DAY 1
Owing to the shortness of the hunt we decided to take the two Land Cruisers so poor little Carruthers and the Harry Selby were left behind this time. Barney and I brought up the rear and Woods and Anon (that isn't his real name, but he wants to remain a anonymous because he has been harassed in the past) shot off ahead with their V8. As we passed through Mutare I was gob smacked at how clean and tidy it was, what a pleasure. Next up was Birchenough Bridge where we stopped for a quick pic and leg stretch and to admire the beautiful mats made sustainably from harvesting panels of bark off the myriad of baobabs. As we got to the Save the state of the boundary fence was a real shock, it is non existant in some places and my heart sank thinking of what must be going on in there. More on that later.
By midday we arrived in camp. This being the working heart of Sango section rather than the 5 star lodge it is a bit industrial with the main abbatoir, workshops, carpentry shop, etc that you drive through up front. The lodge itself was beautiful under spreading shade trees with a dry river frontage, Large airy central area with huge bedrooms, fans whirring, thoroughly 1950's.
We met our PH Dalton McLintlock and his three man team Andrew the tracker, Cleopas the driver and Edson the Sango scout. Dalton works with Makore Safaris but was attached to Sango for our hunt. Brendon Judge is the camp manager, old Bulawayo family.
After a quick snack we headed out to the range to check weapons. All were spot on, Woods was shooting his newly acquired Ruger No1 375H&H with the Leica Magnus 1-6.3 ex me, Barney his BSA 458 and his scoped 300 Win Mag and Anon his Winchester Mod 70 375 H&H scoped with a Leupold. I decided to take the Verney 375 Fl double along as it was what I had and I was only after impala. I worked the action a bit more and loaded some new ammo, so we would see.
On the way back from the range Anon took an impala for evening snacks, so we were blooded.
That night around the fire with a good Scotch Africa did it's magic and we were filled with peace and expectation for the morrow.
