ZIMBABWE October 2022
Prelude
This tale is of friendship, discoveries, remarkable adventures, and the pursuit of the greatest game that walks this earth. With this writing I would also like to thank my wife, whose indomitable spirit made it all possible. Throughout these personal accounts, you'll witness a deep passion for hunting, an appreciation for fine arms, and the friendships between individuals who share a passion.
The journey began at the conclusion of my first African safari in June 2021. Returning home, I found myself utterly smitten by the Africa fever, consumed by the desire to embark on an even more extraordinary escapade in the dark continent.
Prior to my initial safari experience, I had become a member of the AfricaHunting.com online forum. Engaging in numerous fascinating and sometimes enthralling discussions, fate brought me in contact with
@rookhawk, a fellow enthusiast from the United States. Little did I realize how a simple private message to him would set a series of remarkable events into motion.
Recognizing @Rookhawk’s extensive knowledge of fine guns and rifles, I sought his guidance in acquiring a bolt-action rifle of exceptional quality and pedigree, one that would not only serve as an asset but also become a cherished heirloom for future generations to cherish. A heritage to leave behind for my children and grand children to fight over. Little did we know at the time how prescient this was. Because the impending gift of parenthood was awaiting us, as my beloved fiancée carried our first child within her.
With
@rookhawk 's help, and that of Mr. Diggory Hadoke, a well-known gun writer, instead of acquiring a bolt action, I acquired a magnificent Heym 88b express with two barrel sets, one in 7x65r and one in .375H&H, on the Holts Auction of September 2021. However, it took such a long time to have this rifle delivered to Belgium, that two more rifles to start my collection were acquired. First up was a nearly new, fully engraved Dumoulin Centurion in 7x64 and secondly, I purchased a magnificent and again fully engraved .416 Rigby bolt action by Belgian gun maker Hubert Vereecke.
To thank
@rookhawk for all his advice, I wanted him along for a hunt for Loxodonta Africana. During the summer a proposal was being pushed through the Belgian government by the blind animal rights groups, to ban the import of most of the Big 5 trophies. Before the window of opportunity would close, I wanted to hunt 1 bull elephant and import it’s tusks back to Belgium.
@rookhawk knew of a place, where he had been multiple times already, in Zimbabwe with Mapassa Big Game Hounds and lead PH Vaughan. The hunting grounds of Mapassa are in Matabele land, Western Zimbabwe, along the border with Botswana.
2022 was a busy year. First moving to a new house. Then preparing for the birth of our first child in March 2022, a beautiful daughter. After which we had all the organisation for our marriage in July. Somehow, we mangaged to make a plan for
@rookhawk and I to go on an elephant hunt together by the end of the year.
Many messages, phone and video calls followed, to discuss fine arms, their maintenance and the equipment and training needed to go for an elephant hunt in Zimbabwe.
@rookhawk did put up one condition for him to be able to go, and that would be if he can get his house sold, move and buy a new house in time. The final go would only be known by the end of August, for an end-of-season hunt in October 2022. Despite all the build-up, the plans, the gear purchases, calls with Vaughan and
@rookhawk, eventually
@rookhawk had to cancel his participation, due to the sale of his house, the move and all the complications that came with it.
However, with a nod from my amazing wife, it was agreed that I would be going anyway. The hunt would take place from the 20th of October 2022, untill the 7th of November 2022, adding one day each way for the travel, for a total of 17 full hunting days. Vaughan had not had the best of luck this year, as only 2 or 3 out of his total quota of 8 elephant bulls had been shot so far. I would be the last hunter of the season. This extra hunt would allow him to monetize at least one more license and give him and his crew some additional funds to bridge to the next season.
The stage was set for a grand adventure in the pursuit of ivory.
Chapter II – Mapassa Safaris
19/10/2022 – Leaving my family
The day of departure arrived, and together with my bright orange repainted Americase that I had bought from AH member
@Mark Audino, who I am sure will reappear again in future stories, I arrived with all my gear at Zaventem airport to start the first leg of the trip.
To ease the customers and rifle permitting process, I had hired the services of Henry’s RiflePermits in South Africa and a similar VIP service from a Mr. Whengayi Nhau in Bulawayo.
20/10/2022 – Into the Fray
Now I am sitting on the last flight to Bulawayo, having seen the airport personnel load my rifle case into the plane. I am almost ready to finally relax and look forward to maybe a first stalk this afternoon. Arriving at Bulawayo, I understand what
@rookhawk meant with “it is a tiny airport”. It looks to be in the middle of nowhere, with the bushveld stretching out from the airport on all sides. I have arrived, looking forward to meeting the team. Into the fray we go.
Arriving at the airport proper, I had all the rifles checked and the officials counted each piece of ammo, just to be sure it matches exactly with the papers. Then out to the parking lot, where Vaughan was waiting for me in a Land Cruiser loaded to the gills and accompanied by 3 Jack Russel’s. Quickly enough we were on the road, driving through Bulawayo. Vaughan had a new Land Cruiser since this year, equipped with a V8 motor, that he would drive as if his house was on fire.
A few weeks before there had actually been a bush fire that burned quite a big chunk of Marshlands, the property where the lodge is situated. Luckily almost no animals got burned and Vaughan managed to stop the fire before it reached the house by pulling a big tractor tire behind him. The end of the dry season and all the bushfires around, made the air hazy with smoke and dust.
Marshlands is located about 6 km to the east of the town Marula (-20.493134 ; 28.142268). About a good hours’ drive from the Bulawayo airport. Upon arriving at the Marshlands lodge, I quickly met with a few of the members of the team, amongst which the second PH Garth, who would be with us every day. The truck was unpacked and I got the 7mm ready for a short look around on the 4000 hectare property, before the sun would set. So off we went in the truck, all geared up. Despite the recent burning, we did not see much game. One attempt of a stalk on a reedbuck later, the sun set and we made back for camp, for a delicious three course meal and then off to bed.
Day 1 – 21/10/2022 – First Full Day, Getting my Bearings
We would begin the day with a wake up call by Maitre d’ , Paradzai, at 4 o’clock in the morning. With gunbelt, hat, and bino’s in hand, the .416 Rigby and the 7x64 in their soft cases in the back, we set off in the Land Cruiser. Most days on the truck, there would be Vaughan and Garth, tracker’s Mlilo and Junior, tracker/driver Seda and lead skinner Nkosilati, who was mute. On top we would have a Zimbabwean Game Ranger with us, to make sure that everything we did was compliant with the law. Vaughan would do most of the driving, with me sitting in the front seat and everyone else piled on top of the guns, ammo, cooking gear, chairs and hundred’s of other things in the back of the Land Cruiser.
As it was the first day, we were not too well organised and we only took off around 5:00 after having drunk a cup of coffee and some scrambled eggs with cheese made by chef Francis. We ate these scrambled egg’s with cheese pretty much every morning before taking off. At least we had something in our stomach’s that way, but nothing too heavy, so we would not be burdened down for all the walking. We had about 1 hour to drive from the Lodge at Marshlands, to the Ingwizi Conservancy. There, in a dry river bed, Garth had been seeing quite a lot of elephant spoor, in the past few days.
Before we left Marshlands, we made a little stop on a dam, to see if my 416 Rigby was still shooting straight (and likely to see if I could handle my rifle). I had no worries about the rifle doing okay, and really wanted to try shooting two rounds in rapid succession, as I had not been able to practice this back in Belgium. Garth set up a box about 30m away. Shooting offhand, I proceeded to put two bullet holes in it about 5cm spaced apart, within about 4 seconds time between both shots. I had a little hangup working the bolt, which caused me to look down to my rifle, instead of keeping my eyes on the target, which Vaughan pointed out. Both Garth and Vaughan were happy with my shooting and we were on our way.
Back in the truck Vaughan explained that the rains were on their way and if they fell, it would mix up the movement patterns of the elephants and might start their migration across the Botswana border to feast on the first young leaves from the Mopane trees. At the end of the dry season, there is not much green available yet, and the mopane trees are often the first to flush with their protein rich leaves, on which elephants love to feast. So we had a bit of pressure to get on elephant spoor quickly and get the principal goal of this safari into the salt, before the rains would arrive.
The total area Mapassa has hunting rights on, is around 350 000 hectares. There are however two small blocks inside that vast area that were off limits. These blocks were called Homefarm and Wilbur Force, where the hunting rights belonged to another outfitter.
Driving through the dry river bed, spoor from elephant and every other African mammal, was everywhere. Elephants do not like to drink dirty or cloudy water, often found in the dam’s, where they will wallow around in the water. They prefer to go to such dry river beds, and use their tusks and trunks to make about 1m to 1.5m deep holes, to access the water that is under the dry sand. As this water gets naturally filtered by the sand, it is crystal clear.
In this location in the conservancy, for the past few days, the elephants had been coming in the night to dig their holes and drink the clean, fresh water hiding under the dry sand. Unfortunately for us, the dry river bed where we could find the elephant drinking pits, continued on into one of the non-huntable blocks. The elephant herd, after quenching their thirst, would often continue into this block, so we could not follow them any further.
After seeing all the spoor and following the giant footsteps for a few hundred meters to confirm that they indeed ran back into the non-huntable block, we had the guys chop down some branches to attach to the back of the Cruiser. Dragging almost half a tree behind us, would wipe clean the sand of any spoor, so the next morning we would be able to see what new had happened.
We drove back out of the dry river bed, having decided that we would be back in the late afternoon, hopefully to catch the elephant while en route to the river bed or surprising them during their digging and drinking. As it was only about 8 in the morning by then, with a full day ahead, we would look out for other game to present itself and getting to know each other a bit. In the cab of the Cruiser, Vaughan brought a little .22 rifle that we would use to get some meat for lunch, or food for Vaughan’s hawk. Doves, go-away birds, rabbits, francolin and guinea fowl would all be fair game when we would encounter them.
Before lunch, we went on a little stalk in the thorn brush to see if we could get an impala or a zebra perhaps. It was not long, with the heat rising together with the sun, before I was huffing and puffing along. A couple of “disco donkey’s” were noticed walking away at a distance from us and to get in front of them, we had to speed up. Trying to get a bird’s eye view, I got my first experience climbing up the kopjes that littered the landscape. Kopjes are rock formations, of varying sizes, some only 10 meters high, others up to 80 meters or more. These kopjes are formed when softer volcanic rock and ash that comprise the soils of the area erode to expose the underlying layer of ancient granite that forces its way upwards from below the earth’s crust. They provide excellent places for leopard’s and small mammal’s such klipspringer, hyrax and steenbok to hide in. As well as being ideal for us to be able to have a look at our surroundings, rising above the thorn brush.
I had taken the advice of other AfricaHunting.com members to have good slings for both my rifles. This to ease the carrying of the rifles all day long, but also for safety, in order to avoid the African Carry style. African Carry means the stock would rest on your shoulder, while you grab the barrel with your hand. Vaughan has a .500 Jeffery bolt action and Garth a .458 Winchester Magnum bolt action rifle, both without slings nor optics, which they would carry African style. As they would sometimes be up front, sometimes behind, it would be unavoidable that barrels would at times be pointing to the others in the party, although I did not feel unsafe at any point. These were professionals and they knew what they were doing. For myself however, most of the time I preferred to carry my rifle, barrel up with a sling, on my strong shoulder.
So arriving at the first kopje and looking up, I thought to myself "yes, this is where my sling would truly come in handy", as it would allow me to hang the rifle crossed over my back, having both hands free to climb. This thought had not yet fully left my mind, when I made a right turn while climbing, proceeding to force the muzzle of my barrel into the face of the rock. This left some steel, coming from the crown, behind on the granite. I was cursing myself under my breath. Not even 24hrs into a 17-day hunt, and I had already damaged one of my prized rifles. Oh well, I thought to myself, nothing I can do about it now, so no point in continuing to fret about it.
By the time we got up on the rocks, the zebra's had outsmarted us and had disappeared in the brush. We climbed a few more of these kopjes the rest of the morning, but not seeing a lot of game. The heat must have kept everything resting in the shade. As some game would undoubtely be trying to get a drink, we tried our luck visiting a few water pan's. At the last pan we tried, we surprised a group of baboons. The male, a big dog, was taunting us to get take a shot at him. But tradition and superstition dictate that the first real game (birds apparently do not count) that should be taken, should be for food. Otherwise bad luck would follow us for the rest of the hunt. So we left the baboons alone and continued our way to another pan to have lunch and a siesta. As we had not been able to secure our own lunch, luckily there was a back-up plan in the form of pork chops and sadza. Sadza is a traditional porridge made from cornmeal and water, which has the consistency of baked bread dough. It means ‘meal’ in the Shona language and is eaten by locals at least once a day, together with some vegetables and if there is any available, some meat. I did shoot two go-away birds somewhere in the morning, which we proceeded to put on the barbecue as well. Quite dry and tough meat, but not bad tasting at all. After a short nap along a lake bank and some shenanigans with the geese on the water, we set out, back to the riverbed.
Arriving there a bit early, we stopped the truck, dismounted and all proceeded to make themselves comfortable in the warm sand, for an additional nap. While we were getting some shut eye, we had the occasional visit of a few vervet monkeys, who were curious as to our purpose. They would just stare a few moments and when they would see us looking back, they would scurry away again.
17:30 passed and we geared up. I had purchased a nice Els&Co gun belt, together with an 8-round pouch for the 416 ammunition. My Von Gruff knife, with the closed sheath that we had designed together to avoid the possibility of the metal closure to rub on my rifle, was hanging on my belt as well. The .416 Rigby on my shoulder and we started to stalk through the riverside brush, just under cover, to where we suspected the elephant to be milling about to drink. Arriving there and nothing to be seen yet, we climbed some kopjes to have a better view and quietly listened for breaking branches and the deep rumbling of a group of elephants on their way.
It was a fantastic sunset, however having seen or heard no elephant, we left just as the darkness fell, back to Marshlands. On the way home we saw civet, some female duikers, steenbok and plenty of rabbits. Among which also some protected Jameson’s Red Rock Rabbits, a very rare species. Arriving at the lodge, we had a great three course dinner, and went off to bed early. Two go-away birds, a goose and two rabbits were the day’s tally.
