After getting several requests for a full story on this safari, I asked my client Dr. Bliznak if he would write up a report. He is writing his full story for the SCI magazine, but here is a brief summary report on his safari with his words. I am simply copying and pasteing his report as he sent it to me and adding the pictures. Hope you enjoy it.

Masailand Adventure
By Johnny Bliznak, M.D.

Outfitter: Adam Clements Safari Trackers & Tanzania Bundu Safaris
Area: Lolkisale & Lobo
PH: Brian van Blerk

A second lion has been a priority of mine since I had gotten my first and only lion in Mozambique in 1996. During the SCI convention of 2006 I chose Adam Clements Safari Trackers and booked his first opening which was August 14- September 3, 2009. Brian van Blerk would be my PH.

I worked loads up for my two Kenny Jarrett rifles which I decided to take One is a .416 Rigby based on a Weatherby Mark V action.

My second rifle was a .300 Jarrett, built on a Remington 700 action.

I took my son John, who had recently joined our radiology group in Abilene, Texas, though he had to leave 10 days into the hunt.

Camp consisted of 3 client tents, 2 PH tents, a stone dining and bar building with thatched roof, a kitchen building, and huts for camp staff, including skinners and trackers. Water had to be trucked in daily, and diesel fuel as necessary. We drank bottled water, “from the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro.” Our tents, with concrete slab floors, had hot and cold running water, and the generators were turned on for a brief period of time in the early morning and after sunset. The chef prepared outstanding evening entries of beef, wild game, chicken, or pork, with fresh vegetables and fruit, and desert. I have never seen or hunted from such a luxury camp and commend everyone for such great service.

My tent
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Bar & dinning area (Lobo)
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Lolkisale
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Lolkisale
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Trophy care was outstanding
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Fittingly, the first animal I shot on the first morning, was a Thompson gazelle, shot with the .300 off the sticks at 170 yards. This was followed by a zebra shot with the .416 from 50 yards, a Bohor Reedbuck shot with the .300 from 160 yards, and black back jackal from 40 yards with a .416 solid. We then put up a lion bait, using the front half of the zebra.

14" Thompson Gazelle
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(2nd day) morning we arrived at the lion bait at 6:40 AM. Brian and the trackers got out of the truck first. I was in the process of getting out of the truck when their conversation became very animated and loud. Brian grabbed the shooting sticks and said to get ready to shoot as there was a good lion leaving the premises. My heart rate immediately went up 20 beats per minute. While adrenaline is quite helpful in getting one ready for a quick “fight or flight” response, it does not necessarily improve one’s physical efficiency and performance. Having just had an adrenaline jolt and not being psychologically ready, I got out of the vehicle with my .416, tried to get my hearing protection in place and in the process knocked off my hat and glasses. I could do without my hat, but not my glasses, which I retrieved from the dirt. I jacked a soft point round into the chamber, put the rifle on safety, and placed the rifle on the sticks, with several seconds needed for proper adjustment. I could see the lion across a ravine between clumps of brush as he trotted up the hill, quartering away. After releasing the safety, I managed to get a soft point into his right hemi abdomen which angled into his left shoulder, causing him to run up and over the ridge. All of this happened in about 15 seconds. We had to negotiate the ravine and then run up the hill, at which point we saw the lion down on his abdomen with his head straight down, nose in the dirt. He was breathing, but didn’t attempt to get away. A finishing round was placed behind the shoulder. At this time I got my first good look at him. I was stunned! This was the lion I had been looking for all these years. This was the lion of a lifetime! It was a big beautiful full black-maned lion. If I could draw a picture of the lion I would have wanted, it would look just like him. We took over a hundred pictures. I thought about the lion all day, had an extra sundowner or two that night and spent a restless night alternatively sleeping and thinking about him.

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We had been trying to get upon a certain lesser kudu for days, but he always outwitted us by slowly drifting further and further away from us as we approached. Brian is very persistent and would go by the kudu’s territory periodically. Sometimes we would see him and sometimes we wouldn’t. Brian’s philosophy is: “Sooner or later the animal will make a mistake.” This particular day, the kudu pulled his old “I’m going to slowly get away from you” routine, which seemed to be the universal African animal modus operandi. However, for some inexplicable reason, as we continued following him, he suddenly appeared much closer in the thick brush. Brian and I could see from his travel path that he would appear in a small opening between two big bushes. With my heart pounding, I got set up on the sticks and waited for him to appear at the distance of 50 yards. I pulled the 24 ounce trigger on my .300 Jarrett, and he was mine! It was a beautiful creature.

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A younger male Lesser Kudu
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We encountered a small herd of buffalo with one which was a “shooter”. I got two frontal shots with the .416 from at about 150 yards with bullets striking muscle tissue of his left shoulder and right side of his neck. What poor shooting! The buffalo ran and joined the other animals again. We stalked the herd through very thick brush and scrubs, catching glimpses of an occasional animal. Brian was able to pick out our guy by his horn configuration, confirmed by seeing blood on his neck. This time he was broadside at 80 yards. I set up the sticks and was able to shoot him through both shoulders, knocking him flat, killing him instantly. Later examination determined that the 350 grain Barnes TSX bullet had broken both shoulders and had exited. We got back into the Land Cruiser to get to the fallen animal. He had a broken horned buddy which was also bellowing at us, standing about 20 yards from his fallen pal, giving us looks which indicated that he did not consider us his friends. For about 10 minutes he looked as if he might charge. He finally moved away slowly, always keeping his eyes on us. We were able to field dress the animal and load the very heavy halves into the Land Cruiser without further incident, with “broken horn” looking on.



August 22, I got up at 4:30 AM and we headed out for the leopard blind without breakfast. Brian had informed me the evening before that the Land Cruiser would let us out about a half mile from the blind, and we would walk down the sandy river bed adjacent to our blind using a green flashlight, which cats allegedly can’t see. He also would carry his .416 Remington. The last hundred yards would be traveled without shoes, in bare or sock feet. I protested that I didn’t want to get a thorn in my foot, since thorns seemed to be everywhere. Brian won the argument. We did as he indicated and made it into the blind thorn-free. At 6:40 AM, we saw the female leopard get on the limb and start eating. She kept looking to the ground, and we were hopeful that the male would join her. After about 10 minutes she suddenly became momentarily rigid and jumped from the limb to the ground where she growled with that continuous low pitch low volume guttural sound. Immediately 3 lionesses climbed single file up the tree to the bait, with the lead female wearing a radio collar. I then became aware of other lions on the ground. There was a male lion looking straight at me from 25 yards. I counted 7 lions. Brian later said that he knows the pride with the radio-collared female, and it is made up of 15 lions. With nothing between Brian and me and the lions but a flimsy grass leopard blind, I was thinking, “What am I doing here?” I felt about as uncomfortable as a pagan at a church service. Looking eye to eye at a lion at 25 yards with no substantial protection during feeding time for the pride does not create a sense of security. I am sure my State Farm life insurance agent would have wanted better protection for me. Even though Brian said later that he was not worried, I did notice that he occasionally would fondle his .416. After several minutes of this, Brian quietly called the trackers to come with the truck to pick us up. When the lions heard the truck they quickly jumped off the tree limb and the others in the grass scattered, though once we got in the truck we could occasionally see a lion in the grass during the few minutes we lingered before leaving the scene.

two Lioness up on the leopard bait
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Wednesday, August 26: We reached the blind at 5:30 AM. This time the truck let us off at the blind, but stopped for only 1-2 seconds so any leopards would not notice that the truck had momentarily stopped. No leopard was seen that morning, though tracks from the previous night were present. For the afternoon hunt we got to the blind slightly early to replenish the meat and and got into the blind about 4:15 PM. A big beautiful male leopard showed up at 5:50 PM, then sprang up the tree onto the limb. While he was standing broadside on the limb surveying his surroundings, Brian said “Take him.” With Brian’s set-up, one would have to have severe Parkinson’s disease to miss the leopard from the 50 yard distance. I fired one shot and he jumped off the limb into the bush. He was found dead 25 yards from the bait tree. After taking multiple pictures in various poses, the leopard blind was dismantled, as had been the previous leopard blinds, and we headed back to camp.

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Before the shot
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At the shot
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Here are other great trophies I took during the 15 days I was hunting along with some beautiful animal pictures. I could have stayed for the full 21 days and taken another buffalo and oryx, as we saw plenty of them, but decided to go home early and cherish the perfect safari.

29" White Bearded Wildebeest.
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Hyena
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26" Grants Gazelle
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26" Impala
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3 1/2" Dik Dik
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Many Elephants in the area, and we saw lots of elephants on a daily basis.
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Masai showing us their blood & milk ritual.
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Of course one can not tell a story and not remember the beautiful sunsets that only Africa can create.
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Great report! And wonderful pictures to boot!

Sounds like a dream trip.

Outstanding!!!! Congratulations to all!!

Brett

What a fantastic safari!! Outstanding trophies, but that lion.....WOW!!!!

Regards,
Scott

It's hard to imagine that you could have a better safari than that.

Congratulations!

Great hunt wonderful trophy’s congratulations!

Those are some outstanding trophies Adam. Please convey hardy congrats to the good Doctor.
Cheers,
David

The stuff that dreams are created from. What a hunt.

Ridiculous! Those trophies are incredible, simply incredible. That lion is better the I could even dream about, and then the Buffalo and leapard and lesser kudu....

Thanks for sharing.

Wow!!!!!!
Jeff

Wow! Adam you really outdid yourself!This gentleman really did have the safari of a lifetime.

Thanks guys, and will pass along the comments to Dr. Bliznak as he is still over the moon about his safari.

Sevexbjt - thanks and we work hard for every client, but have to give the credit to Brian van Blerk who always produces 200% for each cleint which makes my work easier. So far Brian is 100% on cats for the season and is just completing his 4th 21-day safari and again got a great Lion , Leopard and 45" Buffalo for the client who is in camp now, not to mention all the plains game.

Too bad all of our clients this year in Tanzania are all non AR members or you would be seeing a lot more reports like this one.

Great hunt and what a lion. Adam, thanks for sharing.

Terrific hunt! The pictures are outstanding.

Very nice Adam and congrats to all for a wonderful safari and for sharing with us.

Great report and great trophies! Well done.

What a fantastic hunt! Congratulations

I was going to buy a hunt like this last year, but Walmart was out of them. I guess I should have tried Costco.

Congratulations Dr. Bliznak! What a marvelous hunt!

Great trophies, great safari and a first class operation. Way to go Adam!

Outstanding! Congratulations to the Doctor!

Excellent hunt and fantastic trophies. That lion is remrkable. Congratulations to all.

Outstanding! Well done to all. Will keep this PH in mind for a future hunt Jim

WOW! That was awesome! What an incredible hunt! I can only dream of something like that!

Congratulations... fantastic safari and great photos !!!
Andy

GREAT REPORT!!!!!!!!

Beautiful Lion!!

WOW!

congratulations to the Dr.

Tim

Congrats!!!

One of the best reports ever...with awesome pics. Congratulations !!!

Somehow i missed that Post.
Wonderful Trophys and Great Safari but this Lion is incredible


Seloushunter

What an amazing hunt! Thank you for the outstanding report and photos.

You DID have too much fun! Yahoo!

What a HUNT!!!!!!!!

Incredible

quote:

One is a .416 Rigby based on a Weatherby Mark V action.

I bet that would be one of the very few 416 Rigbys on a Wby Mark V action.

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great Hunt Report, one of my favorites, lately!

And that my friends is the way one spends 100K on a safari!

That looks wonderful!

Where did the good Doctor shoot the cats? Lokisale or Lobo?

I can't wait to see the place myself!

What a hunt!! Thanks for sharing..

This was the DREAM safari come true... Great photos and report.

Regards, D. Nelson