This is the description of a safari in Zimbabwe with Nengasha Safaris (Paul Bennie, Bulawayo) with PH Mitch Bunce which took place from 20 July to 30 July 2023. The plan was to hunt for 2 tuskless elephants. The 2 rifles used are described in the
Africa Ready DGRs thread.
The trip involved the usual travel routine arranged by TWG. Starting with a flight from home to ATL, then a layover before flying Delta Flt. 200 non-stop to Joburg. Because of the flight schedules, an overnight stay at Africa Sky - although owned by South Africans, the staff is almost entirely Zimbabwean - extremely service-oriented, hard working, and the lodging and food is great. They also arrange the SAPS firearm permits and the meet-and-greet service. All worth the reasonable fee as it expedites all phases of the Joburg leg.
I used both the Delta app, and for the first time, Apple Air Tags in my luggage and carry-ons to track them. No hang ups with either the rifle case nor the duffle. JNB runs very smoothly and is clean and up to 1st world standards. Despite what I’ve heard, all of my trips through Tambo have gone smoothly without loss of any luggage, at least so far. Plan to follow the same route and schedule the next time. From home, USA, to Bulawayo takes 2 days. Completion of the inbound leg of the journey was the pickup by Mitch and his tracker, Ocean, at JM Nkomo airport. We then drove to Nengasha’s camp near Beitbridge. It’s now become a familiar sight on the Limpopo River.
We checked rifle sights the next day. There’s a nice benchrest set up at 96 yds, but I used Mitch’s sticks at 25 yds instead as that was the most likely field position I anticipated, if anything other than off hand shots were offered. The Ruger 458 WM+ needed a few left clicks after the first shot to achieve dead center with the MOA-Ring scope on the second shot and was on target with the open iron sights. Confirmed the scope and Holosun settings on the 460 G&A and we set off to look for tracks and tuskless. Both rifles held zero throughout the vicissitudes of the typical safari.
It was winter in Zim and temps drop at night and early morning, with some warm up as the sun heats the semi-arid plateaus back up to ‘African weather’ so short pants, and sleeves with a light windbreaker or lightly insulated vest work well during the walking track phase of the hunt.
We hunted for the first tuskless on Nottingham Estates, patterning the food to water and back roaming of several herds, finally settling on fresh spoor from the prior night to follow. Tracking and a plan led us to intercepting a herd of about 15 elephants, including 3 mature tuskless eles, watching them from a sparse brush line hide as they ambled past us at about 25 yards upwind. Any of the tuskless would have been fair game, but there were several dependent calves interspersed in the middle of the line and we were unable to attribute them to specific tuskless, so we remained silent as I practiced aiming to become familiar in the field with the MOA-Ring sight picture for later use. Once the group melted into the mopane, we walked back to the Land Cruiser.
After a couple of kopje climbs in the afternoon to view other small bands over the boundary on Sentinel - outside Nengasha’s concession - we returned to camp. Another hunter and his PH were in camp for a few days, seeking PG and providing bushbuck, impala, kudu and eventually nyala camp meat for the pre-dinner braai and main meal overlooking RSA across the Limpopo. One of the best treats of this type of safari I’ve learned to look forward to and enjoy. Good fellowship with our newly acquainted experienced American hunter from MS and old PH friend, Wayne Bartlett, a leopard specialist in his own right.
Day#2 was similar to the first, although less close-in elephant activity but definitive spoor to point us in the right direction to hunt on day #3. Typical tuskless hunt so far.
Day 3 started early as usual. Cruised back toward the area we planned to hunt, glassed from a kopje til we spotted a small herd of about a dozen eles and set out to track them. Followed the track into thick mopane and climbed again. The wind shifted unexpectedly, as its wont to do as the day warms, as we neared the summit just in time to see the herd rapidly moving away having caught our scent. A discussion among Mitch and trackers Ocean and Mabena - with me catching the few Ndebele words I can understand - generated a plan to circle, find the spoor, close with the herd and, from a suitable bit of concealment as we approached them, identify a possible mature tuskless we might stalk.
The plan came together as we cut the herd’s track on a sandy trail they’d crossed. We circled widely to get downwind, found concealment, caught the glimpse of a mature tuskless ambling along in the middle of the single-file eles outlined against a thick treeline, about 50 yds away. Couldn’t ask for a better setup as Ocean set up the sticks and I positioned the Ruger, slightly adjusted the sticks and got ready. Several eles walked by until the tuskless, unaccompanied by any calves, stepped into view and Mitch gave me the verbal cue that this was the one. First shot, at 52 yds, caused the animal to stagger quite visibly, almost appearing to tumble forward, while I worked the bolt to recharge the chamber and fired a follow up as the lephant bellowed and turned into the treeline. The first shot had clearly impacted the near shoulder squarely, and the second was one of those shots Elmer Keith would have termed a ‘raking shot’ quartering away in the mid body aimed forward to the chest.
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/SKx7PMHw/IMG-1742.jpg)
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/3wfCQwTW/IMG-1744.jpg)
Trampling of bush and trees as the stricken animal ran headlong into the trees, briefly bellowing before we retreated and heard clear signs that the tuskless was no longer moving away. The usual excited utterings from the rest of the herd and usual milling about as they decided whether to run off, look for their tormentors, or stand their ground followed. As we were undetected and now away from the melee, they ran off in their original direction of travel.
After about 20 minutes of watchful waiting we moved forward to the spot where the shot struck, followed a short cleared path bulldozed by the fatally wounded ele and found it on its side, about 40 yds from were it stood when hit. 2 entrance holes on its right side were clearly visible. Both were in a straight horizontal line at the shoulder and in the mid-body. Eventually when the ele was turned during skinning, etc. an exit of the first shot immediately behind the left - far - shoulder was identified. The raking follow up shot entered the guts filled with fodder and fluid and was not recovered.
The initial shot broke the near shoulder, causing the stumble noted, and struck the heart through the left ventricle.
![[Linked Image from i.postimg.cc]](https://i.postimg.cc/NMHZVSH9/IMG-1798.jpg)
Fortunately, because the ele had been hunted on Nottingham, the next day recovery was significantly expedited by a mechanized crew from the Estates, after the skinning was done, turning the ele and transporting the meat. In Zim the meat is property of the landowner, so all the meat went to the citrus workers and families employed in the picking crew. One thousand workers had elephant meat that week. A good result all around on a continent where game, “If it pays, it stays.” So this ele paid by feeding the workers, providing its hide to fund Nengasha’s and Nottingham’s excellent anti-poaching patrols, and improving game habitat. Another example that in conservation, its we hunters who lead the way!!
To keep this post at a manageable length, I’ll post the account of the 2nd tuskless, on CAMPFIRE land, in Part 2. Hope this is enjoyable to all of us in the brotherhood who practice and treasure the true safari experience.
