I am posting this story on behalf of Guillaume who hunted Buffalo with Pierré van Tonder in 2015 and wrote this wonderful hunt report for publication in French.
We thought it was worth sharing it to a wider audience, so please forgive the English approximations and enjoy!

Outfitter and PH: Pierré van Tonder
Where: Selous, Tanzania
Dates: July 2015





And my father kept his word…


Once upon a time…. in our Pas de Calais countryside, in the North of France, as I had been listening again to one of my father’s numerous hunting stories as an African PH, with awe as always and for the hundredth time, … he just told me “One day, I will bring you to Africa to shoot a buffalo”…. I was 14.

Ten years later, i met my PH, Pierré Van Tonder, at the Salon de la chasse de Rambouillet, a yearly hunting show in France. On the booth was Pascale who hunts with him and represents him in France. We get to know each other amongst the African animal skins and wonderful hunting pictures, sipping glasses of Amarula, the South African “elephant fruit” liquor. Feel the atmosphere… Quite a foretaste of the Selous, where my dad and I were to meet Pierré again, 4 months later, on a landing strip lost somewhere on the other side of the world, surrounded by leopards, lions, hippos, buffalos, hyenas and the other wonders of the Tanzania bush!

As we boarded the first Ethiopian Airways flight to Addis Abeba, my father warned me – “Hunting in Africa is a devil drug. When we come back, there will only one desire in you left in you: to hunt there again!“.

After a 3-h stop in Addis Abeba, we finally landed in Tanzania. As we went out of the airport, the warm air smelling of adventure enveloped us and we took our first steps on this land of desire.….

In Dar es Salaam, we discovered the intensity of the city, where hundreds of cars create never ending traffic jams… My father was very surprised by the changes in the city since his last visit, twenty years ago. In the scramble, we made our way to the hotel on the sea front at the other side of the town.

Once at the hotel, we took a few moments to relax after that long plane journey. We lazed at the swimming pool, drinking gin tonics with cashews… a welcome rest to get ready for the big adventure coming ahead on the next day.
This was just a dream made true…

---

On the same soil on which i have walked only for a few hours… somewhere in the wild bush… there is a buffalo waiting for me. I don’t exactly know yet how our paths will cross for the first and last times of our lives… but I know, I can feel that it is going to happen!

Dad, my dad is back to his Africa. The Swahili language that had not left his heart since his last safari here may be a little rusty but it is coming back to him little by little. He has started chatting and joking with the hotel staff in their own language…the locals are still the same, and still enjoy and laugh as before to my father’s light jokes. However, his white hair have won him the very respectful nick name of « Babu », the Wise Elder. When evening comes, Babu invites me outside the regular tourist routes and we go dining under the stars for succulent lobsters in the deep authentic Dar.

Immersion

On the next morning, we get in a small charter plane at the Airport, to reach and land in the Heart of Selous. The flights lasts 1h30, over infinite and wild lands… all of a sudden, we spot a sandy landing strip, perpendicular to the wide splendid river where dozens of hippos bath.




Here is Pierré, as promised, with his trackers waiting for us! They greet us with a sincere joy that we share. The plane takes off and disappears on the horizon… that’s it! We are in!! we take place in the 4x4 cars, which are especially equipped for hunting… the 30 min drive to camp starts. It is only about 12 but it is already quite hot. Animals start to hide in the shade. We don’t see any on the road, except for one dead hippo that has already been half eaten by lions, and is lying in a dry river bed.

We are welcomed by the other staff at the arrival in camp. The car is parked in front of the “mess” (restaurant and office!), a wood and thatched roof structure, without walls… and we can see the beautiful and wide river from there. The river runs from East to West about 15 m down the camp. An ideal observation spot to spy on all its inhabitants: hippos, crocodiles, antelopes coming to drink at dusk.



The tents are set around the Mess, all facing the river. Huge military tents, insect-proof from floor to ceiling, with real beds and a real bathroom in the rear… under a thatch cover with shower, sink and WC. A very unexpected level of comfort there in the very wild of the very deep bush, which will prove unvaluable after long days of stalking game.

We unpack our bags, get a little rest and have lunch with our guide.
The table is set under a big tree… my feet in the sand, I fill my eyes with the hippos’ clusters who are lazily bathing in the river. I listen to the bush with all the new bird songs and find it difficult to realise that I was in a city jungle only 3 hours ago… There is no car here… except for ours. There is no houses here except for our tents, and no men, except us !

Pierré rises me from my thoughts by suggesting to go out before sunset. Here is the start to serious business: we climb in the car, with our two trackers, the driver and the Game Scout who will be with us anytime we wander outside the camp. We stop a few hundred meters away at the “shooting range” as I have to be introduced to Pascale’s beautiful BRIANO rifle that she had left on camp for my use.

We set a target at 50 m – that’s the distance we expect to shoot the buffalo. I am trying to see him there, so close… How big will he be? Quite difficult to say as I never saw any. The 375HH thunders. Spot on, right in the middle! I feel reinsured, and i guess so does Pierré.



We go back into the car and look for something to hunt. The hunting territory is immense, around 200 000 ha, with hills, plains, forests… and it is just where my father guided his first safaris 45 years ago. That makes the whole journey even more moving and touching. We drive on the labyrinths of sand roads that map the territory, with no maps at hands… turning left, then right, sometimes going out of the tracks, inspired by intuition and instincts… our Guide and the trackers are looking for something to hunt, a coloured suspect spot in the landscape, tracks... My dad and I are comfortably seated in the back of the car and try to participate to that delicate exercise. We go from one hill to the other, cross varied landscapes, sometimes dry, sometimes dusty, sometimes wet and green… all of a sudden, Pierré knocks on the car roof to make the driver stop, grabs his binoculars and looks… “Impalas”. I also take my binoculars and imitate my guide. About 100 m away, I watch my first impalas, neck and ears outstretched towards us, obviously surprised to see that huge beast on 4 wheels that is moving inside. We are too close to try to stalk them. They run away after a few moments and cross the track right in front of us. A beautiful male closes the herd. “Look at him, says Pierré. It is an Impala like that one that you must shoot”.


Night is coming, and the Selous animals are all starting to get out of their hiding places. Monkeys’ silhouettes stand out at tree tops against the dark blue sky, birds of prey glide above the river, and I can easily imagine lions, leopards and hyenas wandering like ghosts in the darkness around our car.
The twinkling lights of the camp welcome us, and we gather around a nice fire, comfortably seated in chairs, here comes the nicest part of the day with a gin tonic at hand. With the fire crackling, come the beautiful and unbelievalle hunting stories with the soothing sound of the wilderness and hippo songs, and the billions stars watching us from the heavenly vault. A wonder that will repeat itself every day from now on.

We enjoy a candlelight diner, on a superbly set table and hosted by Pierré, a vigilant host who knows his South African wines. The camp cook enchanted us every day with delicious and always varied gourmet meals, using the game I took.
We go to sleep in our tents, still listening to the sweet bush lullaby. I am full of hope and excited for tomorrow.



First emotions

We are up at sunrise and get our breakfast in the Mess. The sun sets majestically over the river. Our trackers and game scout are ready at the car, and we leave to investigate the vast territory.



The temperature is still fresh and the bush is waking up. Young impalas on the left, a warthog mother with her two little ones on the right, we spot many animals, but no trophy yet. Two hours later, the car stops. Dominic, the driver, stopped for buffalo tracks. We get off to conduct an inspection. Some fresh dung and hundreds of hooves tracks: the herd has been walking here less than an hour ago. Pierré suggests to take the tracks.

Action ! the trackers take their tracking stick, and the shooting sticks that will help to balance the rifle; food and water bags, and the rifles are taken out of their stands. Pierré has his double express 450. Nitro Express to stop a charge if needed; I take mine and the game scout his.

When everybody is ready, we start tracking. We follow M’Bedjani, with his pearced ears, who walks in front and shows us any signs he uses to distinguish the path. The biotope is clear and dry.



We spot the buffaloes after about half an hour, 150 m in front of us in a clear prairie with high grass. Pierré spots a termite mound at 100 m, the ideal spot to try a shot. We continue to walk forward, crouching low and hiding behind anything that can help us hiding from the herd – be it a small tree or a bunch of high grass. The wind is right, all seems to be going perfectly. We crawl on the last meters until we reach the top of the termite mound, hidden behind thick bushes.



The buffaloes are there, right in front of us, about sixty of them laying down in the grass, and mooing loudly. Their black horns shine in the sun. Between amazement and fear, the emotion is rising a (big) notch up at this sight! Pierre is on his binoculars and looks for a nice buffalo. There he is, right in the middle of the herd. He tries to show him to me “can you see that tree with the white trunk? It cuts a buffalo in hald, it’s a female, just right to her there is a buffalo lying with his head to the left, can you see him? That’s him!”… he puts the shooting sticks in front of me, I get into position, trying to get comfortable in these thick bushes… in the mean time, the old buffalo has moved and is now lying behind a younger buffalo, only his head showing. Pierré then asls me I, English “can you shoot him in the ear?”.. to which I answer “Now?”… but he understands “No” (my French accent!) so he lets go with that risky strategy… That is how I realised that a little bit of emotion does not go well with my English skills! We wait until the buffalo gets up or the young buffalo in front of him goes away. Five, 10, 15 minutes pass and the buffaloes are still very quiet, unlike my heart which is getting more and more excited. About half an hour into waiting, we can feel the wind on our necks… Pierré makes a face… in the next moment, all the buffaloes get up together and disappear in a very impressive roar!

I am curiously relieved by this ending… all the tension from the last 30 minutes is now off. My legs are numb, we have been crounching all the time and at last I can get up… Pierré stops me with a hand on my shoulder. He says in a very quiet voice “ Guillaume, just wait a little bit before you get up, there is a snake just behind your feet”. Theoretically, this should have made me jump and run to the horizon, but I am still tense from all the emotions of the close buffalo encounter and all my flying away reflexes must have been inhibited! I hear Pierré and the trackers behind me, without really knowing what they are doing… I can feel their sticks close to my soles… the snake must have been pretty close! They catch and kill it and let me go free. Pierré is holding a big Gabon viper, a poisonous but lazy species which was quietly sleeping on the termite mount, and which we must have passed when we crawled without waking it up.



We follow the tracks again, not impressed by this unplanned episode! We meet with the buffaloes a few hundred meters from there in a large clearing lined by small trees. Pierré goes on his belly and starts crawling. I imitate him but watching carefully where to put my hands: I would not want to bother another viper! We crawl for about 100 m and again the wind turns against us and the buffaloes smell us and run away!

We use that new pause to stop and drink, we have been after buffaloes for more than two hours and the sun is now on zenith. Walking again, we are now going into a wet plain with a very dense and high vegetation. The buffaloes’track is quite easy to see this time: wide lanes of flattened grass cross the otherwise impenetrable grass; and converge to a dark forest. Pierré is not very optimistic: wind tends to swirl in these forests and often quickly gives the hunters away to buffalo. I can feel that the end is close. My heart is beating to reflect the emotion appropriate to these circumstances. We follow the tracks, still of a closely walking herd, and we find the buffaloes again after 1 or 2 km. The black bodies can be discerned through foliage. The buffaloes are standing, and wary : we must act quickly if we want to avoid disappointment. We go another 50 m closer, and once more, a wind swirl betrays us. A flying stompede starts, but this time they are going perpendicular to us. Pierré puts the stick in front of me, where an opening between bushes offers a shooting window. The animals start going through, and Pierré tells me “cow, calf, cow, another cow, careful here comes the male, he’s coming, yes it’s the second, shoot”!
‘BOOM’!!
I shoot the second, focused on the vital zone, behind the shoulder. The trackers celebrate: he got the shot! Pierré asks me which one I shot. What does he mean, which one ? the second of course ! “are you sure?” … I am an architect and my reasoning is in planes, I shot the one that was in the back plane… the bigger male was the second one… on the right in the first plane! But before I can explain the confusion, comes a long, deep and powerful bellow from a few dozen meters. A gut wrenching death cry. The buffalo was mortally wounded and is living his last moments very close. We find him under a small tree, lying on his side, but not dead yet. I shoot him between the shoulder blades to deliver him.
« BOOM».
Under the immense canopy, the gunshot echoes for a few seconds to celebrate the tragic and marvellous end to a 4-hour tracking. Four hours of efforts, emotions, doubts, hopes, excitations, fear and so many other feelings which mix to make an explosive cocktail. Four hours which will have taught a lot to me about myself!

Pierré pats me on the shoulder, my dad congratulates me and he looks as happy as me about this beautiful hunt.



The buffalo may not have been the nicest of the two, but he has magnificent Caffer horns with a shape curling back inside. I kneel in front of him to admire him and touch him, at last, that buffalo that my father had promised me.

The men are happy for me and conniving, they open a track for the 4x4 with their pangas and bring the 4x4 back so we can load the buffalo.

A triumphal return to camp where we have a late lunch ensues. We live every minute again with the help of a few well-earned whiskies. I am in heaven, fulfilled by this unbelievable experience… and it is only the first day of the safari! Will every day be so intense?


Self Control

On the next day, we drive along a huge plain that has not been burnt yet, and is still covered with grass. The vegetation is taller than me and we are told that animals like to hide in there during the day. We stop for a binocular scan, standing on top of the car. The Masai tracker M’Bedjani climbs over a termite mount, and, without binoculars, spots something “Nyati”! Buffalo! Our peace of mind had not lasted for long! We look into the direction he is showing us with our binoculars, it seems so obvious to him. A minute later, we see a horn that sticks out of the sea of vegetation, denser than a field of corn. Pierré climbs down the car, takeshis rifle and tells me “let’s go and have a look”, in cold blood, on the same tone he would say “let’s go and have lunch”…



My father is trying to hide his worries, and tells him “I promised his mother that I will bring him back in one piece!”, which does make me feel somewhat comforted. We start approaching the buffalos, rifles full, and go into that typically African green maze. After 10 m, Pierré turns back to me and says “Be ready to shoot if something runs at you!”. I remember that this is precisely when I started to think “oh my God, what am I doing here??” … a question that I answered to myself.. “oh well, the guide knows hat he is doing”… following Pierré in these 2 m high grass, I start to imagine all sorts of unexpected encounters, like a furious male hippo that didn’t like to be awaken from his siesta.


I am ready, on the lookout for any suspicious move, when a big noise explodes a few meters on our left: two buffaloes suddenly spring up and run, luckily in the opposite direction to us, and flatten everything under theirs steps. We spot them in a clearing, two males with a really good one: that is the one I must shoot! We wait for a few moments and start walking towards them again, until we reach about 50 m from the herd they have joined. The animals are now lying on the border of the grass plain, in the shadow of a few bushes. We reach a viper-free termite mount, the shooting stick is in place, I get ready to shoot. For 25 minutes, kneeling under thick bushes, we continue to observe the big male which head sticks out of the grass. The younger male is still with him and obstructs any shot. Looks like they have been talking about it!



Again that moment is so intense that it feels like my heart will give up ! And finally the wind turns. “Shit”, a painfully concealed whisper from Pierré. Instantaneously, the buffalos smell us and fly in a cloud of dust. We start walking again, following their tracks to a forest, just like yesterday. However, the buffalos play it clever this time, and they have split in small groups which turn around us. We are 100 m ahead of them and never see them. After an hour, we cannot make up the new tracks from the previous ones which are all mixed up and we agree to stop that track. Well that was a beautiful hunt!



It is lunch time now, Pierré brings us for lunch a few km from here, in a very dense and luxuriant zone, that looks like a tropical jungle. Such a wonderful and fresh place that my father will nickname “Paradise”. After the picnic, we take a nap in the hamocs set between trees, welcoming a rest in the hotter hours of the day. Life is tough.



We got close to Nyassaland wildebeest in the afternoon, very nice animals but extremely wary, as well as a few impalas, but we cannot conclude.

Back to camp in the evening, the now traditional symphonic concert lead by the hippos is enriched by the laughing cries of hyenas, who probably come close to investigate that fresh meat smell from yesterday’s buffalo. Feel the mood…….


Daggaboy!

The next day at breakfast, the camp manager comes to tell us his story : as he went to another place of the block, where he sometimes gets phone signal, he met a Daggaboy! An old solitary buffalo, Dagga means “mud” in Swahili. These old solitary buffaloes lie to spend time in the mud to protect themselves from parasites. We decide to try to go meet him, if we are lucky we may just see him again!


About an hour after we left camp, we meet a small hartebeest herd grazing in a clearing. A good male is there and we start stalking him on foot. We are silently walking after them, taking advantage of the dusty animal passages on the ground.

When we are about 60 m from them, Pierré sets the sticks and I put my rifle in position.
Unfortunately, that is when the hartebeest smell us and fly away jumping like kangaroos. They stop about 30 m further, looking around to identify the danger. Our male is standing behind a small tree, and his body is hidden y the foliage.



We must be quick, they are on the alert and will go at the first suspicion. I am aiming at him, asking Pierré “Which side is the head?”. “To the left!” I put the cross just behind the left shoulder and fire. The hartebeest falls on the spot, stricken down by the bullet! What an outburst of joy! After the photo ceremony, we load the animal in the car and go back to camp to have him skinned and prepared.



We go back on the Daggaboy road, and again meet an interesting trophy : a nice impala with a few females and a young male. The have seen the car and are moving away, but Pierré decides tro give it a try. We are in a clear part of the block, slightly hilly with sparse vegetation.

We go for a very nice stalking, the tracker in front anticipating the animals’ movements. We find them again a few hundred meters away, under the shadow of an isolated tree. They are very calm, as if they were waiting for us. The wind is good, Pierré takes me closer, about 50 m from them. We walk cautiously, only when they don’t look in our direction. Pierré sets the stick for me, I am immediately ready, he asks “Can you see the nice male?”, “Yes”, “Shoot him!”. “Pang!” . Here goes the beautiful impala down, stricken with one bullet like the hartebeest. It is only 10.30, that is looking like a real good day!



Again we go back to camp to deliver our booty, and this time we head towards the objective for good. We stop on the way for lunch, and finally reach a hill after a long road. The view is stunning. We are above a huge green plain, which goes through to the horizon, and which ends with the gracious and imposing outline of a mountain range in the far far back. A silvery river weaves in this landscape of the Origins. This is grass savannah and they say there is an old solitary buffalo in there, who doesn’t live with his peers anymore… how will we find him in that immensity?



We drive the hill and along the river, up to the spot where the buffalo was seen yesterday. We cautiously inspect the whole plain with our binoculars. Still no signs of a daggaboy after 15 minutes. As we were reasonably prepared to that conclusion, we get ready to give up… until one of our trackers, on a termite mount as usal, gives the alert: “Nyati”!! A dark mass is going towards the water, about 200 m from us. Like a gift from the sky. Pierré looks at me, with a conniving smile which must have meant … “that is why your dad brought you here”.

We don’t lose time and run down the hill until we are close to the river where we can hide behind reed bushes. We have to walk fast, the buffalo has only come to get some fresh water and will soon go back and hide in the grass. The Buffalo Special Emotion Cocktail is back. But this time even stronger that the first two times! I can hear my heart beat in my ears. Without giving up to emotion, I focus on the approach and what I will have to do at the decisive instant. “Don’t forget to reload”, says-I to myself.

My father is following us close and takes pictures to immortalize that big instant. Our tracker is carefully walking towards the buffalo, turning around reeds from the right or the left… He finally stops, looking towards the car where we left another tracker and the driver, who is also a tracker. They sign-language him that the buffalo is still there. That’s it. Another last reed bush, and the buffalo is here, 50 m from us. He is already going out of the water, and just reaching a small sandy beach in front of the reeds.

Pierré quickly sets the stick, I install and shoulder the rifle and aim behind the shoulder. “Shoot!”
“Bang”, the buffalo takes the bullet but doesn’t move an inch.
« Again ! » shoots Pierré.
« Bang !» the buffalo collapses at the water adge, but immediately gets up.
« Again ! »
« Bang ! » the third bullet goes between the legs when i am reloading my rifle. Emotion!
« Bang ! », again the buffalo collapses, but again he gets up. This time he has seen us, and he is furious, he starts to charge!
Pierré tells me very calmly. « Guillaume, he is coming ! again ! »
The buffalo is now facing us. I aim at the base of the neck.
« Bang ! », the buffalo falls for good, 40 m from us.

When i want to reload again, i realise my magazine is empty. The buffalo lays on his side, his back to us. Pierré leads me close to give him the last bullet. I am a bit petrified and every bullet I take out of the holder falls in the sand! Somehow I finally manage to load one, and go close to the buffalo with the guide. He shows me with his finger where I must shoot, between the shoulder blades. “Bang!”. This time the buffalo dies.



That extreme tension of the last seconds transforms into intense and contagious euphoria. Embrasses, kisses and laughs, we celebrate the success of the hunt and the beautiful trophy. That buffalo is magnificient, incredibly old, covered in mud. On his flank and head show the scars of a recent lion attack. His days were over soon. Then comes back to me the thoughts I had yesterday in the bush: “I don’t know exactly how our destinies will meet, for the first and last time of our respective lives, but I know, I can feel that this is going to happen!”. And here is that buffalo that was waiting for me!








On the next days, we attempt a few nice and funny walks on warthogs, but they must be impressing me as I missed them all!

The day before we go, Pierré brings us to Tiger fishing in a very steep part of the river, which looks like waterfalls and basins in terraces. Another sumptuous landscape that is there for our eyes only! Balancing on rocks, we take a few nice fishes out and have lunch in that paradise. A beautiful day to close our safari.






We leave that wonderful world the next day, waiting for the plane on the landing strip. Pierré’s wife and two children come out of the plane, with three american clients that come here… for the eleventh time!
We would like to thank all camp staff who were wonderful and so nice all along the safari, and we make an appointment with Pierré at next year’s show in Paris!



And as we go up, a little voice inside me is wondering if, one day, may be, i will also be coming back for the eleventh time. My father had warned me, fairly. I fell in love with Africa.



Guillaume Desnoulez

A wonderful report and story. Thank you for sharing.

JCHB

.

Please pass on my congratulations. It is something special to hunt with your father. A great report. Thanks for sharing and tell him to enjoy the addiction !

.

I've hunted with Pierre in the Selous, and it was certainly one of my best safaris. Great job!

TRÈS BIEN !

Merci

This was an wonderfull adventure!
An an great report.

Please:
Write some words about your father as an PH...

Thank you.

The "B.

Very enjoyable report!

Thoroughly enjoyed it. Congratulations

Nice to see Kinky and Johnny Masai are still looking good.

Woderful report. Story and pictures are awesome. Brian

Well done, congrats on the buffalo! Pierre does it right. Great escape from the Gaboon viper. They have the longest fangs of any poisonous snake. Those are whopper Tigerfish too!

Great report and superb second buff. Sounds like there may have been some confusion on the first.

Great story and pics! What a fantastic hunt.

BH63

Félicitations mon cher Guillaume !
Beau récit d'un beau safari couronnant l'un des rêves de ton père. Bravo

I just received an email from Anneli (Pierre's wife) that they have a cancellation for early October. It can be split between 2 hunters for $12,995 each. I've hunted with Pierre and can vouch for his operation. Also, his price INCLUDES the air charter right to the camp in the Selous. I'll provide details in the Hunts section.

Great hunt as always with PVT. Thanks