When I speak with Hunters the already hunted Selous Game Reserve the telling me nearly all the same >> Its something Special <<
Why ?! I asking you the AR Members is this so....

r.
seloushunter

Good question. Having never been myself, I have wondered the same thing.

One reason is, it is wild as hell, in most parts of the concessions. There no roads, other than dirt tracks for hundreds of miles, requireing air charter to get to camp in most cases, and in some parts there is no better hunting anyplace. The bush is thick in much of the area, and a lot of hunting on foot is necessary. Sort of like OLD AFRICA! Tanzania is an exotic place anyway, and the Selous is an exotic place within an exotic place! Just my take!

I'll be in the Selous yet this season, and I can't wait!

AD

Ummm .... What Mac said!

Can't really add much to the phrase "...exotic place within an exotic place ... "

Ironically, not the best place to go (on average) for good trophy quality Buffalo or good quality Lion, yet it still commands prices similar.

I loved it there, a very magical place ...

I was in the Selous last year and am leaving for it again in 3 weeks.

What caused me to want to return is the feeling of hunting in an unknown area. Not only does the hunter not know what he will see, but the trackers and PH are often surprised.

You may be after Buffalo and have to detour because of elephants or you may see lions, sable etc.

Every day is unpredictable in the Selous.

The Selous because of the Tetsi Fly is uninhabited by people, that is part of its appeal..

It has a huge, by comparison to anywhere else, Buffalo population and everyone kills a good bull...It has some real quality big bulls and I have always seen or killed big bulls in the Selous, in fact the best I have killed was in the Selous..So they are there, if you hunt them, most folks that hunt the Selous take an average bull as the time run out scares them so they take a 38" bull, thus the incorrect assumption that the Selous does not have big buffalo..It does and I have seen many of them, but didn't always get them, they don't get big being stupid. Admittedly some concession get hammered too hard and the quality goes South, but that can happen anywere..The gene pool is in the Selous and only hunting pressure can hurt a concession....I have also seen some really nice Lions in the Selous and lots of mediocore Lions, but thats Lions everywhere, they are like gold, where you find them, but I have to admit Lions do like Masai cattle and Mayowasi buffalo.

Does it have more appeal than the Mayowasi, Masai, or NW, I don't think so..but the Masai Steepe is heavly populated by comparison and to some that is not appealing..

To me the whole of Tanzania is appealing, its Africa from one end to the other..

I don't have the vast African hunting experience Ray has, nor the historical knowledge of who, how or why the Selous is what it is. I have hunted in RSA, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and in the Selous. I'm going back to the Selous in September.

Be that as it may, when you step off the charter plane on a dirt strip in the Selous, a feeling comes over you. You know, even if it's your first trip, that you are in a special place. It's a feeling that I can't explain but it's there. Regardless of where you've been before, you just know you're in the REAL Africa and this is the way African hunting was supposed to be. In a lot of ways, it's the same way is has been for many, many years. On your first ride into the hunting fields of the Selous the anticipation of what could be around the next bend in the trail is just like that of Christmas long ago, when you were a kid. You just don't know what you'll find behind the next patch of brush or river crossing.

That's what makes it special in my mind and why the name Selous conjours up visions of the grandest of the grand when it comes to African hunting.

Just 57 more days!

Bull1

What makes the Selous so special?

First, the Selous is huge--the size of Switzerland. It is ploughed with hills and ridges and cut and threaded with river beds, most of them dry or shallow during the hunting season. Its high plateaus and deep valleys are covered with dry miombo forests and thickets of thorn bush.

Second, it is absolutely wild and untamed. It is the ageless, remote and savage Africa of your dreams. No people are permitted to settle in the Selous and no cattle or other livestock are allowed to graze there, even if the tsetse flies would let them.

Third, the Selous is teeming with tens of thousands of plains game animals, in a variety of species found nowhere else. Herds of zebra, warthog, hartebeest, wildebeest, impala and waterbuck, along with sable, greater kudu, reedbuck and the lesser antelopes are found there, along with many, many others.

Fourth, the Selous is home to the Big Four of dangerous game. Dozens of elephants, sometimes over a hundred, and hundreds of cape buffalo can be seen in a single day. Then there are the big cats. It is not uncommon to see lions and even leopards in the daytime. And after night falls the lions will cough, roar and grunt, and the leopards will hiss their dry, rasping screams, for one and all to hear, often so close they seem to be in your lap.

Fifth, I can hunt in the Selous, for all of these animals, as men have been doing for hundreds of thousands of years. I can't wait to get back.

It has the feeling of a genuine wild and untamed area. You may use the truck to get to an area, but then it is all foot power, just the way the old timers did it. I like to think that it has been left intact just the way Selous and Ionides saw it, minus the big tuskers and black rhino, which were poached. The sound of lion, almost every night and the sighting of wild dogs 4-5 times certainly gave one the feel of an ancient wilderness.

Besides all the history, you get to do some serious hunting in this setting. Should be able to connect with 5 of the big seven on a 21 day hunt.

DAK

This time on Monday, I'll be over the Atlantic, enroute.... and my signature will be a fact, and not a fantasy!

Hey Judge,

I was waiting for you to chime in. I'm a little disapointed that your post was not descriptive than it was. I know you have special feelings about the Selous and I hope the SAA strike isn't going to affect you plans for the 25th.

Bull1

Bull 1:

The muses must be hiding in my Tuffpac... you might have to wait until I get back. I tried, but failed to do the topic justice.. All the blood in my brain is pointed toward the southeast, I reckon???

Judge,

A few deep breaths of smoldering mopane wood and a cold Castle will remove those cobwebs. May the gods of the hunt be with you.

Bull1

Bull 1:

I didn't answer the question about airlines... I'm on NWA/KLM all the way. Thank you, Kathi!

I'll have supper with 1115 at his house on Sunday evening (only 30 minutes to JAX) and spend the night in my trailer at my hunting lease right near him. He will take me to the airport and make sure no NWA minion gives me any foolishnish... then, less than 60 hours, I'm away.

When Jesus said that "In My house there are many mansions." He left out the part that they (the mansions) were tents with bomas around them in the Selous.

There just ain't anything much like getting awakened by the cough of the King of Beasts or the explosive blow of a hippo. Or the gentle "Bwana... your coffee"... or Jumbo shrieking a warning...

It's a place where a Westley Richards or a Jeffery isn't 100 years old.. they're just where they were supposed to be. It's a time warp, a place where you are treated as royal.. It is St. Andrews and Wimbleton... the Wailing Wall and Mecca...

On Thursday morning, I will wake up and be just as happy as Tiger Woods on the 18th tee at Augusta on Sunday with a two shot lead...

and... I'm not waiting long to be no longer just counting time...

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:

It's a place where a Westley Richards or a Jeffery isn't 100 years old.. they're just where they were supposed to be. It's a time warp, a place where you are treated as royal.. It is St. Andrews and Wimbleton... the Wailing Wall and Mecca...

I understand now, thanks for the vivid description.

Judge G,

I knew words would not fail you. I think your description says it all. Glad to hear your plans will not be affected by the SAA dispute.

We eagerly await trip reports upon your return.

Wishing you safe travel and excellent hunting.

Bull1

bull 1,

Good job jump starting the Judge's muse. Now we know there'll be tales to read when he comes back.

Oh boy, you guys are not making my day, this is the first year in many that I chose to stay home, now I am having doldrums, chillblains and gilflurtations about my decisions, Pierre called and begged me to come on over, but I steadfastly refused as I have roping to do, rodeos to make and grandchildren to keep happy, which I do enjoy with all my heart...

Oh well, pos se es la vida, thats the way the grapefruit squirts, best go feed my horse this morning, he is snorting and all ticked off because I'm late....

Next year will be a different story, my double, my bolt gun and I will once again haunt the shady places in the panicum coloratum (tall grass) where I like to hunt the black bovines of the Selous, to wake up to the splash of a Hippo hitting the water, or falling asleep to the sound of a million frogs croaking, or the soft padding of feline feet trotting through camp, the nightly buzz saw of a Leopard in the night, or the cough of Simba walking the Rivers edge, or the scream of a animal of prey as it sucks its last breath with a hair raising scream, those things I am missing...

Ray:

Eat your heart out, 'cause in 48 hours and 37 minutes, I'll be airborne.

I awoke at 3:00 a.m. and just lay there thinking of a black sable on a hill, skylighted by the rising sun... nervous about his ladies out-of-sight and over the ridge, but waiting to see what we were up to before commiting his harem.

I'll try to shoot an emasculated buffalo to remember you by.

I'm having breakfast with Keven on the cliff Wednesday morning. Nothing like fresh pineapple and an Indian Ocean breeze.

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:
Nothing like fresh pineapple and an Indian Ocean breeze.

Damn...I gotta book me a trip for next year!

I am looking for 06. Can,t wait. Judge, you make me want to leave now. Have a great trip.
Gene

Good luck with NWA Judge. Their mechanics are pulling their usual bullshit when they are not happy. I got delayed 4 times in a week two weeks ago.

When people aren't happy with their employer they should just quit instead of taking it out on the customer.

quote:

Originally posted by JudgeG:

It's a place where a Westley Richards or a Jeffery isn't 100 years old..

Jeez JudgeG, you should write. That reminds me of an O'Connor line I quote in an upcoming Sporting Classics story:

We drove past mud brick villages that were old when Christ was born...

The Selous is huge but....I've heard that the hunting blocks are small and too many hunters per block. This was from a PH who was licensed in both Zim and TZ. Anybody know anything about this? Armbar

For me it is the last of the wild places in africa were game is plentiful and you can run into just about anything along any track. Buffalo in the high grass in stimulating and lions and elephant seem to be common place.And yes even the tetse flies are part of the Selous.

This thread is killing me, and the post by Judge G, Mrlexma and Ray have me holding a .375 round in my hand and wondering how long it will be before I actually go on a hunting trip to Africa. I am leaving Sunday for Cote d'Ivoire for the second time this year and this makes my seventh trip to Africa without a hunt yet! I can tell you that within two years I fully plan on making my first hunt over there.

Good luck Judge G. May the game be plentiful and the rifle accurate.

posted by AnotherAZWriter,
" when people aren't happy with there employer they should just quit instead of taking it out on the customer".

That sounds like it is coming from someone who is an employer and not an employee or maybe never been an employee.
I dont believe that the employees take it out on the customes on purpose when they go on strike or whatever the case may be. It just happens to work out that way. I dont know what the problem is with the employees are but from my experience a lot of employers are greedy SOB's that want to keep all the profits to themselves and a lot of them treat employees like shit. Employers need not to forget that without employees they wouldn't have a company.

Most of you who go on safaris etc. spend more on those luxury's in a year than most of those employees make for a year's salary

quote:

Originally posted by armbar:
The Selous is huge but....I've heard that the hunting blocks are small and too many hunters per block.

The hunting blocks in the Selous are between 200,000 acres and 300,000 acres in size (approximately). It's not so much the size, but the game density in each individual hunting block that can be an issue. As in most places, quality can vary. Another important issue is how the operator manages his block(s). Some operators who have the hunting rights actually conduct their own hunts on these blocks and therefore have a vested interest in the proper utilization of the quota and have a long term plan. Other operators who have the hunting rights don't conduct hunts directly, but sell quota to an assortment of safari companies and professional hunters (many of them from other African countries). Some of these operators don't have a long term plan and are only interested in making as much money as possible. Hence, their desire to put in as many hunters in the concession as possible. I was briefly in block in the Selous that had 5 hunting parties in it at one time.

Unless one is hunting with one of the reputable resident safari companies in the Selous, there is a chance of ending up on a concession where numerous safari companies and PHs are competing for the same resources. I believe it is still possible to get an agreement regarding camp and hunting block exclusivity, if one books with the right safari company.

quote:

This was from a PH who was licensed in both Zim and TZ. Anybody know anything about this? Armbar

The important element of your statement above is the fact that the PH was licensed in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe has the most rigorous qualifications of any country in Africa and turns out some of the best Professional Hunters in the business. Tanzania, by contrast, allows one to buy a PH license. There are some excellent Tanzanian PHs, but there are some (including some Americans) who have simply bought their license and are not qualified to be a PH, in my opinion.

Regards,

Terry

Terry,
I could not have said it better.

Tanzania P.H also have to make an examination (not only buying) of course it is not the same standard as in Zimbabwe but it geting every Year harder to pass it.

r.
Seloushunter