The Client Diaries
AFRICAN DREAM
By Dr Ralph von Bargen
H
unting in Africa. In order to realize my dream I
began hunting in Africa with several plains game
hunts in Namibia, followed by two successful
buffalo hunts in the Charara Safari Area of Zimbabwe and
a hunt in Botswana, all prior to meeting Jannie Meyer Jr.
Following on from meeting Jannie I booked three exciting
and successful hunts with him, in as many years.
After hunting two excellent buffalo of 38” and 43”, I
became interested in hunting trophy elephants. I decided
to go with Jannie to the Chirundu concession, located in
the Lower Zambezi valley. I was informed that it was very
plausible to bag an elephant bull in the 50–55lb range and
if I was lucky a 60 pounder. I was accompanied by my son
Henrik on this particular hunt and we had decided to take
my Krieghoff double rifle, .470 NE with 500 grain solids
for the elephant. For plains game we had settled on a Blaser
R93 in a .338 Winchester Magnum with 225 grain Trophy
Bonded bullets.
After a long but uneventful journey to Harare via
Johannesburg and a five hour road transfer we arrived at
the impressively situated camp in the early evening in June
2011. The first hunting day for me was unbelievable and
exceptionally so as it coincided with Ascension Day which
is also Father’s Day. By the end of the first morning we had
already seen numerous large elephant bull tracks and even
approached an elephant with good tusks – but Jannie shook
his head whispering “We’ll get a better one”. Although the
first day had been amazing – the best was yet to come.
In the afternoon, Petrus – one of Jannie’s trackers,
spotted a good bull that had some “interesting” tusks, partly
hidden in some thick bush. After a short approach to within
twenty metres of this bull, Jannie looked at me and asked
“It’s the first day – are you sure you want it?” But there was
no doubt in my mind. In all of the years I have been hunting
I have learned to take the chance when I have it. Decision
made, we then moved even closer, to only about fifteen
metres from a three-metre high grey wall of elephant. I took
a heart-lung shot and although it had felt good, I fired the
second barrel on Jannie’s instruction. A few shots for good
measure and the four and a half tonne giant was down. After
the emotion had subsided, I took a moment to acknowledge
the privilege to hunt such a noble animal and the great
respect I have for elephant. It was very important to me that
the hunt was conducted ethically and that we selected this
old bull to shoot. What a feeling – a 51-pounder taken on
the first day, Father’s Day, accompanied by my son - it just
doesn’t get any better than that! His tusks are now at my
home in Germany and have a very special place amongst
my African trophies.
The hunt in Chirundu however, was far from over. After
taking a good warthog on the second day with my .470 NE,
it was time for Henrik with the .338 to get in on the action.
He shot two impala rams on the first day but was determined
to focus on the elusive bushbuck. We had seen several, but
no real opportunities to get a clear shot. The next afternoon a
great bushbuck revealed itself momentarily. Henrik, Jannie
and Petrus decided to follow him in to the thick bush. It was
the right decision as a little while later, a beaming Jannie
appeared saying “Your son has shot a very good bushbuck!”
In German there is a saying that, roughly translated
means “Unexpected comes often”. It was a few days later
that I was thinking about this on our way back to the camp
for lunch, when a huge eland bull crossed the road in front
of us. I knew Henrik would love an eland and Jannie had
informed us previously that at this time of year the chance
of success on eland was minimal, as it gets better later in
the year. However, as previously the opportunity had now
presented itself and without hesitation Henrik and Jannie set
Ralph and his 51 pound elephant shot with
a .470NE Krieghoff on the first day of the hunt
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Page 10 Hunter Vol. 19 No. 5
African