to hunt Buffalo? I know enough about Africa to know that I don't know much except there are certain places to hunt certain species - Zulu Natal for Nyala, Mtn Zebra in Namibia, etc. So is the Selous "the" place to hunt trophy Buff?

No! Masailand has bigger buff on average and the Zambian buff that I took and saw on two trips there were also larger but for me the Selous is unbeatable as a venue for a safari.

Adrian do you happen to know a guy named John Lyons, he is from Tennile, I went to college with him at North Georgia.

phoenixdawg ,
a lot depends on budget, if thats no object , its hard to beat the okavango delta for pure hunting experience and numbers , some big buff come out of there aswell ..TZ is right up there though, however its important to be sure of which block as many mediocre ones coast on the reputation of the great ones ..

talk to mark young , he posts here a bunch and is part of a first class TZ outfit who can tell you the pros and cons of various blocks ..

everyone will have their own opinion based on where they hunted ..

also what is good ...is good an area where you see lots and lots of buffalo or is good where you see fewer buffalo with bigger horns ???

ivan fair question how about lots of buffalo with big horns

i am a strong proponent for less spread bigger boss ..and i am very conscous of the age of the trophy ... but if the boss and the maturity is there i wont say no to a few extra inches !!!!

my reply remains the same , that there are certain blocks in TZ that are every bit as good as some of the blocks in the delta and then it just becomes a matter of personal preference , both areas are simply incredible to hunt..

i suggest at the shows get with a couple of outfitters and ask some "real" questions ... thats the beauty of the shows , you can see face to face several people all under one roof ...

the houston safari club show has lost of outfitters that would be good for you to talk to ....

dawg,

The answer to your question is maybe. If you are looking for a wilderness hunt with lots of buffalo the Selous may be just the thing if as suggested you book a block that has not been hammered for years. We do not ever shoot our quota on our LU5 area in the Selous so there are lots of buff and some good ones. We offer only 10 day buff hunts there that go from $10,900-$14,900.

If you are most concerned with a very big buffalo Masailand is unquestionably where you want to hunt. On our Lobo and Lokisale concession you can expect to shoot a buffalo of over 40' and probably low to mid 40's. This quality comes at a high price. $21,900-$24,900

Zimbabwe still offers very good buffalo at less expensive prices. Seven days to include trophy fee $9500. This maybe the best bang for the buck but the overall expereince will not be what it is in Tanzania and of course there is the nagging political situation. If you look around you can find areas where a hardheaded 40" is common in Zim.

Zambia is sort of priced between Tanzania and Zim with a 7 day buff costing about $9500 plus trophy fees. These hunts along the Luangwa river can produce a big buffalo but I think the avaiablility of hippo and croc on these every short hunts make them very attractive.

I personally have not dealt with Botswana buff hunts but it seems the prices are as high as Tanzania with only moderate trophy quality let alone the expensive up front licenses.

Mozambique you can do a 7 day buffalo hunt on the Zambesi Delta for about $8,000 plus trophy fees but there is a spendie charter. You also can hunt futher inland at prices comparable to Zim.

Each area and country offers a different expereince so I don't think there really is "The Place" for buffalo. I've hunted all the above countries for various species plus buffalo and I'd go back to any of them. I personally have not shot a buffalo in quite awhile so I'm very much looking forward to hunting the the Zambesi Delta with Bahati in '09.

Mark

I've copied my comments from your other post here, but will add that Botswana can produce some stunning Buffalo. (See pic below)

As Mark says though, it does tend to be expensive and I'll add that the low quota usually means you have to book a long way in advance.



Every country offers a different hunting experience so it's often like comparing apples to oranges. If you want guaranteed big horns for example, one of the best places is South Africa, but you'll be hunting in a fenced area, usually a very large one, but a fenced area nevertheless and it may well be decided before you even arrive, which animal you'll be taking. Because SA Buff are usually classified as 'clean' these hunts don't come cheap.

If price is your primary criteria, you'll probably find some of the least expensive deals to be Zimbabwe, but as we all know, the country does suffer shortages and other problems. - If you stick to the well known operators of good repute, you shouldn't have too many problems.

Zambia and Namibia are sometimes also good choices to look at and you'll have a lot of choices of type of hunt in these countries.

Masailand in Tanzania can be very good for big Buff, but most of the areas are extremely rain dependent and changeable and populations per square Km are lower than many other places in Tanzania. There's also the factor of having the Masai around. - Some people enjoy that and others hate it. Selous has a huge number of Buff so shooting opportunities may well be more numerous. - Regarding populations, according to the Frankfurt Zoological Society who do an immense amount of research work in Africa tell us that Tanzania has more Buffalo than all the other East and Southern African countries combined.

Someone mentioned shared licences. For the sake of clarity, I should point out that legally only the person named on the licence is permitted to hunt.

Mozambique can also be good, but hunting is generally very tough going and camps are not always of the same quality as many other places in Africa. (although this is changing in recent years) some people also claim that landmines are still a factor in some areas - The BBC recently quoted a 9 digit figure for this, which I believe has to be complete nonsense. - My guess is that most of these got washed out to sea in the floods of 2000(?) - Certainly, I haven't heard of a hunter treading on a landmine for many, many years. Good advice here, would be to stick to the coutada areas if at all possible...... and maybe let the tracker walk a few yards ahead!

Botswana has some great Buff hunting but it doesn't come cheap and you have to nominate each animal you want to hunt beforehand - and pay for the licence to hunt it. This fee is non-returnable if you don't take that animal.

Craig Boddington once wrote something along the lines of: Big buffalo occur wherever you find 'em and that you should judge a Buff trophy by the hunt itself rather than by mere inches........ as usual, he was quite right.

One piece of advice I would offer, is that it's never a good idea to choose the cheapest price alone. - No matter where you hunt, quality comes at a price and there's no such thing as a free lunch. - If you go for the cheapest deal, you'll almost certainly not get good quality.

Having only been in Tennille full time for 5 years I don't know Mr. Lyons personally. It seems that his mom may have been the Mayor a few years ago and if it is the same person I'm told He now lives in Lakeland Fla. On the hunting issue, Pierre Van Tonder was one of my outfitters hunting Mk1 which has been disparaged in this forum and L1 with Don Bower which has also been criticized and both hunts were superb with lots of game low prices great service, and no hitches. Air charters were also included. If you are willing to spend the money Luke Samaras in Masailand in Dec. for monster buff . Tanzania game trackers in a similar area and time frame should produce similar results. Adam Clements has some similar areas and is well represented on this forum . Buff hunting is addictive as are the areas he inhabits and my goal is to hunt Africa annually mostly for buff, and to do this one has to spend time researching the otions as You are doing. AR is a great tool in this regard with lots of experienced hunters with no financial motivation.

A friend who has hunted Buffalo in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania Selous and Masailand, Mozambique, Botswana. He said if he only had one shot at a Buffalo it would be Botswana.

Steve,

I guess I got put off on Botswana buffalo when I hunted elephant there. I was next to the last safari of the season and there was one buffalo left on quota. When they figured up the whole thing lic/trophy fee/whatever it would have cost me $8000 additional to shoot a buffalo. This was 4 years ago and it seemed over the top to me.

Mark

Mark,

Yup, those low quota figures and individual licences sure do cause high prices huh.