ZA - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - Alan Shearing

What can I say. In 4 days we had seen 12/13 male lions. Some from the truck, some at baits and a couple on foot! We saw on day 3, 2 lions run off. We tracked them, but they were in thick jesse (turned out to be 4) and kept running from us. We then did a big drag and put up a bait for them. The next day they had a hit and two of them were shooters. We replenished the bait as they had finished the zebra we put out for them. Next day we set a blind a got in at 4pm. The lion that we wanted was the first to come in and Zach made a great shot and then hit again on the run, dropping it within 10 yards. What a beautiful cat. Buff was taken with ZA’s open sight Lott at +/- 27 yards, perfectly shot. We found him in a group of about 9 bulls. Great experience we collected a bunch of other trophies, including a big old eland. We failed on hippo as ZA wanted only to shoot one on land, but we never did get the opportunity, although we saw lots of hippo in the water.

Client Comment

It was my first time hunting Nyakasanga and first time hunting with Alan Shearing on a 21-day lion and buffalo hunt. Alan and his team are exceptional hunters and trackers, and it was easy to see why Alan is considered one of the best. Alan has the best of personalities and was also a great host while hunting and in camp. The hunting team, Maplan, Martin and Dubeh, all work very well together and their veteran experience shows. The game ranger, Evans, was also a great spotter and hard worker who was a nice addition to our team. Prior to the hunt we spent 3 days in Victoria Falls which I highly recommend. Dangerous game and many other game species in Nyakasanga are plentiful. During the 21-day hunt we heard lion around our camp all but one night, with periodic visits from buffalo, elephant and hyena as well. Overall, we saw a total of 17 different male lion during the hunt, of which 16 different male lions were seen in the first 6 days. Our very first hunt we tracked 2 male lions from a day-old buffalo kill and caught up to them within 20 minutes, which we decided to pass. We passed shooting several male lions on day 1, 2 and 3, and then shot a really nice lion on day 4. We shot a great old buffalo on day 9 after tracking for approximately one hour, then a perfect stalk to 28 yards amongst a group of 7 dugga boys, all of them shooters. Worn down and estimated to be 13 years old, he was exactly the buffalo we were looking for. We all worked hard chopping in a 2.6 mile road during the long 7-hour recovery process. We saw numerous old bulls both before and after shooting the buffalo. Lots of young up and coming buffalo bulls in the herds we observed as well. Additionally, Alan and I had great success on other quality trophies throughout the hunt, including eland, kudu, grysbok, waterbuck, bushbuck, warthog and zebra. Hunting 5-6 days by boat on the Zambezi River for the aquatic species added to the overall adventure. Game birds are plentiful and we had two great dove hunts. Incredible game viewing and bird watching the entire time with large numbers of lion, hippo, crocodile and elephant, along with some fantastic animals rarely seen in this area: several honey badger, klipspringer, a pack of wild dog, and a group of sable and nyala. My good friend hunting separately with Myles and then Jannie also had a hunt to remember, taking a great leopard on day 8, along with hippo, a nice old dugga boy, the biggest eland I have ever seen, kudu, and some other great animals. Having Myles in camp the first 9 days and then briefly having Buzz, Daniel and Jannie in camp for some days was all an added bonus. A dinner feast on a Zambezi River island added to the highlights. The camp was what one might expect of a modern day tented safari camp with a good sized dining tent and each wall tent having plenty of space with a full bathroom. The food was amazing with a 4-course meal made from scratch every night, fresh baked bread daily, and the entire camp staff was wonderful. They did a great job, worked very hard and were on top of everything at all times. Overall, I can't say enough good things about Nyakasanga, Alan Shearing, CMS, the hunting team and camp staff. Many thanks to all who were part of such a wonderful safari experience.