17 September 2006, 13:45
CanuckOn the way home
Just a short note to let everyone know Don_G and I are both safely en route towards our respective homes. Logging in from AMS. Had an interesting flight from DAR as we had to stop at Rome for 2 hours to offload a missing passenger's luggage. Don_G just made his connection to Detroit by a hair...hope his rifle and checked bag made the connection too!
Had a great time on both legs of our hunt. Visiting Saeed and the crew was absolutely one of the very best times of my life, despite a short bout with e-coli...more on that later. Had a great time with the hunting and an even better time hanging out around the campfire with everyone. It was very interesting to meet people you feel you already know well (from watching HOURS AND HOURS of video over the last 8 years, and reading Saeed's stories here), realizing of course that they don't know you from Adam.

They are a really great group of people and the Vincent's run a very comfortable camp. Rene and Leoni's cooking was particularly noteworthy (as was Walter's BBQing which we enjoyed 3 times while I was there).
I'll have to fill in all the details later...running low on minutes...

Had a great 10 days in LU5 with Alan Vincent. This was arranged through Adam Clements an is now a Bundu Safaris concession, so the camp and staff etc, belong to them. The camp was awesome and the staff were really great. The concession was even more than Don and I expected.
We had a great time chasing buffalo around, bumping into elephants constantly and getting chased by a few ("HATARI TEMBO" was a common theme!). Hopefully have some good video of all that.
I shot two more buff with the 470 Mbogo, plus the one at Saeed's camp. So Dave's original 470M can claim three more. I think we got pretty good video of the last one, but it was tough...the bush was very dry and noisy in LU5.
My buff at LU5 were nice mature bulls...the first going just shy of 40" and the other being very old and a good candidate for Saeed's Outer Circle with one wonky horn.
Don shot a real nice buff with his 416 Remmy, and also picked up a kongoni, warthog and a beaut of a wildebeeste along the way. Spent of number of days trying to get into the buff herds with his bow, but it just never came together in time. Dry and crunchy conditons and lots of lookout cows always foiled the plan.
Well, better run. Will post more stories and some pics starting in a couple days (still have two flights and a 4 hour drive to get home...)
Cheers,
Canuck
17 September 2006, 15:12
ErikDI'm glad to hear that you had a great time Chris. And look forward to reading your complete report!

17 September 2006, 15:53
RACThat sounds like a great hunt, Chris. I can't wait to see the pics and read the full report.
Roger
17 September 2006, 16:25
retreeverCanuck,
Welcome home...glad you had a great trip and I know about those long flights and running thru Detroit's airport to catch a plane... It pays to be in shape...

Mike
17 September 2006, 16:48
ilwI was wondering how you guys were doing!
Have a safe trip home.
17 September 2006, 17:52
Aspen Hill AdventuresWelcome back, looking forward to photos, video and a full report!
17 September 2006, 20:21
Arild IversenGood to know you had a great hunt Chris. As the rest of the gang, I´m looking forward to the report

17 September 2006, 20:57
470 MbogoHi Chris,
Glad you and Don had a great time. Looking forward to a long call.
Take the best of care,
Dave
17 September 2006, 22:50
RIPWelcome home, Chris and Don. Tell us more when you can. Congratulations on a most excellent adventure, and to whomever survived E. coli (Spinach Salad?):

18 September 2006, 01:57
Use Enough GunLooking forward to the report and, of course, the pics.
18 September 2006, 03:23
bwanamrmI, like the others, look forward to the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God!

18 September 2006, 03:28
samwiseWelcome home Chris-can,t wait to talk to you about Mahange North
18 September 2006, 04:16
prof242Glad to here your back safe and sound. That e coli thing will definitely need to be reported on (hmph, a college professor ending a sentence with a preposition).

18 September 2006, 16:03
Don_GI made it home with my rifles, but had to wait at both Detroit and at Cincinnati airports for them to catch up to me.
I took one buff at LA1 and one at LU5 - I tried for the second one at LU5 spot-and-stalk with a bow and just could not get a good shot opportunity. But we had several adventures along the way that y'all will hear about!