Great hoggg the Walter HOG do good WOW

Walter is THE MAN!

What a warthog!

We spent most of yesterday's afternoon sitting in a croc blind.

Small ones came to feed, but the big ones stayed away.

We went out looking for buffalo this morning. A few miles out of camp we came across some fresh tracks. So we stopped the truck and started to follow them.

We have not gone 200 yards when our driver started whistling. As we looked back, we could see a herd of buffalo heading straight towards us!!?

The shooting sticks went up, and I got onto them ready for a shot. The herd continued advancing, until they were about 50 yards from us. We still could not see any shootable bull amongst them.

They stopped, gave us a funny look, and took off where they came from.

We left them and went to another area looking for more buffalo.

WE found none, but we came across a good topi, so Roy shot it.

Drove back so we could sit on the croc bait.

We added some meat to the bait, drove about 1/2 a mile from there, and sat in the shade of a tree having lunch at just before 4 in the afternoon.

Afdter we had our lunch, Alan and me headed to the blind, while the driver took Roy and his topi back to the camp.

At just before 5, large crocs starded coming, and there was a feeding frenzy. We had one of our video cameras up in a tree above the bait, and we captured some great footage of this feeding frenzy.

We decided to shoot one of them, and he obliged by lifting his head up feeding. I brained him, and he laid still. I put another bullet into him, just in case because the river slopes deeping very quickly where he was.

We called the banana boat to take the croc back to camp, and we took the truck back.

Walter came back empty handed today.

Had a great chicken curry for dinner.

Tomorrow morning we are having a shooting contest for our trackers and game scouts. Then after lunch we fly to our last camp of this hunt.

Jeez, that's a BIG croc! How does he compare to the monster croc you shot last year?

Just imagine how well Walter would be doing if he was using his Blaser?

That's a BIG leezard!!

Gentlemen:

Can we get a picture of the employment of shooting sticks? Thanks, D.

What a snaggle-toothed old beast! Wonder how old.

Outstanding croc, Saeed! Man, that pig of Walter's is also a monster! Does Walter have a new good luck charm this year?

Excellent photography! Especially the open mouthed croc and hippo close-ups.

Clearly, the hunting is good this year - and the hunters are shooting well, too!

Congrats to all!

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
What a snaggle-toothed old beast! Wonder how old.

I don't think Walter is much over 60, is he?

BB
Is that in inches or dog years?

Saeed, thank you for your updates.

I have one queston and a request.

Are the AK's the guys are carrying loaded with a round in the chamber? Looks like muzzle control is not a high priority to them.

The steel rod you are using to broil the meat over the fire. Would it be possible to get a picture of it without any mean on it. Trying to figure out how its built. You could email that to me.

hunter7057@gmail.com

Our plane is supposed to come at 1.30 to fly us to Tandala camp. The flight is supposed to take almost 3 hours, with a stop in Tabora for refueling.
Alan suggested we go out by boat early in the morning to see if we can get a bushbuck. After some thoughts, we decided not to go, and do our usual shooting contest for our trackers and game scouts. Apparently word got around that we always have this contest, that they always looked forward to it.
We had our contest, and the usual comedy ensued. We had the target pasted on a box, which was placed against an ant hill.
Some of our contestants missed the whole ant hill.
Some shot 50 yards too close.
But, everyone was a winner, as each contestant won a prize.
Ron was charged with keeping the score, which wasn't very easy. As we had 11 contestants, and one 3 actually hit the target!!
8 all had one big fat zero for score. So we tried to place them in order of hitting closest to the target box.
We had lunch and headed out to the airstrip. We found our plane waiting for us. We recognized the pilot as we had met nbim a couple of years ago, and enjoyed sharing some jokes with him.
We flew to Tabora, landed for refueling and a pit stop, and headed up to Tandala camp.
The pilot circled the airstrip, and made his turn to land. Then we could see an ostrich smack in the middle of the runway. We made a low pass over it, waving to the cars waiting for us to go kick that ostrich off the runway.
We made another turn and landed.
We unpacked our rifles, and headed to camp, which was about an hours drive away. We thought we will hunt our way there. We saw lots of dik dik, some gerenuk, giraffe, lesser kudu and eland. But, not was big enough to shoot.
When we arrived at camp, we found that Walter and his crew were still out.
We had a drink and snacks, and waited for them to come to have dinner.
They arrived just before 8, having shot a good Grant's gazzelle.
Had dinner, and planned on going up the mountain early tomorrow morning, staying the night up there. Hunting mainly buffalo, or any other animals we might find.
Walter, Ron and paul are going to go down to Lake Natron, hoping to shoot a wildebeest.
I am writing this just before hitting the sack, and I don't seem to be able to find the sat modem in my tent. It must have been taken to someone's else's tent, or left at the dining tent.
So this report will not be posted until the day after tomorrow.

Well, it is after tomorrow right now.

I did not take the computyer and sat modem to our fly camp, so there has not been any more updates.

WSe have just arrived back from Gelai camp, which was at over 9000 feet.

We were hunting buffalo this morning above the clouds!

Walter shot a wildebeest and a Thompson gazelle.
Roy shot a Grant's gazelle, and I shot a gerenuk and a buffalo.

Up at Gelai is a totally different worl as far as buffalo hunting is concerned. One can be 2 yards from a bull and not see it!
There are valleys between the mountain ridges, about 500 yards across, with very thick bush.
We climb on the ridges, and watch with binoculars whqat we can see.
Yesterday as we arrived there in the afternoon, we could see 3 groups of 2 buffalo each, plus one lone bull. All were bulls.

Wew went down, and at one time we were less than 10a yards from one bull. We could not see him, but our trackers on the ridge could. We decided to walk up to him, and try a shot as he got up.

As we got close, he did get up and run, but all we could see was the bush shake!

We got rained on, and went back to camp.

Our camp was a log cabin, complete with a fire to warm us up.

We had dinner - only three of us, Roy, Alan and myself - then hit the sack.

We woke up to pouring rain, which stopped about 6.

We walked from the cabin to one of teh ridges to look for buffalo.

We saw eland, bushbuck, bushpig and one lone bull buffalo.

Again, we watched him and until he laid down, left our trackers with binoculars to keep an eye on him, and went after him.

We got to the other side of a big tree where he was lying, which we thought was less than 10 yards away.

Again, we walked towards him, he got up and ran off across a slightly open area. All I could see was his head, so that was where I aimed. He disappeared at the shot - our trackers later told us they had a grand stand view of the proceedings, and saw him drop and roll downhill 3 times! He got up and we ran after him.

You have to imagine this. The total distance he ran was about 15 yards, during this time, I hit him 4 times, and Alan twice. I know he dropped each time I hit him. The last two shots were where he was down.

We got the skinners to skin him, while we went looking for another one.

We climbed another ridge - climbing at this altitude is not my idea of fun.

Again, we could see several bushbuck, andf eland. But no buffalo.

We sat and kept looking.

We then saw one bull walk through a clearing and disappear into a thicket.

We thought we might stand a better chance of getting a shot from above him.

It was Roy's turn this time.

We sent the trackers and game scout to see if they could get him to move towards us.

We could see them shouting and throwing stones at him.

He moved, then dopubled back up the mountain. We could see him as he passed through some gaps, but there was no way one could take a shot.

It started to rain again, and we decided we better head back to camp, have lunch, then head down to our friends in Tandala camp.

I have lots of photos, which I hope to post may be tomorrow.

Tomorrow we are heading down to the lake, looking for Thompson gazelle, blue wildebeest and fringe eared oryx.

Mountain Buffalo! that is one of the best hunting there can be, can't wait for the pics.

I wanna know how Walter's R93 is doing.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
...nd planned on going up the mountain early tomorrow morning, staying the night up there. Hunting mainly buffalo, or any other animals we might find.
WSe have just arrived back from Gelai camp, which was at over 9000 feet.

We were hunting buffalo this morning above the clouds!

Up at Gelai is a totally different worl as far as buffalo hunting is concerned. One can be 2 yards from a bull and not see it!

There are valleys between the mountain ridges, about 500 yards across, with very thick bush.
We climb on the ridges, and watch with binoculars whqat we can see.

Awesome!! Paul and I talked about this hunt last year...it is a dream hunt for sure! I am SO looking forward to the video!

Cheers
Chris

Just got back from Lake Natron.

This morning we went looking for lesser kudu, and managed to get one just before 10, not far from the camp.

We then went to Lake Natron, looking for Thomson's gazelle and wildebeest.

Had a great long drive, seeing lots of animals, and bothg me and Roy shot a Thomson's and a wildebeest each.

Had to make a dash back to camp, as a storm was brewing, and we did not wish to get wet.

Made it back to camp by 8.30, had dinner, and are ready to hit the sack.

Great photos Saaed ! I would love to see Masailand...MORE PHOTOS !

I love it, thank you Saeed for such wonderful pictures and makes one smile seeing Africa.

Mike

Great pics Saeed! Wonderful Gerenuk! By the way, I see Shadrack and Meschack on the shooting list. What happened to Abednego?

Just fantastic.

Saeed,
The updates and picutres are truley outstanding! Thank you for taking the time to post them.

Fine trophies and Walter has outdone himself.

WOW! Gelai and Masailand have fantastic landscapes! What beautiful scenery!!

quote:

Originally posted by Use Enough Gun:
Great pics Saeed! Wonderful Gerenuk! By the way, I see Shadrack and Meschack on the shooting list. What happened to Abednego?

If you are referring to Anderson Abednego, he has changed camp.

Saeed
now you have done it!! seeing the pictures has made me home sick for Africa

Great update, Saeed! Thanks!

Any photos of your lesser kudu?

Saeed,Thank you very much for the updates,and pictures.

Congrats to all for the fantastic trophies and exceptional photography !!!!
Cheers

Those pictures are stunning Saeed!

I am quite impressed with the Lesser Kudu. What a beautiful animal.

The trophy photo with Roy and the wildebeeste is one of the nicest I've seen with the different "depths" (layers) and the contrasting color of the Masai behind him. As one of my friends would say "That's a blower!" (as in "one to enlarge and frame!).

The Stoney that Alan is drinking looks refreshing! I miss them almost as much as Tusker.

Thanks for sharing the great experience. the photos are incredible and so are the trophies.

A northern Tanz hunt is my ultimate dream hunt on this planet. It is an amazing place.
Wow.

The Lesser Kudu is AWESOME!!!

Love the photos, Saeed.

Superb!

And Walter can obviously shoot!

How do you explain his transformation?!

(Can't wait to hear this! Don't you dare blame his past troubles on the Blaser! More likely that his improvement is the result of less interference from you and Roy.)

Ah loving the report. cant wait to read the full one.... makes me want to go chase buffalo up above the clouds for some reason or another

This morning we went looking for an oryx. We saw one feeding with some Grant's and ostriches about a mile away. But the wind was wrong.

We had to make a long detour to get down wind of them, and managed toi get to less than 300 yards. I fired a shot at him and he took off. We heard the bullet hit him. Another running shot also connected. Then he stopped, and a third shot dropped him.

He was an old bull, for which we were very happy.

Last game on our list was an ostrich.

We saw 2 males far away, and drove towards them. They decided to take off, and I took a running shot at one at long range, hitting him in his rear end. Dropping him in his tracks.

Alan was laughing so much about how he dropped.

We took photos and went back to camp.

We are having lunch right now, and in the afternoon we are having a shooting contest for our trackers, drivers and game scouts.

In the evening Walter is preparing one of his BBQs.

And tomorrow morning we head off first to Arusha, Dropping Alan, Roy, Rene and Paul there. We then continue to Dar to catch our respective flights back home.

This is going to be my last live report.

We have over 80 gigs of photos. I will try to include representative photos of all that had happened here.

Quite a hunt.

I can't wait for the full report and DVDs!

Well done and get home safely.

Excellent as always !
Congratulations on a great safari... safe travels.
Andy