Ph. Felix Barrado
Trackers
Game scout. Maloa.
Air company. Turkish Airways. Excellent. Madrid-Estambul-Dar es Salaam.
Game sought. Buffaloes, sable, warthogs, red duicker
Game seen. Buffaloes, sable, zebras, eland, grey duicker,hippos,kudus,elephants, leopard, lioness, hiena,warthog, linchestain Hartebeest, baboons, genet, civet, bushback, bushpig and 1 impala.
Game hunted successfully. Sable, 2 L hartebeest, 2 warthog, hiena, genet and 2 baboons.

After a long time Tanzania was on my radar again. After much thought I jumped on a deal Felix offered me. The first error I committed was not listening to him. He insisted best going from mid september onwards but I knew better July from the 21 to 2 nd of august. I bought a 21 day license to be able to chase roosvelt sable.
As we landed in Dar with Turkish we jumped in a Toyota and drove to kilwa. The landscape is wonderful and I enjoyed every minute when dawn let me see the surrounding landscape. Tanzania is beautiful and I enjoyed the 8 hour trip to camp. As we got into the hunting area we stArted seen plenty of my nemesis: Tse Tse. Apart from that we Saw a couple of warthogs baboons and Hartebeest.
The camp is a tipical Tanzania camp made of southafrican tents Bathroom en suite dinning room, etc. As we arrived se tested the rifles and had a drink. The next morning off we went. Grass,grass, green grass! The grass was 3 meters high and everywhere! We found buffalo everyday but it was like trying to hunt ghosts! On the eleven days we hunted we founds different groups of daggaboys everyday. TO NO AVAIL. As Ortega y Gasset wrote “ Venare non est occidere”. Hunting is not killing. I had 4 different chances of drilling a hole in a buffalo with my double butwe could not see if they had solid bosses.could not see if they had solid bosses.The grass was high and green.
the routine would be to go, find tracks follow them, find them in high grass spoke them and on again.
we burned every single day but grass was to green to burn properly.
One day as we where trying to discern a big old bull we had seen a glympse of, a big lioness jumped 10 meters from me! Out of the grass. I shouldered my double but she decided to retreat and vanished in a second. I can assure You I was not happy in that tall grass for the rest of the day. Another day as we were following we started finding blood on the grass. "Simba" said Maloa. Apparently a lion had attacked one of the three daggaboys we where following and was bleeding profusely. We carried on for half an hour but after the tracks went into a thick sea of high grass we retreated.
Another day as we where driving a big leopard crossed from left to right. by the time we jumped out of the car and tried to stalk him he had dissapeared in the thick grass.
Every day we found lion and leopard tr5acks and I think such an abundant number of cats is due to the enormous amount of warthogs that live in this area.
Hienas also where abundant and I managed to kill one that was being seen every afternoon by the skinnig shed. The ambush was set but this was an uneducated hyena and old as the sun. as I checked teeth this where worn down to an extreme I have never seen before and I get to see lots of teeth.
Sable was a target of opportunity allthough I had it on my wishlist for many years. As we where driving we saw a big herd. kept on driving and a short stalk latter i had my first sable( but i hope not the last.)
this area has not being hunted in 3 years. there is a story behind this I would love to learn. Apparently the area was leased by an Arab. He built the most magnificent camp and for a few years friends and family came to hunt to this areas. every year when the hunting season ended he paid some guards to look after the camp. One day he never returned and guards stopped recieving their wages. They left. Everything has been stolen. Generators bulbs wire, doors beds, baathrooms, efverything ecept the buildings wich are wonderful. no one seems to know what happened. his landing strip is overgrown now and in a few years the bush will recover it but the remains of such a magnificent place will remain for longer......
I never got to shoot my double but my loyal 7mm was accurate and stayed true to me. the only thing that I could not understand is why not a single bullet made it throuh to the other side. I shoot 2 warthogs 2 L hartebbest, 1 sable 1hyena and two baboons( this bullets did go through) I was shooting remington corelock of 175 grains factory ammo and I am used in Spain to get this bullets trough deer.140 kg red deeer here it just wouldnot happen....
Felix has offered my to come back for free in october but I have commited to a trip to moz and in nov I have the annual venue in Zimb of mouth and eyes fixing so I am not going to be able to go back.
Afterthoughts. I should have gone in september or october. Am I happy with the outcome. ABSOLUTELY. I would go again tomorrow. game is abundant (especially cats and buff) and trackers and Ph are highly professional but I have learned the lesson and will listen to my PH recommendations in the future.
Anyone wanting a leopard in daylight this is the place. As for lions there are plenty but Felix says he is very worried about the 6 year rule. he can warranty to get lions on bait but he says he is not sure of being able to tell between a 5 1/2 year old lion and a 6.5 so he would have to play on the very safe side and this could upset clients so he will not promote strongly his lion hunts. he thinks what should be done is get a lower quota and be adamant on it. also no dependant pride but things are as they are.
if I can whattapp photos to anyone and they can post them i would be more than happy to do so.

Diego

Looking forward to it.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Looking forward to it.

x2

Are there any elephants left?

Actually there are a few left but apart from fresh tracks of female and youngsters and two small bulls we saw on day 3 nothing to get excited but this place must have been elephant heaven.
I also forgot to mention that the arab did a wonderful job, he made 4 dams so now this area has the only permanent water in miles and miles!!! The few elephants left love them

Hunted there a few years back. Went late (October I think) lots of buff, few ele, enough plains game especially sable. they were building the new camp while I was there. Had a great time, was my first trip to Africa!

Thanks for the report. Would sure love to see some pics.