ZIMBABWE: Elephant Hunt With Nyamazana Safaris

[edward]

Nope, I am not done yet. It was a hunt, not a shoot. It was long. It was hard. That's what she said.

you wish.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Zim hunt day 2 (May 25, 2017)

Our 4:30 wake-up call comes early. Apparently, the camp manager either cannot tell time, or his watch is off. Better early than late though. We have a quick breakfast and depart camp at 5am.

This time, I am better prepared, having worn an undershirt for added warmth. Along our way to the hunting area, we see lion tracks that are covering our tracks from the evening before. We don’t stop to check the size, but they stretch for several miles along the way and are headed away from the camp.

As we drive in the dark, I look through the tall grass and realize how futile it would be to look for anything at night. I can only see a few feet into the bush before everything is lost in the darkness. The thought of coming across a lion in those conditions is terrifying.

It is our third day in Zim and the second day of searching Gwayi for elephant. While we did not see one yesterday, we saw miles of tracks and lots of dung. We begin to scour the land where we have secured permission to hunt. It is roughly 60,000 acres, which puts it as just over four times the size of Manhattan Island. There are many trails through the ranch – so many that we cannot even drive them all in one day. While checking a new one that we did not get to the day before, we come across signs of a large bull. The dung is not yet cold, so we estimate it is just a couple hours old.

[The closest yet that I have gotten to an elephant so far]

Wayne stops the land cruiser and the trackers head off with the Zim Parks scout in hot pursuit of the tracks. They return within 20 minutes with the unfortunate news that the bull was headed out of our area and we would have no chance of catching him.

Back to work, we keep checking the trails for signs of elephant. I keep an eye out on the horizon for actual elephants while Wayne and the guys look for tracks. Soon, we screech to a halt and it is all hands on deck. There are lots of tracks, probably 16 inches across. The trackers converse and conclude it is an old cow. There are some younger ones with her, but no sign of a bull.

[Elephant tracks - easy to see on sand, but they disappear quickly when they get off the roads]

Trust, the guide from Gwayi, tells us there is water further ahead, so we keep pushing forward. Finally, we arrive at a mud hole. There are many prints in the mud and it is obvious that elephant were here recently – perhaps only a couple hours prior. An exhaustive search is conducted and there are no signs of a bull in this herd of what is likely at least seven elephants.

Everyone gathers around to discuss. One of the trackers, Cowboy, says we can follow this herd and see where they go. Wayne asks if he wants to follow these cows in the hopes that one magically becomes a bull. I try very hard not to laugh, but Wayne is right and it would be a waste of time to chase down a poor lead.

There is more water ahead, but the road will not get us all the way there. We go as close as we can drive and park in the shade. The trackers head to the waterhole while Wayne, Henco and I break for lunch. About half an hour after we stop, Henco breaks out the drone that was brought in for some video footage as part of my safari filming package with iGala Productions. We had already eaten and are getting quite restless. We cannot do anything until the trackers return. One might wonder why we don’t just sit at the waterhole and wait for elephants to come, but that is not the kind of hunting I am here for. One also might be inclined to think we can just send up a drone and find elephants, but that just isn’t so, given the dense canopy. We would not see one more than 20-30 yards out on the ground and visibility from the air is unlikely to be any better. Aside from that, it is also rather unsporting and quite possibly of dubious legality.

Henco cannot find our scouting party and so he flied the drone back and we wait. They arrive after another half hour with the bad news – one lone cow and a lot of baboons. While we did not find them with the drone, the trackers tell us they heard it, first thinking it was bees and then realizing they were hearing the drone propellers.

We drive back to the small village and drop off our local guide, who is very tired and Sam goes to buy some bread from the general store at Gwayi Station. I wander into one of the buildings and see a pool table and a bar, but the alcohol and the bartender are in a cage similar to the money room in a casino.

[Gwayi Station - a very, very poor part of rural Africa. Still cleaner than any city in India I have seen]

A local strikes up a conversation with me. He tells me that their people are happy to see hunters coming to their country. He then asks me if I like Trump. He gives me his political opinion, which amounts to him feeling that Trump has his own money and won’t need to steal any from the government. I do not ask him what he thinks about Mugabe.

I decide that tomorrow I will bring some U.S. Dollars with me and go shopping in their town. I don’t really need to buy anything, but want to give them some direct business. I see the school across the street get out and really wish I had room in my luggage to bring all the toys I had for them. I guess that will have to wait for Namibia in July.

[Unbeknownst to me at the time, this is one of the only times I will see this sign during daylight]

We head back to camp, but there is still some daylight left. As we get to the river crossing, I see shapes several hundred yards off in the distance. Sable is the initial assessment, but we don’t have a permit for sable. We decide to get out the drone and get some nice aerial shots. Before the drone is ready, we see that they are actual tsessebee. They are supposed to be the fastest antelope in the world, so it is time to see if they can live up to their reputation. Unfortunately, they are in a no fly zone, as the drone stops before it gets to them and simply will not go past some line drawn on the map. The drone comes back and we head towards the camp. Wayne takes an alternate route in and we see a large kudu bull dart across a clearing. I am not good a assessing trophy quality, but I can tell he has a large body. Henco estimates him around 54 inches. Although there are some plains game here, they are very scarce compared to what I saw back in Limpopo last August.

The bakkie pulls around the back side of the camp and to a large waterhole. There is the large elevated blind we saw yesterday – a fine rifle blind, to be sure, but worthless as a bow blind. Today, however, there is a new ground blind set up for bow use. I head over to inspect it. We open up some shooting lanes to allow for shots on one side of the water hole, giving distances of thirty yards to the far visible side and twelve and fifteen yards to the side nearest the blind. Unfortunately, we can only shoot about one third of the area around the water and there is no easy way to block off the other entry points to force the animals closer to our blind. This, coupled with the very low game population will make for a challenging bow blind, but I will work with the hand I am dealt.

Wayne shows me the mud near the blind where a large warthog has been. I still need one and this guy allegedly has tusks like a steering wheel. If the blue wildebeest is the poor man’s buffalo, perhaps the warthog is the poor man’s elephant?

We set up Go-Pro cameras and sit in the blind for a couple hours. The only animals to come besides some birds are a troupe of baboons. They are all on the other side of the waterhole and I do not get a shot opportunity. I ponder my time in Africa and the time to come. While I do not mind sitting in a blind, that is not why I came to Zimbabwe. Wayne is a very perceptive man and probably senses this is not the hunting experience I was looking for. I do not say a word but we never come back to the blind again.

We head back to camp. Wi-Fi is still not working. Cloud comes out with some impala stew for dinner, along with chicken soup. It is very good. I eat dinner quickly and head to bed. After two days of steady hunting, I have yet to even see an elephant – any elephant. I am not worried. I have many days left and there are signs of them all over, so it is just a matter of time. I grab my journal, write down the day’s events and get some sleep.

 

[rinehart0050]

Great report so far! I'm on the edge of my seat waiting for updates! Keep it coming...

 

[Neale]

Great story so far, I am keen to hear the rest of your adventure

 

[Ridge Top Ranch]

Thanks for the update. I am hunting in the same general area with Wayne's outfit in early August for elephant and can't wait to see how your hunt turns out.

 

[cpr0312]

Thanks for sharing about your time in town! I also enjoyed my time is an few towns along the way in Zim this past May

 

[Shootist43]

Good so far, we're waiting for the rest of the story.

 

[BRICKBURN]

 

[AfricaHunting.com]

 

[mrpoindexter]

I really should have turned the tracking off and on each day to make it easier to break the days apart in the map. Next time...

 

[edward]

ive made pop corn,ready for the rest of the story.

 

[ChrisG]

This is a great play by play of your safari!! Keep it coming!

 

[mrpoindexter]

Zim hunt day 3 (May 26, 2017)

With two days of unsuccessful hunting behind us, we get back at it. I cannot say we are doubling our efforts because everybody is already giving 100%, aside from the Zim Parks game scout, who seems about as interested in this hunt as my youngest daughter is in watching the news.

[Up way before dawn, we have already been on the road for over an hour by the time the sunrise starts]

At 6:45am, we find our first signs of a good track. We pursue the track, but the elephant leaves the area. This is a bit frustrating. Although there are no fences, as if one could really fence in a determined elephant, we cannot just follow the elephants anywhere. We have permits that allow us to hunt them and have two tags, but the rural district councils control the lands. Farms that once belonged to the previous white farmers now have been given to locals. Of course, given is a loose term. They were taken without compensation to the previous owners, many of whom were either killed or fled the country. The new owners have now been told they will have to pay the government for the land that was given to them. I doubt that money will make it back to the previous owners, but that is another story completely unrelated to hunting elephants.

Every rural area we want to hunt must be negotiated and they may not agree to the same fees that were negotiated with a neighboring ranch. In fact, once one new high price is heard, all people want that same price, even if their land is not as good, not as well maintained or as easy to hunt on. The area the elephant went into is going to cost 25% more for the trophy fee. Wayne gives me the bad news and the choice. We can go back to the original area at our agreed upon price and look for another elephant, or we can agree to the higher fee and track this elephant on the new ranch.

I opt to move on to this new area. After all, the fee is only due if we shoot the elephant. If we catch up to him and he is a tuskless bull or otherwise not a good specimen, we can always pass. And if he is magnificent, then the little bit extra is just par for the course. This is Africa. Besides, I didn’t even see an elephant in the old area, which was crazy thick. Perhaps this will be a better area for the hunt. If not, we can always go back.

[Big elephant tracks, with my feet visible for scale. Those are size 10 Courteney Selous boots]

Around 10am, our tracking crew is sent out to investigate some tracks we saw where an elephant crossed a road. We take a bit of a break and when the crew heads back, we are a little slow to react, but there is a great commotion. We hear yelling and I hear somebody say “dogs” so at first I think there are painted dogs harassing them or hyenas or something. Instead, I see somebody not from our group running, being chased by our trackers and a dog is running after him as well. I am a-ways off and currently unarmed and as such, relatively unable to help.

Apparently, our guys were following an elephant track when they came across two poachers with their dogs. The poachers immediately ran and our guys gave chase. Once the one poacher I saw crossed the road, some of our scouts disappeared into the bush after him and I hear a dog give a very loud cry that can only mean one thing. One of our scouts has killed the dog. Wayne is visibly upset by this. “They didn’t have to kill the dog” and I can understand his thinking. After all, the dog didn’t do anything “wrong” other than do what he was trained to do. That aside, tracking and hunting dogs are not pets, they are tools of a trade. In the wrong hands, they are tools to assist I poaching and to let the poacher keep his tools just makes it easier for him to continue poaching. If it were a weapon, nobody would feel it was wrong to take it away from him. As the dog couldn’t be captured, it was killed. It is unfortunate, but life can be hard out here.

[Anti-poaching patrolman. Hunting fees pay for most of the anti-poaching efforts here]

After that is cleared up, we head into the bush to follow the trail that Sam and Cowboy had found. With all the commotion, I forgot to bring my GPS tracker. Luckily, I don’t need it. I don’t even know if Derek got my email and if the web site that displays the map of our travels is working. Still, I should try and remember to bring it. No sense having a tool if you are not going to use it.

We track elephants all over the bush. They are obviously on edge, probably in part because of the poachers. As we head out, we come across some food and signs of a make-shift camp. This was not from the poachers – another hunting party was here. That would explain the elephants being upset. It also makes Wayne upset, as we were supposed to have exclusive access here during our hunt. Nyamazana Safaris had put a lot of time and money into repairing roads and making the area huntable in exchange for being able to hunt here exclusively. Once it was improved, the locals saw the chance to make some extra money by double booking the land, apparently. I expect some words to be exchanged over that at some very near point in time. Wayne is actually more upset than I am right now.

We head back to camp, stopping in Gwayi Station for some of the trackers to buy some bread. I wander into the only bar in town and talk to one of the locals. He is happy to have American hunters here. We are hated back at home by most it seems, but over here we are well liked. They need the revenue and the jobs. Since the trophy fees are paid to the rural district councils, I guess that cuts out a lot of the levels of corruption that keeps the locals more interested in conserving the value of their wildlife. Given that my one hunt seems to be employing 8 people here, 7 of them from Zimbabwe, I am already a decent sized, abeit short term, local employer. I decide I need to bring some cash and spend some money here in the stores to help the local economy. I find it interesting that the person I spoke with, a policeman, did not like the South African hunters much but did like the Americans. I am guessing there is a back story on that involving South African PH’s and outfitters operating here in Zim, but I am not really privy to all the details there.

[Sunset and we have not even left the hunting area yet - these are VERY long days of hard hunting]

We head home, have some dinner and make plans for the following day. As luck would have it, we have Internet and I catch up on some emails. There are over 1,000 in my inbox, plus a lot of texts, WhatsApp messages and also Facebook Messenger is exploding too. I don’t get a lot of sleep, but I do get to talk to friends and family a little bit. My friend Derek did get the GPS map and I decide to put a link to it on AfricaHunting.com to let some others check it out if they want.

 

[CTDolan]

This is awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience. For many of us, it's as close to hunting an elephant as we'll get.

 

[mrpoindexter]

In a few months, the video should be finished with its editing and you might get even closer.

 

[edward]

my wife and i have been 5 times but i love hearing about the hunts that take place anywhere.

 

[mrpoindexter]

Zim hunt day 4 (May 27, 2017)

I wake up very energized. As much as I like to unplug from the world when I hunt, it is nice to know the connection is still available in the event of an emergency – not that I can do much about it from so far away.

We hurry out of camp and head straight to Hankano, our new hunting area. We still have permission to hunt at Gwayi Ranch should we need to head back there.

[So beautiful. So much potential for sheer terror waiting just under the surface. I opt not to go for a swim]

Each day hunting with no progress further than the previous day starts to feel like dating a woman who just isn’t ready for that big step. You enjoy the dates, but never seem to get around the bases. I am beginning to feel like I have been friendzoned by the elephants, even though they treat me more like a frenemy – they don’t answer when I call and won’t come to any of my parties.

[Elephant print with my size 10 Courteney boot print inset, both starting at the same point in the back]

We scout for hours on end, sending out tracking parties to investigate signs of elephant activity, only to have them repeatedly turn into dead ends. While I know that we are still early in on in the hunt schedule, the enthusiasm is beginning to wane, until…

Our trackers come back to camp, telling us they have found the elephants. There are at least 3 cows and a bull. They did not see them but could hear them eating. We head towards their last known location and… nothing. We look around and find little to go on. In frustration, we just sit and think and then hear a loud crack – the kind of crack that can only come from the breaking of a tree – not a twig or branch but a full grown limb. Everybody springs into action, heading single file towards the sound. We see some dung – hot and fresh. A little further along, we see some more dung, this time with a puddle next to it with water (urine) still standing in it. Wayne says it is a cow, as the puddle is behind the droppings. If it was a bull, the puddle would be in front. We press forward a little more and we can hear them in the distance. I am getting excited because this is as close as we have gotten.

All of a sudden, I get this whiff of an aroma that I immediately recognize. They say that smell is the strongest sense for bringing back memories and I am suddenly transported to the Fresno Zoo. I actually SMELL elephants. Not their dung or urine, but the actual animals. I can feel my pulse race. As we turn round a bit of brush, Wayne waves me forward and asks Sam to bring the sticks. He gets rather impatient as he knows how fleeting this window of opportunity can be and Sam has taken over one second to bring the sticks up.

I look through the brush and see the elephants eating – pulling branches off the trees with their trunks and stuffing their faces. We see a couple normal cows, a tuskless cow and a big, full bodied bull. I am not an elephant expert – his tusks don’t look really long but they look very, very fat. I see the dark gray crease on his bluish gray skin. I put the rifle on the sticks, get in firing position and look through the scopes to see a brownish body in the crosshairs. Wayne tells me not to shoot. I am glad I did not pull the trigger trying to rush the shot, as the tuskless cow had stepped in front of the bull. I take a deep breath to wait for the cow to move.

Suddenly, the wind changes direction and they are off, trumpets blaring and absolutely destroying anything in their path. If it was in front of the elephant and smaller than a tree with a twelve in thick trunk, it either was brushed aside or completely flattened.

[A tree is no match for an elephant in a hurry]

We give chase, but slow up a bit when Henco tells me to stop and step to the left. I immediately do as told. I look to the right and at first don’t see it. There just a few inches from where I was standing is a puff adder. I am thankful I did not step on it, although the adder probably wishes I stepped on him instead of the elephant. It looks like one of the cows stepped on him as they fled. We can see part of its guts have come out the side.

Grabbing a stick, Wayne pushes the adder under the tree and out of the path. We continue onwards, but at a little slower of a pace. After a long trek, we hear the elephants, but they are not close yet. We push to close the gap, but lose sight of the trail and cannot hear them. There is a bit of a discussion between the trackers. Wayne says to go with the locals and so we follow Patrick towards the elephants. I no longer see signs of fresh spoor and soon we stop and have lost the elephants. I hear some heated discussions and though I cannot speak whatever language they are using, I can make out enough to know what has happened. Our local guide can track, but he hunts mostly on instinct. He was taking us to where he felt the elephants were going. Wayne’s crew just follows the trail we are on instead of leaving the trail to look for where they think elephants will be.

Maybe instinctive hunting works sometimes and for some game, but in my mind, a lot of it is luck. Getting lucky is great, but luck is not a strategy. We head home empty handed, but had some great excitement and nearly got a shot on my elephant, were it not for both a tuskless cow blocking my shot and the wind screwing our party, coupled with an error in tracking.

Henco and I are getting along great and I am looking forward not only to seeing the footage, but also the future hunts we have scheduled. I mention my long term plans and we write up a series of hunts that will accomplish those goals an impressive list of 17 hunts, with 10 of them in Africa. This will take me many years to finish. I am happy to have so much to look forward to.

[On our way home, we happen across two porcupine in the road. They won't leave the rut for 5 minutes until Henco chases them off the road]

[An orb spider we came across. Don't know if it is deadly or not, so we treat it as such. Better safe than sorry.]

 

[mrpoindexter]

I figured out how to select a date/time range, but it looks like the times are not lining up with what they are supposed to be. Here is the travel on the 27th. Local time should be Pacific Time +9 hours but it isn't. I will have to figure out the correct shift and then can upload every day's travel log individually.

This should be the travel for the 27th...

 

[cpr0312]

Enjoying the updates!

 

[CTDolan]

Agreed, completely. The updates are precious, priceless. Keep them coming!