Subscriber Jeff Byrnes recently confirmed what van Noordwyk reported. Byrnes hunted with Nsonga Safaris this past September/October in the Kafue Flats as well as the Nkala and Namwala GMAs controlled by Nsonga. "Just before I arrived, a large number of people living in the Namwala GMA were relocated to other parts of the country," Byrnes wrote in his report. "I saw numerous villages in the Namwala GMA that had recently been vacated. This is bound to help with poaching problems."
He also confirms the many improvements van Noordwyk said he had been making to the concession. "Both the Nkala and Namwala areas are very good now and will definitely get better in the next few years. New roads are being built that will open up additional parts of Namwala. This GMA had a lot of game, with good trophy sizes. I saw numerous hartebeest, sable and puku. It looked like a great leopard area too; we even saw one running in the open. The Nkala area has huge numbers of buffalo. We saw one herd of at least 1,000, also lots of defassa waterbuck and reedbuck.
"This was my seventh African safari and also the best. A great all-around experience with lots of game, a wide diversity of terrain, good fishing and bird shooting and all supported by a first-rate organization. With all of the problems with hunting in Africa today, it was nice to see an area that is improving." Byrnes reports taking a Cape buffalo with a 37½-inch spread, along with a good Lichtenstein hartebeest, a bushbuck and a Kafue lechwe.
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