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Close encounters - Zebra encounters
Written by Frank Leslie Boswell   
Friday, 21 September 2012 14:16
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Close encounters
Elephant encounters
My opinion
The second encounter
Gas
Rabies
Snake encounter
Zebra encounters
Conclusion
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Zebra encounters

Insight

Pat Carr-Hartley gave me permission to hunt a Zebra and Impala at their camp in Savuti. This to me was the best camp one could ask for, as it was situated next to a river in the middle of nowhere. A young professional hunter and a friend of his wanted to accompany me. They were prepared to use their Land Rover.

A Zebra has a more powerful bite than most realize. To indicate how powerful the jaws of a Zebra is Pat-Carr-Hartley told me that when he was still in Kenya he saw a Zebra run off with the rim of 7ton lorry in its jaws.

The first encounter

We spent sometime looking for a big stallion. It was around lunch time when we spotted this huge stallion which was grazing some distance from us. I got out of the Land Rover and started stalking the Zebra. I was still some distance from the Zebra when it became aware of me. As it started to run I released a shot which hit him just behind the right shoulder. The Zebra did a 180-degree turn and started to run in the opposite direction. I immediately shot at it a second time. I missed but it did however stop the Zebra. The third shot hit him behind the left shoulder but instead of dropping it started to run towards me. I was under the impression that it was just confused but I soon changed my mind. As I moved to my left and then to my right I noticed that the Zebra was following my movements. I then decided to stand my ground and looked down the barrel of the rifle at the Zebra as it was quickly closing in. I decided not to shoot until it was near impossible to miss. When I eventually shot the Zebra it ended up within touching distance from me. My two companions just wanted to get back to the camp to get something to soothe their nerves.

At the time I thought I had taken it rather calmly but when we came across a herd of Impala I could not shoot one. It was only then that I realized how badly I was shaking. To crown it all the professional hunter broke his toe that night. It happened when a mouse appeared on the scene and we tried to catch it. As the mouse was going under the fridge he attempted to kick it away with his barefoot. His judgement however was not as good as he moved the fridge instead of the mouse. The poor guy was in pain and instead of offering him our sympathy we saw the funny side and there was no stopping us from laughing at his expense.

The second encounter

On our return we came across a large herd of Zebra. We soon noticed that they wanted to cross over the track. Knowing their habits and to have some fun we kept the leaders from crossing as we knew those behind would not cross the track until their leader had crossed. This was not easy as the sand track with its umpteen bends made it difficult. We later came across a second herd and they then joined in with the first lot. Our excitement reached its peak when saw a third herd in front of us. Our excitement however was short lived when some heavy sand and a few nasty twists in the track reduced our speed. The Zebras in front grabbed the opportunity and started to cross the road with the rest following blindly. We were forced to stop as we knew that there was no stopping the rest of the Zebras from crossing the track. In no time the front of the bonnet was no longer visible and breathing became difficult with the ever increasing dust. I thought it was only a matter of time before the Land Rover would capsize with the impact of the Zebras that were forced against it. Every now and then you would see a Zebra trying to climb over the bonnet. Added to this my Bull Terrier Oubaas (Old Boss) was going berserk and his barking created sheer pandemonium.

Fortunately the Land Rover only had a few extra scratches and minor dents added to the existing scratches and dents. It must be said that we all felt that the barking of Oubaas probably saved the day.



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