The Day After...

It turns out Stu actually shot the buffalo at the exact same time Tim’s gun fired. No one knew at the time besides Stu, but if he had not fired that shot, then the buffalo would have gored him and there’s no doubt he would be in worse condition if not dead. In fact, if Stu hadn’t shot the buffalo it would have just plowed over all of us because of how trapped we were in the jesse. The situation could have been way worse.

Not too many people slept through the night. The sun still hasn’t come up, but we can hear the plane coming in for Stu. The dirt airstrip is pretty close to camp, so we gather a team to pick up Stu’s mattress and load him in the back of a truck. All the trackers, PH’s, and other hunters come to help. Stu was drugged up all night, so he’s pretty chill for the move considering there’s a bullet hole in his back. We load him in the plane and they fly him straight to Johannesburg, South Africa because they have better hospitals than anywhere in Mozambique.

We stay back at the hunting camp and I’m assuming our trip is now cut short because our PH was shot. However, they want us to keep hunting. Jumbo, the owner of the camp, is flying in to act as our new PH so Tim can keep hunting. I can’t believe it! After the experience we went through I am over this trip and ready to get home. The thought of going back in the bush to hunt more lions and buffalo seems a little crazy to me. I think that Tim wouldn’t want to touch his gun for a while after that accident, but everyone encourages him to get back out there. We have to wait for Jumbo to get into camp, so we just hang out most of the day. Several other trackers and PH’s go looking for the buffalo that charged us.

By around noon, A PH calls into camp to say they shot the buffalo.  Tim and I drive out for the recovery to check out the buffalo that could have killed us.  It wasn’t far from where our accident happened. We found where Stu shot the buffalo and it went straight in through the top of his nose, out his chin, through his chest and then through his foot.  The only way this is possible is if the buffalo was right in front of him with its head down in attack mode. That shot Stu fired didn’t kill the buffalo, but it turn him away and saved his life and our lives.

 

Tomorrow Jumbo should be here and we’re back to lion hunting. Man, this trip just never ends.