My wife is going along this time with me to Lukwati Tanzania for lion, maybe Elan, maybe Roan. We fly through Doha and will spend a night at the Oryx then on to Es Darsallam, charter to the bush.

Good luck Jim! I hunted Wuku (Lukwati), Piti and Chunya when Danny McCallum had it with Gerard Miller and Mike Fell, It's a wonderful and very wild area. The Oryx is located right by the big bear and the Loui Vuitton store.

Safe travels and good luck! Should be epic.

Good luck, Jim.

I brought my first lion home from Tanzania.

Nothing but elephant even comes close.

Safe travels and I hope you both have a very good hunt.

Good luck! Have a great hunt and shoot straight.

Best of luck! No doubt it's going to be an epic adventure.

Jim,

Who are you hunting with? I've hunted Lukwati South four times. It's a great place regardless of which side of the line you are on. Lots of cats there. Bahati Mzuri and safe travels.

bwanajay,

Love Gerard Miller Spring. Great place for finding elephant. Hung a lion bait there once, but no hits. Still looked really good to me.

quote:

bwanajay,

Love Gerard Miller Spring. Great place for finding elephant. Hung a lion bait there once, but no hits. Still looked really good to me.

Thats a very cool place Lavaca. Have you ever been to the Lukwati rain forest?

I assume you mean the place up on top. Yeah, I love that place too. There's a little stream up there that's amazing. I've always wanted to just walk it and see what we could find.

I've only spent around 60 days there and it's so large and varied concession I haven't been able to do all I want to there. Definitely want to go back.
That little creek I described is a babbling creek and pretty noisy, but it runs through what I think you are calling the "rainforest" which is thick as hell. So I've thought about bringing hip boots and wading right up or down the stream, depending on wind direction. It's the only opening through the dense bush and the creek will cover the noise.

Shots would be point blank and you'd have to carry your heavy rifle, because you never know. Probably solids.

Lots of tsetse flies. . You might want to take something for them.

Good luck!

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
Lots of tsetse flies. . You might want to take something for them.

Good luck!

50% 100% DEET and 50% 50 SPF sun cream.

Works better tried anything we have tried.

quote:

I assume you mean the place up on top. Yeah, I love that place too. There's a little stream up there that's amazing. I've always wanted to just walk it and see what we could find.

Yes sir that's what I was referring to.

Gerard and I walked up that stream to the top and at the top the sunlight was blocked out and it was very damp with a lot of moss and ferns growing from the trees and on the ground. We bumped into a buff herd up there too and they were very calm.

BwanaJay,

That is a truly magical place and yes, lots of ferns.

As far as tsetses, yes, they are pretty intense in some places. I've tried a number of things, but last year, I took repellant, but just didn't use it and frankly, that seems like the best solution to me. Nothing works all that well and you get used to them. We did burn elephant dung and that works as good as anything.

Agree with Mr. Robinson. Took a great lion in the Kilombero and two ele in Zim. Nothing compares!

Jim,

Assume you are back by now. How did it go?

32 total baits over 21 days in the bush , many lioness, young males, no mature males.on day 20 took a nice big leopard as a consolation. 4 nice dugaboys, 3 zebras, 2 hartebeest, a 43”sable, 12” reed buck, bush buck and big tusk wart hog. I would post photos, but too complex on this site

huntnjim,

Been there twice. Regardless of how good the area is you need a little luck with lions.

Next time!

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by huntnjim:
32 total baits over 21 days in the bush , many lioness, young males, no mature males.on day 20 took a nice big leopard as a consolation. 4 nice dugaboys, 3 zebras, 2 hartebeest, a 43”sable, 12” reed buck, bush buck and big tusk wart hog. I would post photos, but too complex on this site

Sorry about the lion ..did you see any (many) elephants? How about big herds of buffalo?

Lukwati had a great Elephat population 25 years ago. Poaching came in and almost eliminated them. Today it is coming back. We seen elephant daily, no mature bulls.

Lot’s of buff, herds, and many single dugaboys. I shot four old guys and 2 of the 4 are impressive!

who was your PH?

Michel Mantheakis

I suspected as much when you said how many baits you had out. I've hunted with Michel numerous times and he is the "cat man". He thinks like a cat. Shot a nice lion with him last year in Lukwati and hunting lion with him again in Ugalla next year.

I've shot a couple of leopards with Michel as well. I botched one last year and he stopped a charge at 6 yards. Amazing watching the follow up. Like I say, he thinks like a cat.

Poaching was a problem, but the elephant are coming back. Haven't seen anything older than teenage bulls. I took what I think was the last legal elephant to come out of Ludwati in October of 2013.

Cats are tough.

Fickle.

Even in this day and age, with the use of game cameras, their behavior is impossible to predict with any certainty.

For all of these reasons, they are notoriously hard, and sometimes not even fun, to hunt.

But we still do it.

Better luck next time, Jim.

Congrats on the dugga boys!

Jim,

Mike is absolutely right. You were hunting with the best, but if you were always successful, it wouldn't be as fascinating as it is. I love hunting cats and as frustrating as it is, I'll keep doing it. I was not successful on my first two lion hunts. I won't say I failed, because I had lions in the crosshairs both times, just not the right lion. And no unsuccessful hunt is a failure if you learned something. I'm sure hunting with Michel, you learned quite a bit.
Better luck next time.

Animals do not follow any rules.

Last year, lions were around.

No zebra or eland.

This year, hardly any lion.

Eland and zebra were seen every day!

Same area.

Same time of year.

Hunting is based on luck.

Please Jim, post a full report! I agree that posting photos is difficult. I just email them to tolerant friends who post them for me.