Big Double at Malapati

[Don Kaas]

I recently returned from a 2 week safari in Zimbabwe. I used my Chapuis .470 Nitro Express double to take a rather nice 45" Cape Buffalo and an unexpected non-trophy bull elephant (1 of 2 cull bulls taken at the request of the adjacent National Park officials). I took the buffalo within walking distance of the camp on the second morning. He was in a group of 8 "dugga boys". There were at least 4 other bulls in the group over 40"...an impressive sight 50 yards away. The elephant took 3 days of walking 15 miles a day in very thick bush. When we finally caught up to a group of 3 bulls, we closed the range to 15 yards and then closed the deal. The big double performed very well using factory Hornady DGX/DGS ammunition.I took some other species with my Model 70 .375 H&H. The Malapati concession is a very wild area of 400K acres along the Mwenezi River in the Limpopo valley in far SE Zim. Really beautiful and wild dangerous game country- all the Big 5 except for rhino. Trail cam photos showed we also had a nice tom leopard working the baits but could not get a shot during natural light- that would have been a real "hat trick". The lions and elephants made a racket around the camp every night along with the hyenas and the vervet monkeys in the trees above us. Lots of francolin, doves and guinea fowl about too- I wish I had had one of my Parkers along...as long as the PH was walking along with me with the .470