PH John Greeff
I am a 4th generation Zimbabwean born in 1972 and my family were some of the original settlers in Zimbabwe. We always were farmers and up until 1985 lived in the bush. Due to certain political reasons we moved to Bulawayo and my dad started a transport company which is still going today with my older brother running the Zimbabwe side and my dad running things in South Africa.
When I left Plumtree school in 1990 I went into the business with my dad and brother and did an apprenticeship in mechanics till 1993, when I told my family I could not live without being in the bush and having a rifle in my hands.
So in 1993 I joined Mike Fynn and Simon Rogers of Tsankaruka safaris and did a very fun filled and educational time spent with mike mostly who trained me in the field on how to hunt big game properly and respectfully to animals and clients.
The year before I qualified I was looking for a little more experience and joined another hunter on a elephant hunt and got a bigger experience with elephant than expected. Here is what happened. (Please note this story is my version put together with what was witnessed by the others present and I'm not mentioning names because in hindsight we made a few mistakes that I learned from and lived to tell and not do again.)
We followed a big bull track for a few hours and when we got onto him the wind changed he ran off but as the bush was thick he never went far, every time we pushed him which was 3-4 times. We kept tracking him and were in brush so thick and making a fair amount of noise when I looked up and could see the top of the bull 25 yards in front of us, I tapped the PH on the shoulder and pointed and he stopped the group (there were 6 of us including another apprentice hunter) the elephant bull started walking towards us as he had heard us and could not see us, at this point the PH instructed us to back off and in the confusion of going back the other apprentice and client and trackers all ran back and away from the elephant the PH and I were left behind and we continued to back away from the elephant, he had continued walking towards us and had now reached were we had been standing, at this very moment I happened to step back into a hole and fell to the ground and this was the moment the bull let out a scream as he then smelt us and charged I was almost up when I heard the PH fire his rifle (he fired a warning shot over the elephant) and as I swung around the bull was bearing down on me about 10 yards away and I threw my rifle up ( a .375 with a scope on it, as the .458 I normally used was being repaired at the time) I looked down the barrel and shot into the bulls head and racked the bolt back and started to close it when the bull hit me full on and I clearly remember seeing the tusk coming past me and the next instant it seem like everything was in slow motion and I hit the ground about 15 yards away (the PH says when the bull hit me I flew through the air) and then bull was on top of me and I remember rolling many times and seeing his feet all around me, at this point the PH tried to side brain the bull and thank goodness the brush was so thick he could not see properly and shot high into the head(as I was under the bull and if he had brained it I would not be here today) then he shot 2 more shots that went into the bulls gut area and at this point the client and the apprentice, who were 50 yards back and could see the top of the bull shot at him a few times (all this shooting I have no doubt saved my life as the bull then kept on running) I rolled along under the bulls body for 35 yards and remember very clearly seeing his back foot right near my head and then saw him disappear into the thick brush and at this point I believed he would turn around and come back (as I had heard no shots except for the first one and the elephant had been screaming the whole time he was on top of me) so I jumped up and ran back up the path that the elephant had made in the brush (it looked like a bulldozer had been through the brush as he had flattened many trees in his path) and I saw my rifle laying in the path he had left, so I picked it up and in my adrenaline state physically pulled the scope off the rifle as I did not want it on if he returned. I was busy checking to see if it was loaded (I had gotten a bullet into the chamber before the bull hit me but did not get the bolt down) at that moment the PH and everyone else came running up and took one look at me and said I had better sit as I was covered in blood having sustained several cuts on my head face and back and legs. I was treated for my cuts and then the bruises started, I was very lucky as at the end of the day I had not broken bones only some deep cuts from the brush and a lot of bruising on my legs, arms back, stomach and shoulders these all turned black almost immediately. As at this point I was having difficulty breathing deeply we thought I had broken some ribs, but it was just the bruising as I found out later from the x-rays. But we first followed the bull over 12 KM until dark and then that night I drove myself the 5 hours back to Bulawayo to see the doctor the next day as we still did not know if I had broken ribs or not, it was a long, bumpy and painful ride. The next day they found the elephant dead and he had almost 70lb tusks, the client paid for him and took the ivory home with one great story.
I learned a lot from this experience and have a lot of respect for these great creatures which are to this day still my favorite animal to hunt (after this hunt Mike sent me on 10 straight elephant hunts and I can tell you the first time I approached a elephant after this I was afraid, but like Mike said you have to get back on the bicycle and it worked).
I qualified for my license and did my first season in 1996 and since then have hunted approximately 150 days every year and have hunted most of Zimbabwe’s big game areas.
In 2001 and again in 2002 I was honored with being awarded the best professional hunter of the year in Zimbabwe, I also have received the awards for best antelope shot for a bushbuck in 2002, runner up lion award for 2001, runner up for best buffalo 2001.
In 2005 I hunted with Jack and his family on a very successful safari in Zimbabwe and in December 2005 received a call from Jack asking if I would come and join him in Tanzania in 2006 as one of his PH’s, as I’ve always wanted to hunt Tanzania I agreed and last year after 80 days in Zimbabwe I joined Tanzania Wildlife and did 80 days after qualifying for my Tanzanian professional hunters license.
This is my 15th year in the business of professional hunting and I’m still enjoying it as much as the day I began.