MOZAMBIQUE: Chapungu-Kambako Safaris

[Ryan Brown]

It is 10:45 am on Sunday October 20th, 2024, my wife and I are on a united airlines flight sitting on the ramp at the Fort Collins Colorado airport. This flight was supposed to have landed at the Denver international airport at 9:00am where we would have a two and a half hour layover before the next leg of our journey would take us to Newark international airport and then onto Johannesburg South Africa where we would overnight at the city lodge hotel and then travel on to Pemba in Mozambique which we would then fly to Kambako safaris main camp in the L8 block of the Niassa reserve where we would then spend our next ten days on safari hunting Cape buffalo and the other endemic species of the Niassa and maybe a few others. We would then conclude our safari with two days of relaxation and recovery at the Pemba beach lodge before beginning our journey home.

As we are sitting in Fort Collins awaiting the fog to lift so that we can land in Denver or, so we are told by the flight crew. I am beginning to think that this trip may be over before it starts. We are shortly after notified that the air traffic controller has given clearance to land in Denver and should be there in fifteen minutes Which would leave us with fifteen minutes to catch our connecting flight to Newark. When we landed in Denver it was mad dash to get to our flight gate which is located on the opposite end of the terminal from where we have arrived. We are the last two people aboard the plane, and we quickly get settled before we are told that there is a mechanical issue, and it would be about fifteen minutes before we would be able to take off. I have a little chuckle due to this but at least my anxiety has been relieved. After about an hour we are given clearance to take off on our way to Newark. The flight to Newark is uneventful. We were placed in a holding pattern above Lake Erie before we could continue to Newark. I am also finally given a chance to purchase a sandwich and have a coke as I have not had anything to eat all day to this point as nothing was served on board our flight from Lubbock to Denver via Fort Collins.

Landing in Newark is a neat experience as I get to see New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty without having to go to New York. We find a little Italian restaurant inside the Newark airport close to our departure gate for Johannesburg flight where we must order our food from an app and pay for it before we will be served. Soon after we finish eating, we can board our flight to Johannesburg, and we find that another couple were trying to claim our seats to which I told the gentleman and showed him that his seats were in the center aisle and not by the window where we have had these seats booked since February. As the couple was getting settled the gentleman found a flight attendant while rambling about the seats he paid for and who he was or thinks he was. Soon after he and his wife are seated in a row in front of us on the opposite side of the cabin. As we settle in our seats, I am thinking that upgrading to premium plus on United’s 787-9 Dreamliner was worth the extra money. We are finally able to place our back packs in overhead compartments and able to put our feet on the floor and stretch our legs a little. This flight will be delayed for an hour and a half due to the kitchen not having power.

The onboard entertainment is ok. I watch bad boys ride or die, the fall guy, walk hard, the watchers along with the flight map. I find it hard to sleep on the flight, but I do dose in and out for a few hours and while watching movies. I also try to move around from time to time. After 15 hours of flight time, we finally arrived in Johannesburg. A courier from Gracy travel meets us. He will escort us through customs where our passports are briefly checked. The courier tells us that united has checked our bags all the way through to Pemba and we would not need to claim them tonight. The courier then hands my wife and I over to Gracy’s man on the ground in Johannesburg, Bruce. He takes us to the South African police where I find my rifle case. Bruce gives me the original gun permit and then we are quickly off to the city lodge hotel Where we will spend the night before continuing to Pemba. Bruce gets us checked in quickly and tells us he will meet us at 8:30 tomorrow morning.

 

[Ryan Brown]

The next morning, we have the continental breakfast buffet that is included with our room. After breakfast we are met by Bruce who escorts us through check in with Airlink and through security where we are then on our own to wait for our flight to board. While waiting I see two other hunters wearing hats from their booking agent who I knew also books hunts for Kambako. I asked them where they were headed and introduced myself after finding out that they were hunting with Kambako. The only difference is that we would not be hunting out of the same camp. They would be hunting out of a new camp, and I would be hunting out of the main camp. They were excited to be hunting out of the new camp and I could not blame them.

On the airlink flight to Pemba we were seated next to the bathroom in the very last row of the plane. I do not know how we lacked such great seats after having booked the flight 8 months earlier. During the flight one of the passengers left the bathroom door open, to which the large gentleman sitting across the aisle did take offense too. He slammed the bathroom door for the other passenger and the door locked itself in the process. It was not long before that quite a few other passengers would make their way to the bathroom only to turn around and make their way back to their seats thinking the bathroom was occupied. After about fifteen minutes of this, the other passengers began to ask questions and finally the flight attendant was retrieved to unlock the door. The bathroom received a steady stream of passengers until landing in Pemba After the door was unlocked.

Upon arrival we were met by Kambako’s pilot and other guys on the ground to assist with our luggage and help us through customs as quickly as possible. Communication with the officials was a little difficult as I could not understand or hear what the official was asking. With a little help from our new friends this was quickly mitigated, and we were on our way quickly after paying for my rifle or ammo. The Kambako staff were particularly good at getting my gun and ammo through customs check and we soon were on our way to camp. One of the things I liked about Kambako was that they owned their own plane, and they included transportation to camp at their base price. The flight to camp was about an hour and a half and quite enjoyable. With five of us onboard along with all our luggage, I would say that the little Cessna was maxed out on its weight capacity. I bet from the ground that plane could have been easily mistaken for a kite. Even with that the flight was smooth and we leveled off shortly before arriving at camp.

 

[Safari1]

Can’t wait!

 

[Ryan Brown]

There are three Land Cruisers waiting for us upon landing. We were quickly met by our new friends PHs AJ and Albe. We begin sorting out our luggage. Shortly after my PH, Ryan Cliffe met us and gathered our bags. We all then headed to the rifle range where we would all check our rifles zero. Ryan tells me to let the other guys shoot first since they had an hour and a half drive to the new camp and that we were at camp. The other guys would be using camp rifles. The first was given a Sako .375 and upon firing the first shot the rifle jammed and would not eject the spent cartridge. Ryan then took it upon himself to run grab a ramrod to free the brass.

While waiting, the other guy shot the Winchester model seventy .375. A couple of quick shots and he was good to go. While we were waiting on Ryan, AJ and Albe decided I should go ahead and check my rifle. I get set up and fire. My shot is good. I quickly here bullseye. It is good to go. I then have a quick show and tell. AJ and Albe seemed pleased with my setup. I am shooting a Dakota Model 76 .375 H&H mag. It wears a Trijicon Accupoint 2.5 - 12.5x and it shoots better than I do. It is just a well-built working rifle without all the frills. I am amazed that this rifle has traveled over 9,000 miles and has held it’s zero.

Ryan returns with the ramrod and the Sako is quickly back in action. Ryan and I then quickly have a conversation about shooting sticks. He uses quad sticks which I have never tried, and I have brought along my bog pod which I have been practicing with. He touts the benefits of the quad sticks to which I agree they are steadier than the bog pod and I would use his sticks and off to camp we went.

We met the camp manager as soon as we pulled up to the main lodge where we are given a quick tour and offered a beverage and snacks before dinner which consisted of popcorn, Kudu biltong and a game meat toothpick shish kabob thing that was quite tasty. At the bar there were a couple of kids in their twenties along with a wife to one of them. I introduce myself and my wife and try to exchange pleasantries and ask how their hunt had been going. They were also from Texas and one of them had just graduated from tech which gave us some common ground. We find out that the wife had only gone out into the field once since they had been there and that she had been miserable the entire time she had been there due to the heat and not being able to escape it.

We were then notified that our room was ready, and we could get a tour and get settled before dinner. The room is nice and spacious. There is air conditioning although it is still extremely hot. The air conditioner seems like it needs refrigerant as it is not blowing cool air but seems to be running fine otherwise. They turn off the generators around midnight and back on at 3:00 in the morning. They also turn off the generators during the heat of the day from noon until 2:00. We are advised to open the windows and bathroom door during the night to let the breeze help cool everything down. We found the nights to be very warm in the rooms and we never slept under the sheets, but we never had any trouble going to sleep at the end of the day. The room also has a big closet with plenty of room to unpack all our stuff and keep it organized. The shower is also quite large with a wood slat floor. It does not take long, and we are quickly settled and ready for dinner.

We returned to the main lodge to have another Manica and watched the sunset over the Lugenda, which is quite spectacular and something I do not think I could ever tire of watching. I notice that there is a smaller table with seats for five and the large dining table has places set for seven. The rest of the large dining table is empty. I did not think anything about this at the time. Ryan joins us at the bar as the sun is finishing its spectacular conclusion to the day. We finish our drinks, and we are told that starters are ready and shown to the small table. The camp manager Shawnee and the pilot Franz also join us at the small table. We are served meat pie as they called it. I think of it as a beef empanada and find it quite tasty along with the sauce with which it was served. Shortly after the other family that is in camp is seated at the main table with their PHs Darren and Paul. The main course is buffalo potjie. It is delicious. It is a stew served in a little cast iron pot that is dumped over rice.

The dinner conversation consists of Ryan and I discussing the priorities of the hunt and our daily routine. My list is originally composed of Buffalo, bushbuck, eland, hartebeest, impala, sable, suni, wildebeest and, zebra. I tell Ryan that Buffalo and Eland are at the top of the list along with sable and wildebeest. He asks if there is anything that is not on my list that I may be interested in, to which I respond that I had regretted not adding red duiker to the list. He tells me that we can add the red duiker and asks about warthog. I respond that I may be interested if we can find a nice big one. He also asks about Kudu. I tell him that I would be interested if we could find one that was in fifty-five-inch range like the euro mount that hangs by the main entrance to the lodge. It is settled. We have our priorities, and we also establish our wakeup call would be 4:00. We also establish that we would have coffee and toast at the lodge and have our breakfast on a bun to go. The truck would also need to be stocked with fifty bottles of water.

Ryan tells Shyenne that he would be extremely impressed if she could handle doing all ten days with us as he feels that the area is very hard on a woman. Shyenne then establishes her priorities for the safari. She feels that she would be on a every other day schedule with us in the field and that she would also like to have her camp days to recover and enjoy the pool. Her only expectation for the safari is to be there for me and she wants to see elephants. She loves elephants and always tells me that I cannot shoot one. I have always told her that I cannot agree to this. To which she always responds fine, but she cannot be there. I think she would have no problem having some tusks or any other elephant products around the house.

 

[Ryan Brown]

It is 1:00 and I am wide awake. I toss and turn for a little while trying to go back to sleep for a while. It is just too hot, and I have been sweating all night. Finally, I hear the generators crank up and not long after we get our wake-up call. A guy comes to the door and says “knock, knock. To which I can only respond by saying knock, knock. This will become my morning routine for the rest of the safari. As we drink our coffee in the main lodge, we are reminded about the rain that Niassa received about a week before our arrival and how needed it was. We are also told that not all the reserve received rain. It sounds like it was quite scattered but amounted to an inch in some places. We finish our coffee and decide it is time to head out as the animals have had time to make some tracks.

We headed out of the camp to the east. We are greeted by tons of white flowers on all the bushes as soon as we leave camp and there are thousands on all the bushes as far as we could see. It is almost magical. We cross a river Ryan calls the nicandorsche and drive down the road a couple of more miles. We come to a crossing and notice that there is a white cloth tied to one of the trees at the crossing. We take a right following the cloth and it is not long, and the game has decided to greet us. We start seeing impala and then warthogs. Soon we see a herd of Sable and then wildebeest and then a herd of buffalo. The Land Cruiser comes to a stop and the trackers pile out along with Ryan. Ryan then decides to fill me in as I have been sitting in the high seat watching all this play out wondering what I am going to shoot first as all the game was right here surrounding us everywhere we could go. The trackers had seen a track that piqued their interest. I had seen game everywhere that had peaked mine. I had not even thought of looking for a track. We walk around the road to see what we see, and we notice fresh lion tracks in the road directly in front of the Land Cruiser. We are 30 minutes out of camp, and I cannot believe how much game we have already seen.

The trackers come back to the truck and have a conversation with Ryan in Shona. I am listening intently to try to follow along and figure out about what they are talking. Ryan then informs me that they have seen a nice wildebeest track of an old bull that is probably with the herd that we have just seen. Ryan then informs me that there is a water hole up the road that a lot of game has been using and that we should go check it out as he’s seen eland and buffalo there before. If nothing worked out at the waterhole we would come back and follow the wildebeest track.

We continued down the road, soon after a couple of villagers from the community about thirty miles away. They head to the river on their bicycles. Next, we come across a motorbike with three people on it. Shyenne then tells me out the window that these people were going to see the witch doctor. It is not long since we turned off the road onto another and drove a little way. We park the truck and begin walking into the water hole. I wind up being next to the last in line as we approach the water hole. We stopped a couple of times and Ryan glasses as we do. I cannot see anything as I am downhill from him. As we crest the hill, I see a herd of buffalo running off. My excitement level is rising. We make our way down to the water and Ryan informs me that he had also seen eland by the water. I am informed that there are tons of fresh tracks around this water hole. Eland, Buffalo, sable, wildebeest had all drank here this morning. The trackers begin to sort out the Buffalo tracks and Ryan looks at the eland tracks. We find fresh eland scat and a nice track. Ryan decides that we should track the eland as the Buffalo would go and lie down and we could pick them up in the afternoon.

 

[Ryan Brown]

Ryan signals for the trackers and we wait a few minutes for them to rejoin us. While we are waiting a group of three young Buffalo approach the water hole between us and the trackers. One of the young bulls drops his head and flicks his horns back while staring at us with his piercing eye. Then the group decides to retreat. I smirked and commented on how cool that was.

The team has regrouped. Samual, our lead tracker, takes the lead followed by Ryan and me. Shyenne would follow me, and Julio would bring up the rear. Now that we have our line in order, we set off hot on the track of the eland. We end up heading south for a few hundred yards and then west for about a mile or more while Ryan points out the track along the way. Ryan keeps me clued in on what is happening as we go. I am keenly intent on trying to figure out all the conversation between Ryan and Samual as we go. Ryan tells me that the eland is just walking occasionally browsing on some of the green leaves. It is not long, and we come to an area where the bull has bedded, and it takes Samual and Julio a little bit to get it sorted out. After a few minutes and a nice water break, Ryan tells us that the eland had smelt us due to the wind swirling throughout this huge bowl that we had been making a huge half circle around the low point which seems to be our water hole and, had taken off running before we saw them. We could hear their hooves as they galloped off in the distance. We decided to stay on the track as we were quite a distance from anything at this point. A short distance later I am told that the eland had started walking again and that we still might have a chance at him.

We walk another mile or so, still hot on the track the eland. All the while we have a nice dance of ducking and weaving through the myriad of the miombo Forrest. We have reached another spot where the trackers must sort out what the eland has been doing and what is going on. I looked to my left and I spotted a herd of buffalo bulls lying down in the shade about fifty yards away from where we were. No one else has seen them as if everyone were focused on the eland tracks and, now they have been alerted to our presence and stand up to have a look at us. Ryan quickly gets the sticks, and we try to sort out if there is a shooter in the group. I briefly see his horns and can tell he is a nice bull and hard bossed before he goes behind a large tree obstructing my view. Ryan then tells me to shoot him but, I am only seeing a soft bossed young bull. I asked where the bull was. He had come back out on the other side of the tree and has another bull behind him. I hesitate and then they are gone. Ryan tells me that it was as good as it is going to be, and I must be ready to shoot.

Ryan decides that we should continue to follow the Eland track and that we can come back and pick up the Buffalo tracks after lunch as they would not go far. They were bedded right next to the road. We are now heading back north in a feverish pace to make up our lost time on the eland. We are now entering a different habitat as the terrain is changing into more sandy soil and the trees are creating a denser canopy above us. We can feel the day getting hotter and hotter. We have now made it back to the nicandorsh where the track leads us across the river. Shyenne now needs a break as we have just crossed a series of small ravines and the river. She had been carrying her camera case in a fanny pack along with a camel back that has every other thing that she thinks she could possibly need for this trek. Ryan is disappointed as he tells us we were getting remarkably close to catching the eland. Nevertheless, we take a break for water and eat our breakfast sandwiches at this point. We decided she could leave the camera bag behind, and that Godfrey would come pick it up in the truck.

 

[Ryan Brown]

After a few minutes I saw the truck coming down the river and I realized that we had almost completed our circle. The backpacks are quickly reloaded with water, and we continue to follow the track. We go a few hundred yards and discover that the eland had bedded down while we took a break. He must have seen us pop up from the river and taken off. Ryan looks like his heart is broken. Samual and Julio seem extremely disappointed as well. Ryan tells us that we now have no chance and need to produce a new plan. They may be disappointed, but I cannot believe the morning we have just had. It is the morning off the first day of my first safari and it was full of excitement.

We decide that we should return to the witch doctor water hole that we had been at this morning to wait out the heat of the day, have lunch and take a siesta. This sounds wonderful to me as the jet lag is catching up to me and I am tired. Our first bush lunch is the same fried meat pie that we had the night before for starters and some game meat that is thinly sliced and makes a great sandwich on the freshly baked rolls that are included. Ryan tells us that he likes to have lunch at water holes as you never know what will come in and when. He also tells us that the zebra we saw when approaching this water hole earlier this morning would return. As we eat lunch, I drink more water than I eat as it gets extremely hot. I also kick off my shoes with the intention of putting on my gaiters before we get going again. I knew that I should have had them on before we left camp this morning and I paid the price by getting sand in my shoes when crossing the river.

Shortly after finishing lunch and I just began to dose off. Just as I was almost asleep, Shyenne kicked me in the leg. I jerked my head up to hear her say zebra. Just as soon as I located them, I grabbed my gun and tried to get my shoes back on while trying to wake up Ryan. The zebra had made it about twenty yards from us before retreating after our commotion. Ryan grabs the sticks, and we make our way around the truck. He tells me the one in the back is the stallion and to shoot. I get on his shoulder and fire. Ryan says I hit him good. He can see blood pumping out. We lose sight of the zebra as they go over a hill. We quickly try to regroup and go after them. I feel like my shot was good. The trackers have now joined us following the blood trail. Ryan begins to fear that we have a long tracking job ahead of us as we work our way to the top of the hill. Some quick scanning from the top reveals the zebra down about fifty yards from us. The zebra had gone about three hundred yards from where I shot him. The shot was through the liver. I cannot believe where the shot hit the stallion. I thought I had made a good shot. I am also relieved as I had begun to think the worst had happened. My first African animal is a boehm’s zebra.

 

[Ryan Brown]

I am thrilled but still replaying the shot in my head. We make quick work of our one hundred photo session. Ryan calls on the radio to see if there is a recovery vehicle that can meet us and records one shot fired, and the result is a zebra at 1:30pm. We are lucky as the truck is only a few miles away from us and it would not take long to catch up with it. He is a nice old stallion with many missing teeth. The ones that remain are on the gum line. I could not be prouder of the zebra we have just taken. We then go to meet the recovery truck down the road a few miles to unload the zebra and return to take up the Buffalo tracks.

It is now 2:30 pm and we have made our way back to where we left the Buffalo earlier in the day. We have been on the tracks for about an hour. We are in a quick pace as the ground has now become barren and the trees are charred up to about four feet as this area has recently burned. We continue with the same dance that we went through this morning with ducking and weaving as the barren trees have now become spaced no more than four feet apart in any direction you cared to go. All the while, I am still replaying the zebra shot in my head wondering what might have happened with my shot placement. This must also be prime habitat for the mopani flies as their numbers have increased tenfold. Ryan tells us that a second bull has joined the big track that we have been following and that we are getting close. My excitement kicks up a notch.

We can now see the end of the thicket we have been making our way through. I start to look around and see the two bulls grazing on the side of a ravine that is full of lush new green grass growth. I say buffalo to which everyone notices all at the same time. One bull is at the top of the ravine and has a white face and worn-out polished horns. The other bull I at the bottom of the ravine and we do not get a good look at him as he is grazing with us head down. We are about seventy-five yards away from them with the wind parallel to both of our positions. Ryan quickly plans a stalk and without saying a word we quickly begin to backtrack while skirting the thicket we have just escaped. We have now gone about a hundred yards, and we have dropped off the rest of the party off while we approached Buffalo with the wind directly into our face. I cannot help but notice how good the wind now feels as the day begins quickly cooling off.

We are now fifty yards from the bull that is at the top of the ravine. Ryan tells me to shoot him. As soon as he tells me to shoot him, I ask about the bull in the ravine that is now twenty yards from us and facing us. He then changes his mind and tells me to shoot the one in the ravine. I ask where he wants the shot, and he says the head just as the bull lowers it. He then tells me to shoot. To which I ask again where he wants it. He tells me to shoot him in the neck. I fire. I see him drop in my scope. My shot was good. We then approached a few yards closer, and I put an insurance shot in his heart. He then tells me to put in another one for good measure. It is done. I have taken my Buffalo on day one of my first safari just as the sun starts to set.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Looking forward to the rest of the report. I didn't have to flash that far back to remember being on that same plane with Franz as our pilot this past July.

 

[MontanaPat]

Congrats on a good first day. Nice buff and zebra

 

[Ryan Brown]

It is 4:30am and I hear a guy at the door saying knock, knock to which I reply knock, knock. I was out as soon as I got to the room the night before. The light had even been left on in the room. I feel as if I could very easily sleep a bit longer but get dressed and head to the lodge. Ryan is already there waiting with Darren. I join them for coffee and toast. Ryan tells me that he had been hunting out of the northern camp for a couple of weeks before I arrived and that we would go check a couple of water holes where he had some baits and trail cams that needed to be retrieved. We would also see what we see.

The first waterhole we came to had dried up and we decided that we did not need to come back to this one. We retrieved a trail cam and dropped the bait. Godfrey could not get the truck started so we walked out. A little check revealed that the battery cables were loose. The cables were quickly tightened, and we were on our way to the next water hole.

At the next water hole, we crossed paths with a common duiker. Ryan asked if I was interested to which I replied yes. We get out and get on the sticks. I can’t find the duiker in the scope. It takes several minutes and a lot of back and forth before I finally elevate my position and find the duiker had been just under my field of view while looking through the scope. The sticks were set up too high for me. I get on the duiker and fire. I miss. The duiker retreats to a further position to where the sticks are set up again. Again, I have the same problem. I cannot see the duiker, but Ryan can. I again get on the duiker and fire. I miss it again. This time the duiker is gone. At this point I am getting frustrated with the quad sticks. I am finding them clumsy and awkward. I have been practicing with a bog pod for 10 years that I have on the truck. That is my comfort zone. Ryan calls in my misses and we continue along to the waterhole. We then find fresh lion tracks and realize that we are not going to find any game here although we do find good water.

We move on to the next water hole where this trail cam had been pointed at the ground instead of the tree with the leopard bait in it. This was caused by an elephant rubbing himself on this tree. It is now decided that we should stop for lunch wherever we can find good shade. Just around the corner we are greeted by klipspringers. They are not on quota but still cool to see. We find a sausage tree that has adequate shade. We find a foot long with Bors worst for lunch in our lunchbox. A few mama warthogs and their babies decide to join us and then we take a short siesta.

After lunch we go back to the witch doctor water. We find a lot of tracks but nothing worth pursuing. We notice that a lot of game has been drinking here as the water is noticeably less than it was yesterday. I take a moment to go back and look at the spot from where I shot the zebra. I am convinced that the shot was deflected off a tree. We then go to another water hole that Ryan had a trail cam and bait at. This camera had also been knocked around by an elephant. It also had several pics of lions on it. A couple of young males.

We continue to the next one now heading back in the direction of camp. As we come upon this waterhole, we see a herd of hartebeest run off. We continued and we saw some sable and waterbucks. There are impala and bushbuck and zebras also meandering around the water. We see what we think is a huge sable on the other side of a dry river. Ryan asks if I want to go after him and I say yes. It is not long after we cross the river that we bump into an old waterbuck with a broken horn. Ryan asks if I want to take him. I am not interested. I have just seen a magnificent Sable. We saw several nice bulls but nothing like this one.

We try to continue but the waterbuck and now impala are keeping themselves between us and the sable. We decided that this stalk would be fruitless, but we would return here and look for him again. There is just too much game and too many eyes on us. We set a trail camera to see if we can get a better look at him while drinking. The sun is now quickly fading, and we start our way back to camp.

Along the way we stopped for refreshments, and I decided to go pee. I take a couple of steps from the truck. The ground is covered with several layers of leaves in what looks like an old burn area. As I am relieving myself, I look down and see a small snake on the ground in between my feet. It is a foot and a half long, small, skinny, and black. It appears lethargic but, I decide that I am done and quickly step away. I told the rest of the truck what had just happened, and they seemed uninterested. I think the snake may have been just looking for a drink. Nevertheless, I am going to keep my eyes open a little wider. I am convinced it was a baby black mamba. Ryan tells me a lot of people say it is good luck to see a snake while hunting. We also decided that we need Shyenne back on the truck after all the luck we had yesterday and the little we have had today.

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

Your post on the zebra and buff were hitting while I was posting, well done!

 

[Ryan Brown]

It is 4:00am and we receive our knock, knock wake up call. I am quickly ready as I was up a little earlier this morning as nature called. There were hippos eating grass around our room while I was up. I spent a little while trying to get a look at them, but I never could see them as the thatched roof was obstructing my view. I head to the lodge while Shyenne is getting ready. Ryan and Darren are already there, and I join them for coffee and toast. Ryan decides that we should go back to the witch doctor water and see what we see. If we don’t see anything there, we should go back to the sable water hole. It sounds like a plan to me.

We headed out of camp back towards the airstrip this morning. As we get to the airstrip, the truck stops for some reason unbeknownst to me. I had been looking up the airstrip at a few warthogs that were just on the horizon. Just as I had made out what they were, a herd of buffalo starts to cross. It is quite a sight. Ryan informs me that we are still going to the witch doctor water and this road would bring us in from the opposite direction. Not far past the airstrip We start seeing impala and waterbuck. Soon we saw a few sables. We see a borderline bull with secondary growth but, soon see the rest of the herd. He is off limits. So, on we go. Now we are coming into a lot of trees that have been knocked down onto the roads by the elephants. The trackers make quick work of clearing the roads. I cannot help but notice how close to camp we still are. We have just made a little half circle and could not be more than a thousand yards from camp.

We’ve have finally arrived at the witch doctor water and are beginning our approach. Just as we have made our way up out of the ravine we are greeted by a few zebras. They have not noticed us and are feeding toward us. We stopped and waited for them to move off. While we are waiting, we try glassing behind them and down into the water. We can make out some buffalo just past the zebras. We also catch a glimpse of some eland behind the buffalo. The zebras are still feeding toward us. They are now about thirty yards from us. We hold still waiting for the zebra to spook and scare off the other game. They finally noticed us, but they didn’t spook. They just casually walked away from us and the water.

The buffalo and eland have not noticed. We slowly and quietly try to gain a position where we can see the eland which is still behind the buffalo. We move more to our left using the ravine that we just came out of to conceal our position. The wind is still in our face. The ravine begins to open, and we find the buffalo are now to our right. The eland we saw is still behind the buffalo but, there are more we had not seen that are drinking. We have been spotted. All the elands retreat up the hill. The buffalo follows. We begin to slowly come closer to the waterhole thinking we are going to track the eland.

We approached a few steps closer and realized that there was a big bull behind the tree drinking that we could not see. He stayed behind and did not go with the herd. We also noticed that the herd had not left. They were still on the side of the hill. The sticks go up. The bull steps out. I cannot believe how big he is. I can see nothing but an enormous shoulder. A tree blocks his shoulder. I wait. There is another tree about to come in the way. I fire as he steps through the opening. I see him buck up. I know he is hit. He is not going down, but he is not moving fast. Ryan tells me to shoot him again. I cannot get on him as the sticks fall while I am trying to adjust to him. We quickly move around the rocks he is just passed to get another shot. He just moves off before we can get a shot.

We take a minute to regroup and discuss the shot. I feel like I made a good shot. I am confident that I hit him hard. Ryan is worried that he is wounded and that we are going to have to track him all day to recover him. I am now worried as well and once again disappointed with my shooting. The trackers have been picking up the blood while we are having this discussion. As they make their way toward us, Samuel sees the bull just ahead of us and calls it out. Ryan turns and fires. I never see him still unaware of what had been. Ryan now agrees that the bull was hit hard, and we should just give him a few minutes. We take a water break and make our way to where we had last seen the bull. As we got to the top of the ridge, we saw the bull not ten yards from where we had last seen him. He traveled about two hundred yards from where I shot him. My shot was behind the shoulder. I might have caught the lungs.

He is a nice old blue bull with a dark ruff. I am pleased that we are not tracking a wounded bull all day. I am still disappointed with my shooting. We also see that Ryan’s shot had just grazed the inside of his horn close to the base. He nearly brained him from behind. We take a quick inventory of where we are and how we are going to get him out. We are in luck. The road is only two hundred yards away. I am relieved once again. I am glad the trackers do not have to cut a road like they did with the buffalo recovery.

 

[Ryan Brown]

After lunch and our siesta, we decide to head back to the sable waterhole and give the witch doctor water a break. On our way back, a herd of wildebeest has been spotted in the same area that we saw them on the first morning. Ryan quickly decided that they are not spooked by the truck driving by, and we should go after them. Ryan tells me that there is an old bull following the herd and it was going to be tricky to sort him out with this many eyes on us.

We have a short walk of only a few hundred yards, and we are on the wildebeest. Ryan gets the sticks out and we get a good look at the bull. He is looking directly at us but there is a cow behind him from our position. I cannot take the shot. He gives us a few more seconds to watch him through the thick timber before the herd retreats. Ryan comments that it was our only chance, but we should try to follow as they do not seem to have continued running. We walked for a few minutes, and we caught the herd again. They have not seen us, and I am moving to get into position. At that time, a warthog jumps out from under a bush beside us. The wildebeest then take off and are not stopping. We make our way to the road and Godfrey is called to pick us up with the truck. The wildebeests won on this day.

We are back to our original plan of heading to the sable waterhole. We begin our walk in and soon see the back ends of a herd of hartebeest taking off to our right. They have seen us seen before we could see them. We continue now on high alert but only come across an impala ewe. The hartebeest may have spooked everything else for us. We checked the trail cam that we put out the day before. Only a herd of sables are on the camera. Ryan decides to put out another camera on the opposite end of the after hole to see if something is drinking on that end that the first camera is not catching. It is now getting dark, and we decided to begin our journey back to camp.
I hear a gentleman at our door saying knock, knock. It is once again 4:00am and time to start our day. I am greeted with morning, morning from Shawnee. To which I reply with morning, morning without hesitation. I once again join Ryan for coffee and toast. Ryan suggests we try to find the wildebeest that we had chased yesterday. We have seen them in the same area twice. We know where they spend time together. We are not sure where they are watering at but think they may be going to the witch doctor water.

We make our way back to where we left the wildebeest the day before. It’s not long and we’ve found several fresh wildebeest tracks in the same area. This tells us they are drinking at the witch doctor area. We decide to follow the tracks and see where they lead us. After a mile or so, we made our way through the Forrest and found a flat. Ryan says he has never been through this area. It is full of tall yellow grass. There is new green growth that we see in the trampled areas. There are several bedding areas through the flat. However, there are no wildebeests. This flat has made it impossible to follow the tracks. During our walk through this flat, we have once again made a big 90-degree arch. We have about another half mile to go before we can make it to another road.

When we arrive at the road, it is nearing lunchtime, and it is getting quite hot. We decide to carry on to the sable water and see what we can see. If we don’t see anything we might have lunch at this water hole and see if our sable shows back up. There are a few impalas at the water hole when we arrive and a couple of young sable bulls with no secondary growth drinking in the water. We walk up to within twenty yards of these bulls and get in some good shade under a nice big tree. Ryan calls for the truck. Godfrey drives right up to our tree. The guys unpack for lunch, and we watch these two bulls while we eat. Ryan comments on how dumb they are and the difference between smart old bulls and young dumb ones. Somehow, they just know when there is no threat. Some warthogs finally come in and run off the sable.

After lunch, we continue making our way further from camp and exploring new to me areas. We will soon come to another area that holds a lot of sable. Ryan tells me he had seen a big bull here with a client a few weeks ago. He said it went over the top of a hill and when they made it up there, he was gone. We see at least a hundred sable in this drainage while we are here. There are also a lot of zebra and kudu. Then we see several reedbucks. Ryan says that they only get one on a quota as they are rare in this area. He then asks if I am interested. I reply that I am not. I am still focused on Sable.

Ryan tells me of another area that he’s seen sable in, and he thinks we should go take a look. Off we went. He mentioned that it was still a good distance from where we are. After driving a good distance, we arrive at this new spot as daylight is fading fast. We get off the truck and begin making our way around the side of the hill. Within a few hundred yards we bump a sable. He has gone before we can get on him. We continue. Now we are about halfway around the top of the hill. Ryan throws up the sticks and tells me to shoot. It’s a duiker about 70 yards in front of us and down the hill. I am on him. The green dot is on his shoulder. It is blurry looking at him through the scope. I shoot while thinking through my shot. I tell myself to squeeze the trigger. The duiker darts off as the shot goes off. He is quickly out of our view. Ryan is convinced I missed. I told him I felt good about my shot. The trackers say something to Ryan about what they saw. We went to where we last saw him. It is not long, and the trackers find quite a lot of blood. It is now completely dark. Ryan calls it. It is too dark. We must come back in the morning. On our way to the road, we come across fresh elephant tracks. The tension picks up a bit as we make our way back to the road and await the truck. It’s a long quiet ride back to camp.

 

[Ryan Brown]

This morning, I am not greeted with my knock, knock at the door. I am already up and ready to go. I woke up Shyenne and headed for the lodge for coffee. I beat everyone here this morning. Soon we are on our way to the duiker. I am hoping we find him and nothing else finds him throughout the night. On our way, we come across a lone able bull just at the witch doctor road. Without saying a word, Ryan begins to open the door, and I start to climb off the high rack while the truck keeps moving. Godfrey is trying to make his way inside of the truck at the same time. This is almost accomplished flawlessly until Godfrey popped the clutch. Nevertheless, the sable has not paid any attention to us and is still feeding.

We are positioned with a tree blocking us from the sable. We are only about thirty yards from the bull. Ryan cannot tell if he has any secondary growth. We tip toe our way along moving parallel with the bull. It has now been thirty minutes, and we are still looking for growth and a shot. This whole time the bull has been keeping a tree perfectly placed on his shoulder. Finally, Ryan throws the sticks up. I get my rifle on them. I am getting the green dot on his shoulder and the bull snorts and is gone. I chuckle. I need a half second longer and I would’ve had him. The sable has won.

We’ve just waisted a lot of time on this opportunity and we make haste to get to the duiker. It is not long, and we have made it to the spot where we found the duiker blood. We start scanning the area with our Binoculars while the trackers start to work the track. We almost immediately spotted the duiker about thirty yards from where we are standing. He is still alive, my shot hit him on the brisket. Ryan quickly gets the stick set up. I am on him again. I am thinking through my shot. I shoot and he is off again. He goes another fifty yards and falls. He is still kicking around. Ryan tells me I hit him in the same spot. I shot him in the brisket again. We give him a couple of minutes and it is over. I am relieved.

The photo session is quick as it is getting hot. Ryan calls in the results and asks for a recovery vehicle. There is not one available as there is a maintenance issue. Ryan decides that Godfrey would take the duiker back to camp and we would make our way to a nearby waterhole and watch it until Godfrey returns. After a short walk we made our way to a nice vantage point. We watch warthogs for a couple of hours before Godfrey returns. It is now nearing lunchtime, and Ryan decides that we go back to the spot where he had seen the nice sable on the previous safari. He also tells us that there is a nice shady spring at the end of that road that would be a good spot for lunch.

We make our way back through sable ridge and it is a carbon copy of the day before. There is a large herd of sable in the same spots as the day before. Even the zebra and kudu have taken their cue from the sable. We are near the end of the road and our path crosses with a nice warthog in the road. Ryan stops the truck and begins to jump out. Samual pulls my gun out. I got off the high rack. I get on the sticks Ryan tells me to shoot him. I see only one tusk and I am not really interested. I told Ryan I do not want him. He immediately is shocked and disbelief. The warthog is not really concerned with us and just walks around us. Ryan is telling me to let Shyenne shoot him if I do not want him. I try to get her out of the truck. She is not interested or does not understand what is happening. Ryan is now pleading with me. This is the biggest one they will take this year. I am laughing. My PH is throwing a temper tantrum, and I wish someone were recording this. I finally agree and off we go. A short stalk and I have a good look at him from the sticks. I shot. He dropped instantly.

 

[Ryan Brown]

It is 4:00 am. We are once again awoken by our gentleman saying knock, knock at our door. Shyenne is going back out with us today. She was convinced that she was our good luck charm and needed back on the truck today. We have decided to once again cut new to us tracks out of camp today. We are very soon greeted by trees knocked in the road. There are more signs than we have seen in the previous days. We continue our routine of checking water holes and seeing more ground. We see some game but not much worth going after throughout most of the day. We find a nice spot for lunch under some shade near a water hole on the nicandorsch. We hope a bushbuck or impala will join us for lunch. It’s nice to see some river habitat. The baboons and butterflies provide entertainment for today’s lunch.

After lunch we decided to go back and check the sable water. We catch a glimpse of fleeing hartebeest as we approach the water. There is a female bushbuck and a few impalas at the water. The trail cams do not reveal the sable we had seen earlier. Only the bulls we had lunch with a couple of days ago. We continue back to the witch doctor water. We find that all the water has been drunk when we make our way down to the water. A quick check of the trail cam reveals that the wildebeest were here at 9:00 in the morning. We now know where they are drinking. It’s getting late in the day, and we decided to head back to camp the way we left this morning to see if we see any sable that direction. We saw a sable. However, it is just bulls with herds. We make it back to camp as the sun sets. It is the earliest we have made it to camp. I am now convinced it may be the T-shirt I have been wearing on the odd days due to our daily laundry that is providing luck.

 

[Ryan Brown]

Day seven begins in a typical fashion. In the lodge Ryan informs us that he had vomited last night and was not feeling very well. He says it is unusual as he does not ever get sick but, when he does it is usually severe. One of our new friends is quietly sitting at the table drinking his coffee. It is not long, and he is presented with a birthday cake. I say happy birthday and ask about his agenda for the day. He says he will be having a camp day and celebrating as he got his buffalo. It is not long, and we are off after we finish our coffee.

We decide to head to the witch doctor water and see if we can set an ambush the wildebeest.
We make it about five hundred yards down the road from camp. Just as the sun is starting to shine through The Forrest. We see a herd of Wildebeest cross the road in front of us. We slowly let the truck continue as we piled out. They do not seem spooked to our presence. We can still see the tops of their backs not fifty yards from us. We are in a thick riverine forest now. It is slow going as there are lots of eyes. We can see them feeding in front of us, but the bull is not presenting a shot. We try to maneuver around a tree to get in position. As we pop out on the other side the herd has moved over a ridge. We slowly make our way to the ridge and the forest that had just seemed to open has now turned back into dense vines. We cannot see far at all. As we are trying to see through this jungle, we see the herd take off. They were less than twenty yards in front of us and we could not see them until they gave away their position. We are less than a hundred yards away from the road. The truck is called to pick us up.

We decide that we have spent too much time with these wildebeest that it would be too late to catch the other wildebeest at the witch doctor water. We decided to look for sable. We will head to the sable water, but we will come into it from the south in the hopes that we may get in front of the hartebeest that we seem to have been pushing out when we arrive from the west.

Our trek into the sable water from the south reveals that there is more water that we had not been aware of. It is mostly gone, and we find a warthog bathing in one of the remaining mud holes. We let him go on his way and we continue to make our approach. We almost immediately see zebra and sable. It is a herd, so we slowly make our way forward leaving the trackers behind. As we inch our way to the next tree, Ryan sees some hartebeest. I only see Ryan’s back and the sable and zebra now grazing twenty yards to our left. Ryan puts the sticks up with a tree fight next to the rest. I position my rifle on the sticks slowly making my way into Ryan’s position. He tells me that the hartebeest is bedded under the big tree. I can now see his silhouette lying under the tree. Ryan tells me to put it low on his shoulder and that he is one hundred and forty yards away. I am rock solid as I edged between the tree and sticks. The green dot goes on his shoulder, and I fire. The hartebeest jumps up takes one step and collapses. He is done. My shot was perfect.

 

[Ryan Brown]

I am up shortly before we receive our morning wake up call. I hear the gentleman at the door as I am getting ready. Shyenne is slow to wake up this morning. I headed to the lodge to which no one was here to greet me this morning. No worries though. I have now learned to make my own coffee and enjoy it as I watch the morning’s light illuminates the Lugenda. Shyenne appears shortly after I finish my first cup. Ryan appears shortly after Shyenne finishes her first cup. It is obvious that Ryan is not feeling any better this morning. We decide to head back to the witch doctor water to see if we can catch the wildebeest.

As we leave camp we see buffalo one hundred yards outside of camp. It is quite a large herd. The biggest I have seen since we arrived. It is hard to tell how many there are as we cannot see them all, but we can hear them. A few hundred yards farther down the road a red duiker darts in front of us. He briefly bounces back only to return to the thicket. We waited a little bit but did not come back out. We continue to the witch doctor water. The wildebeest has not been here. The wildebeest has fooled us. The trail cams reveal they have not been here the previous day. We are perplexed. Where could they be going to drink?

We decided to check the road where we had seen them on the first day and the same place we stalked them on the third day. It does not take long, and the trackers have picked up a fresh track after arriving at the road. They are heading east. Ryan tells us there is another water hole a mile from here that he thinks they may be headed too. We set off following the track. The area is recently burned and devoid of any greenery. We make haste trying to make up ground on the herd. It is an uphill battle for us as this is how the track is leading us. It is not long, and we have made it to the waterhole. It is empty. The track is continuing. Ryan decides we are not going to catch them as there is nothing to slow them down. He thinks they may continue to the next water hole that is a few miles from here. He also tells us that we are only a few hundred yards off the road, and we have been paralleling it the entire time. He calls the truck, and we will see if we cannot jump in front of them.

Shortly before we arrive at the water hole, we come across several week-old impalas. We have a short photo session and move on. We only see a few impalas at the water hole. The wildebeest has not been here. We decided to go ahead and have lunch here and we will try to get back on the wildebeest track after lunch. Ryan tells us there is a flat that they are occasionally seen in. The flat is to the north of us that they may be heading too. He thinks that it is dried up by now but there may be a chance that is where they are headed.

We pick up the tracks crossing the road shortly after leaving the waterhole just crossing the road west of the waterhole. They crossed while we were eating and taking our siesta. Ryan tells us we are close. We must cross a series of steep ravines following the tack. It takes us about an hour to work our way through these. As we emerge, we enter the flat. The grass is mostly dried up but there is new green growth we can see peaking its way up in the trampled areas. Ryan immediately made motions for me to get down and follow him. The rest of our party needs to stay put. We slowly make our way up to a tree. I see the herd through the trees moving to our left in what looks to be a lower area in the flat. Ryan tells me he can see the bull. We make our way a few yards closer to the next tree. After waiting a few minutes. Ryan tells me that he was looking at a burnt tree that had a white stripe on it. I had a little laugh, and we slowly backed out as we knew they still are close to us.

We make our way back to the party and continue to follow the track. We soon see the herd cross the next ridge and we try to make up some ground. We are now in the same spot we had last seen the herd. The herd is now a few hundred yards ahead of us and watching us as we peak our heads over the ridge. I have a clear shot, but we are three hundred yards away. I do not have a good rest to try the shot or the time to make the adjustments. We hear the company plane coming over our heads as the wildebeest take off over the ridge. Once again, the wildebeest won the day. We once again have only a few hundred yards to walk as we just crossed a road close to where we had ended up.

We are back on the truck, and we are heading back to camp when we pass a nice sable running ahead of us. Ryan decides to try to get in front of him to see if we can cut him off. Several hundred yards ahead we jump out of the truck and make a b line using a hill to keep our cover from where the sable had been heading. We make our way around the hill and the sable is not to be found. We slowly move a little further forward, and we cross paths with a grysbok. We wait for the grysbok to go on about his way as we look for the sable. Ryan is stretching trying to pop his back. I can tell he is getting worse. All a sudden, we see an elephant bull heading right toward us on our path. Ryan tells us to back up. Shyenne is trying to take pictures while Ryan is going for his rifle. The young bull is still coming at us while flaring his ears. The trackers are not sticking around. We continue back a few hundred yards, and he is still slowly making his way toward us. After showing us who’s boss for a few minutes he finally goes on his way. We continued to glass on the way back to the truck.

 

[Ryan Brown]

The next morning, I am woken up by the diesel engine from the Land Cruiser our tv crew would be traveling on. I slowly get ready. My feet are becoming quite sore and swollen. I head up to the lodge and Ryan is already there drinking his coffee. He says he feels much better today. He tells me he has received a message from Jumbo and that we would not be able to head to the Pemba beach lodge as it is not operating now for whatever reason. Ryan says that is all the details he has at this point. I am not sure what my options are, but I sent Shyenne a message informing her of the situation and let her know that we will figure it out when we get back this evening. The midland boys make their appearance and look a little rough. Our Houston friends also arrive as they will be hunting again.

We once again decide to head to the witch doctor water to see if we can find the wildebeest. When we arrive at the witch doctor water the trail cams reveal that we have just missed the wildebeest they were here fifteen minutes earlier. Ryan sends the trackers to see where the wildebeest are headed. Ryan thinks we may be able to jump ahead of them on another road that is close to here. He decides to send the trackers on foot, and we will go ahead to the road in case we beat them there. Sure enough, just as we get to the road the trackers have seen the wildebeest, and they are near to us. We unload from the truck and set off. We go only a few hundred yards, and we are on the wildebeest. They have not seen us, but we cannot get a shot. We now see a herd of sable only a few yards to our left. We are stuck. We cannot move. We must let the sable move on. As this happens the wildebeest have kept on. We now have a herd of sable between us and the wildebeest. We continue seeing if we can flank the sable and regain our position on the wildebeest. This does not work as we have now picked up a herd of zebras following the sable. We have too many animals in front of us. They are heading to an area that is roadless. We have no chance to get in front of them. We are then treated to fight between a couple of zebra stallions as we contemplate what to do next.

We decided that we should go to a different area and look for sable. We have not been able to get it done in this area, a change of scenery would give the break we need. We headed off in search of new ground. Along the way, we drop down into the Nicandorsch. As we do Ryan stops the truck and asks what I see. He tells me to scan the tree line across the river. I begin to scan and as soon as I go a hundred yards I see it plain as day. A lioness is staring at us. She is eating so we move closer. We get to about twenty yards and enjoy the show. There is a male with her under the shade that we had not seen earlier. He retreats up the side of the hill but stays in eye view above us. We move down the river and enjoy our lunch with the hopes that a bushbuck or impala would come out.

After lunch, we continue in search of new country. We headed to an area along the Lugenda. It is a more riverine country. We may also get an opportunity for red duiker, Suni, bushbuck and impala. Along the way we almost ran into another professional hunter from the northern camp. All trackers and professional hunters quickly catch up as they have clients arriving and we are still looking for sable. We are also interrupting the flow of traffic. There are several motor bikes loaded full of people. They must be off to see the witch doctor. We are soon on our way. As quickly as I see the Lugenda we push out of it and find ourselves back in a miombo forest burn area.

We cross a small but steep ravine and as we emerge on the other side we see a nice sable. It is obvious that this one is as big or bigger than anything we have seen. He is standing on the side of a hill feeding on new green leaves. He does not seem to have any concern about us. Ryan is struggling to see if he has enough secondary growth. We are about to carry on our way when Ryan decides we are going to take him. We drop back into the ravine we just crossed as it crosses the road again in front of us. We jump out of the truck and Godfrey continues with the truck. We use the cover of the ravine to make our way up the hill. We get to one hundred yards of the bull. He is feeding up the hill and quartering away from us. The sticks come out. I put it on his shoulder and fire. My shot is a little bit back exits his opposite shoulder. He takes three steps and collapses. After pursuing them for the last six days, we’ve finally got our sable. I am once again over the moon. This is the perfect way to top off this safari. The wildebeest may have won but we got the sable.

 

[Ryan Brown]

It was about 4:30 when we got the sable loaded and began to make our way back to camp. It did not make any sense to call for a recovery vehicle as there was only an hour of Daylight left, and we were not that far from camp. I was not concerned with hunting anymore as I was ready to celebrate our success. We were greeted and congratulated by everyone who was at camp when we returned. Everyone continued down to the skinning shed to get a good look at our bull. I had other things on my mind and headed to my cottage to take a cold shower.

When I returned to the lodge everyone was making their way back. Everyone else that was out hunting had also begun to return. I got to enjoy the sun set on the Lugenda. Shyenne had been emailing our travel agent to see if we could make any other plans since we could no longer go to the beach in Pemba. Gio had several options for us across South Africa to stay for a few days. I also received word from Ryan that we could stay and hunt with one of the other PHs. I wish I had taken them up on this now. In the end we just decided to stay in camp for a couple of more days and just relax. This seemed to be the easiest for everyone.

The last hunting fay begins just as the first began. It still only seems like that was the day before. Ryan is now back to one hundred percent after his course of malaria medication. After we finish our coffee and head to the truck, Ryan says let us just have a look at the witch doctor water. Let us see if we can catch the wildebeest. I smile and without hesitation say, “let‘s go.” I knew he was not going to give up so easily.

On the way to the witch doctor water, as we arrive at the same spot, we saw the wildebeest on the first day and have been through daily since then. We see three huge lone sable bulls. I laugh as if it’s somehow they now and they will now come out of the woodwork for us. At this same time, I hear from inside the truck, shoot him as the truck stops. I still have not seen him as Samual hands me my rifle. I get up and start scanning. I move to my right, and I catch a glimpse of the old wildebeest bull turning and running back into the dense forest. There was a large tree that was blocking my view. We catch a glimpse of the bull watching us. We think that he’s trying to follow the sable. We got out and decided to go after him. This turns out to be fruitless. It is just too thick with too many tracks to follow. After about an hour, we decided the wildebeest truly has won.