I've always dream with this place but I don't know much about it. It's in northern Tanzania, but is near Masailand?

I know that depending of rains and month of the year you go there, the possibility of baggiing a HUGE buffalo is good.

The question is: where and when?
All the geographic names are similar and I'm a little confused.

Who can teach me the tips for baging one of those monsters buffalo in northern Tanzania?
Any info about the place is welcome. I've done some internet research but nothing like a hunters point of view...

Just to keep me dreaming

Thanks
L

Lorenzo, I went there for a photo safari just prior to flying into a bush camp on the Kilombero for buffalo in '03. Tirangire is a great place but to my knowledge there is no hunting there. It is a game preserve. It may be possible to hunt some of the adjacent areas if you have a connection there. Lots of elephant. Didn't see many buffalo. Beautiful terraine. Rolling hills, streams and broken forrest. Good hunting.

Thanks D,
So maybe those monsters pass from the reserve area into some hunting concession. The only thing I know was that there were very few buffalo but your chances of a real monter were good.

Thanks for the onfo.

Maybe someone knows the names of those hunting concessions....

L

Tarangire is a National Park, but there are concessions bordering the park. The number of buffalo in the concessions is dependent on the weather. If it is dry, the buffalo retreat to the park for grazing and water. As I understand it, it is better to go early (July) or late in the season (October -November).

Tarangire is southwest of Arusha.


Regards,

Terry

Lorenzo,
I am by no means an expert, but I will share with you what I have learned. I am hunting with Adam Clements in Loboir Serrit this August.
Adam has two concessions that border Tarangire: Loboir Serrit and Lolkisale. Lolkisale is more scenic and probably has better chances at glamour game (gerenuk, oryx, lesser kudu) and lion. Loboir Serrit is famous for large buffalo. Loboir Serrit has more dependable water. Lolkisale is better early in the season due to lack of water later on the game can migrate into the park. Loboir Serrit is more dependable for holding game. If you go to the Safari Press Website they have a top heads gallery. The current SCI #3 buff came from Loboir Serrit. Ridge and Cash Taylor had the Loboir Serrit concession prior to Adam and took some monster buffalo off of it. This is supposedly an area where 42" buffalo are a realistic expectation in a 7 day hunt.
I also think Luke Samaras has a concession that borders Tarangire (Siminjaro Plains?) this is where a canadian outfitter unfortunately got hammered by a buffalo last year.

Hunting the concessions next to the park produce some wonderful buffalo but in reality so do all the other concessions in Tanzania..this one is overplayed IMO...

Those concession are chicken or guts and feathers, you may hunt a week or even a month and not see a Buffalo, but when you do they are usually very nice bulls, but in that length of time I think you can find a very big bull about anywhere if you hunt hard...

Those park bulls are bloody smart and they absolutly have to be forced out of that park by drought for the most part and many of them never leave that park IMO...

That is were we hunt Leopard and Lion, feeding off Masai cattle, and we see some very nice bulls on ocassion...

Bottom line, if you got a lot of time and money you could hunt those areas, but I'd rather hunt a good concession in the Selous or the Mayowasi or Kegosi or several others and see a lot of buffalo, pretty country and do just as well...
If one wanted to hunt those next to the park concession then Dec would be the time and pray you don't get rained out, if all worked out well then you would probably get a real nice bull, but it would be a gamble..I wouldn't do it.

Big buffalo are like gold, they are where you find them...

My opinnion only and the concession owners might take exception to my call on the situation..

Lorenzo,

We use a concession bordering Tarangire and it's very popular with clients who book 21 day hunts and it's esp good for cats. Many like to have 10 or so days here and the rest of their hunt in one of our Selous areas. The only additional cost of doing this is the extra charter. Masailand (although more rain dependant than Selous) is good for big Buff but there are not the huge herds you can see in the Selous. Sadly, elephants are not generally hunted in Masailand......which is a great pity as there are some huge tuskers there.....

Gentlemen,
Thanks for your information, it was of great help!!
L

Lorenzo, Let me fill you in here on these blocks and the area surrounding the tarangire before others tell you things that they are not sure about.

The Tarangire National Park itself is not hunted and is a beautiful park to visit. There are ONLY 3 blocks and 2 outfitters that actually have any areas that touch the Park boundary. Between the actual Park boundary though, there is a 2km buffer zone before any hunting can take place.

Tanzania Bundu Safaris has Lolkisale and Loirbor Serrit which border almost the entire Eastern side of the park. There is one section between Lolkisale and Lobo though that comes to a "V" where Luke Samaras also touches the park, but only at the end of the "V" so does not have very much actual land that touches the park, but he does border our areas of Lobo to the North and South of Lolkisale. If I knew how to post pictures I would post an exact map for you to look at to show you how the areas are alloctaed so you can see exactly how the areas lay out.

Intercon used to also border the Southern part of the park as well, but that area was turned in a Game Reserve now. So as far as areas and outfitters that ACTUALLY have any areas bordering the park itself now would only be Bundu Safaris and Luke Samaras. No one else does and they would would be telling you a story if they said they did!

Huge in his post was very accurrate in his discription of the two blocks as well. The Lolkisale block is more open and is a beautiful area to hunt with all the acacia trees and baobab trees etc etc. The Lobo area does also have beatiful open areas, but is also a lot thicker as well. There are also a lot more Masai people and villages in the Lobo area, but that is Masailand for you.Lobo also does have permanent water with natural springs.

With regards to buffalo hunting in these areas. I do not know what areas Ray has hunted or where he hunts now with Pierre, but I can assure you that it is not in Lolkisale or Lobo and he would not have first hand knowledge of these areas. There is NO other areas in in all of Africa free range hunting that has or still can consistantly produce big buffalo in the 45"-50" range on a yearly basis!!!! Now of course it will not happen on every safari, but every year in these areas there are several buffalo taken in the 45-50" range. The average that one can expect in these areas would be in the 40-42" range for the average.

As far as the number of buffalo, it all depends on when you are there. I just returned from Lolkisale and Lobo 3 days ago and I saw herds of buffalo in the 500-600 range, but of course there is plenty of water there now.

What I can tell you is that in the past no one has ever done anything about the water situation in these areas and the best times to hunt these areas in the past was July/August and November/December.

Now that I have taken over Bundu we are already working on making these blocks even better and we are fixing the water problem and by 2006 we will have excellent hunting the entire season where we will have both water and food for the animals and they will stay in our areas instead of looking for water in the park. During the dry season, the animals actaully prefer to stay in our areas as the food is better, but with no water, they had to go back into the park to get water, then come back to us for food. So, we hope that we will be able to offer the animals everything they need year round in our areas now.

We are putting in brand new camps, equipment and everything else this year, so nothing will be the same as it was in the past and one can expect a luxury and first class experience from now on.

As far as getting your buffalo? Last year all of the hunters took at least one buffalo and I never had any of my clients not take one last year. The smallest buffalo taken last year was 37" and the biggest taken was 50" followed by a 49" taken as well.

I have not heard of any 49" or 50" buffalo coming out of the Selous lately, let alone on a yearly basis!

Do not get me wrong though, the Selous is great place to go buffalo hunting and love hunting there myself. You will see a lot of buffalo in the selous and enjoy a hunt there as well. But on the average, the Selous can not touch the zize of buffalo that we take in Lolkisale and Lobo. Yes, there are many big buffalo taken in tanzania from other various areas, but on a year to year consistant basis, no where else can compare. Just my point of view, but the record book seems to back me up as well for these areas!

Adam,

Email me the map/picture and I will post it for you.

bunduki@sbcglobal.net

Doesn't Sheni Abdallah have Burunge G.C.A. on the northwest side of Tarangire?

Regards,

Terry

Terry, The Western side of Tarangire is the main paved road from Arusha to Dodoma, and his block would be to the West of the main road. I may be wrong, but do not think that there are any hunting blocks that actually border or touch the Western side of tarangire. The ones I know about are all West of the main road and do not border the park due to the main road. I might be wrong though on this one unless it is a very small area between the paved road and the park?

Adam,

I had looked into hunting that area a few years back. I know a lady who hunted there a couple of seasons ago. She killed a buffalo there, it was huge. But it was the only buffalo she saw her entire safari.



Regards,

Terry

Terry, As I mentioned before that in the past when it got very dry in these areas it was much harder to hunt the buffalo due to the water. But for the future now, I have done some major improvements this year, and expect the buffalo hunting to be a little easier when it is dry, but who knows in Africa. I do expect excellent results though and I guess I will have to show some pictures at the end of the season!

With regards to the lady and the picture. I would rather just see that one buffalo and that quality than 2000 buffalo of lesser quality! Although it is nice to see a lot of buffalo, but we are all there to get great quality in the end.

Terry, I forgot just how nice Cynthie's buff was. WOW! Thanks. And thanks for the Tanz map...I didn't have that one in my collection yet.

Cheers,
Canuck

Another plug for Lobo. Sorry for my deficient computer skills. Try this:
http://www.safaripress.com/page26.html
I like what Lobo has produced in the past - and during the dry season!!!! Enough Said.

Adam,

Sounds like you have a great idea in getting more permanent water in those areas.

I think Sheni's concession is between the park and the road (I remember Cynthie telling me it was a very small concession).

Here is a link to the best map I have found of Tanzania's concessions.

GTZ

Click on the icon next to the document titled:

"TOURIST HUNTING AND IT'S ROLE IN DEVELOPMENT OF WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT AREAS IN TANZANIA"

The map is on page 7 of the document.

Regards,

Terry

Adam's map of his concessions (I had to resize it for downloading on the internet).



Lolkisale is the box on the top, Lobo is the box on the bottom. Tarangire National Park is the area to the left of the two concessions.

Regards,

Terry

Regards,

Terry

Terry, you also have to keep in mind that the whole migration route of the animals in the Tarangire is from the North of the park to the East and South East of the park. They do not move or migrate North or West of the park.

Now when I say migration, I am not talking like the Serengeti migration, I am talking about the animal movement within and around Tarangire where they do move to the east and south east out of the park, but do not go very far east or south, but they do move like a migration, but on a smaller scale if that makes sense.

Lorenzo,
I hunted Lolkisale and Lobo in November of 2003. It was a beautiful area and classic East Africa, the way you would expect the Masai Steppes to look. I remember sitting on the veranda of the dining room with a gin and tonic watching a full moon rise while Masai-lit bush fires burned across the far hills. Damn, makes me wish I were back.

It was dry when I was there and in the first six days of my hunt I didn't see a buffalo, not even fresh spoor...they were in the park. So after shooting a punda and a kongoni we drove to Lobo and I took a nice buff with the classic East African drop to his horns and a hair under 40" the first afternoon I was there. A great old bull and an interesting hunt. I only shot one bull on that trip but took a Grants and EA impala to add to the zebra and Cokes hartebeest. When it's dry in Lolkisale and the rains are late it can be tough hunting. Adam drilling boreholes and providing water should help hold more game in the concession during the dry season. Even so, my buddy took a 46" bull on that trip with PH Gerard Miller. He was great to talk to around the fire also. He authored "Lives of a Professional Hunting Family" by Trophy Room Books and had stories of huge buff and elephant taken in Tanz over the years. All in all a real adventure.

To expand slightly on what some have said;

1- Lake Burunge lies on the North West of Tarangire Park and is a hunting concession "that borders" Tarangire. It is a small concession but can produce the same quality buff as the Eastern concessions.
2- To the very Southern tip of Tarangire lies Mkungunero concession, also bordering the block. Much drier and from various accounts not great game populations.
3- Further to the South East of Tarangire lies Masaai Open Area which borders all along the Tarangire Park South of Loboiserrit.
4- There is no question that the best buff areas amongst these are Lobo and Lokisale.
5- IMHO the PH with the best knowkledge of these two areas are: Lobo - Gerrard Miller, Lolkisale - Ridge Taylor (no longer hunting there).
6- Lolkisale hunting, especially in the dry season, is very much along the park border (in or out of the 2 km zone depends on PH ).
7- Buff hunting in Lobo is hands & knees stuff in wait-a-bit thorn. The chances of huge bulls are excellent - with the right PH
8- Adam, I would dare say that Maswa Game reserve produces equal to or better 40+" buffalo on "AVERAGE" every year. BUT Maswa has much better game populations and trophy quality of other species. IMHO, the best hunting area in Tanzania!
9- Adam, not quite sure how you are intending to "better" the water issue in Lolkisale but I would suggest you think twice before putting dams and boreholes supplying year round water and first ask others who have done so in the past. One of the most serious and immeadiate consequences of doing this will be a HUGE influx of Masaai and cattle and with it, the destruction of habitat, increase settlement leading to increased human-wildlife conflict which will adversely affect your predator population within a few years. My suggestion is that you work with the existing water sources as they are.
10- Terry I have another Map of Tz hunting blocks which I think is more detailed than the one you posted (Although not as pretty ). I only have it in Acrobat Reader format. If I email it to you, will you be able to wrok with it and get it posted or should I not bother?

Happy hunting!

quote:

Originally posted by Bwanamich:
10- Terry I have another Map of Tz hunting blocks which I think is more detailed than the one you posted (Although not as pretty ). I only have it in Acrobat Reader format. If I email it to you, will you be able to wrok with it and get it posted or should I not bother?

Happy hunting!

Bwanamich,

Please email me the map. Thanks.

Regards,

Terry

Bwanamich, I am not doing any dams or any new water holes at all. I am only working with a few key existing water holes and just making them better so to speak. I have thought twice about everything I am doing and have talked to others and have decided on my plan and think that it will work and we will continue to have the best buffalo and lion quality.

I do agree with you that Maswa is a great place to hunt as that is where I grew up and did all of my early years of hunting. So I know Maswa and Makau by the back of my hand. I personally do not think that Maswa is anywhere near as good as it used to be and has a huge poaching problem there with regards to snares. But, yes, it is still a beautiful place to hunt and you do get great buffalo from there. But would still "dare" to say that it still can not match Lolkisale and Lobo for the monster buff. Just for the fun of it, lets compare the buffalo from Maswa and what we take out of Masailand at the end of this year, and lets see who has the bigger buffalo Maybe I will be wrong, but will be fun to see. Do not get me wrong though, I do agree with you that Maswa is a great place and beautiful country there as it was literally my back yard and I loved hunting there.

Next Time I am back in Tanzania this June lets meet for dinner as well if you have time.

Hope this doesn't hijack someone's thread ....... but:-

Hows about as many of the forum members as possible who who are in any way involved in the business of hunting in Tanzania be it outfitter, PH, agent etc all try to get together (either in Arusha or Dar) towards the end of the season and we each donate a bottle of whisky to whoever it is judged got the best trophy of the season?

Wouldn't cost much and it would be a lot of fun!

If anyone is interested please send me an e-mail and we'll try to work something out.

Sounds like fun Steve, but usually do not hang around town much if at all possible. But let me know if you do get something together and will see if I happen to be in town.

If not then just send the crate of whisky or rum to my office.

Just kidding, I might jinx myself. What are the rules? I suggest three rules, the buffalo have to be 45" and over and have to be hard bossed and from one of the allocated areas in Tanzania!

Sounds like a plan

Adam, June could be tough as I might be away but drop me a line once you know and we'll go from there..