I hunted in TZ last year at the beginning of the season (July) and much of the grass was still green and burning was just beginning to be successful. This was a good situation for some species, such as the cats, but much more difficult for others. Tracking was tough and spotting many species was a challenge.
By September, the rains should have been over for about 3 months, but October is generally thought to be the driest time of the year. What is it like to hunt the Selous in early September? Hot? Dry? Has everything been burned by then? Good visibility for buffalo, elephant, and other things? Easy to follow tracks?
I've hunted Zim in late September but how are the first 3 weeks of this month in the Selous?

I think it varies from year to year.

This year, in the areas we hunted, which are in the northern part of the Selous. Everything was still green. Some areas have been burnt, but, the fire did not seem to have managed to burn very much as the grass is still green.

Tracking single animals was out of the question. We could only track herds of buffalo for instance. Even then we had to backtrack quite a bit.

We came back yesterday, and the weather was threatning to rain almost every day. We had two showers only though.

But, the grass is still very green.

Still threatening to rain? I wouldn't have thought that. Since you've hunted the Selous a lot through the years, would you say the weather this year was out of the ordinary?
On another note, Saeed, I'm looking forward to seeing some of your pictures. How many did you take this year?

Very strange year in the Selous this year.

September is usually vey good hunting. Enough of the grass is burned to make the hunting very good. The weather is hot and humid, but I would rate September the best month to hunt, all factors considered.

quote:

Originally posted by Spring:
Still threatening to rain? I wouldn't have thought that. Since you've hunted the Selous a lot through the years, would you say the weather this year was out of the ordinary?
On another note, Saeed, I'm looking forward to seeing some of your pictures. How many did you take this year?

About 10 millions by the looks of things!

Everyone had a digital camera, and nothing went by without someone taking a photo of it!

Walter had 3 still cameras and one video, and he managed to take about a dozen photos altogether and 20 minutes of video!

I am going through them right now, and I hope I will be able to post the first report in a day or two.