African Hunter Published Books Campfire Tales Volume 1 of 20 | Page 7

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fter two gruelling days of travel and three spectacular days
at Victoria Falls, we at last linked up with professional
hunter Pete Fick, at the airport in Kariba. Pete and I had
become acquainted through meetings at the past two International
Conventions in Nevada, and through phone conversations during his
Stateside visits. Amazingly, we were still willing to hunt together!
Three hours of cruising along the breathtakingly beautiful Lake
Kariba shoreline and through the mountains beyond, delivered us
to the Chewore South concession area, where we would bivouac
at Mokore’s Kachowe River Camp. At one million acres plus,
Chewore is the largest hunting concession in Zimbabwe. Its remote
location in the heart of Zim’s vast expanse of National Park lands
that cover the Northeastern sector of the country, ensured us that
our safari would commence in an area that was absolutely the
“true” wild Africa. Mokore conducts hunts for the Big Four here.
We would be hunting the brute of the veld, Cape buffalo; what an
introduction to hunting Africa!
NYATI
Sleep was tough to come by that first night under the thatched
roof of the cabin tent. It had nothing to do with the anxiety of waiting
to get rolling either. I had no idea that “wild” Africa could be so
loud! As soon as the generator kicked off, thereby blackening the
camp, all hell broke loose! Bushbucks barking, hyenas howling,
baboons bellowing and who knows what else, serenaded us with
an African lullaby that can only be described as ...nerve-racking!
At times, it seemed that every creature in the bush was just outside
our tent. Fresh hyena tracks in the mud just outside the tent the
next morning gave credence to our suspicions.
Imagine hunting grizzly bears in herds and you will have a
fairly accurate picture of buffalo hunting. With every sense tuned
to a razor sharp edge, a wildly unpredictable nature and a genuinely
nasty disposition, successfully hunting these boys is an unforgiving
African Hunter Magazine - Campfire Tales, Volume One

Page 7