Just back from 21 days in Kigosi, Tanzania. Although the hunting was tough due to drought and much burning, did manage to get 3 old dugga boys and a nice leopard. Dean Kendall was the PH and is excellent in all aspects. While baiting leopard and lion, our days started about 4 am and ended about 11pm. Although I did not see a male lion, saw several lionesses and got to witness a 2 lioness vs 6 hyena arguement of eating rights at one bait. Wendell R. set the hunt up and it went smoothly. Also got a Sable (there are hundreds to be seen daily), waterbuck, bushbuck, topi (2), baboon, missed a hartebeest and was unable to recover a reedbuck. Most places were dry or burned, but there was still some thick and 7 ft. tall "elephant" grass along the lower flood plains. Also saw several elephant, giraffe, hippo, and soon-to-be trohy-size kudu.

Happy for you!
A 21 day safari is still on my wish list !!
Please tell us more about the calibre used.

Thanks

Jan

Sounds like a nice hunt. That cat is particularly nice!

Nice buffalo and leopard! Congratulations on a successful safari! Did you see any lion? Look forward to hearing more on the trip.

I'm leaving for Kigosi on Sept. 8th for 10 days with Dean as my PH as well. Aside from a couple Buffalo, Bushbuck is next highest on my list. Did you see many? A pic of your Bushbuck would be appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
Nice buffalo and leopard! Congratulations on a successful safari! Did you see any lion?

Pretty sure Steve saw some lion.

quote:

Originaly posted by SGraves155: Although I did not see a male lion, saw several lionesses and got to witness a 2 lioness vs 6 hyena arguement of eating rights at one bait

Steve, that arguement over "eating rights" had to be quite a show

Congratulations.

I have heard other reports of "tough" hunting this year. Some far worse that what you experienced. I personally spoke to a guy that did not see a mature lion. Had no mature leopards on bait. Perhaps worse, he only saw 4 buff in 21 days. He shot a 32 incher for bait.

He told me that the PH indicated the weather was unusually hot. There was lots of water around and there were abnormal numbers of tsetse flies. He felt this made the hunting difficult.

What did your PH attribute the tough hunting to?

I leave in less than 3 weeks. I have flatly refused to go to the same safari area for which I got the report above. I am curious if this situation is nationwide this year.

DennisHP, here's a bushbuck plus a few other picts.

LarryShores, Yes, the tsetses were pretty bad at times-- the PH said that at places they were worse than he had ever seen in 15 years of PH'ing. By 9am it was hot enough that the 4-legged critters were hiding. We usually drove about 100 miles a day checking baits. Sometimes between 9a and 5p we might see only a few baboons in that 100 miles. Nearly everything I shot was before 9a or after 5p. I saw tracks of at least 7 different lionesses, 2 other male leopards, & 2 female leopards. Lionesses hit 3 of our baits, leopard only 1. We had about a dozen baits out maximum at a single time. Five different hunters that hunted the south camp (palm camp) before I moved there from Sable camp on the 14th day of the hunt--they collected 10 good buffalo and a very large male lion, plus plains game. While I was at Sable (central)camp, I collected 1 buff, leopard, sable, bushbuck, baboon, reedbuck(wounded and lost) and could have collected a bull hippo if I had stayed there--but the buff and lion appeared to be better at Palm camp. I believe the elephant hunter in the north camp elected to cancel after his first four or five days. I saw a total of 6 elephant, 3 of which appeared to be bulls, but I did not see any with legal tusks--but I wasn't elephant hunting. It was hot,dry, with frequently miserable driving conditions--but I can't complain with those buff and leopard trophies in the bag.
Oh--and it did rain pretty good the last 2 days of the hunt==that may change things a bit for the better.

Sounds like a tough but memorable hunt. Congratulations on your beautiful Leopard!

Awesome!!!

Cheers,
Canuck

Interesting.

I think this drought then the late rains must have done something. I have had similar reports from others that were in Tanzania for the first hunt of the year.

For the elephant hunters to cancel while in country, they must have had some pretty adverse conditions.

Thank you for your insight. Beautiful leopard.

Congratulations on the nice trophies. The photo of you and the lioness is great!

A few more Picts--

quote:

Originally posted by SBT:
The photo of you and the lioness is great!

What he said -- that is a great picture!

Congratulations on the hunt.

Beautiful Bushbuck!

What type of rifle are you using?

Tradewinds and Kudu, I was using a 375 H&H for most of the stuff. Some of the shots needed a flatter shooting rifle. One topi was hit in the shoulder obliquely at 350 yds, and then knocked down at 500 yds-- I held two feet over his left horn and broke both right legs at hock level--but it's hard to get closer than 350 yd. The sable was hit with the 375 thru the chest at 360 yd (Rem A-Frame). One buffalo was killed and DRT with the first 375 A-frame (20 yd), one buff DRT with a 458 win TB solid (60 yd)thru the shoulders and one buff thru the shoulders with the 458 solid (50 yd) and then thru the right ham passing thru the left shoulder blade (65 yd). My shooting could have been better, but the results were satisfactory. The 375 was a Browning A-Bolt with Boss, the 458 was a mauser action customized (built by David Heard).

Great hunt with great pictures!!I believe there may have been sitatunga and roan available on this hunt. Did you see any or make any effort to hunt them?What did you hear about them?

Apparently there is a swampy area w/sitatunga which takes some extra effort to get into. I did not see sitatunga, nor roan, nor bull eland (although we saw 8-9 cow & calf eland).

quote:

Although I did not see a male lion,

Could this be as a result of the fact that too many were shot in the previous seasons? As far as i recall 10 (?) were shot in 2004 and 8 (?) were shot in 2005....18 male lions in 2 seasons is a heck of a lot of lion.

Bwanamich,

For someone who is in the safari business, and remains anonymous, you sure have a hell of lot of criticism for other peoples business. In the open, on the AR forums and by PM.

Find a map. Look at how big the Kigosi blocks are. They are enormous. If you were to lay the two Kigosi blocks (Kigosi South and Kigosi Central) over the Northern part of the Selous, they would cover about 17 Selous blocks. Find a map and do it. Terry has posted plenty of them. If you need help, I will send you a map.

By my calculations, here are the blocks (roughly) that it would cover. L1, K3, K2, K1, K5, U1, M2, K4, U2, K4, M2, M1, R1, R2, R3, LA1, Y1

If they gave these Selous Operators one lion per block every other year, then that would equal what was taken in Kigosi. On average, about 9/year (over 17 blocks). I believe these Selous blocks get 2 or 3 Lions each? Let's say that each of these blocks only takes one Lion per year. (and we know that is not true!) This would equal about 17 Lions per year, over the same amount of land as the two Kigosi blocks. That is double the amount of Lions per year than what was taken in Kigosi.

You can do this over and over. Comparing the number of Lions taken per acres, not per block. Do it with Masailand, do it in Southwestern Tanzania, do it anywhere in Tanzania and you will see that the number of Lions per size of area is not out of line with anyone.

However, your comments are out of line. You have absolutely no right to criticize the way another safari company conducts their business, even if it is outside the realm of normal operations, which this obviously isn't.

Anonymity is nice isn't it? You continually run down other operators, and safari companies. You do it on the forums and you do it in PM's to my clients and others. I have seen what you have written about the Kigosi blocks and Licky as well. You write terrible things to my clients and to others as well.

Nobody runs 100% on Lion. The success in Kigosi has been very good in '04 and in '05. You do not run very good success in an area that is as huge as this then all of a sudden "run out of Lions". It would be a very narrow minded thought process that could come to this conclusion.

Stephen seems to be pretty happy about the rest of his hunt, although, I am sure disappointed that he did not take a Lion. I am disappointed as well. But, what right do you have to openly criticize it? What good can come of you casting a negative light on this area or Stephens hunt?

Very unprofessional of you. ... whoever you may be.

I have no comment (or knowledge) about the quality or quantity of lions in Kigosi, nor am I really acquainted with Mr. Reich but any SOB who wants to run down other's operations or ways of doing business ESPECIALLY IF HE IS IN COMPETITION should have the nerve to post his real name and company OR SHUT THE F**K UP.

While it will be no comfort to Stephen, 3 days after he left a hunter shot a big old Lion off of one of Steves baits.

Sorry Steve, I wish it could have been you.

Good lion and elephant are by far the most difficult trophies to get in Tanzania, no matter where in the country one may be hunting.

Anyone who has hunted there knows that. Failure is more common in Tanzanian lion and elephant hunting than success.

Stephen, you did very well under what seem to have been some pretty tough conditions. Three buff, a very nice leopard, sable, waterbuck, bushbuck and topi that I can see from your posted photos. Congrats!

Thanks for the report and the pictures!

Love the photo of the meow-meow over your shoulder.

Classic.

The last buff had some "hooks"

What were the measurements of the biggest buff? What about the sable?

Thanks.

I thought that was a browning A-bolt in .375. I have one too and have used it very effectively. Great meat getter. Congrats on your kitty!-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by Wendell Reich:


Very unprofessional of you. ... whoever you may be.

Doesn't he run an ice cream shop in TZN? Please correct me if I am wrong.

Bawanamich,

I am going to Kigosi in 2 weeks, I'll let you know how the lion situation is. Licky has went out of his way ( via Wendell ) to try and fix a problem not of his making at considerable personal expense for me. I don't think someone of that caliber will over sell/hunt his lions.....he doesn't have to. Character comes out when things go to hell, Wendell and Licky stepped up and made several offers to correct my problem. You are running the wrong fellow down. He is a stand up guy.............JJ

Congrats on a great hunt. It certainly is more about the adventure than the kill. I hunted elephant for 15 days in Zim this year without success on the elephant (passed on multiple), I bagged several other excellent trophies and consider the hunt and the experience a TOTAL success.

Bwanna, I agree.
On another note, when the 35mm film gets developed, will have some more picts.

quote:

You continually run down other operators, and safari companies. You do it on the forums and you do it in PM's to my clients and others. I have seen what you have written about the Kigosi blocks and Licky as well. You write terrible things to my clients and to others as well.

Wendell,

I am not sure what has upset you to the point of accusing me of running people down. If your clients or anyone else has PM'ed me in the past for MY opinion and advice on a particular subject I have given it at face value. You have also asked me for my opinion in the past and I gave it to you. Never at any time have I given you, or anyone else a negative opinion on a operator and at the same time favored another - i.e. pimping! If I had a hidden agenda as you imply then I would have bad mouthed one and favored another. This I have not done.

I'm available on PM if you need further clarifications on this topic.

JJMILLER,

I'd be curious to know the problems which were fixed. People are quick to criticize but not as quick to compliment when problems are fixed.

If you are willing to share it would be educational to hear what problems occurred before your hunt and how they were corrected ahead of time.

GN

quote:

Originally posted by JJ_Miller:
Bawanamich,

I am going to Kigosi in 2 weeks, I'll let you know how the lion situation is. Licky has went out of his way ( via Wendell ) to try and fix a problem not of his making at considerable personal expense for me. I don't think someone of that caliber will over sell/hunt his lions.....he doesn't have to. Character comes out when things go to hell, Wendell and Licky stepped up and made several offers to correct my problem. You are running the wrong fellow down. He is a stand up guy.............JJ

Guys,

Before anyone starts jumping on Bwanamich, I have to say, he's a stand up guy. - A real gentleman. Last year, one of my clients lost his bags and ammo between Amsterdam and Kili. - I called Bwanamich, explained the problem and he said, no problem - I have ammo in the calibres you need and you can have it and settle up with me whenever's convenient (he even offered to deliver it to the hotel) - but before you do, check the airport tomorrow as your stuff will probably turn up - he was right. It did. He also asked me if there was anything else I needed him to fix me up with - The point is, he was willing to help out without even wanting paying up front...... and he didn't know me from a bar of soap.

We met up later for a beer or two and I can tell you further he works in and knows the safari industry inside out. - The fact that he chooses not to advertise who he works for is his business - but I can tell you, it's a bloody good safari company that has been operating in Tz for many years. - ........ From my experience Bwanamich has the habit of telling the unvarnished truth -but it's always the truth and I've never seen him grinding an axe......

I should also say that although I've never met Wendell, I have spoken to him a few times and have no doubt he is also a stand up guy. Perhaps this is just a matter of a difference of opinion or or outlook.......

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:
Guys,

Before anyone starts jumping on Bwanamich, I have to say, he's a stand up guy. - A real gentleman. Last year, one of my clients lost his bags and ammo between Amsterdam and Kili. - I called Bwanamich, explained the problem and he said, no problem - I have ammo in the calibres you need and you can have it and settle up with me whenever's convenient (he even offered to deliver it to the hotel) - but before you do, check the airport tomorrow as your stuff will probably turn up - he was right. It did. He also asked me if there was anything else I needed him to fix me up with - The point is, he was willing to help out without even wanting paying up front...... and he didn't know me from a bar of soap.

We met up later for a beer or two and I can tell you further he works in and knows the safari industry inside out. - The fact that he chooses not to advertise who he works for is his business - but I can tell you, it's a bloody good safari company that has been operating in Tz for many years. - ........ From my experience Bwanamich has the habit of telling the unvarnished truth -but it's always the truth and I've never seen him grinding an axe......

I should also say that although I've never met Wendell, I have spoken to him a few times and have no doubt he is also a stand up guy. Perhaps this is just a matter of a difference of opinion or or outlook.......

I have PM'd Bwanamich. I do not want to turn Steves thread into an argument between Bwanamich and I. Despite his character, what he said was out of line. Anyone can see it and I am happy to deal with him in private.

I'll have a double dip of rocky road and an EXPERT opinion of lion hunting please!

quote:

Originally posted by Jerry Huffaker:
I'll have a double dip of rocky road and an EXPERT opinion of lion hunting please!

One evening as we were returning to camp, we passed the anti-poaching patrol. They had captured 3 poachers. The poachers had come at least 50 miles on 2 bicycles, and had killed a buffalo. The rangers/game scouts had them handcuffed, and had them, the buffalo, their bicycles, and their rifle in the back of the landcruiser. Here's their rifle.