Chris Meloche Madikwe Buffalo Hunt
I first contacted Dempsey Bayly after an unsuccessful Cape buffalo hunt while sitting in a hotel in Mwanza, Tanzania. I was catching up on emails using the hotel’s Wi-Fi after being off the grid for a week and decided to check the Africa Hunting Forum for new deals. That’s when I came across the Bayly Sippel post:
Buffalo Hunting the Right Way with Bayly Sippel Safaris.
I had already booked a Royal MacNab (mountain hunting) challenge with them, so it seemed logical to add on a buffalo hunt while in South Africa (RSA). Dempsey explained that it would be a true challenge, targeting older bulls in difficult terrain and thick cover, which was quite appealing. At the time, I assumed there would be plenty of targets, giving me a good chance at finding a mature bull, especially given the Madikwe bloodline in this concession. What I didn’t realize until later was that although there are huntable numbers of bulls, they can completely vanish into dense cover, making them tough to locate and even tougher to stalk. It truly is buffalo hunting “the right way.”
Arrival and First Impressions
I arrived at the Madikwe Concession in Limpopo, near the Botswana border, on June 30, 2022, after overnighting in Pretoria. Bayly Sippel had arranged pickup from a guest house there. The Madikwe concession covers roughly 5,000 hectares, bordering the Game Reserve, and features a transition zone of acacia bushveld and Kalahari thornveld. There are several large hills, open savannahs, and waterholes, but about 20% of the property is covered in sickle bush, thorny, tangled scrub that is slow, noisy, and difficult to move through. Only a pygmy clad in Kevlar could pass through easily! This, of course, is where the Cape buffalo spend much of their day, moving through it effortlessly. Combined with swirling winds, it promised that perseverance would be needed to earn a buffalo here.
The savannah and open woodland at Madikwe hold an impressive variety of plains game. It’s an excellent destination for specialized species, with very good to excellent waterbuck, sable, blue and golden wildebeest, zebra, and tsessebe. Fair numbers of impala, warthog, gemsbok, mountain reedbuck, giraffe, eland, and kudu are also present. During my seven days there, I saw only a few duiker, steenbok, bushbuck, and klipspringer, but plenty of game birds including guinea fowl, three species of francolin, and sandgrouse near the waterholes.
The Rifle and Camp
For the buffalo, I brought a .416 Taylor built on a Mauser Model 1908 action with a Leupold VX-I 2-7x33mm heavy duplex scope and 24 rounds: 14 loaded with 410-grain Woodleigh solids, and the rest with 410-grain Woodleigh Weldcore RN SN bullets over 75 grains of Alliant RL-17 powder. I used a Lee Factory Crimp die specific to the .416 Taylor, picked up in Pretoria in 2020. The loads were in Norma brass, comparable in performance to the .416 Rigby, averaging ~2,350 ft/s with an SD of 6.5.
The main camp at Madikwe features four comfortable tented accommodations, each with double beds, plus a brick cabin with a private bathroom and shower, where I was fortunate to stay. There’s a tented dining/lounge area and a firepit and braai overlooking a waterhole that attracts plenty of game. Vehicles are new and well equipped. Despite ongoing load shedding elsewhere in South Africa, this area had no power interruptions.
Having now been on 14 African safaris, I’ve had my share of good meals across Tanzania, Mozambique, Namibia, and RSA, but the food here was the best yet. The cook, Trust, prepared exceptional game dishes, always cooked to perfection. Truly first-rate cuisine and a very comfortable stay overall.
That first night, while I turned in early, the two PHs, Mike Sippel and Nick (the latter guiding an American client who departed shortly after my arrival), saw an ancient, half-blind Cape buffalo bull come to the camp waterhole. Game on!
The Hunt
Day 1:
After breakfast, we followed the tracks of the bull from the waterhole. Mike, tracker Big John, and I trailed it for hours through the bushveld. Big John is an outstanding tracker, keen-eyed, good-humored, and multilingual. It’s amazing how little sign he needs to stay on spoor, confirmed occasionally by fresh dung. Unfortunately, a herd of zebra crossed the trail and obliterated the tracks. After lunch, we drove and glassed for more sign but found none.
Day 2:
Fresh spoor was seen along the roads, and a herd was spotted in the distance. We left the vehicle and stalked along the bush edge. The wind was perfect, and cover was good. Just as we were set to intercept them in the open, a zebra spotted us and alarmed the herd. Two bulls emerged one immature, the other standing in harsh sunlight. By the time it turned broadside, it was already moving back into cover. Foiled again by zebra.
Later, another PH, Nick, radioed us after spotting buffalo on his way back to camp. We hurried through a saddle to intercept them, but by the time we arrived, they had switched sides of the hill and spotted us first. The sound of a herd crashing through bush and kicking rocks on a hillside is unforgettable!
That evening, Big John and the skinner swept the roads with brush tied behind the vehicle, ensuring fresh tracks could be seen in the morning.
Day 3:
We followed tracks from a leaking waterhole where a trail camera had shown an old, half-blind bull. We got close twice, but swirling winds betrayed us. Once, an immature bull peeked through an opening, but before I could shoot, it spooked and took the herd with it.
Big John quipped, “All these buffalo in Madikwe have college degrees.”
Day 4:
We glassed from the hilltops and tracked through the thick stuff. In the afternoon, we found promising tracks in the same area as before. Moving carefully to keep the wind right, we finally got close. As a mature bull stepped into a clearing about 100 yards away, the sticks went up, but just as I was ready, another zebra spotted us and gave the alarm. Chaos erupted. Buffalo and zebra thundered off through the bush. Big John and I shared a laugh and a mutual dislike for zebra. I joked that Bayly Sippel should start the season with a zebra cull!
Day 5:
Early that morning, we spotted a herd in the open, but they spooked at nearly a kilometer and vanished into the sickle bush. We cautiously followed, but they were already gone. Soon after, we found another set of tracks. Big John and the skinner followed while Mike and I looped ahead to cut them off.
Then we saw three buffalo crossing the road, one clearly a good bull. I alerted Mike, and as we got ready, a fourth bull hesitated just long enough to turn broadside. I took the shot at 110 yards. It felt solid. The bull hunched slightly, then disappeared into the thick sickle bush.
Visibility inside that stuff is sometimes only a few yards, no big trees, no safe cover if a wounded bull charges. Once Big John arrived, we went in, focused and ready.
About 20 meters in, I spotted a black mass on the ground. The bull was down. I gave an insurance shot, but it wasn’t needed. The bull was 10+ years old, with a good boss and worn horn laminations, measuring 43 inches wide. After clearing brush for photos and recovery, we finally relaxed. After days of 10-kilometer stalks through thorns, rocks, and hills, we had earned this one.
The Woodleigh RN SN bullet performed perfectly, near-complete mushroom, ~95% weight retention. It destroyed the upper heart and both lungs and was recovered lodged in the far shoulder.
That night, around the fire, we celebrated with a lion’s share of brandy and music until 3 a.m. Mike and Nick surprised me with their knowledge of ‘70s–‘90s classics, though they’d somehow never heard of The Cult or Tears for Fears! A minor disappointment in an otherwise perfect safari. The zebra were forgiven.
Epilogue
The next morning, despite feeling as though trephined by molten steel, I managed to complete the Madikwe bird slam, three francolin species and a sandgrouse.
On my final day, we relaxed in camp, visited Thabazimbi for supplies and paperwork, and glassed from the hilltops for the next buffalo hunter.
Final Thoughts
I would highly recommend Bayly Sippel Safaris. Mike and Nick are consummate professionals, skilled, good-natured, and tireless in pursuit of success. The camp staff were friendly, the food superb, and the Madikwe concession offers both variety and challenge.
Based on the photos Dempsey sent before and after my hunt, roughly two-thirds of hunters take a buffalo here, usually after 6–8 days. I can confirm it’s a tough, honest hunt, the “right way.”
For my first Cape buffalo bull, I couldn’t have asked for a better place or a better outfitter.