ZIMBABWE: 45 Days Trip To Africa Part One: Bubye Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe

[Doubleplay]

I'll be honest, I don't like writing hunting reports, I guess I'm too lazy.
But after being a member here for a while and reading so many, I felt like I should contribute and along the way hopefully help members who are planning similar hunts or trips.
This will be part about hunting and part about travel and because it will be long, I'll tell it in parts.
Some pics will be posted but it will not be pic heavy and mostly about story telling.
I'm no expert by any means but I made multiple trips to Africa since 1992 and I might also include some opinions on top of facts and some insights and I might omit some names or don't mention.
Also please excuse the grammar mistakes, like I said I'm lazy, not a good writer and "We" means wife and I.
Here we go..

Planning for this trip started a while back, actually right after we returned from Africa on August 2023 when we visited and hunted with family in Limpopo.
I'll tell more about the family living in Pretoria but for now let's look at the planning of the 2024 trip.
We had bunch of American airlines points and started looking at options of using them for the inbound flight to Johannesburg.
After some research and because we were very flexible with dates I was able to find a one way JFK-DOHA-JNB for 65000 points + $60 each business class for late June with Qatar Airlines and I jumped on it. This was around December 2023.
Qatar Airlines is a One World partner and that allows you to use American points with them.
Since we flew with them before trough Doha, we knew what to expect and how it'll work.
After securing the tickets, I started planning the hunting part. I know most people do this in the reverse order but like I said I was very flexible with dates.
Second day at the SCI Nashville a friend of my son who's also owner of a game farm in Limpopo where we hunted before introduced me to Pete Fick.
Pete was a friend of his father took him hunting when he was a teenager.
For those of you who don't know Pete he's a well know and very respected PH in Zimbabwe and also the author of book called "Cut to the Chase" and board member of Zimbabwe PH association. His nick name is "Gazi" among trackers meaning blood!
He operates Mazunga Safaris and his main operation takes place in Bubye Valley Conservancy in Southern Zimbabwe.
Unfortunately he was sold out in July and August but he told me he's waiting to hear back from a client who had a buffalo hunt booked for beginning July and he'll get back to me next day.
Well, he got back and we had a seven day buffalo hunt booked for beginning 1st of July, 2024.
To be continued...

 

[Doubleplay]

While we were at the SCI show I decided to book a hunt in East Cape, SA a place where I always wanted to visit and very different than Limpopo.
I'll come back to it but for now let's carry on with the first part.
I was hesitant to bring any firearms because like it or not there's always a hassle factor flying or generally traveling with guns and most PH and outfitters have reliable guns you can rent.
But at the end I decided to bring two rifles,
Merkel Safari double 375 H&H with a trijicon 1 moa sight
Christensen Arms Ridgeline .308 with a Leupold VX 5 3-15x44
both of them in one case to cut the luggage to a minimum with an Apple tag in it which enables you to track the movement of the case.
Because we live in Charlotte, NC area we had to buy separate tickets to JFK with enough time to spare in between to catch the Qatar flight.
Four-five days before our travel date we start seeing a lot cancellations/delays of flights because of afternoon thunderstorms and there was a looming flight attendant strike/slowdown.
At that point we decide to rent a car and drive to JFK.
Most rental cars reposition their cars to North during Summer so we were able to reserve a one way rental next to nothing.
After spending a night in Dulles VA area, we arrived at JFK with plenty of time to spare for our evening flight.
Qatar operates two flights out of JFK and we were on the later flight.
By the time we arrived they were still dealing with the first flight and we had to wait for a while for them to close it and open the counter back again.
Because I called and notified them about the firearms all I had to do is to fill out the paperwork and wait for the Port Authority show up.
Yes, Port Authority has to be present at any New-York state airport while you're checking in firearms(not transit) and they are the ones who call TSA for inspection and basically stay there till the firearms transferred to the airline.
They were all friendly but something to keep in mind is you can't spend couple days in New York state with your guns without registering them. You have something like 12 hours for transit and that's it!
After relaxing at the lounge and a mostly uneventful, comfortable trip to via Doha to
Johannesburg, where I used gun permits who's a sponsor here for a hassle free experience to clear the guns quickly.
I would not suggest anyone to walk out of the Tambo airport by yourself carrying firearm cases but since our son was waiting for us we quickly loaded his car parked right across at the short term and left the airport for Pretoria where they live.
To be continued...

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

At the end of your first post, assume you meant 2024, not 2014.

 

[Doubleplay]

At the end of your first post, assume you meant 2024, not 2014.

Yes, I told you I'm not a good writer and thanks...

 

[Doubleplay]

Here's the family part living in South Africa.
Our son is serving as the US Marine attache in South Africa since 2022 and will be there till 2025.
They are residents in Pretoria where our Embassy is located and where our two granddaughters go to school.
This whole trip is actually was a reason to visit them again after 2023 and spend time together as much as their work schedules allow.
Having said that I like to be independent and flexible and for that reason, next day we rented a car for our movements in Africa for the whole trip.
I drove in Africa and other places where traffic flows the wrong way before and I'm very comfortable with that situation. You might be different so it's up to you. I'm not advocating it but it's an option.
Also there are a lot less cars on the roads and generally speaking drivers are better educated because only a certain income class can afford to buy cars. Unfortunate yes, but it's a fact.
After couple days of spending time with family, shopping, eating, drinking etc... on the 30th of June we loaded our rental car and left Pretoria for Zim.
You can do the trip from Pretoria to Bubye Valley, Zim in one long day but because we didn't know what to expect at the border crossings we decided to do it in two days.
Also you don't want to drive in Africa at night . Never ever.
There are a lot reasons for that but mainly crime, stray animals and some secondary roads have big holes which you won't be able to see at night and if you hit it you'll be guaranteed to have a problem.
First night we found a nice place called "Anza" at Louis Trichardt (where there was a restaurant and good security) to stay approximately 1.5 hours away from the border at Baitbridge.
Next day we left for the border where thing really got interested....

 

[thi9elsp]

Great start and fun way to leave us hanging... and?

 

[Doubleplay]

For those of you who did not hear the name Baitbridge, it's a town on the Zimbabwe side and the main border crossing between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Limpopo river forms the border and there are two bridges on it, one for the vehicles and one for the pedestrians.
It's a place where thousands of Zimbabwe residents and some others cross the border back and forth mostly on foot and a lot of smuggling takes place.
Things are a lot cheaper on the South African side and people are trying to take advantage of that.
It's a wild place and has been subject to a lot of news reports and documentaries lately.
A quick search will reveal it.
Now, bringing firearms into Zimbabwe is a simple process on paper.
You need the fill out a three copy form, get it stamped after the inspection of firearms at the border and keep one of the copies as your firearm permit.
It might be like that at the airports but it wasn't the case for us.
I should say I'm an experienced traveler and don't get rattled easily when thing go south but we got pushed to the edge that day.
After getting waived at the South African side we crossed the bridge and parked at the designated parking spots to start the process of entering into Zimbabwe.
As soon as we got out of the car we were approached by fixers seemingly trying to help us to quicken the process. Remind you this in a secure area at a border zone. How they got there or can operate there I had no idea but immediately realized they must have connections..
We refused their services and proceeded with the first step which was paying for the visas($30 each for US citizens, free for South Africans). After presenting our passports with the visa receipt to the officer, we were asked where was our South African exit stamp.
When we told him we got waived out of South Africa he immediately said without an exit stamp we can't enter into Zimbabwe.
Now, this puts you in a very precarious position. You can drive back to South Africa but then you have to enter there first and then exit again and to enter they might ask you for a Zim exit stamp which we don't have because we did not officially entered Zim yet. We were basically stranded in a no man zone.
I can make a very interesting story about what happened after that but I'll just say we ended up walking back to South Africa about a mile on the pedestrian bridge with thousands of people not looking like us, convinced the South African officers we only needed an exit visa without entering again, got it and came back and started the whole process.
Meanwhile because it's a rental car they made us buy extra insurance which was probably not necessary but at this point we were exhausted and willing to do whatever needed to get out of there.
To make a long story short it took us four hours to clear the border into Zim guns and all...
Note to self, pay the fixers!
At this point we only have about 80km to drive on the main highway to North to meet Pete's head tracker James waiting us on the side of the road.
Normally you can drive 80km in less than an hour in US but not in Zim.
About 40Km after we left Baitbridge the main highway basically became a dirt road with potholes and some were big enough to swallow a man.
At about 55 km mark we saw the perimeter fence of Bubye Valley conservancy and 30 km after that we saw the land cruiser waiting us on the right side of the road next to one of the Southern entrances to the conservancy.
We pulled over and the conversation went like this:
Are you such and such?
Yes.
I'm James follow me to the camp and watch for elephants, there is a very aggressive one in the area and attacking vehicles.
Thanks, will do.
And the hunt begins...

Zim border area.

 

[thi9elsp]

The ones you come out of are the fun stories later around the campfire.

 

[Doubleplay]

After clearing the security at the gate we followed James on a road full of elephant dung about 20 minutes to Chamalaya camp where we'll be spending the next couple days.
BVC has nine camps spread around the million acre property and I believe we were staying at one of the smallest with two chalets for hunters and one for the PH.
There was a nice dining area, internet and generator was providing power till 10 pm every night.
A small borehole was 150 yards away and frequently visited by elephants and plains game during the day and hyenas and lions at night.
No windows at the chalet, just an insect screen, comfortable beds and hot shower.
All and all it was a very pleasant, clean place to stay with a good food and great service.
Here are some pics.

 

[Doubleplay]

As the tradition goes in Africa we were greeted by Pete and all the trackers, skinners and the service personnel at the camp with welcome drinks on trays.
Some of them were little surprised when I asked them where to park the rental car because apparently we were the first and only customers who drove there on their own.
We settled down had some drinks and dinner, talked about the plan for the next couple days and decided to start at 5:30 am next morning.
Gentle knock on the door and we were up to face the day.
July in Zim is dead of Winter and mornings can be quite cold but day time temperatures can quickly reach up to 80's and can get quite warm.
It's not the ideal time to hunt buffalo (that would be September) because grass is still tall and all the water holes are full.
Anyways, we left the camp and first order of business is to fire the double to make sure it's on and not messed up during travel.
I fired two shots off the sticks and to our satisfaction hit a paper plate size target from 50 yards.
The interesting thing was Pete getting on the radio and calling it on the open channel as practice shots for every anti poaching unit in the vicinity to hear.
I'll come back to anti poaching units but because they have black rhinos on the property they don't joke around.
Soon after we found a proper size tree, cut it and tied it behind the land rover and started to sweep the roads.
After couple hours of sweeping we went back to camp for lunch and siesta.
Uneventful afternoon went by checking around the waterholes and trying to find some fresh dugga boy sign worth tracking.
None were to be found, guns cased, beers came out of the cooler and the day was done.

 

[VertigoBE]

What a start! Looking forward to what promises to be a great adventure!

 

[Doubleplay]

After a light breakfast and coffee we started the second hunting day.
After driving on the roads we previously swept, we came to an intersection where there were some promising tracks.
After a quick discussion among trekkers and Pete, we decided to follow the the four dugga boys apparently crossed the road at night and hopefully will be bedded, so we can catch up to them.
James up front, Pete second, me third, my wife fourth and the skinner/trekker fifth was the order of how we walked.
After many trips to Africa I still can't understand how a skillful trekker can trek a buffalo for miles and hours on any kind of terrain.
I don't think that level of trekking can be learned but you have to born and grew up with it.
After two+ hours of tracking James started to look ahead instead looking down and that's when you understand you are getting close.
That and the oxpeckers flying up and down little ways ahead of you.
Next thing happens is Pete lighting up a cigarette and checking the wind approaching the dugga boys.
Remind you these buffalo are being chased by lions day in day out and very skittish.
A small mistake or wind change and they are gone...
And that's what happened, a shift and they were gone before we can even take a good look.
Thanks to modern day electronics like radios and gps, you don't need to walk all the way back to the Land Cruiser anymore...
A quick call to the second trekker who stayed with the truck and all we had to do was to walk maybe half a mile to the nearest road and wait for him.
Lunch and siesta was in order.
The highlight of the afternoon was seeing two lionesses running away at a distance and upon further examination of the area spotting a male lion on the kill.
Pete decided to see what the kill was and but in order to do that, first we had to chase the lion away.
At this point my wife and Pete are inside the cab and me and the trackers are at the back of the truck.
To say the least we were unsuccessful but the whole experience gave me a healthy dose of respect for wild lions.
I'll try to attach the video link here:

You can hear Pete's Jack Russels in the background and me ducking because I thought the lion was coming to jump first on the hood then on to us.
Yes James was ready with the 458 next to me but still...
Back to camp, GT's first and Kudu steaks with red wine for dinner.

 

[thi9elsp]

That video was cool. I love how brave the JR's are!

 

[Rare Breed]

My April OH, Lou Hallemore explained to me what makes great Zim trackers. They are raised at the age of 5 to take out the cattle in the morning and they cannot come back until every animal is accounted for. They are forced therefore to become awesome trackers. A cool story from him and one that makes total sense

 

[Doubleplay]

My April OH, Lou Hallemore explained to me what makes great Zim trackers. They are raised at the age of 5 to take out the cattle in the morning and they cannot come back until every animal is accounted for. They are forced therefore to become awesome trackers. A cool story from him and one that makes total sense

That's what I've been told as well.

 

[Sideshow]

Nice write up looking forward to the next instalment

 

[ChasingHemingway]

Love it!! Keep it coming and watch out for the potholes and elephants!!

Note to self: pay the fixers!

 

[Doubleplay]

Here comes the third day when it all came together except a little detail.
5:30 get up, light breakfast, coffee...
Start driving and looking for fresh tracks.
After about two hours, even with my untrained eyes I could see it, bunch of tracks, I mean a lot.
We stopped, got out and after a little walking around, James said 14 dugga boys couple hours old.
Are you kidding me? How can you be sure about the number or better yet how can you count when tracks are on top of each other ???
Ok "let's go" Pete said and we started tracking.
After 3 hours and 6 miles according to my Garmin watch I started to feel the heat of the day and the weight of the double.
Luckily at that point the tracks we were following mixed up with another herd consisted of females and young ones.
My wife and I found a place under the shade to sit down and let James and Pete do their thing.
After 10 minutes they came back and told us to fall back in line
We followed another 45 minutes and came to a road where Pete decided to call it off and call the truck to come and pick us off.
He said we'll take a very short break and then come back to pick it up where we left because he thought they will be bedded down and not going anywhere soon.
After some rest and a quick lunch we picked up the trek from where we left.
Another 1.5 hours passed and Pete stopped us to look at his GPS(chart plotter) and said:
I think they are going to this waterhole (showed us on the gps) and at this pace it will be dark before we can catch up to them, we have to stop tracking and take the most direct route there.
At that point it was 4pm and it gets dark around 5:30pm in July.
We left the track, start moving a lot faster than a tracking pace and after another 45 minutes James who was leading stopped us and took a knee.
Pete motioned me to move forward and lo and behold I saw the dugga boys out there in the opening next to the waterhole.
In BVC all the waterholes have a lot of clear, open area around them.
Part of is elephant destruction part of it is water levels moving up and down.
Obviously it doesn't help with stalking where the only cover is 100 yards away from the water's edge and it's just a small tree.
Pete told everybody to stand back and him and I tried our best to get as close to the buffalo.
Sun and wind was right and we were lucky enough to get behind the last tree where we were about 100 yards from the animals.
Now,100 yards for me is a long shot with a double which has a one moa reflex sight but that's what we ended up with.
After a quick scan Pete told me the second one from left is definitely looking the oldest and it's up to me to try.
Perfect broadside, on the sticks and I took the shot aiming right at the shoulder.
We both saw the stumbling and heard the hit but before I can take a second shot all hell broke loose and they started running as a herd.
We watched them running over a higher spot on the other side of the water hole and lost the visual contact.
I don't know about you but I always second guess myself if I take a shot at an animal and it keeps running more than 100 yards.
Yes, I know it's a buffalo and maybe only one in hundred collapses on the spot but still....
It was 5:05 pm...and btw there were 14 dugga boys total
To be continued...

James calling Uber to pick us up.

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

For those of you who did not hear the name Baitbridge, it's a town on the Zimbabwe side and the main border crossing between South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Limpopo river forms the border and there are two bridges on it, one for the vehicles and one for the pedestrians.
It's a place where thousands of Zimbabwe residents and some others cross the border back and forth mostly on foot and a lot of smuggling takes place.
Things are a lot cheaper on the South African side and people are trying to take advantage of that.
It's a wild place and has been subject to a lot of news reports and documentaries lately.
A quick search will reveal it.
Now, bringing firearms into Zimbabwe is a simple process on paper.
You need the fill out a three copy form, get it stamped after the inspection of firearms at the border and keep one of the copies as your firearm permit.
It might be like that at the airports but it wasn't the case for us.
I should say I'm an experienced traveler and don't get rattled easily when thing go south but we got pushed to the edge that day.
After getting waived at the South African side we crossed the bridge and parked at the designated parking spots to start the process of entering into Zimbabwe.
As soon as we got out of the car we were approached by fixers seemingly trying to help us to quicken the process. Remind you this in a secure area at a border zone. How they got there or can operate there I had no idea but immediately realized they must have connections..
We refused their services and proceeded with the first step which was paying for the visas($30 each for US citizens, free for South Africans). After presenting our passports with the visa receipt to the officer, we were asked where was our South African exit stamp.
When we told him we got waived out of South Africa he immediately said without an exit stamp we can't enter into Zimbabwe.
Now, this puts you in a very precarious position. You can drive back to South Africa but then you have to enter there first and then exit again and to enter they might ask you for a Zim exit stamp which we don't have because we did not officially entered Zim yet. We were basically stranded in a no man zone.
I can make a very interesting story about what happened after that but I'll just say we ended up walking back to South Africa about a mile on the pedestrian bridge with thousands of people not looking like us, convinced the South African officers we only needed an exit visa without entering again, got it and came back and started the whole process.
Meanwhile because it's a rental car they made us buy extra insurance which was probably not necessary but at this point we were exhausted and willing to do whatever needed to get out of there.
To make a long story short it took us four hours to clear the border into Zim guns and all...
Note to self, pay the fixers!
At this point we only have about 80km to drive on the main highway to North to meet Pete's head tracker James waiting us on the side of the road.
Normally you can drive 80km in less than an hour in US but not in Zim.
About 40Km after we left Baitbridge the main highway basically became a dirt road with potholes and some were big enough to swallow a man.
At about 55 km mark we saw the perimeter fence of Bubye Valley conservancy and 30 km after that we saw the land cruiser waiting us on the right side of the road next to one of the Southern entrances to the conservancy.
We pulled over and the conversation went like this:
Are you such and such?
Yes.
I'm James follow me to the camp and watch for elephants, there is a very aggressive one in the area and attacking vehicles.
Thanks, will do.
And the hunt begins...View attachment 632857Zim border area.

4 hours you did pretty good. Rule #1 always politely demand a exit stamp. Never use a fixer at Beitbridge if it goes bad it really goes bad. Especially with the ones that say you do not need to pay until you have crossed the border. You will be robbed almost guaranteed.

Some months ago someone did a post which he was doing the same thing in the future.

Each border post entering Zim is different, but Beitbridge is the worse. A rule the smaller the better,
Unfortunately most require going thru Botswana.

Lon

 

[Doubleplay]

4 hours you did pretty good. Rule #1 always politely demand a exit stamp. Never use a fixer at Beitbridge if it goes bad it really goes bad. Especially with the ones that say you do not need to pay until you have crossed the border. You will be robbed almost guaranteed.

Some months ago someone did a post which he was doing the same thing in the future.

Each border post entering Zim is different, but Beitbridge is the worse. A rule the smaller the better,
Unfortunately most require going thru Botswana.

Lon

Good insight for the next time Lon but I guess I'll fly in the future
Thanks