If you have your own hunting business you get so sucked into outfitting hunts so much, that you never get to enjoy the reason you started a hunting business in the first place. Specially if you do it the way we do it.
After 18 years of doing this, and not without it’s challenges, Erika and I have now grown our business full circle. Providing the travelling hunter with a good hunting experience in South Africa, with our own Taxidermy, tannery and shipping done inhouse, as well as managing a top Dangerous Game area in Tanzania, came at an incredible high personal cost.
Therefore, when we got news of a late Tanzania cancellation in August 2021, we decided to suck it up and hunt the Buffalo that was left on quota.

This is a glimpse into a three week Safari we did in our Mbarangandu block in Southern Tanzania. I will let the pictures do the talking. We had fun. It was not about the biggest trophies, but about the quality of the hunt. It was the start of the rainy season and the Miombo was incredible in it’s changing colours.
I got to hunt with my best friend and business partner, my wife, and was guided by arguably two of the best PH’s in modern history, Gawie Janse van Nieuwenhuizen and Koos de Wet. Gawie did his apprenticeship under me and Koos has hunted for some of the big names in our industry.
And it was fun!
I used my 416 Rigby with handloaded 400gr Swift Aframes and Break away solids. Erika used my .375 H&H in Pre64 Winchester. Both are topped with Swarovski scopes.
I ended up killing 2 Buff and Erika 1. I was fortunate to also knock over a dream trophy of a Chobe Bushbuck on the second day of the hunt.
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I have no good “trophy” pictures of the first Buff bull I took. I shot him at last light and we simply did not get good pictures when we got to him with cameras in the dark. We took a nice team picture at skinning shed though!
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My second bull was a different story. We stopped on a hilltop and glassed the Njogo river. WE spotted him and his buddy doing what Dugga boys do…….chew on those fresh little reed shoots in the river bed. After a hike of about an hour we got within 40 yards. I shot him like I wanted a picture of him in good day light, and he did not make 40 yards after 3 x .416 Rigby 400gr stopped him from having any ideas of messing up my photo plans.
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Erika’s Buff was shot on the last hour of the last day. We were 2 hours from camp, and we battled getting around in the black cotton soil. We wanted to get out of there before the next thunderstorm hit us. Again, no good pictures.
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But it is our memories, and I wanted to share the same with you all!
Cannot get the boss away from that machine……even in the bush!
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After 120 days of hunting it was nice to see my team still smiling! They really enjoyed looking after us!
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Some pretty flowers making an appearance after the first rains
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Taking a break from tracking Buff
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I love big trees and this area has no shortage of them
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Erika waiting for the plane at “Terminal 1” on our airstrip and us settling in for the 2 hour flight to Dar es Salaam
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Some pictures of the Mbarangandu river area
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We ended our trip with a day fishing in the channel off Dar (right in front of the Sea Cliff actually)
I wanted Erika to have some fun and she got a nice Dorado and Wahoo! A fun day out. I just got mad at the Tuna smashing bait and not even looking at the poppers our skipper had for me. They had lock jaw BIG TIME! Good times nonetheless.
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We had a great time. As much as I love Southern Africa and it’s own brand of magic it offers, it must be said that Tanzania is a truly special destination for travelling outdoorsman. The Buffalo hunting must be some of the best Africa has to offer, and you can go out for 4 hours of incredible good blue water fishing while waiting for your Covid test result to get back

Good for you Charl. Many hunters do not realize how little personal hunting a lot of professional hunters/ outfitters/guides get to do while so employed. The work starts many weeks before the clients arrive and ends weeks after the last clients leave. It is nice that you got to spend some quality time hunting with your bride, friends and loyal staff.

Congratulations for a great hunting/vacation experience. I hope the Tanzania hunting block auction went well for you, Charl. I visited with Gawie at DSC and sent an email to you a couple of weeks ago inquiring about 2024.

quote:

Originally posted by txsouthpaw:
Congratulations for a great hunting/vacation experience. I hope the Tanzania hunting block auction went well for you, Charl. I visited with Gawie at DSC and sent an email to you a couple of weeks ago inquiring about 2024.

Gene hi!

Thanks for the message. I got it when we were down with Covid after the show, so everything is a bit foggy. We got squared away at the auction and there is now more certainty about what we can do in the future!

An email will make its way to you soonest!

Many thanks

Based on the boat pictures, it looks like you fished with Stef Yanola, Fulvio’s son. He’s a good fisherman, I fished with him a bit before you. Those damn tuna were doing the same thing when I was out there, crashing bait all around us but wouldn’t bite anything with a hook in it. I’m glad you got Mahi & Wahoo, all we caught were kingfish.

Well done Charl and always good to spend quality time with your wife.

great report

Thanks for the report. It's good you got to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You really know how to light a fire in me, I have had that hunt booked for a year but I still have to wait til October.

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
Based on the boat pictures, it looks like you fished with Stef Yanola, Fulvio’s son. He’s a good fisherman, I fished with him a bit before you. Those damn tuna were doing the same thing when I was out there, crashing bait all around us but wouldn’t bite anything with a hook in it. I’m glad you got Mahi & Wahoo, all we caught were kingfish.

Correct! Stef is a good friend and a helluva skipper. My brother was there a week after me and they murdered them! Big fish too in the 50-70lbs class.