ay2626
AH enthusiast
Excellent adventure! Thanks for sharing the story!
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ZIMBABWE: Almost 12 Days In The Omay, The Nyakasanga Special With Dalton &York Safaris
- Thread starter Backyardsniper
- Start date
I have really enjoyed your recounting of your adventure. You have connected on some wonderful animals. For a first trip to Africa, you have certainly set the bar high for any return trips. I look forward to hearing the end results with your hippo, they are definitely ornery critters. Thank you for taking us along for the ride.
PARA45
AH ambassador
Loving your report, you've had me on the edge with anticipation and laughing at the same time. I'm sure there is no dull moment with you around.
Backyardsniper
AH elite
Day 8 Stomach Aches and Lions
On the rare occasion you have a good day and then it just keeps getting better, the day I shot my elephant was one of those days. After the tail cutting and picture taking was done, we made the long drive back to camp for a much anticipated dinner. Now, as luck would have it, when we arrived tired and battle weary, teeth full of grit from the dust and sand on the roads, what had the kitchen staff prepared for dinner? Curry! I love curry, I love every kind of curry, Jamaican curry, Indian curry, Thai curry. Vindaloo, Dal, pineapple, green, red. I am to curry what Bubba was to shrimp in Forrest Gump. This was a good one too, roasted chicken, delicious sauce, perfect long grain rice, and that damned chili sauce. I loved that chili sauce, but it did not love me. I ate it anyway and a bunch of it. Devil be damned, I had killed an elephant and it was my day, and I would eat all the curry and chili sauce that I wanted! In retrospect, it was a bad idea, the suffering I believe outweighed the joy of the curry and chili sauce the next day. Which is where we find ourselves now.
We left out early and stopped by the skinning shed to pick up the recovery crew. I had a miserable stomach ache due to the curry and chili paste from the night before. The ride was truly terrible, we bounced and beat and jolted along and my entire insides were ablaze. I have done some things that sucked in my day and this was one of them! Somewhere around an hour and a half into this cruel and unusual punishment we slowed to crawl through a fairly steep creek crossing in the road and then made a slight left around a curve. I was at this point doubled over with my hands inside my fleece, both trying to keep them warm and also trying to do anything to abate the lower intestinal cramps that I was having as my body was in full protest of my, "It's my party and I'll do what I want to attitude" I had with the spicy food and wine the evening before. It was right about now that for some reason unknown to me or anyone else that I turned my head to the left and I just about lost my shit LITERALLY! Not 10 feet from me was a very large and very scary Lion looking directly at me. I mean this dude was close, could have easily spit on him close, and he was looking directly at me! Eyeball to eyeball with a lion at 10 feet; before I could say anything York had also spotted him apparently and brought the truck to a halt! The Lion stood up and I damned near got in Micheal, the game scout’s lap. Here I was with a lion almost in arms reach, and I didn't even have a pocket knife handy. When the Lion stood, York took that as our que to move on down the road. He let out on the clutch and old Shumba ambled out into the road and began a very slow saunter directly up the middle of the road. We performed a quick U-turn and followed him for about 50 yards where he made a right and meandered a few yards into the bush, made a half circle, and promptly laid down just like a million house cats do around the world every day. Not a care in the world! I am not scared of a lot of things in this world, but apparently lions are one of those things. They give me the willys, they look at you like a Great White shark does. Once you are in the presence of a lion make no mistake, he is making the decisions and you are just playing along. Every other animal I encountered in Africa seemed more interested in getting away from me than hanging around and checking me out, but not old Shumba, all he is doing is figuring out if he wants to eat you or wait on the next impala that isn't paying attention. You're just another part of the food chain to him.
Upon arrival at the elephant it was apparent that the hyenas had beat us to it. They had made quite a mess of things. We completed the recovery and salvaged as much meat as we could then returned to camp for lunch.
After lunch we went into town to fill up the truck and restock the coolers and such. We saw an elephant in the middle of town eating out of the trash cans, which was pretty comical. I took a picture with it which I will include if I can find it. We left there and ran out to one of the pans close to the camp and looked for a hippo yet again. This hippo business was about to reach an end very soon though. We saw one young bull, but he was not what we were looking for. We made a leisurely afternoon of it. It was a beautiful sunset over the water and a short drive back to camp.
On the rare occasion you have a good day and then it just keeps getting better, the day I shot my elephant was one of those days. After the tail cutting and picture taking was done, we made the long drive back to camp for a much anticipated dinner. Now, as luck would have it, when we arrived tired and battle weary, teeth full of grit from the dust and sand on the roads, what had the kitchen staff prepared for dinner? Curry! I love curry, I love every kind of curry, Jamaican curry, Indian curry, Thai curry. Vindaloo, Dal, pineapple, green, red. I am to curry what Bubba was to shrimp in Forrest Gump. This was a good one too, roasted chicken, delicious sauce, perfect long grain rice, and that damned chili sauce. I loved that chili sauce, but it did not love me. I ate it anyway and a bunch of it. Devil be damned, I had killed an elephant and it was my day, and I would eat all the curry and chili sauce that I wanted! In retrospect, it was a bad idea, the suffering I believe outweighed the joy of the curry and chili sauce the next day. Which is where we find ourselves now.
We left out early and stopped by the skinning shed to pick up the recovery crew. I had a miserable stomach ache due to the curry and chili paste from the night before. The ride was truly terrible, we bounced and beat and jolted along and my entire insides were ablaze. I have done some things that sucked in my day and this was one of them! Somewhere around an hour and a half into this cruel and unusual punishment we slowed to crawl through a fairly steep creek crossing in the road and then made a slight left around a curve. I was at this point doubled over with my hands inside my fleece, both trying to keep them warm and also trying to do anything to abate the lower intestinal cramps that I was having as my body was in full protest of my, "It's my party and I'll do what I want to attitude" I had with the spicy food and wine the evening before. It was right about now that for some reason unknown to me or anyone else that I turned my head to the left and I just about lost my shit LITERALLY! Not 10 feet from me was a very large and very scary Lion looking directly at me. I mean this dude was close, could have easily spit on him close, and he was looking directly at me! Eyeball to eyeball with a lion at 10 feet; before I could say anything York had also spotted him apparently and brought the truck to a halt! The Lion stood up and I damned near got in Micheal, the game scout’s lap. Here I was with a lion almost in arms reach, and I didn't even have a pocket knife handy. When the Lion stood, York took that as our que to move on down the road. He let out on the clutch and old Shumba ambled out into the road and began a very slow saunter directly up the middle of the road. We performed a quick U-turn and followed him for about 50 yards where he made a right and meandered a few yards into the bush, made a half circle, and promptly laid down just like a million house cats do around the world every day. Not a care in the world! I am not scared of a lot of things in this world, but apparently lions are one of those things. They give me the willys, they look at you like a Great White shark does. Once you are in the presence of a lion make no mistake, he is making the decisions and you are just playing along. Every other animal I encountered in Africa seemed more interested in getting away from me than hanging around and checking me out, but not old Shumba, all he is doing is figuring out if he wants to eat you or wait on the next impala that isn't paying attention. You're just another part of the food chain to him.
Upon arrival at the elephant it was apparent that the hyenas had beat us to it. They had made quite a mess of things. We completed the recovery and salvaged as much meat as we could then returned to camp for lunch.
After lunch we went into town to fill up the truck and restock the coolers and such. We saw an elephant in the middle of town eating out of the trash cans, which was pretty comical. I took a picture with it which I will include if I can find it. We left there and ran out to one of the pans close to the camp and looked for a hippo yet again. This hippo business was about to reach an end very soon though. We saw one young bull, but he was not what we were looking for. We made a leisurely afternoon of it. It was a beautiful sunset over the water and a short drive back to camp.
Backyardsniper
AH elite
Backyardsniper
AH elite
Note to self, request non spicy food when asked....
The lion sighting must have been quite amazing.
The lion sighting must have been quite amazing.
Backyardsniper
AH elite
It was wild man! Being that close to a real wild lion is something to see.
Ross Reamy
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Outstanding writing skills, and one hell of a first safari!
Dalton & York are on my short list when the times comes to hunt a buffalo & tuskless.
Dalton & York are on my short list when the times comes to hunt a buffalo & tuskless.
buck wild
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Just getting caught up as I’m on a roe deer hunt in the Czech Republic currently. Everything is splendid so far and I know there’s more to go.
Bullthrower338
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Damn good thing that cat didn’t eat you, he would have had the shits for days with all that curry and chili paste!
mdwest
AH ambassador
Sounds like an incredible hunt and overall awesome experience J! Super stoked for you!
Backyardsniper
AH elite
Believe it man! Ha ha.
Backyardsniper
AH elite
It was really unbelievable! Could not have been a better hunt.
Nyati
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Congrats on your hunt, that was quite an adventure.
And thanks for sharing !
And thanks for sharing !
meigsbucks
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Wonderful adventure and great trophies. Your writing is better than many authors, Dalton & York is on my to do list after talking to them at SCI and reading so many excellent reviews on AH.
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