Area hunted: M’barangandu, Tanzania

PH: Myles McCallum, Charlton McCallum

Dates: October 10th – 17th 2006


My hunting buddy, Dave Barrett and I arrived in Dar es Salaam on the 8th October but unfortunately my luggage decided to take a vacation in Mauritius courtesy of SAA. Deep joy! Fortunately my rifles and ammo made it ok, thankfully I had a pair of shorts and a couple of shirts in my Tuffpak so at least I had the essentials.

We took a 2 hour flight up to Likuyu and then a cruiser into the hunting area. On arrival in camp we unpacked; not much in my case! Then onto sighting in the rifles. I had brought 2 rifles, a CZ 550 in 416 Rigby and a Sauer 202 in 375 H&H. I couldn’t get the 416 to group at all then Myles noticed the scope was slipping in the rings. Torx screwdriver? In my lost luggage of course. Decided to use the 375.

M’barangandu is 5 million acres of wilderness on the south-west border of the Selous. Our hunting camp was Ligombe, a tented camp over looking the river. It’s a stunningly beautiful area, quite heavily wooded with rolling hills and gullies. There seemed to be abundant water at this time of year which made the hunting challenging, you don’t get the game congregating around available water.

Dave and I both had 2 buffalo each on license so that was our primary species. We saw Elephant practically every day while we were hunting but not much else, the odd small Zebra herd, a few Sable and a good herd of Eland.

The first 2 days involved a heck of a lot of driving and looking for tracks but to no avail though did bump into this Lion while we were out following some tracks. He grunted and then sauntered off.

On the 3rd day we decided to go out further and fly camp so we could spend more time hunting. I was amazed how quickly the camp staff under the leadership of Juma built the fly camp.


We finally cut some fresh tracks and the hunt was on. We followed the tracks down a deep gulley into thick bush and swamp where you only had 3 to 4 yards visibility. This really got the heart pumping, we could smell buffalo everywhere there was fresh dung on the trail. After about an hour of tracking we came up to a clearer area and caught a glimpse of a couple of black shapes. The trackers dropped to their knees and Myles signalled me forward, one bull and a cow, stragglers at the back of the herd. I took the shot and the bull leapt, obviously in trouble. I followed up with 2 more shots and then heard the mournful bellow. The bull was 40 inches, boss unfortunately a bit soft but it was one of those now or never situations.

The next day Dave managed to take a great old Dagga boy after only 5 minutes tracking. We felt we deserved a “Gimme†after the hard hunting we had put in so far!


Day 6 involved a lot of getting stuck in the riverbed, 5 times in fact!


It was worth it though as we saw a wonderful old Dagga boy crossing the river. He was about to disappear into the thick stuff and the shot was long but I took it and it paid off. When we got up to him he stank dreadfully and we could see a large calibre hole on his left shoulder. On opening him up his left lung was full of puss and there was lots of clotted blood in the chest cavity. I can hardly believe that an animal could survive that sort of injury for long but judging by the infection it had happened at least a week before.

Day 7, Dave managed to bag his 2nd buff and it’s smiles and handshakes all round.


It was great to hunt with Myles again, he really puts heart and soul into it and I can’t wait to hunt with him again next year.

Nice report wish I could see pics. Only red x's

Great report... I was wondering how Charlton McCallum were faring in their new Tanzanian concession. What were your prospects for taking other game in the area? Besides the zebra, sable and eland mentioned in your report did you see other huntable species?

Thanks again for your report and nice buff!

Bwanamrm,
There wasn't much plains game to be seen but we saw lion tracks all over the place and a lot of leopard tracks. Myles had hunted leopard there and reckoned they were all over the place "like vermin"!

I wouldn't be suprised to see some good elephant bulls to come out of M'barangandu given the numbers we saw.

Great report - nice trophies.

Ed,

Congrats and especially so for taking that wounded buff out of action. He could have been a problem for someone, if he had managed to live long enough. But you took care of that!

I have hunted all up and down the Mbarangandu and Njenje Rivers, but farther north, inside the SGR. Were you in a Wildlife Management Area, an Open Area or a Game Controlled Area? Is this one where the locals are allowed to lease the hunting rights on their own? That is a fairly new development in Tanz and I am curious about your outfitter's take on it.

I never saw more big game animals anywhere in my life than along the banks of the Mbarangandu. It's truly a remarkable place. But as you say, only if you're willing to spend a fair bit of time digging and jacking out your Toyota from the quicksand!

Again, congrats on your buff!

MR,
I'm not sure what type of area it is though could be Game Controlled area. It's leased to Tanzania Game Trackers though who are a local outfit. The camp was very well run and staff were excellent, better than most places I've been.

It is a really beautiful area though and it was great to see so many elephant every day, almost makes digging the Toyota out worthwhile!
Ed

Mbarangandu Open Area or also known as Mbarangandu Wildlife Management Area is leased to Game Frontiers of Tanzania Ltd.

Great report. Wonderful pics. Cool fly camp. I appreciate the lessons-learned bit about clothes and a torx screwdiver in with the rifle -- wrote that one down.

Thanks.

great report......great trophies and great pics.......many congrats

I'm responsible for having built the camp, back in May 2006. The road network is a problem but I will be grading more roads soon. The game is there. When I surveyed it in Nov 2005, a herd of 300 odd buffalo were on the flood plain exactly where the camp is now. I saw 2 huge lion not to far before the camp, which were sighted again recently but no shot fired.

I hunted it for 21 days in July and really struggled. The rains had left running water everywhere and travelling was difficult. However, I know the game is there and if anyone is looking for a big elephant and is prepared to work hard......I know of a 75lber!! It is truly a wild, hard but exhilerating area to hunt. Neil-PH. Game Frontiers.

Welcome aboard Neil-PH. It is good to see some more experienced Tanzania PH's hanging out here.

I really like the drop and short return on these horns:



How did the Sauer 202 work out?

Edmac- You and Dave got some nice buff. Your second one sure has some character.

I have met Myles, though have never hunted with him. He has impressed me as a really nice and competent guy.

Congrats on your hunt-well done!

John

Nice buff and great report.

500Grains,
The Sauer 202 worked out great. I've had the rifle for about 8 years now and it's never shifted zero.As for the old buff, I'm looking forward to getting pedastal mounted. Wonder what he would have been like in his prime?
cheers
Ed

Edmac,

Sounds like it was a great safari. Cool buff. Good pics. Congratulations.

Brian