We saw a sable bull run on the side of a facing hillside. We only saw hin for a short glimpse.
We decided that we should try to go and find him.

We walked for about 10 kilometers, and no sign of him at all.

We found the leopard kill. It was a kongoni cow, and hardly eaten at all. Just a smal piece from its rear leg. From the tracks it looked like a female leoprad with cups.

Went back to camp for lunch.

In the afternoon we went looking for a buffalo herd they saw from the camp yesterday.

We found them bedded down on a bit of grass, and they were about a kilometer away.

The wind was not very good, but, we thought we might be able to get close to them if we made a long detour.

We had to do a bit of crawling on our hands and knees to get close.

We saw a mature bull lying to the right of the herd. We discussed if we should wait for him to stand, or shoot him while he was lying. We decided to shoot him as he was.

He just wabbled a bit after the shot, and stayed down.

There was another bull we wanted to shoot. We stood there for about an hour, watching them get closer to the dead bull. The bull we wanted to shoot nver gave us a chance, as he was always either behind or in front of
another.

WE gave up, and drove back to camp to send the tractor to pick our buffalo, as our truck would struggle in that soft sand.

I love your reports every year and wish I was with u. love the drone. spying on walter???

How far away was the hippo?

MANDLAZIM and Saeed,
Thanks for the ID on the eagle, always looking to broaden my birding horizons:

http://ibc.lynxeds.com/photo/b.../bird-perched-branch

Brown Snake-eagle (Circaetus cinereus) - HBW 2, p. 132
French: Circaète brun German: Einfarb Schlangenadler Spanish: Culebrera Sombría
Other common names: Brown Harrier-eagle
Taxonomy: Circaetus cinereus Vieillot, 1818, Senegal.
Monotypic.
Distribution: Senegambia E to N Ethiopia and S to South Africa.

Those drones get more elaborate each year too.

Saeed noticed Walter trying to play golf ! would love to know his handicap ?

Golf is his handicap.

Saeed,
Your photoghraphy just keeps getting better abd better!

Warm regards
Saeed

Saeed - great start and best of luck for the hunt! Hi to Walter and the Vincents! Cheers Buzz

The hippo was only a few yards away.

There were two ledges, she was trying to get over the first one to charge us, and we were on the higher ledge.

We never felt that we were in danger.

Had lots of fun with an old buffalo bull today.

We saw him going into thick bush, and we followed him.

It was so thick one can hardly see more than a few feet.

At one point we actually passed him, and saw him a few yards to our left.

He took off for a short distance and stopped.

But, we could never see him. This went on for a couple of ours, then we thought we will try something clever.

We made a long detour to get ahead of him, and left the trackers behind to push him towards us.

They actually saw him standing next to them a few yards away, instead of coming towards us.

Eventually we gave up and went back to camp.

Saw a large herd, also in thick bush.

Had lunch and went to hang lion bait.

Later on we shot a warthog. There were two elephants close by as we shot the warthog, and one of them charged the dead pig!!

Great pictorial report.

Was the hartebeest a Lion kill? You were hanging bait for what animal?

The hate rest was killed by a leopard
We are hanging lion bait.

I normally upload the photos and shut the modem down.

Today Walter has Internet withdrawal so he is running the battery down!

That's a flash new UAV Saeed. Nice photo's of the wild dogs.

Saeed,

Great pictures! I had co-workers salivating at the grilled meat. One asked me what it was. I said I assume it was from the wildebeest. That thought never entered their mind!

Thanks,

Tom

Nice warty.

We spent a lot of time today chasing zebra and wildebeest, but all the running about for miles was for nothing.

Later in the morning, we found this sable, and shot him.

We skinned him and had lunch.

In the afternoon we started off chasing zebra again, eventually shooting this stallion.

Yes, that was wildebeest we were eating.

Today we cooked the sable hart.

Fantastic pictures, as usual...

quote:

Originally posted by 1/2 slam:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Saeed,

Please excuse my ignorance, but, what is this? A smudge for flies?

Thanks and keep the fantastic photos coming!

Rod

You will find this on every safari truck.

It is filled with dry elephant dung, and set on fire to keep the flies away

After taking all those wonderful pictures, I'm sure I'm not alone in wondering when you get a chance to hunt!

Keep them coming! We're all there vicariously with you.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
You will find this on every safari truck.

It is filled with dry elephant dung, and set on fire to keep the flies away

I thought so. Thanks

Roy shot a wildebeest and a buffalo yesterday.

The photos are a selection from everyone, as everyone has a camera and is snapping non stop!!

The bee eater's photos were taken by Gary.

I am very impressed with the Nikon P900 with the 83X optical zoom. When used with a rest, it takes great photos at long range.

Yesterday we had lunch at camp, and after lunch I put it on a tripod and walked down the river and got some very nice photos with it.

I will have lots more to post after our hunt.

Most photos are taken by the Panasonic ZS50 - which everyone carry's in their pockets.

I am using a SUUNTO AMBIT3 PEAK sports activity watch to keep track of our walks.

It has a GPS and tells us the distances walked.

I pause the tracking as we get on the truck, and re-start it once we are walking.

Works great.

Very cool live hunt report, I enjoy it.

GOOD HUNTING AND ENJOY THE SELOUS..

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
You will find this on every safari truck.

It is filled with dry elephant dung, and set on fire to keep the flies away

So long as there are still enough ele's around to produce the raw material!

Have you tried hippo dung?

well done the team , bueatifull photo's , pig of an Eland thank you for the daily updates

That's a bloody great eland, Saeed.

Saeed Nikon must note what contribution you are doing with their equipment. My son Ahmed Sultan just made me to buy Nikon P900 !

Come on Saeed, next instalment please

Tanzania does not seem to have been affected by the drought that the greater Southern Africa is experiencing. Still seems very green and the animals have got good fat content (judging by the fat the tracker is holding)so the grazing and browse must have been good throughout the season.

The Impala does in TZ drop their young a good 6-8 weeks before the Impala in Zim which just shows the difference in rainy seasons.

Proper Eland Saeed and some fantastic photos - well done.

quote:

.... the animals have got good fat content (judging by the fat the tracker is holding)so the grazing and browse must have been good throughout the season.

This is the time of the year when the Eland bulls emerge from the thickets to join the herds and obviously the best time of the year to chance a shot at a handsome specimen ... and the fat that comes with it.

Brilliant pictures! Looks like a terrific adventure! Your insect photo's are so detailed and unbelievable

Thanks again and happy hunting

It actually is drier than usual here, hardly any water flowing in the river, and very few pools available.

Enrique shot a buffalo yesterday, and I shot a klipspringer and an eland.

It was quite funny.

After we shot the klipsringer, we decided to go find a place to have lunch, by cooking it.

Driving down the road, Alan asked if I wanted a drink, to which I said yes.

He opened the fridge, and asked "what would you like? Pepsi?"

He knows I like Pepsi.

I said "I would rather have an eland than a Pepsi".

He passed me the can of Pepsi, and we started driving.

Less than 100 meters after this happened, I looked to the left and saw a bull eland standing down in the valley.

We stopped the truck, jumped out and went after them.

After a few kilometers, we managed to catch up with the, and shot the bull.

I have plenty more photos Tony, but time is limited - as you well know yourself.

.
Saeed, Having just returned from a hunt in Zim, it was great to catch up on this report. Superb photography and a fun and enoyable day by day report !

Enjoy the rest and happy hunting !

No plastic snakes this year ?

Charlie

.

Love the waterbuck with the right angle horns

All this discussion about running around reminds me of a joke that doubtless you have heard regarding a guy that went on a five-day hunt in Montana to see if he couldn't bag an Elk.

Well it seems that the guide on the first day hiked the guy up to the top of a nearby ridge and then went 3 miles across it and then back down to Camp. On the second day, they got horses and rode down to the canyon and look there. They of course saw no elk. On the third day they rode to another ridge and checked for an elk there. Finding none they went back to camp totally exhausted and turned in early. The hunt went pretty much like this until the end of the fourth day. Hunter was getting concerned that they might not find an Elk.

On the fifth day, determined to find a Hunter an animal hiking about a quarter-mile from camp. After looking with his binoculars for two or three seconds he pointed in the distance and said there is your elk at about 150 yards. Hunter took a shot and nailed the beast.

The Hunter asked the guide why if he knew where the animals were did he make him walk or ride all at distance? The answer was that he had done only that hiking a quarter-mile from camp where the animal was would he have been happy with his experience on the hunt.

Very nice pictures gentleman, really makes the Internet observer feel right in with the process.