gillettehunter
AH ambassador
This hunt goes back to January. Mike (@LivingTheDream) told me he was booking a hunt with Balla Balla. I asked if I could join him in camp. Mike was gracious enough to say yes. Mike and his dad came to Wyoming and I helped them to get a couple of antelope and a shot at a sharp tail grouse. So Mike took a chance and invited me to join him.
We met in the Joberg airport. I had flown in from Cape Town earlier that morning. Mike was fresh in from the states. Our SAA flight was delayed perhaps 40 min. Gave us a chance to chat and catch up some. We arrived in Livingstone in the early afternoon. Balla Balla had arranged to have us met. Gun clearance was a breeze for me. Mike had planned to use camp rifles this trip.
My menu was simple. A buffalo (my first), a Eland and a Bushbuck. My Chobe bushbuck cape came in such that it could not be used from a few yrs ago. Mike had Lechwe, bushbuck and a Puku on his list and room for one more animal if a good trophy turned up.
We loaded up in a van service to take us out to meet our hosts for the week. I will note that both times I have flown into Zambia hunting I have been asked by people at the airport for meat on my return. No cash bribe but instead they want meat. Africa is a protein short environment. Both times we have brought back some. I suspect that it helps make the coming and leaving a bit easier. They're not looking for every little thing to bust your chops over.
Our van driver was very cautious. Drove under the speed limit. About 2 1/2 hrs later we pulled into a gas station to meet Dean, his wife JoAnn and their 8 year old son Nathan. Mike got out to smoke. He immediately was swarmed by a group of young entrepreneurs. Salesman all wanting him to buy from them. Peanuts seemed to be the main item. Mike was back in the van immediately to the kids disappointment. Mike was back in so fast it
Was like they had guns instead of peanuts. They then gave their best "puppy dog" faces looking into the van but to no avail. Mike was saved by a bus pulling into the gas station.
We met Dean and his family and transferred our baggage to the trucks going to camp. We drove another 2 hours to get to Dendrow park where we were to start our hunt. All along the road going in we saw villages. Mostly grass roofs. Little bit different from home. Just outside the gates of Dendrow we saw some waterbuck. These are the Defassa waterbuck and have a handsome charcoal coat. They appear to be about 1/3 smaller than the common waterbuck found in RSA.
We turned off the main road and drove perhaps 1 1/2 miles to the gate into Dendrow. Dendrow is about 20 square miles in size. The lodge is situated close to the entrance. Between the entrance and the lodge there is a pond. It was almost dry. It is 1 of 2 or 3 water sources for the animals there. Because of the drought Dean had needed to have a new borehole drilled to provide water. In a good wet season 2/3 or 3/4 of Dendrow is under water! We settled into our guest house for the next few days stay.
There is no internet or phone signal at Dendrow. Only a Satellite phone would get out. Also we only had lights on in our rooms 1 time during our stay. Solar lights and electric lanterns were up to the main lodge. The main lodge was open on 2 sides and closed on the other 2. They had a nice campfire area adjacent to the lodge. It was very pleasant to sit and watch animals at the water. You could almost always see Puku there. There was also a larger number of yellow baboons that spent a lot of time by the water. Sometimes close to 40. The Impala were also frequent visitors to the water. Buffalo came in each night.
After we settled in Mike and I noted that we had not met a second PH. After a delicious dinner I asked Dean about it. Apparently Shawn had "urgent" business in RSA and had left before we arrived. This didn't set too well with us. We were a bit uneasy, but decided to see how it worked out. In the end it worked out exceptionally well for both of us.
Dean said we would hunt buffalo the next morning. I told him I needed to check my rifle before we started. He said that was no problem. I had 2 rifles with me. The first is my custom 7mm SAUM ( short action ultra mag). It has a titanium action and a Bartlein barrel. It's topped with a 2.5-25X42 March scope. My hand loaded Berger bullets are 180 grains and are leaving the barrel at 2914 fps. The second rifle is a Howa .375 Ruger topped with a Minox 2-10X40 scope. My handloads have a 300 grain Swift A-frame running about 2675 FPS.
We headed to bed and were told we'd have a 5 AM wake up call. More later.
Bruce
We met in the Joberg airport. I had flown in from Cape Town earlier that morning. Mike was fresh in from the states. Our SAA flight was delayed perhaps 40 min. Gave us a chance to chat and catch up some. We arrived in Livingstone in the early afternoon. Balla Balla had arranged to have us met. Gun clearance was a breeze for me. Mike had planned to use camp rifles this trip.
My menu was simple. A buffalo (my first), a Eland and a Bushbuck. My Chobe bushbuck cape came in such that it could not be used from a few yrs ago. Mike had Lechwe, bushbuck and a Puku on his list and room for one more animal if a good trophy turned up.
We loaded up in a van service to take us out to meet our hosts for the week. I will note that both times I have flown into Zambia hunting I have been asked by people at the airport for meat on my return. No cash bribe but instead they want meat. Africa is a protein short environment. Both times we have brought back some. I suspect that it helps make the coming and leaving a bit easier. They're not looking for every little thing to bust your chops over.
Our van driver was very cautious. Drove under the speed limit. About 2 1/2 hrs later we pulled into a gas station to meet Dean, his wife JoAnn and their 8 year old son Nathan. Mike got out to smoke. He immediately was swarmed by a group of young entrepreneurs. Salesman all wanting him to buy from them. Peanuts seemed to be the main item. Mike was back in the van immediately to the kids disappointment. Mike was back in so fast it
Was like they had guns instead of peanuts. They then gave their best "puppy dog" faces looking into the van but to no avail. Mike was saved by a bus pulling into the gas station.
We met Dean and his family and transferred our baggage to the trucks going to camp. We drove another 2 hours to get to Dendrow park where we were to start our hunt. All along the road going in we saw villages. Mostly grass roofs. Little bit different from home. Just outside the gates of Dendrow we saw some waterbuck. These are the Defassa waterbuck and have a handsome charcoal coat. They appear to be about 1/3 smaller than the common waterbuck found in RSA.
We turned off the main road and drove perhaps 1 1/2 miles to the gate into Dendrow. Dendrow is about 20 square miles in size. The lodge is situated close to the entrance. Between the entrance and the lodge there is a pond. It was almost dry. It is 1 of 2 or 3 water sources for the animals there. Because of the drought Dean had needed to have a new borehole drilled to provide water. In a good wet season 2/3 or 3/4 of Dendrow is under water! We settled into our guest house for the next few days stay.
There is no internet or phone signal at Dendrow. Only a Satellite phone would get out. Also we only had lights on in our rooms 1 time during our stay. Solar lights and electric lanterns were up to the main lodge. The main lodge was open on 2 sides and closed on the other 2. They had a nice campfire area adjacent to the lodge. It was very pleasant to sit and watch animals at the water. You could almost always see Puku there. There was also a larger number of yellow baboons that spent a lot of time by the water. Sometimes close to 40. The Impala were also frequent visitors to the water. Buffalo came in each night.
After we settled in Mike and I noted that we had not met a second PH. After a delicious dinner I asked Dean about it. Apparently Shawn had "urgent" business in RSA and had left before we arrived. This didn't set too well with us. We were a bit uneasy, but decided to see how it worked out. In the end it worked out exceptionally well for both of us.
Dean said we would hunt buffalo the next morning. I told him I needed to check my rifle before we started. He said that was no problem. I had 2 rifles with me. The first is my custom 7mm SAUM ( short action ultra mag). It has a titanium action and a Bartlein barrel. It's topped with a 2.5-25X42 March scope. My hand loaded Berger bullets are 180 grains and are leaving the barrel at 2914 fps. The second rifle is a Howa .375 Ruger topped with a Minox 2-10X40 scope. My handloads have a 300 grain Swift A-frame running about 2675 FPS.
We headed to bed and were told we'd have a 5 AM wake up call. More later.
Bruce
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Hmmm.
