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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.

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When and where we were able to travel by Cruser we were forced to dig out on a few occasions.
It was day three or four that we tracked a herd of Crop Raiders from an area that had been decimated by the animals over the past few weeks. the majority of the group crossed a deep river and with no Dugouts close by we elected to follow the remainder of the herd that were traveling south west adjacent to the river.We were fortunate to find them slowly moving and feeding in open Mopani woodland but the wind was not great so it was decided to move in swiftly and slightly on an angle with the wind.
At around 25m a young Bull presented a side on position and as I felt confident with it I fired for a side brain shot which worked well with the rear of the beast dropping first. I then followed up with a heart shot followed by another Brain shot for insurance. The Westley Richards did its job.

During the skinning and distribution of the meat ##(The meat from these problem animals belongs to the local community and as with tradition the trunk go's to the Chief. Ivory and skin is sold by the Council)## we snaked on salted Elephant temple meat kebabs which weren't all that bad.
Walking back to the Toyota after the villagers were given the meat was a sight. We had a line if porters carrying Ivory , skin and meat crossing an open valley in single file the rain. We also got word that later that day Andrew and Stu's party scored a kill also.
A couple days later Tim's PH Chap came down with a bout of Malaria so for the next few days Tim hunted with us taking both his Ele. The first one after a 20plus km track then the next a big bull in the Jesse bush. both with his Merkel 470 with one side brain shot and the other a frontal.
It is my belief that a short double rifle in 470 or 500NE is the ultimate Elephant Rifle, in particularly when hunting the Jesse thickets that these huge dangerous animals use to take refuge in during the day or particularly when being pushed.

My second Ele was taken in the Jesse but thankfully only on the edge of the notorious "Tiger Bay Jesse".
This one I was forced to crouch and fire between the bush for a heart shot followed by a high shoulder shot which dropped it as it took off after the first shot.
By around day seven all our Ele quota was taken and as the roads had dried sufficiently we moved to the Western camp as there would be more chance for plains game there.
The guys where successful on Zebra, WartHog, Impala, Baboon and Waterbuck. With the early season thick bush I had little chance at a Bushbuck let alone a monster that I am after.
During our stay there I felt so sorry for the alcohol abuse the Zimbabwean PHs and Apprentices (Appys)had to endure due to the harassment from one of our Aussie team .
I do believe these episodes will be remembered for some time.
More to come.

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