Charlton McCallum Safaris - Hunting, trophy gallery and hunt reviews. Clients hunt Dande and Makuti in Zimbabwe for elephant, lion, leopard, buffalo, sable, hyena and plainsgame.

2025 click pictures to enlarge

Previous Years: this year | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014

IS - Dande

PH Comment - Gareth

A wonderful safari was had with the S family. So many jokes and good times as well as some good hard buffalo hunting. IS was a pleasure to hunt with and a hard determined hunter. Despite some problems with our buff. IS ended up taking a spectacular old bull at close quarters and it ended up as a great successful hunt. Great friends were made with the S family, and I look forward to meeting up and hunting together one day soon.

JM - Dande

PH Comment - Keith

What a pleasure to have JM back with us. On this safari. We were after crocodile mainly. The first few days we tried to hunt zebra and scout for a croc. Day four JM decided we should hunt hippo for bait. We shot out hippo and recovered it and having time we found a place to bait and build a blind ready for the next day. Day five we baited and shot a monster 13 foot crocodile. We spent the next few days after zebra and hyena. We came close few times but no luck with wind etc. Till next time JM see you soon Buddy!

Client Comment

Super hunt! Very exciting hunting croc and hippo. Saw plenty and managed to get both on consecutive days. Spent plenty of time chasing zebra but was never quiet enough. Tried to bait hyena but could not connect. Calling was extremely effective and crazy exciting. Another great safari with CMS.

SC - Makuti

PH Comment - Amin

Overall we had a great safari. Initially it started off slow. The first animal harvested was a kudu bull that SC took a great shot on. We struggled with buffalo, for the first 6 days and then had a change of luck on day 7 and took a nice old dugga boy. We managed to get hyena and warthog. SC - great guy!

AO - Dande

SP - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - Dean

Shot a fantastic 41”old buffalo bull with 14” bosses. Lovely zebra and a big warthog. Sat on 3 different male leopards for a total of 7 sittings, with no success. Several ate only once, and left, probably due to the high numbers of impalas around. Had 4 male leopard in total feeding. 3 big shootable males, 1 younger male.

Camp was great, staff excellent, food great.

Client Comment

Excellent in all respects.
Fantastic crew.
Safe, efficient
Good sense of humor.
Well-functioning equipment.
Camp Staff was well trained.

CL - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - Alan

What a wonderful fun time spent with CL and CL once again. Day 1 we decided we did not want to shoo at a buffalo as it would be too soon. As luck would have it, we found a 43” bull in a perfect situation. We simply couldn’t turn it down. CL’s shot it with his double at 25 yards. Day 2 we saw an eland running off close to camp. We left it for 2o minutes, then tracked it up. Found it in less than an hour, in some fairly thick mopane at about 60m. CL’s shot was a bit low in the brisket. We then tacked him for 7 hours before finishing him off. Great hunt. We then spent an enjoyable time looking for impala, kudu and some fishing. All in a wonderful time spend in Nyakasanga.

Client Comment

This was our 3rd hunt with CMS and Alan Shearing, every trip is better than the last. We are always treated so well by everyone, The camp was perfect, food was great. Nyakasanga is a great place to hunt, game was everywhere. I shot a great buffalo, eland and impala. We had time to spend enjoying the river, fishing for vundu and tiger fish. Every part of the trip has been great. Looking forward to a return trip to hunt with Alan and CMS.

JS - Dande

PH Comment - Alan

We had a really hard, physical hunt. We followed a lot of bulls but had wind and never saw much that was shootable. We walked on average 20km per day. Sadly, despite trying really hard, we failed. On the last evening on the way back to camp, were lucky enough to get a lovely old sable.

JS worked and tried so hard, and definitely deserved to get an ele.

JT - Dande

Client Comment - Father

Absolutely amazing trip! Half way through we started talking about when we would come back and what animals that we wanted to pursue. We were scheduled for buffalo, leopard, sable, and roan. I knew it was a tall task to harvest all. Originally, I planned for only buffalo and leopard, but decided to add the other two as potential bonuses. We ended up with 2 buffalo, (a cow for leopard bait, a super exciting, intense duggaboy hunt), 2 impalas, and one duiker. We had great stalks every day. We came very close on the leopard, sable, roan, spotted hyena, and zebra. We joked at camp it was trip of just 1 more. Needed one more second for the sable, 1 more year of age on the male leopard, one more safety click on the spotted hyena at 7 yards (my fault, lol), and the roan are just tough. I was blown away by the staff, in particular the young pH and his team. They worked tirelessly and gave it their all to make the trip a once in lifetime experience. The food was amazing, staff super friendly, and all were very knowledgeable about the culture, the animals, and the plants. Great learning experience. So happy and special to share with my 12-year-old daughter.

Client Comment - Daughter

One of the best trips of my life. The culture, food, and the experience were amazing. I started crying as we flew out because I started to miss the people with the company. They were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I learned a lot about the animals there and got to see so much. Sadly, we didn’t get every animal we wanted but still got 2 buffalo, 2 impala and a Duiker so it was worth it all.

BB - Dande

PH Comment - Keith

This was BB first time with us. What an epic safari, it was! We did it the realy way and hunted elephant with our feet. We did about150 km on foot, looking at multiple bulls. Our bull took us on a 29km walk, 9 hours sold tracking with no rest, till finally we outsmarted him at 15 yards with a side brain shot. It was a fun filled hunt with lots of laughs and I really enjoyed hunting with BB and BB! Come back Stone and Cold!

Client Comment

Great Safari all round. Great staff, amazing food and unbelievable hunt. Can’t believe I waited this long. If you want the real thing, this is the place – hands down.

Keith was the best from start to finish. I will be back! Thanks for the memories!

EP - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - Alan

A great, fun time spent with EP and PP.

Day one we tracked 2 single dagga boys, first one ran off with just a glimpse. Late pm we tracked one and found him feeding and got to within 20 yards, but turned him down.

Driving back to camp we saw a huge buff from the vehicle. Spent the next 5 days trying to catch him, but never got a chance. On day 7 we tracked 2 bulls and EP shot one at plus/minus 50 yards. A little low but broke the front leg. A follow up of about 300 yards and we finished him off without any drama. We spent a few days looking for eland, but very little around. We did see one herd but couldn’t get close to them. A wonderful 10 days.

Client Comment

Another wonderful trip with CMS in the Zambezi valley. Coming back to Zim is always great and catching up with old friends and new is certainly a highlight.

Great hunting, hard, long walks, lots of laughs both in camp and out hunting and joking around with all the staff makes this an absolutely unforgettable experience.

Looking forward to our next trip already. A huge thanks to Al for looking after us so well.

DK - Dande

JM - Dande

Ph Comment - Amin

An absolute pleasure to hunt with JM. He proved himself to be a good hunter with excellent marksmanship. He had the joy of a real buffalo hunt with hard work. Long hours and patience and perseverance. We tried hard for a kudu bull but unfortunately the only opportunity the we turned down was a young bull.

Client Comment

Being my first safari in Africa, I had a lot of gaps to fill. I’ll start with the people I was impressed on all the welcoming, attention to details, and outstanding staff. My PH, Amin guided me through all of my doubts, gave me an excellent idea of Africa, and the hunt and hunting grounds. Trackers were highly trained and never had a sense of bad attitude, on the contrary, they work at its best. The hunting area was hard to get the animals, the bush was very tall, other than that a lovely place.

As a side note, keep the good work on anti poaching. My overall my experience was perfect. The PH that I luckily had, couldn’t ask for more. He is very professional, friendly and well prepared. He had all his equipment ready and fully working. Thank you for an incredible journey.

EBS - Dande

Ph Comment - Gareth

EBS affectionally known as “Bwana Madala”. Was great fun and he put his all to get up to his animals in the rugged terrain of Dande. We found some nice elephant bulls, but they moved off before we could get Bwana Madala on them. The last day was a picture-perfect hunt for buffalo and 4 bulls were located and Madala put in his all and made it up to the location then made a perfect shot on his old dagga boy.

Client Comment

Gareth very good.
Trackers the same!

EBJ - Dande

Ph Comment - David

Dande can always be a challenging hunt. We set out the morning of the first day in search of bait for our leopard and got lucky with a buff cow. We strait away started hanging bait. Day two we had 6 baits in good places and fortunately another hunter got a zebra. We topped some bait after getting activity and set 2 new ones, with 8 baits up we were in a good place. Around day 5 we had found our cat and started sitting for him. We sat 5 times unsuccessfully and he left to another bait 12km away. Built another blind and on our 6th sitting, 16hours in the blind he jumped into the tree at 600pm. We got our leopard! Plains game was good, we saw bushbuck, warthog, kudu, impala and shot a baboon.

Client Comment

Really enjoyed my leopard hunt in Dande. On the first morning we got our buffalo cow for bait. Set them up and got activity very quickly, but the leopard we were chasing was a hard one, we got in the blind for several days, eve walking in without shoes to keep the noise down with now luck until day 7. We found out he had walked 14km from that bait to another bait. So we built a pop up blind which cover us more than the previous one and after 16 hours of sitting in the blinds and waiting. At 6pm of day 8th he appears on the tree and we got him in the perfect position for a heart shot.

On the next days of hunting looking for civet and klipspringer with no luck but we saw kudu, buffalo bushbuck, impala, warthog and at the last day shot a baboon.

Dande can be a challenging place to hunt but thanks to the amazing work and effort of my PH David, it was very successful hunt and a really fun one. Hard to forget.

JH - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - David

JH and I had an awesome time in Nyakasanga with 21 days of hunting we had a lot of time on our side but luck had it. We found our animals and had days to spare for fishing and pleasure. Day 2 of the hunt we got our hippo which we used for bait.  We hunt a total of 9 baits for lion. Just when we were getting desperate for more bait we found a very good elephant bull on day 7. Shortly after on day 9 we got a very good looking lion which we got after the first hour on our first sitting. JH made a incredible 116 yard shot. With 11 days left our focus shifted to plains game, hyena and tiger fishing. JH got a fantastic impala and waterbuck. Unfortunately wounded our hyena and caught some tiger fish too. Game was abundant and we had many sightings of lion, elephant, buffalo and even the elusive leopard.

Client Comment

Had a great hunt with David and his team. They worked very hard, which resulted in a great trophy elephant, lion, hippo, impala and waterbuck. The time spent was very enjoyable and we had a great time together. The tiger fishing was a lot of fun. Would definitely hunt with David and CMS again.

CM - Dande

Client Comment

It was a great hunt, and just what I hoped it would be. A day-long stalk that ends with a good first shot, a bit of follow up shooting, and a death bellow...couldn't ask for much more for a first time buff. I don't know if Gareth shared the video of the hyenas calling and moving in front of the blind but that was especially amazing; I felt like I was in some nat geo wildlife documentary. The cherry on top was the nice impala ram at the end of the hunt. Good stalk, got to see and hear a bit of rutting behavior, and an exciting/challenging shot to wrap up the stalk. It was a world class experience.

I enjoyed hunting with Gareth and his team. All the CMS staff at both Matombo and Karunga were great and took care of me to a degree that made me feel a bit doted on. The buffalo tail and brisket stews with sadza were fantastic and will be remembered for a long time to come.

As a wildlife biologist who works for the state of Idaho managing our wildlife and hunting opportunities, I really enjoyed seeing the Zim model of wildlife conservation. I asked a million questions to Gareth and if it annoyed him he did a good job of not letting it show! Hell, Gareth even did a good job humoring me checking off my bird list and plant questions. I feel like the story behind what folks like you all do in partnership with the Parks and the Communal/campfire areas is a fantastic story. I wish it was more widely told on a platform that's accessible to a wider audience than other hunters.

Lastly, I really enjoyed the drives to and from Camp with Bruce and Royal. I'm an avid reader and had picked through a couple history books on Zim as well as a couple of memoirs from more recent times. Both of those guys gave interesting perspectives on all the questions that came from those readings. Great discussions with both.

The dust hasn't even settled and I'm already thinking about how to come back, and convince others to hunt with you all as well.

DP & MN - Nyakasanga & Makuti

PH Comment - Buzz

My all-time favorite client. The plan was to take an ancient old dugga boy, with DP 500 WR double at close quarters. We the most wonderful hunt. We had lions charge us whilst on buff trails. Saw 100s of elephants, hand the pleasure of Richard Harland and his charming lady Peggy to entertain us in the evenings. On the successful hunt we picked up our old bull for several kilometers and found time coming back on his tracks. DP dropped him at 11 yards and he did not take a step. We also go a zebra. Looking forward to next year.

PH Comment - David

It does not get better, hunting with great friends, having great laughs, and hard hard hunting with long grass, many 10km tracking sessions. We got our beautiful big leopard 2nd last night and then an awesome old dugga boy on the last day.

Client Comment - DP

Outstanding dugga boy hut via tracking. Two long days out walking resulted in bulls mixing herds and running off. Downwind, or not been old enough to test our residue and patience. Our luck turned on day three when our tracking took us to an ancient old bull in heavy cover and advantage wind. He stepped into an elephant trail at 11 yards and fell to my WR 500 NE open sighted double rifle. Buzz and his crew of trackers and driver did an exceptional job at every phase. I am coming back in 2026.

Client Comment - MN

Buzz Charlton and his team represent the absolute best in the Safari Outfitter business. I would challenge anyone to not leave one of these great adventures, counting the entire team as very dear friends. Fit for Purpose!

DS - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - Myles

What a truly special safari with a great gentleman! We tracked buffalo daily and often got into shooting positions, but never with the right bull. Late in the hunt we finally had the perfect 11-year-old bull walk on to us and Don made no mistake at 40 yards and his trusty .458!

We saw a tremendous amount of game, including the big four in one day – lions were seen almost daily, and we enjoyed elephants in camp every night!

Client Comment

This was my second safari in Africa. Myles and his trackers were not just good, they were mystical. There were days we followed Dugga boys mile after mile. How the trackers and Myles could do that was totally beyond me. My 10-day hunt was long and hard, but everybody associated with the hunt — Myles, the trackers, the kitchen workers, the tent crew — was excellent. They could not have been more helpful, more supportive or more hard working for me. The hunt was successful and absolutely fabulous. The bull was huge. The food was great, and so were the accommodations. I have nothing but praise for the operation. No one should miss out on an experience like this.

HG - Dande

PH Comment - Len

It has been an amazing hunt, all round and the most amazing sable. Early season hunting in Dande has been amazing.

Client Comment

This safari was outstanding, not only in terms of quality, as lion, leopard, sable were all exceptionally large, but equally important by virtue of the professionalism exhibited by Len Taylor and his team, who provided an extremely energetic and statically planned hunt which brings great credit to the reputation of CMS. This was my eight safari to five countries, was clearly my most rewarding.

KP - Maitengwe

PH Comment - Buzz

Had an early season hunt! The first half movement was slow which thankfully, picked up into the second half. This undoubtedly was due to heavy very late rains. We looked at several bulls and had an exiting mock charge. The bush was thick and noisy; it was extremely hard to approach the bulls and see them before they heard us and ran away.

Well over 100km tracking we decided on day 10 to take nice huge bodied +/- 40lbs and KP brained him beautifully. KP has been an absolute pleasure to hunt with and he can hold his head high with his walking and shooting – he earned his bull!

MR - Dande

PH Comment - Keith

This was MRs first hunt with CMS for an ele bull in our Dande East Concession. We tracked multiple bull over two days and got up close on a few with some fun exciting close ups of cows too. MR got an awesome bull on day 3 of the hunt with a text book side brain shot. We then spent a few days hunting plains game. We tried a lot but bush is so thick this time of the year. But we had a great time walking some good miles. Thanks MR.

Client Comment

I was pleased with the hunt. Trophy quality was as expected, and game was plentiful. The PH was professional and competent. The camps and staff were good. Thank you Keith and CMS Staff for a good hunt!

GG - Nyakasanga

PH Comment - Keith

This was GG second hunt with us. This time in our Nyakasanga Area for a tuskless elephant. Such an awesome hunt we had. Looking for particular tuskless that was not pregnant and having a dependent calf is not an easy tasks, but a fun one at that, as we looked at multiple tuskless before we found the one we managed to get. She was by herself with a bull. We made an approach to 15 yards were GG made a great front brain shot. We look forward to the 2026 hunt! Cant wait!!

Client Comment

Fantastic hunt. Exceeded all expectations. I appreciated that safety was always a major concern. All concerns during the hunt were addressed. Looking forward to hunting next year (2026).

MM - Dande

Client Comment

The hunt was amazing. Although the leopard escaped, us this hunt! We were able to take a cape buffalo of a lifetime- a proper dagga boy – my guess he is over 15 years of age. I’ve hunted with Keith before and he is one of the best PH’s to hunt with. The hunt for leopard was great – we had leopard on bait after day 3, but leopard are extraordinary elusive and what I learned on my leopard hunt is that when you think you know what the leopard will do, they will do the opposite! This hunt was filmed by Andy Mac, one of the best around. It’s like having a 2nd PH. Ill be back for Mr Spots in 2026. Thank you everyone on Charlton McCallum Safaris team for a fantastic hunt.

AA - Dande

PH Comment - Amin

It was a great pleasure to hunt with AA. We had success with harvesting zebra, kudu, impala, and duiker. AA’s display of confidence, coolness and ability to shoot both accurately and rapidly was truly remarkable. Unfortunately, no fresh eland spoor to follow the same with sable.

Client Comment

Thanks very much to Amin, Million, Jimmy and Mckenzie for an outstanding safari. The hunting was challenging but very rewarding and Amin and his crew were absolutely fantastic. Their hard work and professional approach are a credit to CM Safaris and I am already planning a future safari with Amin and his team. An unforgettable week!

back to top

IS - Dande




PH Comment - Gareth
A wonderful safari was had with the S family. So many jokes and good times as well as some good hard buffalo hunting. IS was a pleasure to hunt with and a hard determined hunter. Despite some problems with our buff. IS ended up taking a spectacular old bull at close quarters and it ended up as a great successful hunt. Great friends were made with the S family, and I look forward to meeting up and hunting together one day soon.

JM - Dande






PH Comment - Keith
What a pleasure to have JM back with us. On this safari. We were after crocodile mainly. The first few days we tried to hunt zebra and scout for a croc. Day four JM decided we should hunt hippo for bait. We shot out hippo and recovered it and having time we found a place to bait and build a blind ready for the next day. Day five we baited and shot a monster 13 foot crocodile. We spent the next few days after zebra and hyena. We came close few times but no luck with wind etc. Till next time JM see you soon Buddy!

Client Comment
Super hunt! Very exciting hunting croc and hippo. Saw plenty and managed to get both on consecutive days. Spent plenty of time chasing zebra but was never quiet enough. Tried to bait hyena but could not connect. Calling was extremely effective and crazy exciting. Another great safari with CMS.

SC - Makuti


PH Comment - Amin
Overall we had a great safari. Initially it started off slow. The first animal harvested was a kudu bull that SC took a great shot on. We struggled with buffalo, for the first 6 days and then had a change of luck on day 7 and took a nice old dugga boy. We managed to get hyena and warthog. SC - great guy!

SP - Nyakasanga




PH Comment - Dean
Shot a fantastic 41”old buffalo bull with 14” bosses. Lovely zebra and a big warthog. Sat on 3 different male leopards for a total of 7 sittings, with no success. Several ate only once, and left, probably due to the high numbers of impalas around. Had 4 male leopard in total feeding. 3 big shootable males, 1 younger male. Camp was great, staff excellent, food great.

Client Comment
Excellent in all respects. Fantastic crew. Safe, efficient Good sense of humor. Well-functioning equipment. Camp Staff was well trained.

CL - Nyakasanga




PH Comment - Alan
What a wonderful fun time spent with CL and CL once again. Day 1 we decided we did not want to shoo at a buffalo as it would be too soon. As luck would have it, we found a 43” bull in a perfect situation. We simply couldn’t turn it down. CL’s shot it with his double at 25 yards. Day 2 we saw an eland running off close to camp. We left it for 2o minutes, then tracked it up. Found it in less than an hour, in some fairly thick mopane at about 60m. CL’s shot was a bit low in the brisket. We then tacked him for 7 hours before finishing him off. Great hunt. We then spent an enjoyable time looking for impala, kudu and some fishing. All in a wonderful time spend in Nyakasanga.

Client Comment
This was our 3rd hunt with CMS and Alan Shearing, every trip is better than the last. We are always treated so well by everyone, The camp was perfect, food was great. Nyakasanga is a great place to hunt, game was everywhere. I shot a great buffalo, eland and impala. We had time to spend enjoying the river, fishing for vundu and tiger fish. Every part of the trip has been great. Looking forward to a return trip to hunt with Alan and CMS.

JS - Dande


PH Comment - Alan
We had a really hard, physical hunt. We followed a lot of bulls but had wind and never saw much that was shootable. We walked on average 20km per day. Sadly, despite trying really hard, we failed. On the last evening on the way back to camp, were lucky enough to get a lovely old sable. JS worked and tried so hard, and definitely deserved to get an ele.

JT - Dande






Client Comment - Father
Absolutely amazing trip! Half way through we started talking about when we would come back and what animals that we wanted to pursue. We were scheduled for buffalo, leopard, sable, and roan. I knew it was a tall task to harvest all. Originally, I planned for only buffalo and leopard, but decided to add the other two as potential bonuses. We ended up with 2 buffalo, (a cow for leopard bait, a super exciting, intense duggaboy hunt), 2 impalas, and one duiker. We had great stalks every day. We came very close on the leopard, sable, roan, spotted hyena, and zebra. We joked at camp it was trip of just 1 more. Needed one more second for the sable, 1 more year of age on the male leopard, one more safety click on the spotted hyena at 7 yards (my fault, lol), and the roan are just tough. I was blown away by the staff, in particular the young pH and his team. They worked tirelessly and gave it their all to make the trip a once in lifetime experience. The food was amazing, staff super friendly, and all were very knowledgeable about the culture, the animals, and the plants. Great learning experience. So happy and special to share with my 12-year-old daughter.

Client Comment - Daughter
One of the best trips of my life. The culture, food, and the experience were amazing. I started crying as we flew out because I started to miss the people with the company. They were some of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I learned a lot about the animals there and got to see so much. Sadly, we didn’t get every animal we wanted but still got 2 buffalo, 2 impala and a Duiker so it was worth it all.

BB - Dande










PH Comment - Keith
This was BB first time with us. What an epic safari, it was! We did it the realy way and hunted elephant with our feet. We did about150 km on foot, looking at multiple bulls. Our bull took us on a 29km walk, 9 hours sold tracking with no rest, till finally we outsmarted him at 15 yards with a side brain shot. It was a fun filled hunt with lots of laughs and I really enjoyed hunting with BB and BB! Come back Stone and Cold!

Client Comment
Great Safari all round. Great staff, amazing food and unbelievable hunt. Can’t believe I waited this long. If you want the real thing, this is the place – hands down. Keith was the best from start to finish. I will be back! Thanks for the memories!

EP - Nyakasanga


PH Comment - Alan
A great, fun time spent with EP and PP. Day one we tracked 2 single dagga boys, first one ran off with just a glimpse. Late pm we tracked one and found him feeding and got to within 20 yards, but turned him down. Driving back to camp we saw a huge buff from the vehicle. Spent the next 5 days trying to catch him, but never got a chance. On day 7 we tracked 2 bulls and EP shot one at plus/minus 50 yards. A little low but broke the front leg. A follow up of about 300 yards and we finished him off without any drama. We spent a few days looking for eland, but very little around. We did see one herd but couldn’t get close to them. A wonderful 10 days.

Client Comment
Another wonderful trip with CMS in the Zambezi valley. Coming back to Zim is always great and catching up with old friends and new is certainly a highlight. Great hunting, hard, long walks, lots of laughs both in camp and out hunting and joking around with all the staff makes this an absolutely unforgettable experience. Looking forward to our next trip already. A huge thanks to Al for looking after us so well.

JM - Dande


Ph Comment - Amin
An absolute pleasure to hunt with JM. He proved himself to be a good hunter with excellent marksmanship. He had the joy of a real buffalo hunt with hard work. Long hours and patience and perseverance. We tried hard for a kudu bull but unfortunately the only opportunity the we turned down was a young bull.

Client Comment
Being my first safari in Africa, I had a lot of gaps to fill. I’ll start with the people I was impressed on all the welcoming, attention to details, and outstanding staff. My PH, Amin guided me through all of my doubts, gave me an excellent idea of Africa, and the hunt and hunting grounds. Trackers were highly trained and never had a sense of bad attitude, on the contrary, they work at its best. The hunting area was hard to get the animals, the bush was very tall, other than that a lovely place. As a side note, keep the good work on anti poaching. My overall my experience was perfect. The PH that I luckily had, couldn’t ask for more. He is very professional, friendly and well prepared. He had all his equipment ready and fully working. Thank you for an incredible journey.

EBS - Dande




Ph Comment - Gareth
EBS affectionally known as “Bwana Madala”. Was great fun and he put his all to get up to his animals in the rugged terrain of Dande. We found some nice elephant bulls, but they moved off before we could get Bwana Madala on them. The last day was a picture-perfect hunt for buffalo and 4 bulls were located and Madala put in his all and made it up to the location then made a perfect shot on his old dagga boy.

Client Comment
Gareth very good. Trackers the same!

EBJ - Dande




Ph Comment - David
Dande can always be a challenging hunt. We set out the morning of the first day in search of bait for our leopard and got lucky with a buff cow. We strait away started hanging bait. Day two we had 6 baits in good places and fortunately another hunter got a zebra. We topped some bait after getting activity and set 2 new ones, with 8 baits up we were in a good place. Around day 5 we had found our cat and started sitting for him. We sat 5 times unsuccessfully and he left to another bait 12km away. Built another blind and on our 6th sitting, 16hours in the blind he jumped into the tree at 600pm. We got our leopard! Plains game was good, we saw bushbuck, warthog, kudu, impala and shot a baboon.

Client Comment
Really enjoyed my leopard hunt in Dande. On the first morning we got our buffalo cow for bait. Set them up and got activity very quickly, but the leopard we were chasing was a hard one, we got in the blind for several days, eve walking in without shoes to keep the noise down with now luck until day 7. We found out he had walked 14km from that bait to another bait. So we built a pop up blind which cover us more than the previous one and after 16 hours of sitting in the blinds and waiting. At 6pm of day 8th he appears on the tree and we got him in the perfect position for a heart shot. On the next days of hunting looking for civet and klipspringer with no luck but we saw kudu, buffalo bushbuck, impala, warthog and at the last day shot a baboon. Dande can be a challenging place to hunt but thanks to the amazing work and effort of my PH David, it was very successful hunt and a really fun one. Hard to forget.

JH - Nyakasanga






PH Comment - David
JH and I had an awesome time in Nyakasanga with 21 days of hunting we had a lot of time on our side but luck had it. We found our animals and had days to spare for fishing and pleasure. Day 2 of the hunt we got our hippo which we used for bait. We hunt a total of 9 baits for lion. Just when we were getting desperate for more bait we found a very good elephant bull on day 7. Shortly after on day 9 we got a very good looking lion which we got after the first hour on our first sitting. JH made a incredible 116 yard shot. With 11 days left our focus shifted to plains game, hyena and tiger fishing. JH got a fantastic impala and waterbuck. Unfortunately wounded our hyena and caught some tiger fish too. Game was abundant and we had many sightings of lion, elephant, buffalo and even the elusive leopard.

Client Comment
Had a great hunt with David and his team. They worked very hard, which resulted in a great trophy elephant, lion, hippo, impala and waterbuck. The time spent was very enjoyable and we had a great time together. The tiger fishing was a lot of fun. Would definitely hunt with David and CMS again.

CM - Dande




Client Comment
It was a great hunt, and just what I hoped it would be. A day-long stalk that ends with a good first shot, a bit of follow up shooting, and a death bellow...couldn't ask for much more for a first time buff. I don't know if Gareth shared the video of the hyenas calling and moving in front of the blind but that was especially amazing; I felt like I was in some nat geo wildlife documentary. The cherry on top was the nice impala ram at the end of the hunt. Good stalk, got to see and hear a bit of rutting behavior, and an exciting/challenging shot to wrap up the stalk. It was a world class experience. I enjoyed hunting with Gareth and his team. All the CMS staff at both Matombo and Karunga were great and took care of me to a degree that made me feel a bit doted on. The buffalo tail and brisket stews with sadza were fantastic and will be remembered for a long time to come. As a wildlife biologist who works for the state of Idaho managing our wildlife and hunting opportunities, I really enjoyed seeing the Zim model of wildlife conservation. I asked a million questions to Gareth and if it annoyed him he did a good job of not letting it show! Hell, Gareth even did a good job humoring me checking off my bird list and plant questions. I feel like the story behind what folks like you all do in partnership with the Parks and the Communal/campfire areas is a fantastic story. I wish it was more widely told on a platform that's accessible to a wider audience than other hunters. Lastly, I really enjoyed the drives to and from Camp with Bruce and Royal. I'm an avid reader and had picked through a couple history books on Zim as well as a couple of memoirs from more recent times. Both of those guys gave interesting perspectives on all the questions that came from those readings. Great discussions with both. The dust hasn't even settled and I'm already thinking about how to come back, and convince others to hunt with you all as well.

DP & MN - Nyakasanga & Makuti




PH Comment - Buzz
My all-time favorite client. The plan was to take an ancient old dugga boy, with DP 500 WR double at close quarters. We the most wonderful hunt. We had lions charge us whilst on buff trails. Saw 100s of elephants, hand the pleasure of Richard Harland and his charming lady Peggy to entertain us in the evenings. On the successful hunt we picked up our old bull for several kilometers and found time coming back on his tracks. DP dropped him at 11 yards and he did not take a step. We also go a zebra. Looking forward to next year.

PH Comment - David
It does not get better, hunting with great friends, having great laughs, and hard hard hunting with long grass, many 10km tracking sessions. We got our beautiful big leopard 2nd last night and then an awesome old dugga boy on the last day.

Client Comment - DP
Outstanding dugga boy hut via tracking. Two long days out walking resulted in bulls mixing herds and running off. Downwind, or not been old enough to test our residue and patience. Our luck turned on day three when our tracking took us to an ancient old bull in heavy cover and advantage wind. He stepped into an elephant trail at 11 yards and fell to my WR 500 NE open sighted double rifle. Buzz and his crew of trackers and driver did an exceptional job at every phase. I am coming back in 2026.

Client Comment - MN
Buzz Charlton and his team represent the absolute best in the Safari Outfitter business. I would challenge anyone to not leave one of these great adventures, counting the entire team as very dear friends. Fit for Purpose!

DS - Nyakasanga






PH Comment - Myles
What a truly special safari with a great gentleman! We tracked buffalo daily and often got into shooting positions, but never with the right bull. Late in the hunt we finally had the perfect 11-year-old bull walk on to us and Don made no mistake at 40 yards and his trusty .458! We saw a tremendous amount of game, including the big four in one day – lions were seen almost daily, and we enjoyed elephants in camp every night!

Client Comment
This was my second safari in Africa. Myles and his trackers were not just good, they were mystical. There were days we followed Dugga boys mile after mile. How the trackers and Myles could do that was totally beyond me. My 10-day hunt was long and hard, but everybody associated with the hunt — Myles, the trackers, the kitchen workers, the tent crew — was excellent. They could not have been more helpful, more supportive or more hard working for me. The hunt was successful and absolutely fabulous. The bull was huge. The food was great, and so were the accommodations. I have nothing but praise for the operation. No one should miss out on an experience like this.

HG - Dande


PH Comment - Len
It has been an amazing hunt, all round and the most amazing sable. Early season hunting in Dande has been amazing.

Client Comment
This safari was outstanding, not only in terms of quality, as lion, leopard, sable were all exceptionally large, but equally important by virtue of the professionalism exhibited by Len Taylor and his team, who provided an extremely energetic and statically planned hunt which brings great credit to the reputation of CMS. This was my eight safari to five countries, was clearly my most rewarding.

KP - Maitengwe




PH Comment - Buzz
Had an early season hunt! The first half movement was slow which thankfully, picked up into the second half. This undoubtedly was due to heavy very late rains. We looked at several bulls and had an exiting mock charge. The bush was thick and noisy; it was extremely hard to approach the bulls and see them before they heard us and ran away. Well over 100km tracking we decided on day 10 to take nice huge bodied +/- 40lbs and KP brained him beautifully. KP has been an absolute pleasure to hunt with and he can hold his head high with his walking and shooting – he earned his bull!

MR - Dande




PH Comment - Keith
This was MRs first hunt with CMS for an ele bull in our Dande East Concession. We tracked multiple bull over two days and got up close on a few with some fun exciting close ups of cows too. MR got an awesome bull on day 3 of the hunt with a text book side brain shot. We then spent a few days hunting plains game. We tried a lot but bush is so thick this time of the year. But we had a great time walking some good miles. Thanks MR.

Client Comment
I was pleased with the hunt. Trophy quality was as expected, and game was plentiful. The PH was professional and competent. The camps and staff were good. Thank you Keith and CMS Staff for a good hunt!

GG - Nyakasanga








PH Comment - Keith
This was GG second hunt with us. This time in our Nyakasanga Area for a tuskless elephant. Such an awesome hunt we had. Looking for particular tuskless that was not pregnant and having a dependent calf is not an easy tasks, but a fun one at that, as we looked at multiple tuskless before we found the one we managed to get. She was by herself with a bull. We made an approach to 15 yards were GG made a great front brain shot. We look forward to the 2026 hunt! Cant wait!!

Client Comment
Fantastic hunt. Exceeded all expectations. I appreciated that safety was always a major concern. All concerns during the hunt were addressed. Looking forward to hunting next year (2026).

MM - Dande




Client Comment
The hunt was amazing. Although the leopard escaped, us this hunt! We were able to take a cape buffalo of a lifetime- a proper dagga boy – my guess he is over 15 years of age. I’ve hunted with Keith before and he is one of the best PH’s to hunt with. The hunt for leopard was great – we had leopard on bait after day 3, but leopard are extraordinary elusive and what I learned on my leopard hunt is that when you think you know what the leopard will do, they will do the opposite! This hunt was filmed by Andy Mac, one of the best around. It’s like having a 2nd PH. Ill be back for Mr Spots in 2026. Thank you everyone on Charlton McCallum Safaris team for a fantastic hunt.

AA - Dande


PH Comment - Amin
It was a great pleasure to hunt with AA. We had success with harvesting zebra, kudu, impala, and duiker. AA’s display of confidence, coolness and ability to shoot both accurately and rapidly was truly remarkable. Unfortunately, no fresh eland spoor to follow the same with sable.

Client Comment
Thanks very much to Amin, Million, Jimmy and Mckenzie for an outstanding safari. The hunting was challenging but very rewarding and Amin and his crew were absolutely fantastic. Their hard work and professional approach are a credit to CM Safaris and I am already planning a future safari with Amin and his team. An unforgettable week!