The map below provides a graphical representation of Zimbabwe and the areas hunted by Mokore Safaris within the country.

Zimbabwe Hunting Areas
This PH is situated within the Save Valley Conservancy in the southeastern lowveld of Zimbabwe. The Save Valley Conservancy is believed to be the world’s largest private game reserve encompassing approximately 840,000 acres.

The lands within the Save Valley Conservancy are virtually free of internal fencing and domestic livestock was removed from the entire area in the early 1990’s. In recent years, the Conservancy has begun to remove the boundary fencing in order to allow game animals the freedom to move between the Conservancy and adjacent lands included within the Greater Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (which includes Gonarezhou National Park in Zimbabwe, Limpopo Park in Mozambique and Kruger National Park in South Africa).

Malapati Safari Area
The Malapati Safari Area sits on the boundary of the Gonarezhou National Park and the safari area is made up of a National Park safari area and Campfire lands. The terrain is fairly rocky and rough with a lot of Msimbiti (iron wood) forest which make for interesting hunting. The area produces very big buffalo, leopard, waterbuck and nyala. There are a number of plains game species available for hunting as well and good elephant trophies come into Malapati from Gonarezhou National Park.

Zambezi Valley
The Zambezi valley is a very wild and remote area that runs through the north of Zimbabwe and into Mozambique. Mokore Safaris has been operating in the Zambezi valley for over 25 years in the Chewore South, Nyakasanga and Sapi Safari areas, with the latter two areas being National Parks auction (tender) hunt areas.

The Zambezi valley is regarded as one of the prime areas in Africa for hunting dangerous game such as elephant, buffalo, lion and leopard. The valley has it’s own very special and personal appeal to the seasoned hunter as it is one of the last untouched and unspoiled areas left in southern Africa. Most of the camps in the Zambezi valley are tented camps with en-suite bathrooms.

Clients will be met at the nearest airport and transferred by either vehicle or charter aircraft to the hunt area. The arrival/departure point will be Harare International Airport, Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe.

If anyone wishes to see Victoria falls on their way to their hunt in the Zambezi valley, they can fly commercially directly to Victoria Falls from Johannesburg. After your stay, we recommend that you take a commercial flight on to Harare, where you will be met by either your driver/PH or charter pilot.

As stated above, transportation to/from the various concessions can be arranged via air charter or vehicle. Air charter costs will vary based on the number of people traveling to/from the concession, the departure point, and whether a single or twin-engine aircraft is required for the charter. These charter costs normally run between $1,000 and $1,500.

Clients can also be picked up in Harare and transported by vehicle to the hunt area(s). The driving times to the various hunt areas are as follows:

• six hours to Mokore;
• eight hours to the Malapati Safari Area; and
• six hours to the camps in the Zambezi valley.

The client will be responsible for transportation costs to/from the hunting area(s) from Harare. Ground transfers to Mokore and the Zambezi valley camps are priced at $400/vehicle, with transfers to the Malapati Safari Area priced at $600/vehicle.

Once in the hunting concession, ground transportation consisting of a four wheel drive vehicle will be provided within the hunt area.

The Mokore camp sits on the banks of the Turgwe River in the heart of the Save Valley Conservancy. The camp consists of six stone chalets with thatched roofs each with it’s own en-suite bathroom. All of the bedrooms have hot and cold running water and flush toilets. This camp has 24-hour electrical service (220 volt).

The camp in the Malapati Safari Area sits on Mwenezi River and is basic but comfortable with hot and cold running water and flush toilets. 220 volt electricity is available from a generator.

The camps in the Zambezi valley include both traditional tented camps and more permanent thatched chalets. All camps have en-suite bathrooms and spectacular settings.

Daily laundry service is provided at all camps as a courtesy for the guests.

Breakfast and dinner will be served each day and will include a selection of breads, meats, fruits and vegetables based on availability and individual preferences.

Meats served during your stay will include a sampling of the local wild game and will be expertly prepared for your dining pleasure.

On most days, the hunting party will return to camp for lunch and an opportunity to rest during the middle of the day when most of the game animals are laying down in the thick jess. In those instances where the hunting party will stay out all day, packed lunches and drinks will be provided.

Alcoholic beverages will be provided and will include a selection of wines, domestic beer and a limited supply of distilled spirits. Those individuals wishing to imbibe a specific brand of American, Canadian or Scottish spirits would be advised to purchase a bottle in the duty free shops in transit to ensure that your preferred brand is available. Mineral waters are also provided.

Fair chase hunting utilizing spot and stalk techniques early and late in the day.

Cat hunting will involve baiting – once a bait has been hit, a blind will be built and the hunter will typically spend the early morning and late afternoon hours in the blind waiting for the cat to return to the bait to feed. On Mokore, it is legal to hunt at night and cats are often taken after dark.

Elephant and buffalo hunting will be conducted almost entirely by tracking, with the early morning hours spent cruising local roads within the concession looking for fresh tracks. Once a suitable track has been located, the hunting party will follow the track until the quarry has been located or the track become untenable.

Bow hunting is mostly conducted from blinds at waterholes. Spot and stalk techniques represent another option for the more adventurous hunter, but this technique is not as successful as hunting from blinds.

Baboon, blue wildebeest, bushbuck (Limpopo), bushpig, cape buffalo (both sexes), caracal, civet, crocodile, elephant (trophy and tuskless), genet, giraffe, grysbok, hippo, hyena, impala, jackal, klipspringer, leopard, lion, Livingstone’s eland, nyala, sable, serval, southern bush duiker, southern greater kudu, warthog, waterbuck, wildcat and zebra.

The hunting season in Zimbabwe generally runs from March through December, with the optimum season being May through September.

Zimbabwe has established specific criteria concerning the minimum acceptable calibers for game species included in each of the following classes as follows:

• Class A: Including elephant, buffalo and hippo. A bullet with a diameter of at least 9.2mm and an energy level of 5,300 joules (3,910 ft/lbs) at the muzzle is necessary to hunt Class A species. A .375 H&H Magnum or 9.3x64 (or equivalent) are the minimum calibers recommended.
• Class B: Including lion, eland and giraffe. A bullet with a diameter of at least 7mm (.284 inch) and an energy level of 4,300 joules (3,170 ft/lbs) at the muzzle is necessary to hunt Class B species. The 7mm Remington Magnum loaded with a 175 grain bullet is the absolute minimum recommended.
• Class C: Including leopard, crocodile, hyena, kudu, sable, blue wildebeest, waterbuck, zebra, nyala, tsessebe, blesbok, hartebeest and gemsbok. A bullet with a diameter of at least 7mm (.284 inch) and an energy level of 3,000 joules (2,115 ft/lbs) at the muzzle is necessary to hunt Class C species. At a minimum, a 7x57 Mauser loaded with a 140 grain bullet is required.
• Class D: Including warthog, impala, reedbuck, sitatunga, bushpig, jackal and any small mammal under 56 pounds live weight not specifically listed above (including duiker, grysbok, steenbok, etc.). A bullet with a diameter of at least 5.56mm (.22 inch) and an energy level of 850 joules (630 ft/lbs) at the muzzle is necessary to hunt Class D species. This means that a .22 Hornet loaded with a 45 grain bullet is the minimum required.

For game animals in the Class B category, we strongly recommend a .375, whether the .375 H&H Magnum or the new .375 Ruger.

For game animals in Class C, we strongly recommend a .300 Winchester Magnum or equivalent if available - particularly for wildebeest and zebra. This caliber works equally well on the larger species included within Class D. The bullet selected should be a premium bonded core soft point. Specific recommendations can be made upon request. We would also recommend a variable power scope with a low power setting somewhere around 3X to 4X and a high power setting somewhere around 10X.

Much of the shooting will be done while standing utilizing shooting sticks – as is standard practice throughout Africa. We highly recommend that you obtain a pair of shooting sticks such as those offered by Long Grass Outfitters or African Sporting Creations and practice shooting from the standing position off of the sticks. Shots on dangerous game will often be close (less than 100 yards), while shots on some plains game species may exceed 200 yards, so you need to know the ballistics of your rifle and be comfortable shooting out to 200 yards. In other words, practice, practice, practice!

Be advised that semi-automatic and/or military-style rifles are generally not allowed in Africa.

A list of recommended clothing and equipment will be furnished upon booking. For initial hunt planning purposes, general recommendations can be made upon request.

Zimbabwe experiences a subtropical climate subject to altitudinal influences. As with the northern hemisphere, Zimbabwe experiences four distinct season as follows:

• a summer season that is warm and wet, running from November to March;
• a fall (transitional) season that runs from April to May;
• a cool, dry winter season that runs from May to August; and
• a warm, dry spring season that runs from August through October.

Average daytime temperatures in Harare range from 45°F to 70ºF in June and from 61°F to 81ºF in November. Depending upon the altitude, frost may occur between May and September, with the highest incidences of frost occurring in June and July. Frost occurs more frequently at mid and high elevations. The mid Zambezi valley and the southeastern lowveld of Zimbabwe are probably the only regions in the country that are frost free. As a consequence, a coat is recommended for the early morning and late evening hours in those concessions outside of the Zambezi valley.

It should be remembered that although Harare has daytime highs around 81°F, most of the hunting areas are at located at much lower elevations and temperatures can be considerably hotter as a result – with daytime temperatures potentially exceeding 100°F in October and November!

The rainy season begins in November and continues through March.

Take a small digital camera that you can carry in your shirt or vest pocket for your trophy photos and learn how to use the camera before your trip. I would also recommend taking a slightly larger camera such as the Canon PowerShot SX-1 IS or the PowerShot SX-10 IS, both of which have a 20X optical zoom (equal to a 560 mm telephoto lens) for shots of wildlife while you are driving around the bush or sitting at the waterhole. After four trips to Africa, I assure you that you won’t regret the investment and you will bring home outstanding photos of the African wildlife that the smaller cameras just don’t have the optical zoom to capture.

A wide diversity of habitats are represented within the areas hunted by Mokore Safaris ranging from open acacia woodland, mopane forest, thick riverine vegetation and broken granite outcrops (kopjes) in the Save Valley Conservancy and the Zambezi valley to rough and rocky terrain in the Malapati Safari Area. Nonetheless, hunting plains game in these areas is not especially demanding.

Dangerous game hunting including buffalo and elephant may involve considerable walking as one tracks herds and individual animals, so the hunter wishing to pursue these animals should be accustomed to walking long distances each day. Again, the terrain should not be overly challenging and the tracking process is typically slow and methodical up until the point that the quarry is sighted and then it may be necessary to move quickly in order to get into position for a shot. Make sure that your hunting boots are well broken in before your safari!

On a fitness scale of one to ten (with one being very poor physical condition and ten being excellent physical condition), I would only rate the physical level of this hunt at a five. So long as the hunter is able to walk reasonable distances with some climbing over or around the rocky kopjes or tracking through the rolling acacia/mopane forests, there should not be a problem from a physical standpoint.

Keep in mind that your Professional Hunter will be very happy to gear the pace of the hunt to fit your particular physical abilities – so don’t hesitate to advise if he is moving too fast, walking too far, etc. After all, it is your safari, so don’t be afraid to speak up and advise your PH of your expectations, physical abilities or physical limitations!