First Report - August 4, 2004



I have just gotten off the phone with Saeed. It is about 10:30 PM local time, and they have just finished dinner after their first day of hunting. Here are the hi-lights:

• Everyone arrived safely in Dar Es Salaam yesterday. Nothing eventful to report, other than the security prior to boarding their charter flight. Everyone was scanned from top to bottom, and pockets were checked, etc, and then sent with their rifles and ammo to board their plane!
• The first day of hunting went very well. The grass is tall, thick and green, but they have tried to start some burning. They hunted buffalo mainly, walking approx 10 to 15 kms and getting very close to some buff (10 yards!), but unable to see them due to the grass. Todd managed to shoot one buffalo today.
  
  
• Saeed managed to test out the new Walterhog design on two Wildebeeste. He shot one in the backside and the bullet penetrated through the animal, coming out the neck, then re-entering the head under the chin, finally exiting through the top of the nose. It looks as though the larger cavity has not slowed penetration much, if at all!
• Their camp is very beautiful, situated right on the river. They were listening to lions and hyenas all night, and during dinner tonite. Walter is playing around with an elephant that has been visiting his toilet, and has borrowed Saeed's rifle in case it comes back during the night!
• They also encountered a black mamba today. The crew chased it to try and get it to stand up (presumably for a photo-op?). There was some dissapointment expressed re: the PH (Pierre) as apparently he would not grab it by the tail to slow it down!

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That's it for the first day. Saeed said he will try to call daily with updates, but failing that we will connect every other day. Check here daily about this time, as I will try to post the details up as soon as I get them.



As a side note, I couldn't believe the quality of the reception. It sounded like Saeed was in the same room as me. At one point he was walking to Alan Vincent's tent to pass on a message, and I could hear his footsteps on the African soil. Maybe I have lived a somewhat sheltered life, but I have to admit I thought that was pretty cool!



Cheers friends,

Canuck

Canuck,
Thanks for the update, I look foward to the daily details. Thanks again, Bryan

Bravo, Canuck, keep the reports coming. The Red Road stretches from Tanzania to British Columbia and back down to South Dakota, where I am touring the Black Hills again. Wish I were in Africa too.
Cheers!

Canuck: Good report! You get to hear the foot steps on the ground and we get to read your description hot off the press...good work Canuck!

Report #2 � August 6/04

I was talking to Saeed at 9:00 PM, Tanzania time, and everyone was just heading to bed. The sky was clear, stars were twinkling and they were listening to hippos and frogs in the river. (Side Note: Its really hard to concentrate on work when you are daydreaming about hunting in Africa!!!)

Here are the hilights from days 2 and 3 of their hunt:

• Everyone is having a great time. Walter has already managed to alienate everyone in camp, and so everyone is trying to avoid hunting with him, and want to leave him in camp. Walter�s elephant has not come back, but Walter is still upset because no one will lend him their rifle!
• Walter had a good time doing his thing in front of the camera today. We�ll have to wait to see the video, but apparently Walter was in fine form while one of the trucks was stuck in a river bed! (I�m sure that the Walterhog Fan Club eagerly awaits this year�s installment!)
• The weather has been very good and it has been getting a little cooler every day. The mosquitoes and tsetse flies have been practically non-existent.
• The bag for the group for yesterday and today included: 2 buffalo (Todd�s second and Dwight�s first), 2 impalas, 1 warthog, 1 hippo and 1 waterbuck.
• Saeed has been concentrating on shooting some baits and putting them up for lion and leopard. They have seen some lions already, but just lionesses so far.
• They have been seeing lots of game including plenty of elephants.
• They tried to do a �Mark Sullivan� with the hippo. It was in a channel with shallow water, and they got very close to it and chucked rocks at it, but it refused to come out. Since they wanted it for bait, they eventually had to shoot it where it was.
• Saeed said they haven�t seen any crocs during the day, but they shone a light on the river after dark (from camp) and it seemed like hundreds of pairs of eyes were looking back!
• Everyone is very happy with the Thuraya sat-phone. They have both a Thuraya and an Iridium phone in camp and no one wants to use the Iridium anymore. Saeed says the Thuraya is at least 10 times better in terms of clarity and time lag.

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Saeed said he would call again on Monday, August 9, to update us on Day's 4 thru 6.

Cheers,
Canuck

Thank you for posting
I will tune in on monday same Hatari chanal

Cheers,

Andr�

Canuck: Again, good work.

Thanks Canuck (and Saeed). This is as close to Africa as I'm going to get in the near future, so any secondhand thrill I can get is exciting for me to read! maxman

So forgetting the ignorant bias and mean mouthing, how is the hunt going? I just started reading it and like the report.

OK let's get back to hunting, this has eaten up way too much of our energy and has given this misguided individual way too much attention.

Canuck, it's got to be close to another report. Please I'm going nuts here waiting...

Ya hay Canuck you are in B C what's goin on there?
That's hunting and fishing paradise.

Only six more days and I'll be fishing in that BC paradise. Only four weeks and I'll be in northern Quebec looking for Donner and Blitzen. Dasher and Dancer I got last year.

Prof242



If you�re going near 100 Mile House BC, PM me I have some friends there, with good local knowledge. The only thing with BC is it's really called "Bring Cash".



Two Lakes in Cariboo Country B. C.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you can imagine, I am very proud of my younger brother winning the Olympic Gold Medal, and setting a New World Record.

I remember the days when I used to hold a 410 shotgun to my shoulder, and he used to pull the trigger while shooting doves.

We are in the Sea Cliff Hotel - sharing a room with Ray and Horst, as the hotel ran out of room, and I am NOT about to share one with Walter after having spent 3 weeks with him in one hunting camp.

Ray is pretty upset with me - he has been reading this thread, and has christened me a "bloody WOG" for shooting 2 of his buffalo!

Ray shot 3 buffalo, one warthog, and one impala.
Dwight shot 2 buffalo, 1 impala, 1 warthog.
Todd shot 2 buffalo, 1 warthog, 1 impala and 1 kongoni.
Nelson shot 1 warthog and 1 impala.
Walter managed to kill 1 impala and 1 warthog - after shooting half my ammo to adjust the scope. He said he "updated" my scope settings at one point, and I managed to miss a kudu and a blue wildebeest because of his "updating". I shot 8 buffalo, 1 crocodile, 4 wildebeest, 1 warthog, 1 impala and 2 kongoni.

We saw an enormous number of game, including elephants, buffalo and lion. We have not seen any grown up male lion, despite the fact we see lions every day.

Leopards have eaten our bait, but all were either females or young males.

Our camp was on Luaja River (not sure about the spelling). We see dozens of crocs swimming by any time of day, and opposit us we see waterbuck, elephants, buffalo and hyenas every day.

We had the camp staff shoot yesterday. We called it the DWIGHT SCOTT SELLOU CLASSIC BENCH REST SHOOT. In honor of our friend Dwight Scott. Ray cheated, by coaching his Masai tracker - after shouting at everyone who was doing the same to whoever they wanted to win. His Masai had a great scope ring implant in his forehead for his trouble. After which he kept his head about 12 inches from the scope!

Needless to say, he ended up last.

Walter came very close to being left behind in the camp today, which did the trick, as he has become rather quiet since then.

We have an enormous amount of photos - everyone had a digital camera. I will have to get a selection posted in the next few days.

We had the pleasure of meeting Alan Johnson, who came on the plane that brought us back. He is hunting for 10 days with Pierre, but on another concesseion.

This was Nelson's first trip to Africa, and it just so happens that he was with us when we saw a herd of buffalo standing on a sandy river bed. They all took off into very long grass. We went after them. At some stage we could see grass moving not more than 5 yards from us - but could not see the buffalo! They absolutely refused to leave the long grass. Each time they reached one one end, they doubled back.

Nelson remarked that he had to keep his legs tightly together - as he was scared a buffalo might pass between them.

And by the amount of talking he has been doing, I think he has been well and truly been bitten by the African bug.

We leave to Dar airport in about an hour's time, and as I mentioned earlier, I will post a complete report in teh next few days.

Saeed,

Eight buffalo? Wow, there will be many jealous people here, including myself!

Sounds like a job well done by all! Looking forward to a complete report!

Have a safe journey home.

Sounds like a wonderful trip! Count me among the jealous ones... Eight buff - you surely must have been able to evaluate several bullets then. Looking forward to a complete rundown of all the details!! How did Ray do with the new 470? Thanks for sharing, maxman

Nice job, Saeed!

I hope you left some buffalo in the region - I hope to get there in the next couple of years!

Prof242

Where in BC are you going fishing? I am headed to BC in a few days to go fishing also?
Russ

Have a safe trip home.

Saeed, you seem to have done plenty of shooting! I am anxious to hear about all the buffalo. Safe trip home.

Mike

Saeed

Wonderful wonderful wonderful .... what more can I say. Thanks for the live updates relayed via sat phone to Canuck whom has been more than cooperative and kept the forum guest spellbound at time.

Now dont think you can rest when you get home as we are hoping you might have some input into assistance with Emirates your national carrier, we have been collectively { floating ideas } to considering if USA hunters in particular might look at flying Emirates ex: JFK to Dubai / Jo-burg on a special hunters package, I do believe if the costs were reasonable there might be a huge demand for that route option, and maybe even with a stop over built into the package !!! dont lose any sleep over it, just see what thoughts you have once you find your land legs again

Congratulation to all on the trip

Regards, Peter

Outstanding! 8 buffs We all await the details. Have a safe trip. Saeed congrats to your brother on a great Victory (rug)Ben

Saeed,

Are you going to mount all 8 buffs?

Congratulations to one and all! Sounds like a good time had by all. And, you get to have a celebration when you get home with family, what a topper! Just remember, we get to think about going, you get to think about going home.

Congrats Saeed!! Glad to hear everyone is safe.

On the BC trip, am meeting a friend in Kelowna, then continuing who knows where. Just needed a vacation.
Max

Congratulations to all! 15 buffalo altogether is an incredible bag..... That must have pretty much taken care of the annual quota for the entire block! How does one get 8 buff on license on one safari? You guys must have had baits hanging around in just about every tree in the concession
Looking forward to the photos.

We had a 21-day license, which allows 3 buffallos to be hunted, and 6 7-day licenses, with 2 buffalos each, hence the total of 15 buffalos.

Apparently, in Tanzania one can buy as many liceses as he wishes, as long as there is quota to cover it.

I thought you all might enjoy these photos.



Morning sunrise at our camp.





Crocs enjoy some meat we have thrown to them from the bank.



3 brainless hunters crossing the same river to take photos of the camp from the other side.

Roy and Alan Vincent, and yours truly.

The rest of the crew absolutely refused to come along with us.

I gave everyone a fright by screaming and pretending to drag my leg as if a croc was holding on to it.

After this little episode, everyone tended to sit further away from us at the dinner table.

Great pictures Saeed! I look forward to seeing and hearing more.

Erik D.

Saeed,

So when's the video coming out and how to I get my name on the top of the list?



-Steve

Saeed,



What fun! I'm glad everyone survived the safari.

I want to put my name on the list for the video as well, but I really have a morbid curiosity about the final bill.



Welcome back, I'm sure you're anxious to see your daughter and wife.



Forrest

How do i get on the list for viewing the video?

...I gave everyone a fright by screaming and pretending to drag my leg as if a croc was holding on to it ...

Hope somebody caught that on video from the camp!!!

Any reports on the Triple shocks on African game, Ray or others? I also would like on the list. Thanks "D"

Sounds like another great trip for Saeed & crew!

Put me on that video list...!

Regards,
Dave

Congratulations Saeed, both on a successful hunt and the truely amazing accomplishment of your brother. A gold metal no less! Congratulations again and we are all looking forward to your photos and stories.

Saeed
Congratulations on your great trip and also to your brother for the grand achievement on an olympic record and gold medal.
Please put me also on the list for the video.
Fernando

Saeed:

Welcome home, and glad to hear that a good and safe time was had by all.

The book is back from the designer, and is being proofed again to catch the errors that the layout software introduces. We should go to the printer at the end of September.

Please also add me to the Video list.

Dave

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To answer some of the questions raised.

We DID feed the crocs before we crossed, just to make sure they are all busy eating while we waded through the murky water.

The video will take a little time to finish. We have 12 DV tapes which I have to go through before assembling a final film.

Ray will post details of his bullets performance himself. The ones he recovered looked very good.

I will post photos of the few we have recovered of our own Walterhog bullets.

We made a few changes, like increasing the depth and diameter of the HP, and also increasing the velocity to about 2790.

In practice we did not notice much difference in their performance on game animals. They all whizzed through all the animals we shot, except those shot into buffalo from one end to the other.

We recovered one bullet from a blue wildebeast, which I shot quartering away at about 250 yards. He was above us slightly, so the bullet went into his stomach, and was found in his neck on the opposite side.

Another bullet we recovered was from the head of a hippo I shot. These animals must have solid bone.