GP & MP - Amadundumella

PH Comment - Alan Shearing

Seeing as this was GP first elephant hunt I had all intentions of taking a few days to get close to elephant and get GP comfortable around them and give him some coaching on shot placement. Well this didn’t happen!! Day one we picked up a couple of bull tracks and after following them fora short while the crossed the Amadundumella river, we decided not to get our feet wet, so we meet up with the truck and drove round to the other side where we picked up a few more big tracks. We followed them for about an hour when we heard them, but now they had joined with more bulls and were resting separately in groups roughly 100m apart. We tried to get the wind right but we got smelled and to make things worse we flushed a kudu bull and he ran towards the eles. Sending them all on their way. We decided to have some lunch and then continue following. At this point many other bulls had joined them, mostly young bulls which we eventually started bumping into. The big bulls seemed to be ahead of the rest (one bull had a huge track and distinct crack) so stayed on all the big tracks until the wind was good and managed to get beyond most of the younger bulls. The bush was particularly thick. We finally caught the big bull, I could see 4 of them. They were all a little big to be NTs and the wind/thick bush made for a tricky situation, so I decided we should head back out and leave them alone. As we were doing so an unseen bull to our right smelled us and ran off. The other visible bulls turned toward us and started in our direction. I shouted and they turned and then heard Nyathi shout watch out. I looked up and suddenly a large bull was in full charge and almost on top of us. GP and I almost fired simultaneously (at this point the bulls head was down and 4 yards from where we stood). Missing the brain, but knocking down, I stumbled backwards to avoid being fallen on and tripped over a bush, but managed to get a second shot. GP had rapidly put 3 shots in, but the bull still managed to get up and tried to run off, but GP managed to reload and side brain him before he did. One more for a ‘coupe de gras’ and it was over. We were all shaken, but happy to be alive. When we had had a breather and had time to absorb what had just happened it was such fun watching everyone animatedly relay what happened and how everyone had reacted during the situation. There was much relieved laughter. I was impressed with GP’s ability to focus on all the details and totally respect that he remained solidly at my side and dealt with one of the most formable charges I have had to face. MP had the presence of mind to get off the path that we were on and get behind a small tree, which in hindsight would have been a saving grace as the bull would have carried on down the path after everyone else. Day two was recovery as it was late in the pm that we took the ele. The rest of the hunt was a fun time to casually hunt a wildebeest and an impala (both with Nyathi as ph) and follow a honey guide (bird) to a bee hive, talk and discuss flowers, insects and trees, which both GP and MP are very interested in. We did eventually when the hunting was over go and harvest the honey, which was a treat. GP and MP are such a wonderful couple, we had so much fun and laughed a lot. The camp staff, our team and I thoroughly enjoyed having them with us.