Someone mentioned that this sounds like an episode from the GODS MUST BE CRAZY!

You don't know how close to the truth this actually is!

The river had very little water, so there are no large pools of water where a croc can be found.

One day we were walking in the river bed - with about 2 inches of water flowing, no more than a foot wide!!

We found the tracks of what looked like a large croc, so we thought we will follow it.

The trackers took up the spoor, and carried on.

We kept getting to logs that had some water underneath them, but nothing to hide a 12 foot croc.

We kept seeing sort of caves in the bank of the river, and we looked into these, but no croc was found.

Suddenly, there was no croc tracks??!!

"Where is it?" I asked our tracker, Robert.

"Amna" was his answer. Which meant "nothing" in Swahili.

"How can you lot loose a 12 foot croc in 2 inches of water?"

"He is gone!" came back the answer.

"Gone where?"

They had a sort of conference, and announced that t5he croc had gone.

But, where, no one knows!

On another occasion we went looking for a hippo to shoot for lion bait.

We know where there are pools where there were many hippos.

First thing is Alan disturbs a hornet's nest, and I walked straight into their attack! I got stung 8 times on the back of my neck!

Not very pleasant at all, especially with everyone laughing their heads off.

We got to the hippo pool, and they all got out and made their way through the forrest to another pool. There were some baby hippos, so we had to watch it we did not get charged by one of the angry mommies.

It did not help that it was very thick in there, and the only way one can walk was on a hippo path.

The pool was between two rocky areas, with quite steep sides. We crossed to the other, and I was left5 behind taking photos. Suddenly I hear a commotion, and those who were ahead of me were running back towards me with some crashing coming from behind them1

Apparently one of the hippos did not like us, and made a rush towards us.

We got to the other side, and we were standing on the road that crosses this dry river.

All of us on one side, and Roy on the other, busy taking video of the hippos.

He then turned towards us to include us in his video.

Suddenly two hippos appeared behind him, and were eyeing him with some interest!!

We were shouting at him to get his attention that the hippos were behind him, but he just continued taking his video.

Luckily the hippos looked at us with amazement, and thought they might leave us alone!

Love the stories, Saeed!

We stopped at a relatively open pan, to look for any animals we might see.

Sure enough, Alan saw some kudu, and a good bull was among them.

They were quite far away, so we ran to get close to them.

About 300 yards away, they started running towards a thicket.

Alan puts the shooting sticks up, and points towards them.

I put my rifle on the sticks, and all I could see was a cow.

"I only see one cow."
"The bull is to the left of her in the bush, watch when he comes out"

No sooner has Alan said that than the cow started running, and the bull close behind her!

I fired a shot at him.

"Well done!" said Alan, looking with his binos, and adding "he is down! What a shot!"

Roy behind us with his camera.

I asked him "did you get that?"

"No, I did not know what you were shooting!"

Saeed is that the lion you guys passed up? It sure looks mature to me judging by the mane color, scars and jowls but you guys have waaaaay more experience than me It must have been awesome to have it nearby though

Thanks for the report, it was awesome to feel I came along with you guys!

We thought the lion was about 4 years old, and think he might have driven the older one away.

We went to the blind early in the morning, and found him close to it as we approached in the truck.

He walked away into the bush as we got into our blind.

A few minutes after the truck had left, he was back and laid down right next to us.

We could hear every breath he made, and we communicated by sign language.

The blind was facing east, and I had my rifle half way out of it. He laid on the south side of us, almost touching the blind.

He stayed there for a while, then got up and walked right in front of the rifle, and stood a few feet away1

He then walked over to the lioness which was about 15 yards away.

They laid down for a while, then got up and walked to the bait.

We had cleared a path of the grass between the bait and the blind.

He laid down half way there, then the lioness joined him, and they mated for a while.

Did Roy make that grill/cooking plate with the long handle? I'll be damned if I don't think that's a neat cooking surface.

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Did Roy make that grill/cooking plate with the long handle? I'll be damned if I don't think that's a neat cooking surface.

We were in Alan's camp, so I assume he might have made it.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:
Did Roy make that grill/cooking plate with the long handle? I'll be damned if I don't think that's a neat cooking surface.

We were in Alan's camp, so I assume he might have made it.

It looks like a "skottelbraai" - ie a braai made from a disk ploughshare - here is a gas version for sale in South Africa.

Real men don't use gas bottles and take a real ploughshare and weld legs onto it and a handle into the centre, incidentally blocking the hole that was used to attach the ploughshare.

Thanks Saeed. Spectacular video of the drone. Not only the views are wonderful, the resolution is excellent and also seems that you can govern the drone from a laptop. The one who did that, really handled it well. The views of landscapes, animals, birds and the end with the waterbuk and herd of waterbuck, exceptional. Thank you for your concern and study to choose it and for sharing such beautiful views.

quote:

It looks like a "skottelbraai" - ie a braai made from a disk ploughshare - here is a gas version for sale in South Africa.

Thanks a stack. Never seen such a thing, but it looks very usable!

quote:

Originally posted by BaxterB:

quote:

It looks like a "skottelbraai" - ie a braai made from a disk ploughshare - here is a gas version for sale in South Africa.

Thanks a stack. Never seen such a thing, but it looks very usable!

I should have mentioned - it's very similar to a shallow wok.

Seen all over Southern Africa, so not surprising it's made its way to TZ.

quote:

I should have mentioned - it's very similar to a shallow wok.

That's what I was thinking but i've never seen a shallow one like that. I'll be adding one to the firepit setup.

Just got on here tonight. Amazing photography.
Thanks many times over for sharing with so many of us.

One of the slickest bbq grills I've ever seen was made of the end cap from a propane tank about 3' dia. The grill was on a section of gravel screen and mounted on a pole on one side that would raise and lower and swing to the side. All mounted on a concrete base behind a fellows house at Cedar Key Fla. Not much else to grill down there other than fish or wild hogs. I didn't get to experience it in action but, I did study it quite a bit thinking I might weld one up someday. They used commercial briquets, in a camp like you folks have a wood fire and coals would be great too.
Thanks again for sharing with us Saeed.
George

best hunt report on the forum as always

Sheikh Saeed,

Any news on when we may expect videos of the safari?

Warm regards

Esskay

Superb as always, the drone footage was just off the hook, here's wishing all of you a safe successful safari.

Does that mean they are finished and in the post?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am afraid I have not done the video yet.

This is due mainly to the fact that I have been having a lot of trouble extracting the video from the XQD cards that we use in the video cameras.

I have tried every trick in the book, and have sent them to a specialist data recovery specialists.

We have recovered quite bit, but others we were unable to recover.

Some we could recover, but were unable to process in Adobe Premier - it does not recognize the recovered files.

Also, I have been doing quite a bit of travelling, which means very little time to actually sit down and process the video.

I am hoping in the next few weeks I will get the time to put whatever we have recovered into a useable film.

I will post here when everything is ready.

Please accept my sincere apology for this.

I know many of you look forward to the video, and we are always happy to share our adventure with you.

Walter is giving me such a hard time - to the extent that he has offered to do the video himself.

And as you can imagine, there is a resounding, unanimous vote here against that!

Why did I finish reading you post ion peals of laughter....

PLEASE let Walter do he video!!!

K

quote:

Originally posted by Fallow Buck:
Why did I finish reading you post ion peals of laughter....

PLEASE let Walter do he video!!!

K

I am sure he will make those in Hollyweird proud!

The videos will have no relations to the hunt whatsoever!

I am actually doing the video now.

I will keep you all updated as everything progresses.

I have added a few more videos to my post at the head of this thread.

Video production is in progress.

An update on the video.

I have already processed about 10 hours and I don't think I am half way yet!!

I am finishing the videos in both 4K and 1080P FULL HD.

To give you an idea of the file size, those ten hours are about 70 GB in FULL HD, and over 170 GB in 4K.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
An update on the video.

I have already processed about 10 hours and I don't think I am half way yet!!

I am finishing the videos in both 4K and 1080P FULL HD.

To give you an idea of the file size, those ten hours are about 70 GB in FULL HD, and over 170 GB in 4K.

That is awesome news. I have really been missing my annual fix of you, the Master of Disasters and the Vincent clan!!

It still truly amazes me that you manage to fit all this into your busy schedule though! Thanks so much Saeed!

Best regards,
Chris

Chris,

The Vincents left here a couple of weeks ago, after spending sometime with us.

Had lots of fun together - especially as Todd and his wife were here too.

You might remember Todd from some of our previous safaris.

I found a short clip I took of your Master of Disasters last year as we met while out hunting.

He proudly showed us what he had in his backpack - I don't I need tell you all the things he carries in it!

He had even had a wind meter. He said he shoots at such long distances - anything beyond 100 yards is a long distance shot for him

He put that to the test while the truck was standing!

I will upload the clip once I am done doing the video.

Done about 15 hours so far.

Chris,

I am just about finished with the hunting section of the video.

Got an incredible epic footage of both Walter and Enrique hunting - hats off to both of them for the amount of walking they had to do.

Roy and Alan and their families were here a few weeks ago.

Todd and his wife were here to. You might remember Todd, he had been on safari with us a number of times in the past.

Him and Roy practically spent all their time in the shooting range!!

Alan was making fun of them saying "they think they are in shooter's heaven"

They did a lot of shooting with many guns.

None of them wanted to do anything with the 577 T.Rex though

I am so looking forward to it! I will never forget Walter's backpack. It is a technological treasure trove. He has more GPS's and satt phones than any normal person could ever use. The windmeter nearly had me falling out of my chair.

I am glad the Vincents and Todd had a great visit! I know they look forward to visiting you every year. The shooting range is like Disney Land for Roy. Even better!! I get it. I feel the same way.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have finished our safari video of last year - I am very sorry for the delay!!

Last year over 2,000 copies were made, which we put on 128GB USB 3.0 sticks.

I have already got 2,000 USB 3.0 sticks here and they are copied right now.

We have our own copying machine, that process 15 sticks at a time.

Last year we finished the video in Youtube 1080P FULL HD format.

We are doing the same thing this year, but I just found out that Youtube have upgraded their bit rate from a maximum of 8 MBS to 16 MBS.

This does improve the quality of the video, but also makes the video files larger. Which means we have to put the video on two 128 GB USB sticks.

Someone standing behind me reading this is telling me the incredible fact that we can only make 1,000 copies with 2,000 USB sticks!

What a genius

I will order more and process them as required.

I would greatly appreciate it if you give me your FULL mailing address, in a PM.

I will ignore all requests by email. I get many of these every year from people who are not members of AR.

I hope you all enjoy the video.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have finished our safari video of last year - I am very sorry for the delay!!

Last year over 2,000 copies were made, which we put on 128GB USB 3.0 sticks.

I have already got 2,000 USB 3.0 sticks here and they are copied right now.

We have our own copying machine, that process 15 sticks at a time.

Last year we finished the video in Youtube 1080P FULL HD format.

We are doing the same thing this year, but I just found out that Youtube have upgraded their bit rate from a maximum of 8 MBS to 16 MBS.

This does improve the quality of the video, but also makes the video files larger. Which means we have to put the video on two 128 GB USB sticks.

Someone standing behind me reading this is telling me the incredible fact that we can only make 1,000 copies with 2,000 USB sticks!

What a genius

I will order more and process them as required.

I would greatly appreciate it if you give me your FULL mailing address, in a PM.

I will ignore all requests by email. I get many of these every year from people who are not members of AR.

I hope you all enjoy the video.

Thank you good sir! And thanks to Herr Valter!

PM sent, I'm looking forward to seeing the finest video/movie of the year. The All Star cast should get "Golden Africa" (inlieu of Oscar's or Golden Globe) awards!, except that this is real life not scripted.

PM send

PM Sent

Thank you

PM sent.

thanks again for this generous offer and annual fix.

First member to get his is in New Zealand!

Thank You Saeed the post man dropped off the package today, great discipline in all your rifle handling you are always conscious of not sweeping your PH and others, some of the videos on 'safari' make me cringe.

Thank you again.

Hi Saeed.
Today I received the USB stick that you sent me. I've watched a few episodes and are impressed by the film quality.
Thank you for your generosity.
Kind regards from Ladislav Mesaros

Thank you, Saeed. Your sticks have arrived. Very much appreciated.
Best wishes,
Milo.

I hope you all enjoy the video.

I got them already the 27th May, very quick. Thank you very much Saeed!

BR / P-A

quote:

Originally posted by P-A Åhlén:
I got them already the 27th May, very quick. Thank you very much Saeed!

BR / P-A

Great, I hope you enjoy it.

We have shipped over 700 so far.

Anyone who wishes to get one please PM me your mailing address.

Hello Saeed,

The videos came today. I look so very forward to watching them. Thank you so much for your generosity and kindness to send these out!

Thank you again so much!
Jeff