Wild & Jag April 2020

Chrisjan Bakker
IN ZIMBABWE
The ultimate hunting experience!
Growing up as a young boy, I used to watch hunting videos by legends like Mark Sullivan, Ivan Carter and
Buzz Charlton. Having watched these videos, one cannot help but dream of leaving your own tracks on the
Dark Continent in search of Africa’s biggest mammal one day. Buzz and Ivan make it quite clear that for them
this is the pinnacle of any trophy hunter’s hunting career. The seed was planted and the countdown began ...
In late 2018, I started a project of having a real elephant
gun built. My choice was a .450 Rigby and I set the ball
rolling. This rifle was completed by March 2019, and after
shooting it for the first time, I just knew I had to sling it over
my shoulder in search of the ultimate Big Five animal. I did
some load development with 480 gr Woodleigh Hydrostatically
Stabilised solids and found a load that worked like a
charm. At this stage I realised it was time to start organising
the hunt of a lifetime!
Being the young and avid trophy hunter that I am, I
started looking around for packages and options in September
2019. I contacted my great friend, Richard Eales, who
then put me onto Tinie Kok of Mbalabala Safaris in Zimbabwe.
I made it clear to Tinie that I wanted a real and proper
hunt and he understood me 100%. Tinie came back to me,
confirming that he would be able to help. I was ecstatic and
could hardly control my excitement. The hunt was booked
and now the real preparation could begin.
The next two months felt like two years. I must have
watched at least 10 DVDs numerous times to make sure I
was comfortable with the necessary shot placement. Furthermore,
I spent a lot of time on the range, making certain I was
comfortable with the rifle and shooting straight with the iron
sights. There would be no margin for error ...
Early in December 2019, Rich and I boarded a plane, our
destination being Vic Falls in Zimbabwe. When we landed,
Tinie was waiting for us. Travelling with our rifles went
smoothly and everyone at the airport was very helpful. We
got into Tinie’s truck and drove to Vic Falls where we had
the best half chicken and chips I ever tasted. After lunch, we
drove to our hunting area about 80 km away. We arrived in
camp and then reality kicked in – we were in Africa and I was
going to hunt an elephant!
I didn’t get much sleep on the first night as excitement
levels were just too high. We left camp at about 6 am and
picked up our game scout for the hunt. Then we started driving
the boundary road of our hunting area, the Fuller Forest
Area. After about four hours, we came across the first signs
of elephant. A big herd had crossed the road but the trackers
figured out that the signs were not fresh enough to follow, so
we continued driving. It wasn’t long before we found more
fresh tracks. The trackers studied them and Tinie told me
there was a good bull among the group. He suggested we
should go and have a look.
We followed the tracks for about an hour, when all of
a sudden we heard an elephant trumpeting. It felt as if my
heart was going to jump from my chest! It was impossible to
hide my excitement. Constantly checking the wind direction,
we slowly approached the herd. We got to within 15 m of the
closest cow. It was an absolute treat being so close to these
massive animals without them knowing we were there. On
closer inspection, we saw that there was a shootable bull,
but he was lying down flat on his side right in the middle of
the herd. We must have stood there for at least 20 minutes,
just calmly waiting for him to get up. I used this time to have
a good look at the anatomy of one of the cows standing
broadside about 15 m away, familiarising myself with where
the shot should be placed.
One of the cows started browsing again, coming as close
as eight steps from us. In the meantime, the bull got up but
View from our hunting camp
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GAME & HUNT APRIL 2020