Top_Heavy's World

"Tea Sir?" a friendly, mid pitch voice with a serious british accent, said to me through the door. "Yes please" was my quick and very tired response. So started the first morning of my safari in Zimbabwe. I rose and dressed in the dark, I gathered my boots and entered the main room of the lodge. The british accent was connected to a pleasant man. He was of medium build, a little thin, as most young men are before age fills their chest and shoulders. He was handsome, clean shaven and well groomed. He had very bright round eyes and was quick to smile, his white teeth like ivory against his black skin. I would soon learn that Milton was his name. He was, and still is, one of the finest cooks I have ever had the priveledge of being served by. He was hired by Allan, who was putting together his own PH business. They had met in the apprenticeship program a couple of years before. Milton was very articulate, smooth with delivery and had a genuine pleasure for doing his part in the whole safari experience. Milton cooked everything in a bowl shaped depression in the cement landing just outside of the kitchen doorway. The coals were just loosing their bright red look, for the cooler and more controlable gray. Breakfast was wild guinea hen eggs, over lightly, and warthog ham. The ham was cut in thick slabs and a little dry when compared to pen raised swine from back home. The tea was fantastic. It was a British sweet tea, served with milk and sugar. I miss that tea almost as much as mother Africa herself.
Allan joined me at breakfast. He was a young man, in his early twenties. His father had been a great soldier in the wars, and his family was forced to move to South Africa when the political winds changed. He was back in Zimbabwe, after his 2 years of schooling to earn his Professional Hunters License. These individuals study animals, tracking, business, first aid, and a myriad of other information required to run dangerous game safaris. After the schooling they are required to work as a back up PH on several dangerous game hunts and to prove their shooting abilities. Allan had just finished everything required and was now a full fledged PH.
I assembled my bow, arrows and heads, gathered my daily gear and packed a hunting bag. After gathering my archery equipment I got my battery of rifles and ammunition. I chose the Remington 700 in .375 H&H magnum, and I would be shooting Federal Premium ammo. This is the finest factory ammo I have ever used and the Trophy Bonded BearClaw bullet has taken every large game animal on the planet. My second gun was my favorite Remington of all time. I brought my 700 Sendero in 7mm STW. I purchased several custom loads for this gun before I left the states, it is was a sampler pack to find the best load. I paid hundreds of dollars to get a load worked up with Swift A Frame bullets and Trophy Bonded BearClaws. I should have saved my money, I ended up taking Federal Premium. The magicians at Federal have awesome loads with both of my favorite big game bullets and they proved to be as accurate as the best loads from the custom shop. I brought both guns, my bow, optics and GPS, all packed together in a 4 gun safari hard case. This diamond plate aluminum hard case has wheels built in, pull handle on the opposite side and with a few modifications to the inner foam, I got it all transported safely. All of this equipment was loaded in the rangerover and we headed to the target range. The rifles were still sighted in perfectly, I credit Leupold Optics for their top quality equipment. My bow took several shots to get back on. I was having trouble with form and I couldn't group to save my life... archery hunting would have to wait until my jetlag cleared.
The sun was warm and pleasant when we finally got organized. I was as excited as I had ever been. I was aboud to go on my first hunt in AFRICA... I was here, after all of the Peter H Capstick books, "Death in the long grass", "The last ivory hunter", I own his entire series actually. I was finally here! Lets go searching...