I had just joked with Zvito, the lead tracker, that I’d make him famous if he fell in the river, as I videoed him carefully stepping across the hurriedly constructed rock step bridge. Shortly thereafter, I am pulling myself out of the water, up the bank with afore mentioned video camera soaking wet in my pocket.
My wife and I used to watch a show Married at First Sight. Hundreds of people would be profiled by several "experts" then matched together sight unseen. The first time they meet is literally at the marriage ceremony at the altar. One of the experts was a marriage counselor, Calvin Roberson, who would work with the newlyweds on issues you can imagine might pop up after getting married to someone you had never met. His favorite theme was Marriage Ain't for Punks. He now has a book out by the same title. Anyway, my wife always liked that and says it often.
At one time during the Omay beat down, she told York our PH, " Hunting Zim ain't for Punks" . I'm not sure it translated the same but I knew what she was getting at.
Alas, I should start at the beginning of the story perhaps. Shortly after wrapping up my fourth South African safari in 2018, I had decided it was finally time. Time to get wild- go big, a real adventure and move on to hunting dangerous game. During my four previous safaris I had clicked off most of the plains game available, at least those reasonably priced. I had intentionally been holding off on hunting cape buffalo. I wanted it to be special, to be memorable, to be “proper” as they say. I’d been watching quietly, observing/studying other buffalo hunts being recapped by others. Taking notes, making inquiries, doing the research. This degree of research agonizes me every time. Others will tell you how enjoying they find it. Adds to the hunt they say blah blah. Nothing of the sort for me. It drives me nuts! You may have guessed by now I tend to over analysis. I need to mull over decisions, especially as big as these. What about this, what about that. This might literally be my one shot at this. The spread sheet gets started, dusted off past mental notes of things I’d been storing and a cattle call of sorts on various social media sites for “wanted-a wild 2021 buffalo hunt”. Now the gates were open. Too much info was now flooding in. I began adding adjectives to interactions with my suitors. No fenced properties no matter how big, no stocking of game/ear tags, and most importantly no walking around for 2 hours to only end up by the feed/water station where the hay had been put out one hour earlier. Not surprisingly the list narrowed quickly. Of course, we all know what Covid had done to 2020. Lots of those hunts were being kicked in 2021 or just flat being canceled. I along, with others thought this might be a hunter’s market in a sense, but “deals” were few and far between. Just more info to compound my process.
It's now February 2021 and I need to make THE decision. I had hoped to chat with more folks at the 2021 DSC. Cancelled! The list is down to 5 with 2 or 3 main contenders. Out of nowhere, one of the outfitters I had been communicating with mentions that if I’m serious about what I’ve stated I want AND want to stay in Zimbabwe vs his outfit in Zambia, then HE would personally have gone with …….. York Mare’ of the newly formed safari company Dalton and York Safaris. Interesting. In all my research this outfit has never surfaced. Interesting, that another outfit would recommend someone other than themselves. Interesting, interesting. I do have to say that multiple outfits were very helpful and several even vouched for other names I had thrown out there in our conversations, but this was the first unsolicited recommendation.
I make Whatapp contact. I get an immediate response. A little cursory back and forth info. It gets added to the spreadsheet. I’m not much into fate. I’m too analytical for that but I’m flipping through Youtube when an episode of This is Africa pops up. It’s a new release from the 2020 season. Wouldn’t you know it- Dalton and York Safaris featuring York as PH. I yelled at my wife to come down and see this. Certainly, this is a sign, right? Episode looks good-lots of very up-close buffalo hunting with gorgeous scenery. Looks like a fabulous, wild setting. An internet search of the outfit nets every little. I do remember a person from another Africa hunting site that hunted the area previously under a different outfit. I reach out and his initial report isn’t too comforting. He’s not sure he’d go back and didn’t see much game back then although he was successful in getting his lion (see the movie Trophy ). So, I ponder, ponder more, go back to the spread sheet. UURGG I hate this stuff! The next day I have an message in my in-box. It’s an update from the guy. Good news, he talked to Dalton Tink, half-owner of the new company, who had guided him those years earlier and things are looking brighter in the area. So much so, he has now booked dates for 2022 and 2023 in just the 24 hours since I contacted him. Things are popping off. Second episode of This is Africa with Dalton and York drops on Youtube. Again, it looks intriguing. It’s time. I finally drop the hammer and make the deal. We’ll hunt cape buffalo, Chobe bushbuck, spotted hyena and big kudu/big waterbuck if we see one.
Shortly after finalizing, I learn other of other guys on the other site are also booking hunts simultaneously to me. I cross paths with one and find out he will be there several weeks before my trip.
To borrow from his report, “We hunted in Omay North, part of the Omay CAMPFIRE area. The Omay consists of 2 million acres of wild country, directly adjacent to the Matusadona National Park, along the banks of Lake Kariba. It is bordered by the Ume River to the east and Sengwa River to the west. This is wild country, ranging from mountains to flood plains, and from thick jesse to the fields of local villages. The area is rich with big game- Lake Kariba and the Ume River are home to giant crocodile and hippo; while even a stalk on plains game must be approached with caution as elephant, buffalo, and lion are plentiful in the bush. And leopard. There are leopard everywhere!” Rhinehart0050 July 18,2021 . He ended up killing his leopard and elephant along with a hyena and a few other plains game.
Elephant from the shores of Lake Karibe, Zimbabwe. She would later mock charge us. I'll upload a brief video clip later.
My wife and I used to watch a show Married at First Sight. Hundreds of people would be profiled by several "experts" then matched together sight unseen. The first time they meet is literally at the marriage ceremony at the altar. One of the experts was a marriage counselor, Calvin Roberson, who would work with the newlyweds on issues you can imagine might pop up after getting married to someone you had never met. His favorite theme was Marriage Ain't for Punks. He now has a book out by the same title. Anyway, my wife always liked that and says it often.
At one time during the Omay beat down, she told York our PH, " Hunting Zim ain't for Punks" . I'm not sure it translated the same but I knew what she was getting at.
Alas, I should start at the beginning of the story perhaps. Shortly after wrapping up my fourth South African safari in 2018, I had decided it was finally time. Time to get wild- go big, a real adventure and move on to hunting dangerous game. During my four previous safaris I had clicked off most of the plains game available, at least those reasonably priced. I had intentionally been holding off on hunting cape buffalo. I wanted it to be special, to be memorable, to be “proper” as they say. I’d been watching quietly, observing/studying other buffalo hunts being recapped by others. Taking notes, making inquiries, doing the research. This degree of research agonizes me every time. Others will tell you how enjoying they find it. Adds to the hunt they say blah blah. Nothing of the sort for me. It drives me nuts! You may have guessed by now I tend to over analysis. I need to mull over decisions, especially as big as these. What about this, what about that. This might literally be my one shot at this. The spread sheet gets started, dusted off past mental notes of things I’d been storing and a cattle call of sorts on various social media sites for “wanted-a wild 2021 buffalo hunt”. Now the gates were open. Too much info was now flooding in. I began adding adjectives to interactions with my suitors. No fenced properties no matter how big, no stocking of game/ear tags, and most importantly no walking around for 2 hours to only end up by the feed/water station where the hay had been put out one hour earlier. Not surprisingly the list narrowed quickly. Of course, we all know what Covid had done to 2020. Lots of those hunts were being kicked in 2021 or just flat being canceled. I along, with others thought this might be a hunter’s market in a sense, but “deals” were few and far between. Just more info to compound my process.
It's now February 2021 and I need to make THE decision. I had hoped to chat with more folks at the 2021 DSC. Cancelled! The list is down to 5 with 2 or 3 main contenders. Out of nowhere, one of the outfitters I had been communicating with mentions that if I’m serious about what I’ve stated I want AND want to stay in Zimbabwe vs his outfit in Zambia, then HE would personally have gone with …….. York Mare’ of the newly formed safari company Dalton and York Safaris. Interesting. In all my research this outfit has never surfaced. Interesting, that another outfit would recommend someone other than themselves. Interesting, interesting. I do have to say that multiple outfits were very helpful and several even vouched for other names I had thrown out there in our conversations, but this was the first unsolicited recommendation.
I make Whatapp contact. I get an immediate response. A little cursory back and forth info. It gets added to the spreadsheet. I’m not much into fate. I’m too analytical for that but I’m flipping through Youtube when an episode of This is Africa pops up. It’s a new release from the 2020 season. Wouldn’t you know it- Dalton and York Safaris featuring York as PH. I yelled at my wife to come down and see this. Certainly, this is a sign, right? Episode looks good-lots of very up-close buffalo hunting with gorgeous scenery. Looks like a fabulous, wild setting. An internet search of the outfit nets every little. I do remember a person from another Africa hunting site that hunted the area previously under a different outfit. I reach out and his initial report isn’t too comforting. He’s not sure he’d go back and didn’t see much game back then although he was successful in getting his lion (see the movie Trophy ). So, I ponder, ponder more, go back to the spread sheet. UURGG I hate this stuff! The next day I have an message in my in-box. It’s an update from the guy. Good news, he talked to Dalton Tink, half-owner of the new company, who had guided him those years earlier and things are looking brighter in the area. So much so, he has now booked dates for 2022 and 2023 in just the 24 hours since I contacted him. Things are popping off. Second episode of This is Africa with Dalton and York drops on Youtube. Again, it looks intriguing. It’s time. I finally drop the hammer and make the deal. We’ll hunt cape buffalo, Chobe bushbuck, spotted hyena and big kudu/big waterbuck if we see one.
Shortly after finalizing, I learn other of other guys on the other site are also booking hunts simultaneously to me. I cross paths with one and find out he will be there several weeks before my trip.
To borrow from his report, “We hunted in Omay North, part of the Omay CAMPFIRE area. The Omay consists of 2 million acres of wild country, directly adjacent to the Matusadona National Park, along the banks of Lake Kariba. It is bordered by the Ume River to the east and Sengwa River to the west. This is wild country, ranging from mountains to flood plains, and from thick jesse to the fields of local villages. The area is rich with big game- Lake Kariba and the Ume River are home to giant crocodile and hippo; while even a stalk on plains game must be approached with caution as elephant, buffalo, and lion are plentiful in the bush. And leopard. There are leopard everywhere!” Rhinehart0050 July 18,2021 . He ended up killing his leopard and elephant along with a hyena and a few other plains game.
Elephant from the shores of Lake Karibe, Zimbabwe. She would later mock charge us. I'll upload a brief video clip later.
The room opened up onto a small patio with it completely open to the Ume River Delta below. The camp crew actually installed small screen gate up the walkway to our chalet just before we arrived so calm her concerns. I could never get the nerve to tell her a leopard would have had no problem getting to her anyway had it been so inclined. 
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