I've seen several 7 day hunt packages for buffalo in Tanzania that I might be able to stretch to afford. But, alas, all of them are in the Selous. Does anyone know of any in Masailand? The most beautiful plains game animal to me is a Grants Gazelle, and I'd like to be able to shoot one of those too, but I understand they are only in Masailand? Suggestions? Thanks - Jeff

I would also like the same combo.

Wayne

I can help you there guys. We have 7 day Buff hunts and other hunts in Selous, Masailand and Burigi.....as well as in Botswana, RSA and a few other places. Details and prices for the 3 named countries are on my website and details of all of our operations are available by sending me an e-mail.



As you probably know Masailand tends to have bigger Buff trophies, but lacks the huge herds you get in the Selous. Our Masailand area also holds good populations of all the northern species such as the gazelles, gerenuk & lesser kudu etc. Gazelles are on the 7 day licence and the others on the longer licences.



The site also has details of what is included and what is not. Selous Buff packages for example include everything from charters and the trophy fee on the 1st Buff per hunter to all licences, taxes and dip, pack & trophy delivery back to Dar . The ONLY extra costs are additional trophy fees, alcohol and tips........... and our success rate is 100% in all areas. Checkable references are also available on request.

Yes, that is dooable but the Masai Steepe can be chicken or guts and feathers for buffalo,good or terrible....It is where we do all our Lion and some Leopard hunting...but we shoot a few buffalo there..You will not see many, in fact you may w not see any if they are in the park and happy...Dry, hard hunting and vastly over rated IMO...It can also be fabulous in December during the rains as game pours out of the park, but you may also sit in a tent and not hunt most of the time. It just has some drawbacks and is for those who like to take chances...But not all buff in the Masai are 40 plus I assure you of that.

You will hear a lot about the monster size of the Masai buffalo and yes there are some real big buff killed in the Masai but this horse hockey about the small Selous Buffalo is nothing more than someone hunting on a shot out concession..The Selous grows some very big buffalo and many are killed there every year...I have seen as many big bulls in the Selous as anywhere else, big bulls are where you find them....I had a client kill a 53 inch bull in R1 a few years back and I see some 44 inch class bulles every year in the Selous...I see more 40 to 42 inch bulls every year, and a lot depends on the rains...A lot of Selous bulls are in the 38 to 39 inch catagory because of 7 day hunts and the client is afraid he will not get a bull if he does not take a 38 incher and a 38inch buffalo is a damn nice looking trophy everywhere but on the internet where experts sling more ca ca than in the real world of hunting, and pronounce all the 48 inch plus bulls they have shoot, but the photos sure show a lot of soft bosses or as Saeed says, "he is nice but he needs a little haircut!!" .

Now Inasmuch as the Burundi army is going up the river and shooting the hell out of the Mayowashi herds to feed and army, that is not looking good for this year and we have decided pulled out of there for this year, and I suspect they will desimate it, but I sure hope not. I won't send a client into something like that...

In fact I just fired a client who demanded we take him into the Mayowhashi, sent him his refund, and he was pissed, he was also a lawyer and I figured the better part of valor was to just let him go with someone else and he hooked up with some real outlaws that some of us around here know and love, He was bragging to me about finding them and hunting where he wanted to, and at a lot less money, I just laughed my ass off at him and hung up the phone, I assure you he is in for a hunt of a lifetime if he survives and he has no clue what it will cost him to get out of Tanzania...........

Boy Ray, you paint a pretty bleak picture for Masai land buff hunts. It makes me wonder what kept people going back to hunt with Ridge and Cash Taylor for all those years and also why Adam Clements just locked up the entire area after Ridge's departure. Any ideas?

I just finished a 10 day buff hunt in Masailand last November and Ray isn't far off the mark. On a seven day hunt you stand a good chance of getting a good buff but a true monster is elusive anywhere. One of our hunters took a 46 incher, the rest shot around 40 to 42 inch buffalo. None of us shot two buff. The Grants Gazelle are great trophies and I shot a nice one with no trouble. We went Grant hunting one day and had him down by noon. Impala, zebra and kongoni should be available. No one shot a warthog or wildebeest. Buff hunting can be easy or damn hard depending on the water and forage situation in the Park. Ridge does do a seven day buff hunt on his new concession and I understand he has Grants there. His website is www.trophyhunts.com. Just don't expect to kill one of everything he lists in his package. I was there for ten days and I didn't do it nor did the three other compadres on the trip with me. It ain't southern Africa, if you know what I mean!

Jeff,
I did a 7 day Buffalo hunt with Luke Samaras and he has perminant water in his Masailand area so there are always buffalo there. Their average is over 40" just about every year. I also took grants,wildebeeste,cokes hartebeeste,Zebra. He has plenty of grants. Also with Luke you don't have to charter to camp they drive you from Arusha.

I keep reading the same "expert opinions" from people that have had a few experiences of hunting in Tanzania and although a lot of them a true, most are just wild guesses or a result of hearsay and not first hand experience.

If you want to hunt buffalo over a 7 day period, then you must be prepared to do only that. Sure in some areas you can shoot a buff on the first hour of the first morning like in the Selous where you will see lot's of buffalo everyday but then I would not call that "hunting buffalo"; just hunting - nothing wrong with that! In the Selous, you can "hold out" for a bigger bull in 7 days whereas in Masaailand you might need 7 days to shoot a buffalo. Still there is nothing wrong with the latter....

If you are going for the first time, and you want to hunt buffalo, then I would strongly recommend the Selous or Kilombero for this purpose. To do this I would recommend Miombo safaris as they have blocks in both areas and run a great operation. (www.miombosafaris.com). Don't get distracted by what else you can hunt on your 7 day license - concentrate on buffalo hunting and enjoy it!

Dennis,

The Lokisale area that Ridge hunted over recent years is not getting any better - and if Adam thinks he got himself a gold mine, he will be dissapointed....and frusrated! Lobo - the 2nd area - further south East of Lokisale is slightly better in as much as it does not have the encroachment of people that Lokisale has. Both are hard areas with the game being very good at avoiding humans. They are very dry areas , totally dependant on rain and with it the game populations increase. No rain and there will be very few of them around. The best PH for that area i would say is Gerard Miller who knows it like the back of his hand as he ranches there. He has taken more 48+ buff there then anyone else anywhere in Tanzania

Moyowosi, contrary to what others may have said about it is not gone down the drain. It is a huge area sub-divided into 5 concessions and the very northern concession is the one that has been most affected by the Burundi refugees. I have heard that TGT has taken over the remaining blocks and that promises to be a good thing. The Tanzanian Goverment funded by donor money has just completed a clean-up exercise with the army removing all the refugee settlements in the reserve and are currently waging a war on the cattle herders confiscating all cattle captured in the reserve boundaries, coralling them and letting nature take its course. There has never been such a serious step by the government to rid the reserve of human settlement and recent reports show that game still abounds. I would not hesitate to recommend a hunter to go there.

Happy hunting!

Lots of good and bad info floating around here in my opinion. much of it out of date...

As to Ridge and Cash, they lost that concession this year and as far as I know they are not in operation at this time unless that has changed since Dallas. I saw Ridge and he did not have a booth this year...I'm also well aware of the concession that Adam got..

All that said, I am simply stating that the Masai can be good or bad, and its not the place for a 7 day buffalo hunt, it is better suited for 16 and 21 day Safaris IMO..Up to client however, and then only certain concession are any good....

I'm pretty sure one can get a client a 40 or 42 inch buff in the kilumbero or on any of the concessions we hunt, if the client can pass up a 38" big hard bossed bull, few will as thats a pretty nice bull with the Tanzania bosses, and few are willing to risk not shooting a buff, a bird in the hand is worth two in the nest syndrome and 7 days seems short time to most hunters, but its plenty of time to find a big bull if you hunt hard, unless lady luck frowns on you......

In all honestly I hear about waiting for Mr. Big, and passing smaller bulls, and folks telling me what they are going to do, and how they can walk, but in the real world after a hard 8 to 10 mile walk on day 1 they shoot the next decent buff they see..After all many of them spend most of their days in an office trying to earn enough money to go on such a hunt and most are not in as good a phyical shape as they should be.. and thus the 38 inch bulls in the Selous...

I sure don't mind booking a client in the Selous, Mayowashi if he insists, but he would be a heck of a lot better off to go where the PH thinks its best and in fact that is who you should place your faith and trust in , not someone on this internet, and that encludes me......

Ray,
Not to be argumenative but Ridge had a booth at Dallas and SCI. He is booking hunts this year.

I talked with Ridge and Cash. They paid for a booth at Dallas, but were late in arriving and weren't allowed to set up. They were booking hunts at Reno. They have one or two of their old concessions back (prior to Lokasali and Lobo), it is further west and said to be very remote. Ridge's wife told me yesterday that this is where they have killed some of their biggest buffalo, but the vegatation is very thick and makes for intense hunting.

Ridge did have a booth at Dallas. I spoke with him there. A good friend of mine that hunted with our party in November booked a 10 day buff hunt with him in his new concession while in Dallas. He was personally guided by Ridge and enjoyed hunting with him. It is my understanding it is George Angliedes old concession.
Bwanamich,
I don't claim to be an expert, never have. Don't live in Tanzania and don't want to. Just report what I experience. No more, no less. And don't you have some ownership in Miombo Safaris?

Just for everyones information Adam does not have Ridge's old area locked up. There are 3 booking agents that are selling hunts in the areas.

Mike

I can vouch that Ray's info is correct on the Kilombero. You will see loads of buffalo. You will not see many good bulls however. I shot a big bossed 39" bull on day one and then held out for the next 6 days for a whooper. We looked at hundreds of buffalo evey day. We had a major problem with the grass being to high as they had late rains in 2002 making it very difficult to hunt. I saw many wide bulls with soft bosses and many good bosses with short spreads. But notthing really impressive. On the last afternoon on the way out of the kilombero I shot a decent 37" hard bossed old bull that I was happy with as the hunt was a great experience. And now I get to go to Zim and look for a real nice bull this summer. In anycase Miombo was the outfitter and they did a good job.

I'd love to post some pictures. How do you do it on this site??

Mbwasana,

How to Post Pics

Regards,

Terry

You can hunt a 7 day Buff in Kigosi area. Some good Trophies came out of the area last year.



If you need more info on a 7 day Buff special in Tanzania, including all goverment fees and air charter's, drop me a mail, I can forward a package to you.





Tanzania Map

Mike, I am wondering how you are so full of information? You really need to get the facts and the proper information before supplying your own information. If you want the facts, then why don't you call Christina yourself and hear the real truth about what is going on. The fact of the matter is that there are only two of us (agents) that actually have a written letter from Bundu authorizing us to book hunts in Lolkisale and Lobo. Besides the booking portion, I have the only letter of autorization from Bundu to actually conduct the hunts in these areas with my own PH's. So, whatever hunts are booked into these areas, my own personal PH's will be doing the hunts in any case. So, if this is not having it locked up, then I do not know what is? Anyone else claiming to be hunting in these areas for this year is either telling a story or they are hunting with my guys. If you want proof then ask them to fax you a letter from Bundu, because without a legal letter of consent from Bundu, it is false advertising. Maybe Christina has lied to me, but do not think so, and I do have the legal documentation.

As far as the above conversation about hunting in Masialnad for buffalo, it is not as easy hunting for buffalo as the Selous is as Ray has mentioned, but some very good hunting for those who want a challenge. It is not the place to go if one is looking to see herds of buffalo around every corner, but it is a great place to go for big buffalo. The record book will prove where the big buffalo have come from!

I heard a lot of trash talk all of a sudden about these areas now that Ridge is out of there??? But there was no bad talk and no problems when Ridge had the areas or wanted to get the areas back? So, I guess all of a sudden this year the areas are no good? But why did Ridge want to keep the areas so bad if they are no good? IMO it is all sour grapes, and people can say what they want, but the facts are still there that these areas are good, and some of you would be hunting there if Ridge had the areas! So, all I am saying to those who have stated things is don't be two faced and don't talk about things that you are not sure about. Going on one or two safaris to Tanzania does not make anyone an expert on the areas there. I am not even an expert and I was born and raised there and have hunted all of my life there, and think that I do know a little bit about the areas in Tanzania.

There has also been talk about a road going in through Lolkisale. That is also talk with no facts behind it. There will not be any road going through the Lolkisale block at all. They are putting in a road that will go through the Loirbor Serritt Masai camp that will go South, but that will not affect any of the hunting at all. There is a huge main road that goes right through Mto Wa Mbu and that is probably the best block in Northern Tanzania for the plains game species. The road through there did not affect any of the hunting at all! There is a main road through the serengeti, has not affected the game there!! So, as I said, people are trying to bad talk these areas for some reason, they need to get over the fact. Of course the areas are not as good as they were in the 90's, but not many of the areas are as they were in the 90's in Northern Tanzania. I shot my first 51" buffalo in Maswa when I was 14 years old, and do not think that any of the outfitters there now these days like TGT, Robin Hurt would ever get a buffalo that size out of the Maswa areas these days. Does that mean the areas are no good for hunting? There is a main road through Maswa as well, but it has never affected the hunting there either. Lolkisale does still produce buffalo between 45-50" which does still make it a great place to go hunting no matter what all the critics say on this site.

bwanamrm,

Of course your right, I just realized that I confussed the Dallas show with the FNAWS show.

I think the bottom line is big bulls are like gold, they are where you find them...I shot the best buffalo of my life last year in the Selous and Saeed (AR) shot a couple of really nice 42 to 44 inch bulls on the same hunt, I saw a really huge bull on Adam and Panos block year before last, AJ said he was 48 inches and I am sure he was, but he gave us the slip when it got dark, that concession is across the Kilumbero river from Pierre and I...We also hunt the Kigosi and Masai, depending on the length of the hunt...I am concerned about the Kigosi as the army is coming up the river and poaching in there, so may not hunt it this year..Right or wrong that decision will be made by Pierre..

Sorry about the misinformation about Ridge not being at SCI as he is usually across from us and when I talked to him I got the impression he didn't have a booth, guess he got one later as stated above, not that it makes much difference, the main point being the loss of one of his concession, which he did lose...but apparantly he is back in business..