PART ONE
This Safari started out as a Three Hunter non Trophy Ele hunt with Two Elephant each on Quota.
"Magnum" Andrew, one of the Aus hunters was able to arrive early so we made plans for him to stay at a great lodge at Vic Falls for a few days then a few days at a lodge at Wankie National Park prior to Tim and my arrival in Bulawayo.
On the 8th of April Tim "the Rough" and I met with Andrew and PH's Stu Taylor, "Chap" Ousthausen and Pirre Hundermark at the Bulawayo Club to prepare for the next two weeks.
The Rifles Andrew, Tim and I would be using on this Elephant/ Plains game hunt were Andrews Chapuis 470 and Kimber 375H&H. Tim's Merkel 470 and Chapuis 9.3x62. My Westley Richards .425Mag and Husqvarna 9.3x62.
The 470s and 425 were loaded with Woodleigh bullets and the 9.3s and 375 with Woodleigh's and Swift A Frames. These bullets worked great as usual.
Our Flights over were mostly uneventful other than some unavoidable excess baggage and my damaged rifle case, compliments of Sydney Airport. . Thankfully the rifles seem to be undamaged. This was similar damage to what happened to a mate last season as per article in SSAA Mag.
The next morning we left Bulawayo for the long drive to the Communal lands in the north of the country, adjacent to the huge lake Kariba. I have hunted this area on two other occasions and found the roads within the area in bad disrepair due to the down spiral of Zimbabwe. Who knows it might not be long before foot safaris are back due to necessity.
Thankfully the conditions were dry for the drive in and we felt certain the wet season was over. We were wrong. Over the next few days we had some storms which hampered our traveling which made it necessary to walk in to areas where Crop Raiding was occurring.