Or Legendary Adventures. Trying to decide between them and an outfitter I know in Zambia for a 21 trip. Lion & buff being primary.

Experience welcome.

I hunted with TGT last year. I first hunted in Monduli for the various things in Masai land before moving for about 2 weeks to Moyowosi.
If you really want big buff, try to get a hunt in Maswa. The place is truly legendary when it comes to huge buff. The owners of TGT reserve Maswa for one full month each year just for themselves. They don't reserve September or October, however, which could arguably be the best time to hunt there. Hunts in that area for those months book well in advance, as do most areas controlled by TGT and Wengert Windrose. As you may know, they have to hold their safari areas under both names due to the fact that the Tanzanian regulations limit the number of concessions a company can have. To get past that, they have two companies under one roof.
TGT is a great safari company that doesn't cut any corners. If you need any specific insight into how they operate or anything else, please let me know.

Vic,

Thanks for the reply.

What is the odds of actually taking a lion in your opinion with TGT?

I am ok going home without a lion. I want to hunt the best area I can for a true trophy lion.

On the other hand I don't want to book where odds are less that 25% of taking a lion. That's not fair chase for the hunter. What's you opinion.

Finding a lion that's 6 or older is not easy. Way too many of the lions killed in recent years were much younger than the current Tanzanian standards, which now are the same as the ones TGT has had for several years. There was a time when success rates were very high at some safari companies, but they were shooting lions that now are being protected.
Quite honestly, I would rate your chances at less than 50%, though that could improve as the higher standards across the country allow more young males to reach full maturity. You're looking at 2009 or later for your hunt, so the situation should much improved by then.

I hunted with TGT last year. We spent 14 days in Moyowosi, and 14 days in the Natron area of Masailand. I have got to go back.

Joe Coogan was the PH and did a fantastic job under some very heavy duty pressure. TGT's staff and equipment was first rate and I had the time of my life. If I could go anywhere in Africa tomorrow I would head straight for the higher mountians of Masailand and just hunt buffalo while looking down onto the shores of lake Natron. Wonderful company and unreal country!

I know PH Ernst Scholz of TGT quite well. Have hunted with him three times and he's 1st rate in all regards. TGT has a very impressive operation.

quote:

Originally posted by Lightning:
Vic,

Thanks for the reply.

What is the odds of actually taking a lion in your opinion with TGT?

I am ok going home without a lion. I want to hunt the best area I can for a true trophy lion.

On the other hand I don't want to book where odds are less that 25% of taking a lion. That's not fair chase for the hunter. What's you opinion.

I don't know if you will get a lion, but if you hunt with TGT and get a lion it will definently be a trophy, because TGT will not let you shoot anything less! Top notch outfit!

The way that TGT operates is really unique. Even with it being one of your more expensive options when looking for a safari, stuffing the financial bottom line does not appear to be a primary objective. Last year, for example, I was discussing how they run their business with my PH, Robin Voigt. Robin has been a PH for about 20 years and had previously owned his own company. Robin knew the cost of the operating a camp in the fashion that TGT did in these remote concessions and well knew the numbers wouldn't be particularly profitable. An example of that was when they would send out a group from the camp staff in other vehicles to set up and establish a new camp at some spot a couple of hours drive away. He indicated that most safari companies charge extra when an additional vehicle is used in this fashion.
Of course the year-round manager and anti-poaching efforts of TGT in their concessions, financial support to schools near the hunting areas and such cost them a lot, not to mention the remarkable new facilities, restaurant, and athletic field they were building in Arusha last year that are likely in use at this time.
From what I can tell, the Friedkin family uses TGT to some extent in their business as a perk for some of their better customers. They get some significant tax-writeoffs as a result and appear to be, from what I was told, just trying to run the business at a break-even point after the tax breaks. This lets them lose money on a cash flow basis, but break even otherwise. They also run many of their expenses through the Friedkin Conservation Fund, which also helps them offset expenses that might otherwise put them in the red. In the meantime, the family gets to spend a month of each year together in Tanzania.
The quality and professionalism of their PH's likely makes them the standard in the industry. I'm sure these guys contribute to the reason that much of their clientele has a name or resume' that rings very familiar with many people.
TGT is a good outfit. No one in this business is perfect, but some seem to try harder than others to get there.

I've hunted with TGT twice. Once in Sedai and once in Kisigo. The company is probably the finest and most financially underwritten hunting company in Africa if not the world. They aquired Wingert & Winrose Safaris just for the Masialand areas(Natron, Monduli, and Sedai).They have now in my opinion the best concessions in Tanzania if not all of Africa. They have Ugalla, all of the Moyowasi, Kisigo, Maswa, Natron, Monduli and Sedai. This gives them and the client a great selection of what species to hunt and where to hunt. I'm booked to go to Maswa for two weeks in Sept. '08, follwed by two weeks in Ugalla. They also have their own airlines, Northern Air, and their own client accomodations in Arusha if security is an issue. Talk to George Hartley(managing professional hunter) at one of the conventions and you'll be sold. That said, it is tough to get a lion with TGT. Their policy of 6 years old or better is being translated in the field by their PHs as a monster lion or nothing. If that is OK with you then you know it going in, but you will probably have to pass on lions that would be shot anywhere else in Africa. Mufasa

mufasa,
You're hunting at Maswa and Ugalla? That is the perfect combo according to two TGT PH's I chatted with last year. Both my PH, Robin Voigt, and another that joined us for dinner one night, Tony Moore, were talking about their favorite areas. They both left little doubt that the two you have booked for '08 were their top picks.
I'm jealous!