You have to spare a thought for Alan.

Dealing with two old men who do not see or understand what is going on.

Buffalo and eland are also involved in this.

Driving along looking for buffalo tracks.

Or even better, buffalo droppings.

Fresh droppings mean buffalo are not far away.

Found an almost warm dropping on the road.

Off the truck we got and follow the tracks.

Our trackers, Nuni and Robert, do an incredible job of tracking.

Eventually we found steaming droppings!

Buffalo is close by.

Sure enough, not long after Robert saw the bull.

It was in thick bush and high grass!

Alan puts the shooting sticks up, and I get onto them.

I did see some movement of grass, but no animal.

This continued for a while, while we moved position for a better gap to shoot through.

Neither Roy nor I were aware of the presence of an eland!

Suddenly all we see is an eland bull looking at us from about 50 yards!

All was visible was his head.

I fired and he dropped.

We ran to him, and added another shot to make sure he stays down.

On a second occasion, we had the same thing happen.

Following two bulls for quite some time.

Found a high hill and climbed it to look.

Nothing but some kongoni feeding far away.

Down we go and continue on the tracks.

Alan stops and looks.

I can see kongoni in the distance.

He puts the shooting sticks up and I get on to them.

Looking for a buffalo.

I ask "where is it?"

ELAND he whispers.

I moved a bit, and sure enough, there was an eland bull quite far facing away at an angle.

Not clear from the sticks.

He suggested I move to a tree.

I did, but the eland was still facing away at an angle.

With our NO MISS bullets, I though it should not be a problem.

I fired at him, aiming at the rear end of his left rib cage.

He jumped, ran a few yards and stopped facing away.

Another shot in his rear end dropped him.

We found it was not necessary, but when a wounded animal is on his feet, an insurance shot makes all the difference.

First bullet penetrated all the way to the front of the rib cage, taking the top of the heart on the way.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

Awesome Saeed..there is one bull elephant that looks a bit older than most, the one looking right into the camera...look at the bullet holes in his ear.

One hell of a safari, well done to all....

It’s nice to see the new airstrip, it’s a big improvement over the old one. I understand it’s a lot farther from camp, but looks worth it compared to how rough the old one is. Will Alan’s ‘Lake Camp’ be near this airstrip?

All the water remaining from last season’s rains should bode well for the future of the resident game.

quote:

All the water remaining from last season’s rains should bode well for the future of the resident game.

The topography of those Western blocks which has been altered by producing a shoreline as a result of the dam construction effect will in my opinion produce a dramatic change in wildlife patterns.

I also believe that this new shoreline "border" will facilitate intrusion to the Reserve by meat poachers.

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

All the water remaining from last season’s rains should bode well for the future of the resident game.

The topography of those Western blocks which has been altered by producing a shoreline as a result of the dam construction effect will in my opinion produce a dramatic change in wildlife patterns.

I also believe that this new shoreline "border" will facilitate intrusion to the Reserve by meat poachers.

Fulvio, your last point brings up a valid concern. What impressed me about the poaching situation on Madaba last year was that there were no signs at all of any poaching. Given that the closest village, Liwale, is 7 hours drive on a rough 2-track road, it made sense for Madaba being so pristine. I do hope they’re able to maintain that for the foreseeable future, but the lake will certainly present new challenges.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
It’s nice to see the new airstrip, it’s a big improvement over the old one. I understand it’s a lot farther from camp, but looks worth it compared to how rough the old one is. Will Alan’s ‘Lake Camp’ be near this airstrip?

All the water remaining from last season’s rains should bode well for the future of the resident game.

The airstrip we used is not the new one Alan made.

This is much further than his.

His is ready, but needs to be classified by the government as useable.

It is closer to camp than this one.

The places Alan was looking at for a fly camp by the lake is roughly an hour from the new airstrip.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

All the water remaining from last season’s rains should bode well for the future of the resident game.

The topography of those Western blocks which has been altered by producing a shoreline as a result of the dam construction effect will in my opinion produce a dramatic change in wildlife patterns.

I also believe that this new shoreline "border" will facilitate intrusion to the Reserve by meat poachers.

Fulvio, your last point brings up a valid concern. What impressed me about the poaching situation on Madaba last year was that there were no signs at all of any poaching. Given that the closest village, Liwale, is 7 hours drive on a rough 2-track road, it made sense for Madaba being so pristine. I do hope they’re able to maintain that for the foreseeable future, but the lake will certainly present new challenges.

New, much better road, is being made now.

Passes right next to our camp.

Saeed, I did not hear much about lions. Does Alan take any lions in his area?

quote:

Originally posted by Safari2:
Saeed, I did not hear much about lions. Does Alan take any lions in his area?

We only saw one possible age lion.

But there was no sure way to tell if he was.

We decided to leave him.

We heared lion quite often, and others in our party saw lions, but non of shootable age.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:

quote:

Originally posted by fulvio:

quote:

All the water remaining from last season’s rains should bode well for the future of the resident game.

The topography of those Western blocks which has been altered by producing a shoreline as a result of the dam construction effect will in my opinion produce a dramatic change in wildlife patterns.

I also believe that this new shoreline "border" will facilitate intrusion to the Reserve by meat poachers.

Fulvio, your last point brings up a valid concern. What impressed me about the poaching situation on Madaba last year was that there were no signs at all of any poaching. Given that the closest village, Liwale, is 7 hours drive on a rough 2-track road, it made sense for Madaba being so pristine. I do hope they’re able to maintain that for the foreseeable future, but the lake will certainly present new challenges.

New, much better road, is being made now.

Passes right next to our camp.

That makes sense about the airstrip. It is much better than the one he used last year. Much better.

The very unfortunate result of the new road is that poaching will become an issue now with easier access. Hopefully though, they’ll let Alan use it to shorten the drive in to camp.

quote:

New, much better road, is being made now.

I saw it when I was driving to MS1 from Kingupira; its not a road but a frigging highway which left me wondering why so wide?

It was later explained to me that TAWA are building an all-weather circular road which will serve its boundary outposts some of which touch the newly created National Park.

Does note bode well for the future of the Reserve.

I have started adding videos.

They are on my first post.

Made a table top photo album

Madaba 2024

A strange story.

Pete and Maktoum were tracking buffalo.

Eventually they caught up with them, and he shot a bull.

Right there, next to them, a zebra stallion appeared and was watching them.

Maktoum shot it!

I have uploaded 68 video clips.

I hope they cover most of our safari this year.

Madaba 2024 Safari Album

We made this table top album for everyone participating in the safari

Absolutely amazing. Congratulations on another fantastic trip. Really enjoyed all the familiar smiling faces. The coffee table book is a really nice touch.

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
Absolutely amazing. Congratulations on another fantastic trip. Really enjoyed all the familiar smiling faces. The coffee table book is a really nice touch.

They were all asking about you and Tony.

Just got a message from Alan.

A new airstrip is being finished 1 mile from camp!

No more hours of driving!

We can parachute in now

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
Absolutely amazing. Congratulations on another fantastic trip. Really enjoyed all the familiar smiling faces. The coffee table book is a really nice touch.

They were all asking about you and Tony.

Well they probably never seen such good looking gents like me and the tall streak of Canuckian before...

quote:

Originally posted by Bakes:

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:

quote:

Originally posted by Canuck:
Absolutely amazing. Congratulations on another fantastic trip. Really enjoyed all the familiar smiling faces. The coffee table book is a really nice touch.

They were all asking about you and Tony.

Well they probably never seen such good looking gents like me and the tall streak of Canuckian before...

Funny thing was I was videoing a bunch of baboons and Heaven, our chef, watching.

Saw a big male walking slowly towards the water.

I asked Heaven who he reminded him of!

He laughed.

And said “like one client last year!”

Mate that's not a nice thing to call Chris....

They did say the one who likes coffee!

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
They did say the one who likes coffee!