I've dreamed about doing this trip for nearly 15 years and today I made a booking with Pierr'e van Tonder via Ray Atkinson for a 9 day Buffalo and plains game hunt in the Selous region of Tanzania during September. Both Ray and Pierr'e have been exemplary in their e-mail communication and all of the references I have received speak volumes for their ability.



It will be a 1x1 hunt with my wife as an observer. This will be my first African hunt and a real culture shock from cosy UK life, but for me that's part of the attraction. As long as my wife feels safe and as comfortable as conditions permit I'll be happy.



I plan to shoot 2 Buffalo, Zebra, Impala, Wildebeest and a Warthog if time permits. Not too sure about Hartebeest as I'm not very familiar with them.



I'll be taking a Heym .416 Rigby with Leupold 1.5-5x20 on swing off mounts. Any advice on open sights versus scope for the Buffalo would be much appreciated. For most of the other beasts I'll be using my Steyr-Mannlicher 7mm Rem Mag, probably with 175gr Nosler Partition homeloads. Again, any advice would be appreciated.



Well, the countdown starts now. Very excited at the moment and I intend taking Saeed's advice of going to Tanzania with an open mind. Can't wait

Spie,

Congratulations! You'll have a ball. Please take a Lichtenstein's hartebeest. I think they are a wonderfully weird animal and not available everywhere.

Good Hunting,

Mark

JudgeG and I will be hunting with Pierr'e in May and June. We leave May 26, hunt four days in RSA then on to Zimbabwe for Buff. Then JudgeG is going to try for an elephant. This will be my first Afican trip, but I had the pleasure of meeting Pierr'e and entertaining him at my home. He has done a wonderful job of putting my trip together, and both he and Ray have been responsive to all of my "first timers" questions and needs. I actually got to take Pierr'e hunting for wild boar while he was in the states. I guess not many hunters get to take their PH hunting before he does the same for them. Hope you ave a great trip. I will let you know how mine turns out. Three weeks from right now I will be cramped into the AirBus on the way to Jo'berg.

Congrats Spie! I hope you have a wonderful trip, and now that you have opened the door by posting this info, you are obligated to post many stories and photo's on your return!! It sounds like you have made a great choice...judging by the stories of Saeed and JudgeG, your risk to reward ratio will be very low indeed (very low risk, very high reward!).

I am green with envy.

Best of luck,
Canuck

Spie,



Congratulations on taking the plunge! I don't know your PH, but I have heard many here speak very highly of him.



You will not regret doing this. Hunting in the Selous is a like returning to the halcyon days of the classic East African safari.



Definitely use the scope for buff. It makes precise shot placement much easier. Just remember that a scope will cause you to shoot a couple of inches low on close range (under ten or fifteen yards) follow up shots. Of course, with your QD mounts, you can just pop the scope off if that becomes necessary and you have enough time.



Also, definitely take a Nyasa wildebeest and a Lichtenstein's hartebeest if you can.



The Nyasa wildebeest is the most strikingly featured of the entire wildebeest clan (which sounds like faint praise, but isn't meant to be--the Nyasa wildebeest, with its white muzzle stripe and gray brindled, chocolate hide, is quite beautiful). These creatures are numerous in the Selous, but can be hunted nowhere else (except, maybe--I'm not sure about this--in northern Mozambique).



Also, as Mark says, the Lichtenstein's kongoni is one of the weirdest-horned of all of the hartebeests, which are a weird breed anyway. And they are a tough and challenging antelope to hunt.



Best of luck!

Spie:

One of the great treats of a Pierr'e van Tonder safari is the food... and the very best of it may well be the kongoni. DON'T miss out on a couple of great suppers graced with this fine meat! Tomorrow, I'll try to post the skull and horns of the one I took. It makes a very interesting mount, for sure.

You will have another advantage over the rest of us who will be hunting with Pierr'e this year. You get to hear the stories of 1115, JudgeG, Ray, Saeed, Walterhog and all the rest of us who will have already screwed up whatever we could. Just don't believe any stories about me or Ray missing anything. We really want to hit trees.

I look forward to sharing our stories come October or so. In the meantime... get that .416 sighted in and pop a 44" buff for me in the shoulder!

You just gotta get one of these!







BTW, who can identify the two items in the background of the first picture that are so amazing to first time safari hunters?

Congratulations! I am sending a deposit for September, 2005! I can't wait to hear the stories.

My guess is biltong drying in the hot sun and I am not sure about the other, unless it's the pot on the ground with steam rising from the lid. Possibly a large pot for boiling skulls?

Jim

The two items in the background:

Trackers drying "tripe" for biltong and a warm water "donkey".

My younger son wanted to try some of the tripe-biltong but somehow I forgot about it....maybe next time....probably not.

"...We really want to hit trees..."

Both you and Ray have no chance in catching up with me!

Half my backyard is full of trees I have "wounded" in Africa, so I had to bring them to Dubai and nurse them back to health!

I probably have the only boabab tree in the whole country.

I hit it when I missed an elephant

And about those stories, we will make sure Pierre has plenty to tell. Just imagine having Walter, Ray, Roy, Dwight and Todd in the same camp!

I just wonder if I can petrsuade Pierre to put my tent across the river from the rest of them.

With such a group of campfire companions and practical jokers, do you really get any hunting done or are y'all spending most of the time trying to outwit each other and looking over your shoulders?

From the posts you guys exchange each other on this forum, it sure sounds that being part of the group is worth the cost of the safari

Something in this picture looks prehistoric...



hee hee hee

Years ago, we arrived at Vicoria Falls to meet up with our friend Roy for 22 day hunt.

I cannot remember what I did in the plane, as apparently I have made Walter very upset. And was calling me every name he could think of while we were clearing immigration and customs.

As we left the airport, I rode with Roy and Walter went with Rene, his wife.

Roy, who has not met Walter before, said "You two are not starting off on the right foot are you? It is going to be a long safari if this continues"

I said "This is nothing, you should see when we are both on a roll. It is our life long ambition to make life as miserable for each other as possible. Luckily, none of us has succeeded as yet, but we will continue trying"

Roy could not make us be nice to wach other, so he decided to join in the fun.

Last week he was here, and told Walter he is going to be devoting his time to make his hunt as bad as he can.

Spie

I am green with envy!

I have plans to make a similar trip one of these years.

Keep us posted on planning progress, esp flights from the UK with firearms and ammo.

Regards

Spie,

Congrats and welcome to the fraternity.. Your choice of firearms is very good and since you are a shooter an reloader you will understand the importance of shooting what you are comfortable with...The scope or open sights is your decision...I have taught myself to shoot with both eyes open with a scope and I also have express sights on my rifle which I use with the Quick Detachable mounts...

Mike