Safari Club International Alabama Chapter - SCI Alabama - Hunting Safari in Zimbabwe

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Hunting Safari in Zimbabwe - April 2nd through 15th April 2003

He appeared extremely formidable and agitated by our presence as he ran at our.... My son, Jim, and I decided to make another hunting safari to the dark continent within six months after our first trip there. On 2 April 2003 we flew on a direct flight from Atlanta, Georgia to Johannesburg on a South African Airlines 747. The trip lasted fourteen hours. The seats on the plane were narrow and uncomfortable. The flight was otherwise uneventful.

On our previous trip there in September 2002, after remaining overnight in Johannesburg, I flew to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe and was met there by Professional Hunter Alec Strauss and his wife Jan. They transported me to the Kuduland hunting camp, on the 62,000 acre Nottingham citrus plantation, in their Toyota Land Cruiser Suburban Utility Vehicle. In flying from Johannesburg to Bulawayo, I did not get to see any of the rural RSA topography and countryside. So on my second trip, Jim and I made prior arrangements with Louis Bekker, who owns the Afton Guest House in Johannesburg, to drive us the remaining part of the five-hour trip to Zimbabwe. The terrain for around 150 miles or so north of Johannesburg was similar to the topography west of Fort Worth, Texas. It took three hours to get the clearance from the Zimbabwe government officials to enter the country. Those with their same job at the Bulawayo airport are much faster and more efficient, handling the same job in a matter of minutes. Alec Strauss was peeved because of the unnecessarily long delay and commented that he hoped to Hell I had finally seen enough of the terrain in the Republic of South Africa and that I would fly into Bulawayo where they could get me on my next trip there.

Louis Bekker has considerable skill in handling customers. He told us about attending the 2002 Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada, recognizing and greeting at least 350 people who had stayed with him over the years. Jim commented later that Louis has the rare ability to make every customer feel special. It is common place to see many of the indigenous African population strolling en route to some place in the middle of nowhere, many miles from any settlement, in the bush, throughout the continent. Louis commented that he considered their absence, trekking in the remote areas of the U. S. remarkable.

While en route with Louis and his Nephew, Edo, a law student, whose father operates a small diamond strip-mining operation, we were told about them finding a large diamond in the rough. Edo put it in his pocket and later showed it to his father contending that it would weigh at least 50 carats. At this point he tried to strike a deal with his Dad for a reward for locating the extremely large diamond and advised his father that he wanted a new motorcycle. His dad agreed, but when they later found that the weight was 80 carats, his father thought about the matter and reneged on the agreement to buy his son a new motorcycle.

On 8 April 2003, we arrived unannounced at the 62,000 acre wild game ranch of Mr. Digby Briscoe. We were advised by the maid that he was scheduled to return in an hour or so. At this point, our Professional Hunter Alec Strauss told the maid to serve us tea and biscuits (cookies) on the veranda. I later questioned Alec about the social acceptability of ordering the maid to serve us tea and he reported that this standard practice was not considered to be a faux pas in rural areas of Zimbabwe.

Alec’s son, Derrick and his wife Juanita and their children visited at Kuduland three days. They bought Alec’s pontoon boat back on which Derrick had completed rebuilding. Juanita was a world traveler before marrying Derrick two years ago. Jim and I were amused at the response of their son when some of our candy was offered to him and he commented, “Oh Boy, American candy!” She told us about entering one of the Eastern European communist countries several years ago and when the custom’s official checked her passport he said, “A Passport from Mr. Robert Mugabe’s country, please come right in!” She was visibly shaken and dismayed with his greeting which hinted that the official was welcoming a fellow communist.

In addition to collecting an ample bag of game during the safari, another feature that contributes to making hunting with Alec and Jan more enjoyable is that they involve you in their after hours social life. On 5 April 2003, I celebrated the 69’ anniversary of the date of my birth at a party held in the dining area building at Kuduland. There were around fifty people there from Beit Bridge. I was flattered because of the goodly number in attendance when considering the fact there are only twenty white families living in that city. They were all well educated and socializing with them with was very pleasant and the conversations were found to be most interesting. PH Alec Strauss was in rare form. As the group was discussing the loss of weight of one gentleman in attendance who had been out of town on business, Alec commented softly, “He’s been in a bloody brothel!” His cynical penchant always surfaces as he sees much bonafide humor in sarcasm.

Digby Briscoe has three pet 7 month old free ranging lions - one male and two females. They are larger than a dog of the mature German Shepherd breed. They sleep with him. They were playful in lying on their backs and pulling your hand in to scratch their stomach. PH Alec Strauss bristled when one of the young lionesses surprised him by approaching unknown from the rear as he was seated, placing her paws on his shoulders, and nipping him playfully on the shoulder blade. He later told us that Briscoe was foolish for keeping them as pets because wild animals cannot be trusted on a long term basis. They usually revert to their wild state where killing is a common daily practice. They might kill Briscoe’s seven year old son. Briscoe’s wife lives in their home in Bulawayo and he visits her on weekends. At one time, she lived with her family in Washington, D.C. when her father was the Ambassador from the Republic of South Africa.

Briscoe’s inherited family ranch land is soon scheduled for resettlement without any compensation from the government by the blacks of President Robert Mugabe’s ruling political party. He is no longer permitted to hunt on his own land and will be required to vacate the premises. Drought conditions existed at the time of our visit necessitating frequent watering of the wild game. Briscoe said he was simply going to stop watering them and let all the game animals die before turning his land over to the government for resettlement.

Migrating elephants from Botswana pass through Nottingham each year around the first of April, following the succulent greenery brought forth by the rains that always come in November, December, January, February and March. We were charged at thirty yards by a large bull elephant as we drove through an area of the bush through which he was passing. He appeared extremely formidable and agitated by our presence as he ran at our vehicle shaking his head from side-to-side and trumpeting, resulting in the puckering of an intimate part of our personal anatomy as we rapidly left the scene. Try it and see if you have a similar experience.

PH Alec Strauss told us that several times elephants had broken the windows in his skinning shed and had removed an elephant hide which they took away and totally obliterated. Our Nottingham friends, Ken and Precilla, told us of befriending a 5-year old elephant with a club foot who had apparently been ostracized from the herd because he could not maintain the constantly migrating pace of the group in their search for food. This practice could eventually backfire on an unsuspecting careless victim who negligently approached this elephant without having any food, resulting in the elephant becoming irate and turning over their vehicle.

We did not see as many plains-game animals in April as we saw in September. We were told by life long residents that September is the best time for plains game in all the countries in Southern Africa. April is the best time to see the elephants.
We heard a story from our Professional Hunter about one a tracker who had been unfaithful to his wife. When she discovered it, she went to her witch doctor who cast a death spell on her husband. The wayward husband responded by going to another witch doctor hoping to countermand the death spell, but he was told that his demise was imminent, advising that he should have made the visit to his witch doctor first. This man died within a few weeks. We also heard that witch doctors have always had effective medicine that works in the same manner as Viagra.

A cow managed to get stuck in the mud at Mashona Mtsholashokwe, a large man-made lake on the Nottingham Estate. A rope was tied around her neck in an attempt to tow her out of the morass. When this failed, two donkeys were also unsuccessful in extricating her from the mire. A crocodile arrived in very timely fashion and managed to pull all three animals into the water, drown them and later had them for dinner.

Our primary safari hunting objective was to perform a culling operation on warthogs that had crossed the new electric fence and gotten inside one of the orange groves. The company wanted all the warthogs out of the area before turning on the electricity to the new fence. I shot 42 and Jim shot 18, making a combined bag of 60 warthogs. We passed up all warthogs seen in other open areas, shooting only those found in the orange groves. Jim shot one eland cow, one kudu cow, one baboon, 2 guinea fowl, 4 francolin and one impala. In addition to the warthogs, I shot one baboon and one impala.

15 April 2003
James Eugene Lightsey, Jr.

SCI Alabama • 7059 Pineview Lake • McCalla, AL 35111-4042
Tel: 205.491.4464 • Fax: 205.491.1676