The 2024 safari season has been the most memorable season in my short 10 year professional hunting with Paul Stones that after spending close to 6 months in the Niassa Game Reserve on safari. Spending time with the most amazing people from all walks of life, enjoying the safari life and all the beauty it has to offer and learning every day as we go along. The safari season 2024 has been a very hard year with regards to professional hunters being injured in the field ie Guy Whittall mauled by a wounded leopard in Zimbabwe, Greg Mitchelson killed by a buffalo in Zambia and Norman Crooks in Zimbabwe also badly injured by a buffalo to only to mention a few. One must ask the question as a professional hunter in Africa, will this ever happen to me? By looking at all the horror stories over the past 5 years with professional hunters getting injured in the field surely the odd are not in our favor taking into consideration the numbers of full time active professional hunters there are.
3 days before the end of my 2024 season in the Niassa and so much looking forward going home to the wife and kids after the long season, one of the professional hunters in the Niassa Game Reserve had a bad run in with a problem buffalo that was injured by lions. The official report from the neighboring camp manager and trackers was that the PH and his trackers went out looking for the buffalo that has been constantly chasing fisherman along the Lugenda River. The buffalo charged them, the Ph’s rifle did not fire as his ammunition was compromised by the bad 2023 floods we experienced in the Niassa and the buffalo got hold of him, badly injuring his right, one tracker was also bumped without injury and the second tracker managed to get a shot off on the buffalo which made it stop its onslaught and flee across the Lugenda river into our block.
I was due to drive my vehicle home from the Niassa Game Reserve on the 1st of November but due to the post-election civil unrest in the country I could not travel and was stuck until I could get a charter out of the block and fly home commercially. In this time, I was asked by the concessionaire Mr Derek Littleton to go and look for the injured buffalo and dispatch of it due to the risk to injuring one of our anti-poaching staff on patrol or the local fishermen. I
contracted a very bad finger infection as well as a fracture on my left ring finger while baiting for lion 2 days before the safari ended so I had a very painful and swollen finger, and not in the mood to go and look for this buffalo and firing a large caliber due to the pain I was in. I made the 6-hour drive to where the buffalo was last spotted from the air 2 days earlier, the time was 2:30pm and only GPS coordinates to work off, the search began after quickly
discussing a game plan with my two trackers. We walked the road that runs 700m away parallel with the river for about 2km to see ifany buffalo had crossed in the vicinity or any fresh buffalo sign but no luck. The jesse and the riverine was thick and green as we had 50mm of rain the week before, so tracking was going to be a challenge and spotting the buffalo early enough was going to be an even greater challenge.
With no luck, we made our way down to the river to look for more fresh tracks, dung or signs of vultures, still hoping that in the back of my head that the buffalo succumbed to its injuries or that the lions finished it off. As we approached the area where the buffalo was last seen from the air, we got our first break, or so we thought, we got a whiff of something dead and thinking that this is the buffalo, as the wind was blowing from the river inland, we slowly edge our way forward, our senses heightened and ready for action. As the smell got more intense, trying to see through the thick riverine, we came onto the remains of a partially consumed bushpig killed by a leopard. Our searched continued and our first real break came when we found a track that was about 6 hours old, although there was no blood or fluids at the track or in the area, the buffalo seemed to be walking fine, the trackers advised me that this was not our buffalo. We had a quick discussion, and I advised lets first go to the exact spot where the buffalo was last seen, look around to see if we cant find something and if nothing we will come back and follow this track. We walk the 150m or so to the GPS pin only to find nothing as a breeding herd of elephant cleared all the tracks and sign in the area.
We turned around to follow the fresh track, tracking was not easy, but my two veteran trackers kept on showing their masterful skill. With senses heightened and on edge, we came onto a deep ravine where the buffalo was bedded down earlier, the bedding spot was covered with flies and a very strong odor of rotting flesh still lingered, we knew this was the right track. The first 50m of the track the bull was running, and I was convinced that the buffalo must have heard or smelled us. With the wind blowing over our shoulders, step by step, slowly we pressed on for another 40min, wishing that the wind will give us a break and change toward the setting sun as the time was 16:00pm. In this time, it was evident that the buffalo was not well as he was walking from thicket to thicket, taking short breaks. The tracks now fresh, the bull turned away from the wind and made his decent into a depression heading straight for a thick bamboo forest, for the first time I felt that we might stand a chance of coming out on top. With the wind blowing into our faces, the trackers lost the tracks as we entered the bamboo forest, carefully and as quite as possible the trackers looked, studied the ground and found the track again, by now I am thinking James this is it, this thing is here, very close you better not mess this up, you will have one chance.
I got a very stern waring and word of caution from Paul Stones on my way to go andlook for the buffalo, not to go and mess around. His words still in my head, “James donot go and mess around, that thing is in a very bad way, and you do not want to be onthe wrong end of that buffalo.”Me in front, the trackers my left and right shoulders we edged on deeper into the forestand there we was, 10m away standing with his rear end towards us, as I raised my rifle,the trackers now in a hasty retreat, the buffalo in motion of turning around to face thedanger from the rear, my first shot broke hitting him dead center from behind, the bulltook off as fast as he could manage and I followed with another 4 rounds. The buffaloexpired within 50m from where the first shot broke and 400m from where he was lastseen 2 days prior. It was massive sigh of relief.At 7pm that night I was back in comms only to be informed by Paul Stones that Ineeded to be at our airstrip 7:30am the following morning to catch a charter plane (theonly one for a long time) to Pemba and the airlink flight back to SA the followingafternoon. I left camp at 1am, and made it back to SA the following evening, only to beadmitted to hospital due to my badly infected finger. 4 days in hospital and twooperations later I am lucky to still have my finger and my hand.
James Lizamore
