Christmas time gets one thinking about wishes, and has me wondering where to go and what after next. I know it's still 3 or more years away until I can afford to go again; especially because the next one will be more expensive than the last.

My biggest goal is to complete the spiral nine over the course of my lifetime. Remaining are bongo, lesser kudu, sitatunga, LD eland, and mountain nyala. Other game on my lifetime wishlist are sable, leopard, elephant, and one can never hunt kudu and buffalo enough. Who knows, I might end up wanting to complete a big 5 too.

At this point in my career getting away from my practice for more than about 16-18 days is difficult, so the 21 day hunts will have to wait.

So some of the possibilities I'm thinking of for my next safari:

Zambia for sitatunga and buffalo
Tanz for sable and sitatunga and lesser kudu and buffalo
CAR or Cameroon for either LD Eland or bongo and forest sitatunga

Decisions, decisions. I just turned "39 for the second time", and I'm in good health and I don't plan on becoming unhealthy in the future (but then no one does), but one thing I am trying to keep in consideration is that the bongo and LDE hunts may be more physically taxing than the others, so maybe they should be moved up on the timelines? I'm figuring about 3-5 years between hunts to save up for them.

Any thoughts/suggestions? Other things to consider that I haven't mentioned?

With your wish list and perspective, I'd have to go for bongo, Lord Derby Eland and I throw in forest elephant as long as I was there. You might not get to keep the ivory, but you'd have a great experience and could make replicas.

cable68,

I think something to take into consideration is the years of waiting to hunt Mountain Nyala. At the S.C.I. Convention last January, the first opening ERVS had was October 2011.

The hunter who was booked for October 2009 swapped hunt dates with my husband because his wife became ill.

Lesser kudu can be taken on a 3 day extension.

Just something to think about at least getting on the list for a future date, it will be years away.

in tondwa zambia with the duploys you could take sitatunga, sable, roan, and do it for a fairly reasonable (whatever that is) price for premier game

quote:

Originally posted by butchloc:
in tondwa zambia with the duploys you could take sitatunga, sable, roan, and do it for a fairly reasonable (whatever that is) price for premier game

With the time available, you might be able to get a sitatunga and sable in Tondwa and then slip down to the Luangwa for a buff. Not in 2009 though as I hear the DuPlooy's have already sold their buff quota. They have a buff on qouta in Tondwa, but that is mostly in case they have a problem animal. But maybe with a bit of fancy talking....

Cheers,
Dean

Sable and leopard is what I would recommend. Mark Young could get you set up on that one pretty easily. What a combination for a great hunt!

Actually ERVS is booked out on Mt. Nyala into 2013. Being that far out several things can happen. Cancellations, postponements, quota cuts(throwing everything out of kelter and postponeing everyone in following quota periods)and even areas closing. If anyone wants to hunt Mt. Nyala, in my opinion, the most important thing to do is to get down on someones schedule for a safari. That way when these things happen you have a chance to move up and if they don't then you still have a date reserved. I don't know how other outfits handle it but we put all of our deposits in a trust account so they never leave the USA until about 60 days before the scheduled safari. Then everything (including the license fees) is due. Oh, BTW, I voted for Mt. Nyala in the "most majestic antelope poll" but then I'm prejudiced.
Rich Elliott

Thanks for the suggestions.

I've only seen 21 day hunts for Mt. Nyala advertised before, so that's way out in the future for me.

More likely is Zambia, Cam, CAR, or maybe one of those 16-18 day Tanz hunts on a 21 day liscence.

have you considered Burkina Faso? I have seen some very tempting hunts there, one was about 13k for savanah buff and about 5 or 6 plains game, all fees covered.

Talk to Mark Young about Zambia and the DuPlooys....you won't be disappointed and they can get you your wish list!

Gary
DRSS
NRA Lifer
SCI
DSC

Mountain nyala is a 15 day hunt with ERVS.