This entire site was so helpful over the last two years as I prepared for this trip I thought to give a short recap. In 2019 I booked a bowhunting safari to SA for my whole family with what was then a reputable outfitter for a hunt in 2021. Then chinavirus hit and there was a year delay. In the interim the concession changed hands (one owner retired then some folks left that worked there) and my family and I got increasingly uncomfortable with some things surrounding the hunt so in 22 we met with the new owners at DSC........which didn't help our uncomfortable feelings so we canceled 6 mos prior to the hunt (no deposit back btw, they refused). My daughter was volunteering extensively with DSC during this time and just happened to be invited by one of my cousins to attend a dinner at a home in the Dallas area where PH Russell Lovemore was going to be speaking about conservation as well as describing his hunting concession and associated opportunities for safari at Chawalo Wilderness Area of Mozambique. My daughter was very impressed and connected me to Russell and we began to discuss African Safari in general. What was I looking for? Since this would be my first trip, Russ had a variety of questions that were both challenging and introspective and I was delighted at the opportunity to discuss such with someone of his reputation and experience (30 yrs PH). Ultimately I booked a hunt just for me and my wife with Russ for this year for Cape Buffalo and Crocodile. Russ is part owner of Safari Trails International which has both South Africa and Mozambique concessions. In Mozambique he has hunting areas in the Zambezi Delta, Niassa and the Cahora Basin where we chose.
Preparing for this safari, I started off researching rifle calibers and through the extensive amount of archived discussions in the various parts of this site as well as some question and answer from folks on here I decided to purchase a 375H&H along with a 416 Rigby both in bolt action and because I like old stuff I decided to try and find Ruger M77 RSM's. It took a bit but I eventually found the 375 complete with older Zeiss 3x9 in good condition and finally a 416 Rigby in the same M77 RSM that was in mint condition. To the 416 I added a Leupold Patrol 6HD with firedot reticle and I was set. Now I just had to get comfortable with one or both rifles since I had rarely picked up the rifle in the last 20 yrs, opting for almost exclusive bowhunting except for some nighttime work on the hogs on my place and one foray into STex for free ranging Axis a couple years back. I will say the recoil from the 416 took a bit to master but initially with a PAST (recommended on this site) I got the hang of it and within a couple hundred rounds I was able to discard the PAST. The 375 I found to be very manageable but I found myself really liking the 416 boom! Finding ammo was quite a $$$ hurdle but over the months leading up to the hunt I actually put some 600 rounds through the 416 and half that many through the 375!
One of Russ' first recommendations that I now echo to any and all who are contemplating safari was to engage the services of a travel agent with experience in arranging these kind of trips with firearms. He recommended Gracy Travel out of Boerne, Tx and I can now say that this truly changed our trip entirely. My original booking for the bow hunt had led me to looking at the traditional Atlanta-Jo'berg flights with hops to Lusaka, Zambia where we would be picked up by Russ. Debbie Gracy took us on and immediately began making reccs that eventually increased our enjoyment of the travel a hundred fold. She suggested Qatar Air (which I now hardily endorse) with a DFW-Doha-Lusaka itinerary and now having returned I can say that the Business Class on Qatar is absolutely the best I have experienced. The 16 hr DFW-Doha seemed like nothing and the 7 hr Doha-Lusaka was even less. The service on this airline was simply incredible! It aint cheap, but neither is anyone else!
We ended up choosing the Cahora basin area of Russ' concession as I stated earlier. Part of the reason was for the ability to hunt croc and part was to be able to do more of a traditional tracking hunt for Buffalo. Russ' concession includes a vast area including significant frontage along the Zambezi River just below it's confluence with the Luangwa at Zumbo. It extends north for over 400k acres. Since my wife was going to accompany me on this trip (and she is very short) I really was a bit uneasy about taking her into the Delta where wading water might often be to her chin. Now looking back, she would have been fine.........she fell in some elephant foot prints that were deeper than most water she would have had to wade in the Delta!
Two weeks prior to our hunt beginning, Russ emailed me: "Hey, I can get an extra Hippo tag, what do you think?". Well, I hadn't been concentrating on hippo much but what the heck, if it doesn't detract from the buff and croc, let's do it. So we added a hippo and I kept shooting off the sticks. Ultimately I decided on just taking the 416 (my wife had a bout of "frozen shoulder syndrome" a month prior so we left her 280 at home) and using it for all three animals slated for the hunt. Russ had also suggested a Bushbuck hunt while in camp so we added that and I just used his 300 win mag.(btw excellent Bushbuck in his area, mine was 17")
I could write volumes about this trip. We had virtually 0 problems traveling with firearms (thank you Debbie Gracy!!!) and although everyone from Lusaka thru customs at Zumbo had their hand out for a "blessing", you play the game and forget all the billboards in Zambia that say "stop corruption" and you make it through with ease. The road trip from Lusaka to Zumbo? Well now, I got home not complaining as much about TxDot as I have in the past. That 200 mi trip can take 6+ hrs due to potholes and goat crossings but it was all part of our "education" and our driver frequently would just say "A-F-R-I-C-A".........then point out again that he was from Zim not Moz or Zam.
I cannot say enough about our host and hostess. Russ Lovemore is the real deal. Through our 10 days we learned quickly to trust him. I can't think of anything more important that we learned on this safari. Dodging elephants and bedded hippos on the islands of the Zambezi while stalking crocs and buffalo can be hazardous to your health. Excellent trackers and a PH that knows his game is essential and we had both. These islands are covered with what I call "switch cane" here in Texas. Actually it is some type of bamboo and it is giant many times 12' and up and so thick you cannot walk through it. Unless of course the elephants have eaten/beaten it down. Then sunlight can penetrate and grasses grow which attract the buffalo and of course the hippo. It is a very unique environment. But it's not where we found our success in the end.
"Stalking" hippo turned out to be quite the challenge. With as many as you see in the Zambezi, having never hunted or read much about these critters, I was amazed at the difficulty in getting a shot. In the end, I bagged mine after a stalk across an island and an hour sit overlooking a slight bluff bank at a half dozen asleep on a sand bar. A very exciting hunt and perhaps more exciting recovery, I was very pleased at what had taken us 21/2 half days to accomplish (I won't mention my "warning shot" in an earlier wade stalk on a sandbar in the middle of the river......let's just say if you shoot a little low and catch water, even the 416 Rigby 400 gr will only give mr hippo a mild headache). Crocodile hunting? Now that's something more exciting than I ever thought it could be.
Several times while hunting hippo we would see good crocs Russ would want to stalk. We had several "almosts" and many that we didn't even get close. These beasts, frequently >50 yrs old, didn't get that age being stupid. I'm not saying they are overly intelligent but survival has made them incredibly well tuned to their environment. I was shocked at their sense of smell and their "6th sense" of just knowing when something is up can be most exasperating!!! In the end, taking the hippo resulted in baiting and blind building which lead to entertainment like I wouldn't ever have believed. We were right on the edge of the "croc rut". Vocalizations, challenges and fights were abundant at our bait sites. We had a couple of big bulls selected but the constant ruckus over the bait.......or the reluctance to engage the bait sometimes for hours kept us from getting good shot opportunities. Finally the river level stabilized one morning perfectly for us to bait a particular beast and he actually followed the script and we were able to get him killed. Much more of a challenge and far more exciting than I ever would have thought. Russ had to talk me into this hunt over several months. I was wanting to try a second buffalo instead but he kept telling me "the croc hunt is tremendously undervalued"......and man was he correct.
Ok, hippo down, croc down. We had already attempted to track one particular buffalo that Russ had hunted several times previously that the trackers called "Bigfoot". That would be early mornings on 3 previous days where we would pick up his track at water and follow him into the bush. It was very dry, very loud to walk in and Bigfoot was old and very smart. All three mornings we hunted him he busted us from his bedded position after the zig-zag they evidently customarily do prior to laying down. Once we devoted our sole attention and the last 5 days of the hunt just to buffalo, we decided tracking Bigfoot wasn't likely to produce results. Back to the boat and the islands in the Zambezi! We found groups of Daggaboys every time we stepped foot on the islands. We also found elephants aplenty. Ultimately the elephant feeding patterns and their lack of acceptance of our presence made the island hunting less attractive to put it mildly. Creeping along through that cane with very low visibility (frequently 20' max) and running up on a beast that weighs >10,000lbs is something I can't say you "get used" to? I have a good friend that has hunted Africa many times and his words to me about elephants was simple "there is nothing more terrifying than an elephant, nothing". Agreed. Perhaps no less terrifying is bumping a herd of "something" and I mean bumping, and not realizing what they were until you hear them crash into the river. Oh, just a half dozen bedded hippos, sure glad they opted for water!
Last day. We decided for the track. First water hole nothing. Second water hole nothing. Third water hole and the trackers say "it's a lone bull and it's not Bigfoot". Ok we're in business and the track begins. This bull was on a mission we determined after about an hour. He never paused and the spore didn't seem to be getting fresher. Russ continued to say "he is headed somewhere he knows and we're not getting closer". At about 21/2 miles in we stopped for water. As Russ whispered to me "I think we are finally getting close but he has yet to zig zag to look at his back trail and the wind has been against us many times and yet we've never heard him so I think he has been bedded somewhere since before we took up the track". Almost simultaneously "Trust" one of our trackers suddenly got very excited and was handing the sticks to Russ. Russ glassed in the area Trust pointed and immediately whispered "get on the sticks he just stood up and he is right there!". It took me a moment to find him and we had to move the sticks a bit but "right there" was 35 yards. He had evidently heard something and stood up to see. The wind had picked up for the last 30 mins prior so I suppose he couldn't hear our crunch crunch crunch as we plodded up that hill before we stopped. When I got him in the crosshairs he was staring right at me. All the descriptions you've read of that "look"? Well I won't ever forget it. Russ whispered "put in under his chin right in his brisket and I sent a 400gr Hornady DGX his way. Trust went into a leaping celebration instantly even though I couldn't tell what had happened the bull just disappeared. Russ had us wait about 5 mins he said but I think we were almost instantly on the track and almost as quickly that sweet sound of the death bellow greeted us. He made it about 30 yards. I put two more in him and I had my last day bull.
What an experience!!! There is so much more than what I could ever describe. As I stated, Russ Lovemore is the real deal. I can't even begin to relate to you the depth of his experience, the wisdom of his choices every moment and even moreso the quality of his character. He loves "old Africa" and is deeply involved with poaching control and conservation in the Chawalo. He has spoken about conservation at DSC events. He has a fabulous group working for him there at their camp. The camp itself is gorgeous and that is mostly due to Russ' wife Julie. Julie heads the kitchen and in a camp with only a generator and bottled gas, the things that land on your plate are 5*+. She delighted us with just the perfect selection for every meal plus the "snacks" that ended up in the ice chest during the day! Moreso, Julie is a delight herself. What she has done with gardening, landscaping and decorating at that camp is testimony to the vitality of the water of the Zambezi! The camp is a veritable Eden! She and my wife instantly bonded and she was constantly giving tips for the day. She is such a part of everything Russ does and so involved from the moment you reach camp I can't tell you how integral she was to our enjoyment. We love them both, forever friends.
So when I first contacted Russ and asked him "since I have never been to Africa do you think I should first come kill plains game before maybe coming back for buffalo". He answered "well, that's fine if it's what you wish to do but quite frankly killing a Kudu or Impala doesn't prepare you to hunt a buffalo or crocodile". Men, I believe he was correct. I recommend these folks without the slightest reservation. It's wilderness and many amenities would be lacking for some folks.......no tv, no social media, no a/c. Honestly that was perhaps one of the most attractive parts for us! The nights around the fire with Russ and Julie will be a treasure for us forever......the fellowship that covered every topic you can imagine. We know their kids now and they know ours......we know much of their past and they ours......and we know the quality of character of this family which is absolutely the best!
I will try to post pictures now but I am profoundly technologically challenged.
I did the same hunt with the previous owner over 10 years ago. It was also my first time. I know exactly how the island hunting is. Exhilarating. I had a hippo bump my rifle and a standoff ensued while on bait for croc. I went to Botswana a few years ago for pg and it was definitely different but fun. Russ has a special place. One of his ph's, Henno, is trying to get me to come back. The previous owner lost my hippo somehow. I ended up w hippo, croc, bush buck, Impala and grysbok. It was like going back in time. When I was there, their road system was still getting built. Buffalo weren't on the menu but I saw some. I used Henno's 375 but I just purchased a 416rem for the return trip. Congratulations!
Religion: A founder of The Church of Spray and Pray
Acquit v. t. To render a judgment in a murder case in San Francisco... EQUAL, adj. As bad as something else. Ambrose Bierce âThe Devil's Dictionaryâ
I would love to post the pics but I cannot downsize them sufficiently to post? Any suggestions? I'd be delighted to email them to someone more technologically proficient but when I downsize to fit the criterion on here they disappear? I did post them on another site I frequent but I won't make that gaffe!
