Andrew62
AH elite
- Joined
- Oct 12, 2010
- Messages
- 1,255
- Reaction score
- 3,077
- Media
- 23
- Member of
- SCI
- Hunted
- Cameroon, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Uganda
This hunt was for a management bull elephant, non-transportable, it took place about an hour southeast of Victoria Falls in the Matetsi area. The owner/operator is Gordon Stark, I took this very same hunt with Gordon 6 years ago, took my elephant on day one.
Upon arrival at the VFA airport, I filled out a short form that you need to get through Customs, you will also need 30.00 US cash, be sure they are clean bills, no marks, no tears. After Customs I cleared my gun, it is not a difficult process. Do know the guy who clears your gun will ask you to ‘bless him’, lol
Gordon met me in the arrivals hall of the airport, we immediately headed to the Victoria Falls Hotel to eat lunch out on the patio. For anyone going through Victoria Falls or staying in the area, you simply must go there and have some sort of meal out on the patio. The first picture shows my salad and in the background the mist from Victoria Falls, as well as the bridge between Zimbabwe and Zambia. I have been blessed to have done this on several trips to Victoria Falls, it never gets old. After lunch, off to camp which is just an hour south of the airport, on some communal lands.
Camp is nice, there are 2 chalets, one for the hunter, one for Gordon, then a small open air building you eat in. Camp is in a beautiful setting and you can actually hunt straight from camp. In my chalet there were 2 beds, so I spread my belongings out on one and slept on the other, there was also a small table to spread other stuff out on.
Our days started with a 5am wake up, breakfast at 5:30am, leave camp at 6am. We would generally return to camp anywhere from 11am to noon, eat, then head back out around 2:30 or 3pm. Most days we would end up driving about an hour from camp looking for tracks.
There is a fire pit beside of the eating area, after we got back in from hunting we would sit there for a short time until the dinner was ready. Most evenings we were done eating and back in our chalets by 7:30 to 8:00, making a nice amount of time for sleeping.
They have a guy stoke a fire under a water tank for about 2 hours in the morning and evening so you can have ‘hot’ water. Gordon said to leave the water run 5 to 10 minutes to get hot water, I never did have hot water, just a version of slightly ‘less cold’ water, lol. Trust me, this is not a biggie to me, but the point of my hunt report is to be honest and let others know you can shower at any time, just don’t expect ‘hot’ water.
I took a portable fan that is about 8” x 8”, it was orange in color, I got it off of Amazon. It also has a battery in it so you can charge a phone while using it. Having a bit of wind in my face on a hot night made relaxing and sleeping a lot easier.
I saw no snakes, no mosquitoes, very few mopani flies, that was wonderful!!
There are 2 different styles of electric plugs in the room, one is for South Africa, the other for Zimbabwe.
There is no Wifi in camp, I did download an e-sim card on my iPhone, it did not work, so I went 8 days without being able to communicate. This was NO problem for me, my girlfriend, not so much, lol.
After spending about 55+ hours riding around Gordon’s concession, which totals upwards of 300,000 acres, and walking 25 to 30 miles, here is a list of the wildlife I saw, 1 duiker, 6 baboons, 5 elephants. The elephant areas I was hunting in are not game rich, however, Gordon does have areas closer to Hwange Park where you can hunt kudu and impala. Given my focus was elephant I did not travel to these areas.
Last year this area suffered terrible droughts, this year God blessed the area with record rainfalls which make elephant hunting more challenging as they were impossible to pattern, there were water points everywhere this year. While we were just 2 or 3 seconds from connecting on a huge bodied bull on day one, and while we were in amongst other herds of elephants, due to the thickness of the areas we were in with the herds with, we decided it was not safe to walk in and try to take one, just too many babies to deal with. In the end I did not get an elephant.
As we were heading back to camp at the end of the last day, Gordon apologized for me not getting an elephant. He said in his 27 years of doing these hunts I was maybe the 5th person who did not get an elephant. I told Gordon, ‘sure, I am disappointed, but how can I be mad because God provided record rainfalls which the area desperately needed? I’ll just come back another time!!’
Lastly, I will make a full report on flying Ethiopian Airlines through Addis Abada and the nightmare that was going both directions sometime in the coming days.
Do you mind sharing, your rifle, load, boots, anything that could help us who have not done an ele hunt. Thank you!
