Some revered while others met with disgust, but regardless of location all offer a challenge to hunt.

Story and photography by Bob Zaiglin

In late May, 2012, Jan and I crossed the big pond for the sixth time to once again pursue Cape buffalo.  With four dagga boys already to my credit, my goal was to take a bull in Zimbabwe with horns that exceeded the magical 40 inch mark, but with a rich diversity of animals inhabiting the thornscrub, one never knows what will show up and a bush pig was high on my bucket list. 

Now, a Texan would have to be a little off to travel 10,000 miles from home to hunt a pig, but the opportunity to take one of these unique African species while pursuing an old dagga boy would be ice cream on the cake.  The problem was I had failed to see a single one on my previous safaris, verifying just how rare they are, but their evasiveness only intensified my desire to take one.

Arriving late on the 20^th of May at the Las Mulas camp located on the southern portion of the 800,000 acre Bubye Valley Conservancy hunting concession in southern Zimbabwe, we had just enough time to pop a couple of caps with my .375 and .7mm before darkness blanketed the Lowveld.  Per instructions from Jan, a surprise birthday cake was brought to our table by the cooking staff and we celebrated my 60^th birthday.  Totally caught off guard, it remains one of my fondest memories in the bush and was an excellent way of jumpstarting what was one of my most memorable safaris.

************************************************************************
To read more, click here to SUBSCRIBE