guaranteed, I actually took two bulls in four days. Not sure that Wayne will always guarantee that though.
We ate a lot of freshly disassembled (as in cooked directly next to the elephant) elephant kababs, cooked over Mopane wood fires. You don't do that on every hunt.
Since we were done hunting elephant early, and the plains-game hunting was particularly tough with all of the leaves still on the trees, I took the opportunity to hunt crocodile in the Gwai river. We used a piece of elephant trunk as bait, since the lions stole the baboon we had shot for the purpose. We built a blind one afternoon, and shot a nice crocodile the next morning.
We went back to Bulawayo one night early, to make the trip to the airport less stressful. Wayne possesses a level of pothole dodging skill that is rarely seen in the developed world. If this PH deal doesn't work out, he will make an exceptional rally car or Baja driver.
Wayne hooked us up with a room at the Banff Hotel, which was originally started by a guy from Canada, hence the name. They have an exceptional restaurant.....I recommend the Piri-Piri prawns.
It was definitely a great experience and I would not hesitate to hunt with Wayne again.
Best,
Chet
