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Ouch ! That is terrible. When one thinks of Tanzania one expects better ... Reminded me of a hunt I did one time in the Matetsi. They must have had 30 animals on the trophy list and I think that with a yearly quota of some creatures like zebra (1) and reedbuck (3) many of the animals listed were often something that might have been spotted in previous years ...

Who was your booking agent and outfitter? What do they say about it? Sorry your hunt didn't go as well as you would have liked. You should post some pictures.

I forgot one other thing. The game scout was a major problem. His name was Geoffrey Azinga. If you EVER find this jerk in your camp do your best to have him removed immediately.

When I got there, I could detect there were some tensions. However, I was not sure why. About 3 days into the hunt, Mr Azinga informed us we were guilty of numerous game law violations such as :
>Speeding through a game reserve. The "roads" were bumpy two rut roads.
>Illegally cutting trees in a game reserve (some bushes in the road had been trimmed).
>Being in a game reserve during ilegal hours. Seems he thought we should be back in camp before dark.

I was annoyed but not greatly. At least until we went to get in the leopard blind. I heard him tell the PH that we MUST be back in camp BEFORE dark. This particular blind was 1 hour 45 minutes from camp. He further said it was illegal to hunt any later than 30 minutes BEFORE sunset and any earlier than 30 minutes AFTER sunrise.

This idiot and the PH got into a major conflict. We got in the blind anyway. Once in the blind, I was livid. I told the PH that If I had to limit my lion and leopard hunting to those hours
that I was going home. Well fortunately for me, I shot my leopard at 6PM. Almost and hour and a half before dark.

I was still livid as was the PH. That night they got into a major conflict. Lots of shouting. Frankly, I was scared. Here we are in the middle of no where. Two white guys surrounded by about 20 black guys. It was not fun.

The next morning, my PH called the company headquarters and reported this incident. He further informed them that I was thinking of leaving over this idiot. Danny McCallum contacted the game department. This game scout was delivered a letter of repremand.

He changed his tune completely and was apologetic. However, the PH was very cautious as he felt this guy was just waiting for us to make a mistake.

This did have an effect on my trip. For example, we saw a heard of 24 elephants with a bull that was definitely legal. The bull was about 10 yards inside of our concession. Some of the herd were in the adjoining concession. The PH did not want me to shoot the bull as he was afraid it was going to run into the adjoining concession. He did not know how the game scout would react. This was the ONLY legal bull we saw.

I've heard this one before....

Larry, who was you booking agent??

The booking agent was Adventure Unlimited. I want to be clear that I in no way blame them. In fact, as soon as John got wind of the problems in the Piti area, he was adamant that I was not going. He pressed them HARD for an area change. As bad as this was, Piti would have been far worse. I personally spoke to the people who had hunted there this year.

I called John via satellite phone and told him about Chunya. He was ballistic. He was going to fire off a letter demanding reimbursement for those days. I said no.

There is little doubt that this problem has arisen since last year. I have personally seen the prior year hunt records. Plus, I know a number of people who have hunted this very same place. They are all in shock.

Wow, this sucks.

Bwanamich, I’d be interested if you could expand on your comment. Aside from your passion for the ethics of modern day lion hunting, you seem to champion conservation within the Tanzanian safari industry, lauding the good outfitters and warning against the bad, and the deterioration of hunting areas due to the exploitation by some of the not so good players.

Are these areas (Piti, Chunya, or Lukwati), hunted exclusively by Danny McCallum or ones that are subletted to any number of outfitters looking for a concession to place a client? It would seem like one of major outfitters, who owns their own concessions, would not allow this situation to develop. They pride themselves on maintaining the quality of their areas through limited quotas and aggressive anti-poaching efforts. Our own Adam Clements is a good example. Although he and Mark shamelessly plug their area, for good reason I guess, I doubt that this sad story will ever come out of their Lobo/Lolkisale concessions.

On a different tangent, I wonder, is the “full bag†21day Tanzanian safari a fallacy? Are the rates for these 21day ventures puffed up because of the full bag nature, and because one could potentially take each of the big five or other glamour game, when no appreciable opportunity exists? Would one not be better off booking a specific safari, be it a bull elephant, or a lion. Perhaps there might be a greater element of accountability if you book a lion safari, and see no lion. Larry, did you book this hunt with a particular target in mind? And who was the PH? He sounds like a decent guy.

And finally, while I hunted with my family in the Luangwa Valley last fall, we saw an abundance of game. It was incredible. My father in law commented specifically that on his hunts in Tanzania - successful ones – that they’d travel hours at a time without seeing an animal. I don’t mean to tell you something you don’t already know, Larry, but my guess is that any perception that Tanzania in general is socked with game, would be mistaken.

I feel for your situation. Hopefully you can look back fondly on the good experiences, if $90k worth of them.

Brian

Thanks. A big lion is what I had in mind. Also a big leopard and 3 nice buffalo.

I have been to Tanzania before. I realize it isn't a South African game ranch. But 12-14 hours a day in a truck and at the end of the day you haven't even picked up your binos to look at the animals is a bit much. It was difficult to shoot something even for bait.

The PH was Boetie Bothma. He is outstanding. I very skilled PH with a true concern for the future of the wildlife. Boetie's efforts several years ago resulted in the Lukwati area being turned into a game reserve. Even on this poor hunt, we passed a number of very big buff (perhaps as high as 47") as they were young with soft bosses.

I can't tell you the number of times he made comments like,"This place used to be crawling with impala. Now there are none." Or"I have come to this pool for 15 years. This pool is always full of hippo. Where have they gone. There are none."

Larry,
Your experience scares the s##t out of me. You did your homework and booked with guys who have great reputations. I'm sorry it turned out the way it did, and there's a lesson in it for all of us. Even the most fortunate among us get damn few chances at a 21-day safari, it's a crying shame yours worked out the way it did.

Bwanamich, I'd like to hear you expand on your comment as well.

Forrest

I know Danny reasonably well to say that he is one of the better outfitters in Tanzania.

I might be biased in my comments and therefore prefer to abstain.

Has Mr Shores expressed his above views to Danny directly? He may then get hopefully the explanations he seeks.

Brian,

I believe Danny does own and hunt his areas exclusively but may have leased a safari to a few exceptions to those who he knows share the same principles of hunting as he does - Mr Bothma being one of them I suppose.

I further believe that Mr Bothma hunted those areas quite extensively before and after Danny MCallum took them over and he claimed they used to be great areas. It appears from the comments that the "dissapearance" of game happened in a very short period (1 or 2 years). There are only a few plausible reasons I can think of for this which i will keep to myself. Hopefully Danny will get in touch with Mr Shores.

The full bag 21 day hunt in Tanzania is indeed mis-leading IMO. While your 21 day license may allow a considerable number of animals to be taken, field conditions and geographical distribution of the game will dictate how much you will be able to harvest. Amongst some of the species one get's on licnese there are at least a half dozen or more that are predominantly nocturnal and hence rarely harvested. Then there is the very important factor of hunters' ability, time of year aka weather conditions, the goddess Diana, etc. I have known of one hunter taking over 30 head of game in 21 days and another hunting the same area shortly after taking a dozen or so. How do you explain that?

As you say, one would be better off to prioritise his key species in such a way that those become the focus of the planning of the hunt and the hunt itelf. Most areas will offer a good opportunity (by good I mean at least 50% chance of seeing the key species one is after) at 6-8 of the most commonly sought after animals such as cats, buffalo, sable, roan, kudu, eland, plus the usual variety of plains game like zebra, hartebeest, topi, impala, warthog, etc. IMO, one should priorities these and have realistic expectations that he may be successful in achieving half of his priorities; If both cats are high on the priority then priority list should be wittled down to those two with everything else being chance opportunities. Gone are the days where taking both cats on 21 days are a certainty.

Finally, all areas are different at different times of the year and there are some with abundance of game and some with less - and even the ones with abundance of game do not necessarily mean you see them all the time They are there though....

Happy hunting!

I most definitely made comments about the poaching and the Chunya areas directly to Danny.

I am not seeking any explanation or compensation. FYI, I am writing a lengthy letter to the Hunting Report and I intend to send a copy to Danny. I personally like Danny and have the utmost respect for him. However, that does not change my safari.


I simply want to make certain that people considering making a trip such as this do their home work. What was great two years ago or even last year might be an expensive lesson in futility this year.

Although I might have done fairly well all factors considered, the results do not tell the entire story. For example,I would not have gotten a haartebeest except for a single snapshot at about 270 yards through brush. I would not have gotten a trophy buffalo except for a single snap shot at about 220 yards at almost dark. The magnificent kudu I took was the ONLY bull seen. It was shot while running up the side of a mountain at extreme distance.

I'm sorry to read about your experience, but thanks for a candid hunting report.

I hunted the Lukwati area about 10-12 years ago when Safari Royal had it. Alot of Buffalo, but other game was there, but not abundant. Some poaching and alot of tree cutting.The plane that came to get me at the end of the safari crashed on landing. Is it still there? Thanks

I didn't see it. They have at least 3 landing strips now. I did not see them all.

Sorry to hear! Hope you can turn it into something positive later..
Booking sure is a scary thing, and I`m frighten and happy at the same time when doing so.. It does scarce me though that it might be unsuccessful even if excellent homework is done..

Damn, I just got off the phone with my two buddies who are leaving to hunt the Lukwati this Sunday with two excellent PH's ... Gerard Miller and Mike Fell of McCallum Safaris. I just couldn't bring myself to tell them about this post, they are so excited right now. I don't know what good it would do at this point. They are on a ten day buff hunt though, not after the cats, and we have hunted with Gerard before and he is as good as they come. So maybe they will have a very different ending... I can and do hope!

Larry, I am sorry about your trip but thank you for posting this report. That is what the Hunt Report section is about... informing us without hype about what to and not to expect with an outfitter in a particular area. I, like the other posters, always have an empty feeling in the pit of my stomach when I read about a hunt like this that overpromises and underdelivers.

I had the pleasure of flying on the charter plane with Gerard. He is a real character and an excellent PH. He really doesn't care much for flying.

I am certain they will take buffalo. The big herds are difficult. Too many eyes, ears and noses. Things might improve considerably as we burned thousands of acres that had not been burned previously. As soon as that starts to green up, I would think the critters would flock to it.

Most of the really bug bulls we saw had soft bosses. However we did see some that were large that were either in the middle of the herd or just across the concession boundary.

I hunted Lukwati in 1999 and 2000. Game was plentiful and although I didn't kill a lion Bootie Bothma's client killed a snorter. We saw lots of buffalo and other plains game. I don't believe there was a day that we did not see more than one sable. My son and I both took sable and both sons killed buffalo. I am so sorry that this area has apparently declined so much. I am a bit confused about the drought in that Lukwati had lots of surface water and of course borders Lake Rukwa and the Rungwa River. I have been told that the drier it got the better the hunting was because animals were drawn into the area because of surface water. I am so sorry about your hunt. It is sad to think that this beautiful has declined so much in such a short time. Mufasa

Sorry to hear about this expensive disaster. One thing that separates the good outfitters from the not-so-good is that the good ones will know their concession and if the game is not there to support the kind of hunt the client is paying for, the outfitter will either move the hunt or cancel it rather than charging a client for a disappointing disaster.