I Just got back home last night after hunting Elephant with @MARTIN PIETERS SAFARIS in Matisti unit 5.
After several false starts courtesy of Ethiopian Airways with included 3 flight cancelations to Victoria Falls I finally managed to make to Zim.
Martin was waiting from me as I walked out of Vic falls airport and we loaded my rifle and gear into the back of the pickup and headed to the hunting block, clearing customs in Vic Falls was a breeze compared to what I was used to in Nairobi. As we drove we were chatting along the way and Martin told me it had been raining on and off the past week as can be expected this time of year, so the Elephant had become a little more dispersed, naturally we were hoping the rains would hold off during my stay.
Martin had been very flexible with all the cancelations as dates for the hunt kept getting moved back each time, I was really grateful to him as he bent over backwards to make this hunt happen.
View from Hunting Camp where we could see and hear lions.
A few hours and we arrived in camp in Matisti unit 5 which is surrounded by other hunting blocks and a park boundary on one side, all of this unfenced. The block that we would be hunting on is leased by Martin and comprises of around 400,000 acres of prime hunting ground for big game and plains game, with no fences, no villages or people in sight.
I settled into the camp had some water as weather was very warm, Martin introduced me to the staff and showed me the place where I would be staying.
Accomidation at Matisti 5
The next few days we hunted Elephant and saw several herds and spent time glassing for bulls. It was nice to see several large herds of buffalo up to three hundred strong. Each day we would see several groups Daga bulls in small groups of 3 to 6 and boy were there some Big nice ugly bulls there that I would have love to have hunted, but my focus was to hunt Elephant first before I looked at any other game.
A few days after beginning the hunt we came across a large Elephant bull accompanied by his lone Askari bull. Me made a stalk on them making a long loop around them to come up on them so that we were about 20 yards away from the bigger bull, an old Elephant carrying decent ivory. I took the shot off the shooting sticks aiming at the point of the shoulder through the heart, at the shot he didn’t move and it was as though he lost all blood pressure, he just stood there swaying back and forward I made two more follow up shots and he was down.
Seeing him down was a series of mixed emotions, I spent a few moments alone with him before the rest of the hunting team came over to congratulate me. The rest of the day was sent on recovering the elephant.
In all this, I can say that Martin and his team were true hard-working professionals. Great fun to be with, they run a as good an operation as I have hunted with over countless years of hunting.
The only damper on the hunt came later in the week when Zimbabwe Parks reneged on the deal they had made for a discounted price on the Buffalo, when we wanted to hunt Buff the price was jacked up by $2000 per Buffalo from what we had been quoted before the hunt.
Martin was annoyed and made several calls and sent countless texts to Parks but to no avail.
I decided not to hunt Buffalo on principle. Not to be put-off we hunted Kudu which I was really after for a long time as I felt like I had a Kudu Voodoo and scored a lovely old Kudu in the 55 inch class. I had to chance to Shoot Sale and saw serval shootable Sable up to and over 45 inches, I could have shot other game but that was not for me.
Almost Daily we would see Roan, and saw Lions on the deck at the lodge looking down in the valley, I could hear them almost every morning grunting as they do. A day after shooting my Elephant we went back to look at what was left of it and found lions sitting on top of the remains of the elephant, amongst them a very nice male
My last days were spent unwinding fishing and shooting fowl and franklin.
In all I had a great time I shot and old Elephant bull which was all I really came for, I made some great friends and some wonderful memories.
Matisti 5 is a hunter’s paradise and the amount and quality of game is amazing to see.
Coming from Kenya where I have lived for the past 40 plus years it’s great to see how proper game management works in Zimbabwe, compared to weak excuse we have in Kenya.
I would not hesitate to Recommend Martin and his team @MARTIN PIETERS SAFARIS, we are already panning the next hunt with Martin.
After several false starts courtesy of Ethiopian Airways with included 3 flight cancelations to Victoria Falls I finally managed to make to Zim.
Martin was waiting from me as I walked out of Vic falls airport and we loaded my rifle and gear into the back of the pickup and headed to the hunting block, clearing customs in Vic Falls was a breeze compared to what I was used to in Nairobi. As we drove we were chatting along the way and Martin told me it had been raining on and off the past week as can be expected this time of year, so the Elephant had become a little more dispersed, naturally we were hoping the rains would hold off during my stay.
Martin had been very flexible with all the cancelations as dates for the hunt kept getting moved back each time, I was really grateful to him as he bent over backwards to make this hunt happen.
View from Hunting Camp where we could see and hear lions.
A few hours and we arrived in camp in Matisti unit 5 which is surrounded by other hunting blocks and a park boundary on one side, all of this unfenced. The block that we would be hunting on is leased by Martin and comprises of around 400,000 acres of prime hunting ground for big game and plains game, with no fences, no villages or people in sight.
I settled into the camp had some water as weather was very warm, Martin introduced me to the staff and showed me the place where I would be staying.
Accomidation at Matisti 5
The next few days we hunted Elephant and saw several herds and spent time glassing for bulls. It was nice to see several large herds of buffalo up to three hundred strong. Each day we would see several groups Daga bulls in small groups of 3 to 6 and boy were there some Big nice ugly bulls there that I would have love to have hunted, but my focus was to hunt Elephant first before I looked at any other game.
A few days after beginning the hunt we came across a large Elephant bull accompanied by his lone Askari bull. Me made a stalk on them making a long loop around them to come up on them so that we were about 20 yards away from the bigger bull, an old Elephant carrying decent ivory. I took the shot off the shooting sticks aiming at the point of the shoulder through the heart, at the shot he didn’t move and it was as though he lost all blood pressure, he just stood there swaying back and forward I made two more follow up shots and he was down.
Seeing him down was a series of mixed emotions, I spent a few moments alone with him before the rest of the hunting team came over to congratulate me. The rest of the day was sent on recovering the elephant.
In all this, I can say that Martin and his team were true hard-working professionals. Great fun to be with, they run a as good an operation as I have hunted with over countless years of hunting.
The only damper on the hunt came later in the week when Zimbabwe Parks reneged on the deal they had made for a discounted price on the Buffalo, when we wanted to hunt Buff the price was jacked up by $2000 per Buffalo from what we had been quoted before the hunt.
Martin was annoyed and made several calls and sent countless texts to Parks but to no avail.
I decided not to hunt Buffalo on principle. Not to be put-off we hunted Kudu which I was really after for a long time as I felt like I had a Kudu Voodoo and scored a lovely old Kudu in the 55 inch class. I had to chance to Shoot Sale and saw serval shootable Sable up to and over 45 inches, I could have shot other game but that was not for me.
Almost Daily we would see Roan, and saw Lions on the deck at the lodge looking down in the valley, I could hear them almost every morning grunting as they do. A day after shooting my Elephant we went back to look at what was left of it and found lions sitting on top of the remains of the elephant, amongst them a very nice male
My last days were spent unwinding fishing and shooting fowl and franklin.
In all I had a great time I shot and old Elephant bull which was all I really came for, I made some great friends and some wonderful memories.
Matisti 5 is a hunter’s paradise and the amount and quality of game is amazing to see.
Coming from Kenya where I have lived for the past 40 plus years it’s great to see how proper game management works in Zimbabwe, compared to weak excuse we have in Kenya.
I would not hesitate to Recommend Martin and his team @MARTIN PIETERS SAFARIS, we are already panning the next hunt with Martin.
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