TANZANIA 2008 HUNT REPORT

Outfitter: Tanganyika Wildlife Safari, a/k/a TAWISA

Booking Agent: Bert Klineburger International Hunting Consultant

Airline: British Airways

Travel Agent: Kathi Klimes, Wild Travel

Location: Kihurumira Camp, Blocks MJ1, MT1, MT2, Selous Game Reserve, and Liwale Open Areas

Duration: 21 days

Professional Hunter: Frédéric Herbain

Rifles: Blaser R93 Synthetic in .375 H&H Mag. and AHR Custom CZ 550 Magnum in .500 A-Square (I also had my AHR Custom CZ 550 Magnum in .458 Lott along as a backup, but did not use it.)

Game Taken: Elephant, cape buffalo (3), hippo (on land), common waterbuck, southern impala, Lichtenstein's hartebeest, plains zebra, warthog, Nyasa wildebeest and greater kudu

Game Sought But Not Taken: Lion, leopard, eland, sable, bushbuck, bush pig

We returned last week from a month in Tanzania, which we began with a week on Zanzibar and finished with a 21 day safari in the Selous.

I have not written lengthy hunt reports in the past, so please bear with me on this one. It's just that I have derived so much useful information and pleasure from reading the detailed reports of other AR members that I thought I would try to do it right this time. If I do get it right, or even come close, it's because I have had so many good teachers. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

AIRLINE

British Airways performed perfectly at every step of the trip, from Boston to London to Dar es Salaam and back. We had no problems with any of our luggage, including our rifles and ammunition. Kathi Klimes played a big part in that, since she knows the ropes and makes sure that BA's requirements are met at every step along the way. Thanks Kathi!

WEST LONDON SHOOTING SCHOOL

While in London, on an eleven hour layover, my wife and I left Heathrow and spent a few hours at the West London Shooting School, which is just a short drive from the airport. We each fired five boxes of shells on the sporting clays course, she with a borrowed Beretta Silver Pigeon over under in 28 gauge, and me with a Browning over under in 12.



My wife had no prior experience with shotguns, but with the aid of our instructor, Alan Rose, she was breaking pairs in no time.



It was a great time and I highly recommend it to anyone with time on their hands at Heathrow. Just be sure to book well in advance, as the place is very busy.

We flew to Dar from London, left most of our gear there with our outfitter, and immediately flew ZanAir to Zanzibar, a flight of about twenty minutes. Once on the island, we went straight from the airport to our hotel on the east coast.

ZANZIBAR

The east coast of Zanzibar was the tropical paradise we had always heard it was. We stayed at the Fairmont Zanzibar.





The beaches on the east coast are made up of white sand that has the consistency of fine powder. And the breeze off the Indian Ocean is constant and cool.



We had chosen the Fairmont because of its excellent dive center and its proximity to the Mnemba Atoll. The atoll is only a twenty minute trip by dive boat from the beach in front of the hotel, and we looked forward to some first rate scuba diving.

We were not disappointed. We saw green sea turtles, dolphins, groupers and nearly every other kind of indigenous marine life imaginable. It was our first time for underwater photography, so bear with us, but here are some images we captured while sixty feet under the sea.







Here is a photo of my lovely wife (you'll have to take my word for it, given the wet suit and mask ) hovering near the reef at the edge of the atoll.



Back on land, we especially enjoyed watching the sun come up over the ocean.



We hated to leave Zanzibar, but we somehow managed to tear ourselves away, given that our next stop was a 21 day full bag safari in the Selous! I owe a big thank you to Brigitte Klineburger, who suggested that we spend time in Zanzibar before, rather than after, our safari. It was the perfect way to decompress and adapt ourselves to the time change and climate. So it was back to Dar, then directly onto our charter, a Cessna Caravan, and into the Selous!

PROFESSIONAL HUNTER

We were met at the airstrip by our PH. He was an amazingly fit, friendly and able Frenchman named Frédéric Herbain, and I cannot praise him and his hunting team highly enough.



I had hunted with TAWISA before, but never with Fred, and in fact, I didn't know him at all, and had never even spoken with him before this safari. I confess to being a bit concerned as to whether we would hit it off.

As we discussed my hunting goals, I knew right away that luck was with me, and that Fred and I would be all right. Fred believes that hunting should be done in what I will call, without apology, the right way - strictly by spot or track and stalk methods. We saw eye to eye on that and everything else from day one.

I explained to Fred that my wife would accompany us on the truck and in the bush, including on any stalks we might undertake for dangerous game or otherwise. Fred was enthusiastic and supportive from the outset. As our safari progressed, we found that Fred is an excellent hunter, a superb host and a great hunting partner and companion. We are looking forward to hunting with him again at the first opportunity.

HUNTING TEAM

We were assisted in our hunting efforts by our trackers, including Kristophe, who was the head tracker and is originally from western Tanzania, and two others, both Maasai, named Moisi and Tipiliti.

Kristophe



Moisi



Tipiliti



Our trackers were to prove invaluable on more than one occasion on this safari in chasing, tracking and stalking elephant, buffalo and our other quarry.

Jamuhu

Our game scout, Jamuhu, was also very helpful. He took an active part in nearly every job that had to be done, and proved to be a valuable member of our team. I don't think he liked to have his picture taken, though.



He toted a little 7.62mm G3 paratrooper carbine. Not an elephant or buffalo rifle, in my humble opinion, but pretty nifty nonetheless.



God Bless

Our driver was a cheerful fellow with the improbable name God Bless. I came away from our trip convinced that God Bless can traverse any korongo or river bed anywhere in the Selous as long as he is given enough time to find a proper crossing place having inclines of sixty degrees or less! Maybe his name had something to do with it.



HUNTING TRUCK

Our truck was tricked out in the standard TAWISA fashion, which is the best trim I have ever seen for any hunting truck anywhere. Of course, it featured a great rifle rack, as shown below.



The rifles (and shotgun), from left to right, are Fred's Blaser R93 Synthetic in .416 Rem. Mag., his Heym double rifle in .500 Nitro Express (under wrap), his Benelli 12 gauge semi-auto shotgun, my Blaser R93 Synthetic in .375 H&H Mag., and my AHR CZs in .458 Lott and .500 A-Square. Pretty good armament if I do say so myself!

The truck had no back window (so that the driver can hear the PH's and the trackers' directions and so that tsetse flies can be brushed back and out of the cab), a seat in back for the PH and hunters, and plenty of room behind them for the trackers, chop boxes, cool box and other gear and supplies.



Our truck also featured a state-of-the-art tsetse fly control device. I knew that the flies might be a problem, but the presence of this tin basin in the back of the truck, with its base layer of sand and outsized chunks of smoldering and smoking elephant dung, sure let me know what we were in for.



The smoke actually works in keeping the bloodsucking flies at bay, at least to some extent, but as things turned out, I would kill far more tsetse flies on this trip than I had ever killed before!

And of course it was hot. Triple digits Fahrenheit in the shade nearly every day. And when it cooled off, it only dropped into the high 90s. But that's the Selous in October and we knew that going in.

We were there in October because of elephant. A good bull elephant was my number one priority, heat, flies and other discomforts be damned. I made that clear to Fred, and emphasized it by telling him that I was prepared to hunt nothing else until we had brought a good bull to bag. Fred is a dyed-in-the-wool elephant hunter and loves to chase them above all else, so he was only too ready, willing and able to oblige.

KIHURUMIRA CAMP, SELOUS GAME RESERVE

The Kihurumira Camp was beautiful and frankly luxurious.

Here are some photos of our tent.



It was larger than many hotel rooms I have seen.



Here are several photos of the dining tent, including a couple of Jaffari, camp manager and head waiter par excellence.









Jaffari's service would put many Michelin three star restaurants to shame. Chakula tayari!



TAWISA run a first rate operation in every way and will absolutely spoil you for anything else.

ELEPHANT

On the first afternoon of our safari, after checking the zero on each of our rifles, we headed out in the truck. Remarkably, just at dusk, we saw a big bull elephant, with what looked like good ivory, crossing a plain to our left and heading into a forest. We bolted from the truck and took off after him across the deeply cracked black cotton soil and half-burned grass of the plain.

We tried to flank the elephant. We soon found that we couldn't, so we sprinted for a korongo at the edge of the plain where Fred thought our bull would stop for a drink. Well, we got there in a hurry, but upon arrival we saw that our elephant hadn't stopped or even paused. We glimpsed him as he was climbing into the forest on the other side of the korongo, but given the distance and the fading light, I had no chance for a shot.

The next day started early. We climbed out of bed at 5:00 A.M. and began hunting right where the elephant had disappeared into the bush on the prior evening. We picked up the bull's tracks very quickly and then tracked him up into the forest. Little did we know then what the day would hold in store for us.

We ended up tracking that big bull over some very difficult terrain for ten straight hours. It was a baptism of fire, literally, as the heat was well up into the 100s Fahrenheit all day long. We estimate that we walked ten or twelve miles that day. We stopped only for a sip of lukewarm maji now and then and a quick lunch consisting of a boiled egg and a slice of bread, which we ate while half on the run.



Despite our marathon efforts, we didn't even catch sight of our bull, or any other, on that long, hot, second day, and we eventually lost his tracks altogether. Still, it seemed from the spoor that he was not in a hurry. His tracks indicated that he wasn't running and we were encouraged that he didn't seem to be intent on leaving the territory.

Our third day of hunting was more of the same. We arose at 5 A.M. and spent the day chasing elephant.



Near where we had lost the elephant's tracks the day before, we picked up the tracks of the same or possibly another big bull, we couldn't be sure. We followed these tracks for several hours, but the bull eluded us.

On the fourth day, after another 5 A.M. start, we found the tracks of a big bull in the same neighborhood where we had seen similar tracks on the first and second days. It was around 8:00 A.M. Fred, whose philosophy is never miss a chance, advised that we should take up the chase, and that we did.

We had spent two hours following those tracks when suddenly, Tipiliti hissed "Tembo!" and pointed directly ahead into a stand of thick scrub and trees. I peered in the direction he indicated and instantly saw a patch of gray hide behind a curtain of green foliage. I also saw a brief flash of ivory, and excitedly realized that this was our bull!

We had caught him at 10:30 in the morning. He was browsing and didn't seem to know we were there. We broke to our left, and moved so as to flank him with a favorable wind, when he abruptly began to move away and in the same general direction. It seemed that he had sensed that something was up and had decided to move.

It quickly became clear that this would be a footrace. Our bull was not running, but he was walking about as fast as an elephant can walk. That is pretty damned fast. With Fred and Kristophe in the lead, we began to jog and then finally run, along a route designed to keep the wind in our favor and still permit us to flank the elephant.

It was physically brutal. The ground was more of the treacherous black cotton soil, and it was laced with ditches and deep crevices we had to leap as we ran. Finally, we flanked and got ahead of the elephant and I had a few seconds to catch my breath as he rapidly approached our position.

We had stopped at a point where he would have to pass in front of us at a range of thirty yards or so. This he did. It was not a running shot, but it was very close to it. I swung the rifle to a spot just ahead of the elephant's ear hole then pressed the trigger and launched a 570 grain Barnes flat nosed banded solid at him at 2,500 fps.

We heard the bullet strike and saw the elephant fall instantly onto his off side. He was still, and seemed to be down for the count. After a half a minute or so, we walked up to him and I put in two insurance shots. They turned out to be unnecessary. The elephant was dead. My first bullet had entered his back just aft of the head and crushed his spine. I hadn't led him enough to make the side brain shot but it didn't matter. The bullet had completely penetrated his spine and exited the off side of his body. For all I know it may have ended up in Kenya.

He was a splendid bull.



Fred jokingly remarked, "Mike, I think we have proven that the .500 A-Square works on elephant!"



We recovered one of the Barnes solid bullets I had fired into the bull's brisket as an insurance shot. It had penetrated about six feet of elephant. Here's a photo, and better performance cannot be had.



Believe it or not, given the nature of East African elephant tusks, my bull's just exceeded the legal minimum size. The longer one was a shade under six feet in length and weighed in at 35 pounds. The smaller, working tusk, weighed in at 32. I was a little surprised at the relatively light weight of the ivory, but to say that I am happy with this old bull would be an understatement.

CAPE BUFFALO NO. 1

Even though we had brought our elephant to bag in only four days, our camp was running out of nyama, and we had nothing to use for cat bait, so we immediately began hunting cape buffalo and plains game. I especially wanted to take an eland, since I had chased them in two different countries over many days without success.

We had no luck for a time, as all we saw were mamas and totos, or immature males, of every species we came across. But late on the second day after I had killed my elephant, we spotted some impala by a water hole. We stalked in close so as to be able to take a ram for camp meat.

But as we approached we saw, to our dismay, that a troupe of baboons were drinking from the same water hole and hanging about in the neighboring trees. They were a raucous bunch, and the din they created spooked the impala, who slowly began to move away from the water hole.

As we maneuvered to follow the impala, Fred, who was leading us, suddenly crouched down and whispered a word that every African dangerous game hunter just flat out loves to hear: "Nyati!" He had seen a bachelor group of five cape buffalo bulls who were drinking at the water hole just around a thickly forested bend ahead of us. They seemed to be looking at the baboons and the impala.

Moisi quickly took the .375 "impala rifle" off my hands and gave me my .500. The wind was good. So we edged around the bend, staying low and straining to see the buffalo with our binoculars. Fred told me that the two who were closest to us were the best. They were not huge, but they were both old, hard-bossed dugga boy bulls. I put my rifle on the shooting sticks and put a 570 grain Barnes TSX bullet into the point of the nearest one's right shoulder.

When the bullet struck him, the buff was slammed off of his feet, onto his side and into the water. We learned later that the big X-bullet had broken the buff's near shoulder, blown through the top of his heart, minced his lungs and finally come to rest under the skin behind the short ribs on his far side.

But this bull was barely down before he had struggled back up and begun to hobble away from us. How he did this I will never know. After absorbing over eight thousand foot pounds of destructive energy and a bullet that had ruined his shoulder, heart and lungs, he refused to lay down and die. Buffalo are incredibly tough and tenacious.

I instantly fired another bullet into the departing buffalo's left hindquarter. We learned later that this bullet traversed his entire body diagonally and came to rest under the skin behind his already shattered right shoulder. Still, after all this punishment, the buff managed to run about twenty yards before he finally fell, bellowed and died.



We recovered both bullets and they performed perfectly.





WATERBUCK

The next day, early in the morning, we came upon a small herd of waterbuck with a good bull in it. They were about half a mile away when we began our stalk. A long, winding korongo helped us, as it permitted us to move up to a bit over two hundred fifty yards away from the waterbuck without being seen.

After some additional duck-walking and crawling toward the bull, Fred and I ended up behind a small sapling. We had no more cover, as the remaining ground between us and the herd was flat and devoid of vegetation. But we had ended up in a good place for me to try a shot from the sitting position. I took the shot, and the waterbuck fell on the spot to a Hirtenberger ABC bullet in the spine from my .375. We measured the range at 186 yards.



HARTEBEEST

We spent some time over the succeeding few days chasing more buffalo, eland and bush pig - all of which, to my knowledge, are still alive. But our luck chasing after Lichtenstein's hartebeest was better.

I had an easy 75 yard shot on the hartebeest. I used my .375, and again both the rifle and the ABC bullet just flat out worked.



The ABC bullet in the photo below was recovered from the hartebeest. I fired a raking shot into his shoulder as he quartered facing toward me, and it put him down and out.





WILDEBEEST, WILDEBEEST REVISITED, IMPALA AND ZEBRA

As opposed to the rifle and the ammunition, which were working just fine, the shooter, a/k/a yours truly, soon began to have some problems. On the same morning that I killed the hartebeest, I was extremely disappointed in my shooting at a Nyasa wildebeest bull.

The bull was quartering away from us at about 150 yards, and my bullet struck him too high. After taking the bullet, the bull jogged a few yards away from the herd, but before I could get off a second shot, he bolted.

We chased him for nearly five hours. Several times we caught up with him, but each time he would see us or get our wind and run away. Fred and the trackers saw a fresh, bleeding wound high on his back and we concluded, from its location and from the evident vitality of the wildebeest each time that he sprinted away, that he would no doubt survive his unfortunate brush with me. So, we reluctantly gave up the chase.

But this story has an improbably happy ending, at least for me, if not for the wildebeest. A full week later, while cruising late in the day near the spot where I had wounded the wildebeest, Fred, whose eyes and game spotting abilities are amazing, hissed to God Bless, "Simama!" and tapped the truck's roof.

God Bless stopped the truck. Then Fred trained his binocular into the bush, pointed to our right and whispered, "Wildebeest! It looks like the same one you shot before! He has a wound high on his back!"

I couldn't believe it! I saw that the wildebeest was alone and less than 300 yards away. We watched as he moved behind some brush on the otherwise open plain. Fred and I jumped from the truck and nearly sprinted after him, using cover and scanning ahead of us for the bull. We rapidly closed the gap between us and the wildebeest, and ended up in position for a clear 100 yard shot.

Fred jammed the shooting sticks into the ground, and in one motion I put the fore end of my .375 into the tripod, lined up the scope's crosshairs behind the wildebeest's near shoulder and fired. We heard the bullet strike him, and then saw him dash off, as wildebeest often do, even when mortally wounded.

Fred quickly said, "He's well hit. No need to shoot again." And it's a good thing he did, because given our past experience with this bull, I would have shot him three more times before he finally fell about fifty yards from where his last run had begun.

Up close, we confirmed that he was the same bull. A fresh wound had begun to crust over on his hump. Upon examination, it turned out to be a mere flesh wound. A glancing blow had been struck by my bullet. No bones had been hit. Had we not run into him again, this wildebeest would have survived his wound with no lasting effects.

I could hardly believe that we had found and killed the very wildebeest that I had wounded a week before. I was ecstatic, and I celebrated this kill with more feeling than I had for any other animal I took on this safari.



We had much better luck on impala and zebra, although my first shot on the impala was a complete miss at about 125 yards. He was partly obscured by brush and I misjudged the location of his vitals. Best I can tell, my bullet must have whistled under his chin. Still, he was not the least bit disturbed and just ambled along and continued to feed! I obliged him with another shot as soon as I could manage it, and was happy to see that my bullet broke his neck.



And after all the trouble we had had with the wildebeest, I was also happy to put my zebra down for good with one bullet through the vitals on a quartering shot from about 75 yards.



HIPPOPOTAMUS

We hit a dry spell over the next several days. Again and again we would stalk one or another of buffalo or eland, yet each time we would either see no shootable bulls or our quarry would elude us. One day while looking for eland tracks we came upon the tracks of dozens of hippo. We followed them through and out of a deep korongo, across a plain and into some long grass. Before long, we spotted the backs of several hippo above the grass.

We shortly discovered that we had come upon a herd of approximately 100 hippo who had decided, in the middle of a very hot day, to head overland to a neighboring korongo containing a favorite mud hole. We decided to stalk in among the herd and try to spot a big bull.

This involved a lot of close range observation. We deliberately gave the hippo our wind, in order to get them to move. After that, many of them often knew exactly where we were, and would stare intently in our direction. It is a little unnerving to have dozens of hippo staring at you from less than twenty five yards away. But giving them our wind had the advantage of flushing them out of the grass and permitting us to see more of them.

Eventually, after crossing and re-crossing the korongo, and after nearly being charged by an irate cow in the process, we spotted a big, scarred old bull on the opposite bank. He stood immobile and stared at us as we approached.

At a range of around 35 yards, as he faced us from across the narrow korongo, I shot him in the head with a 570 grain X-bullet from my .500. Fred told me that the impact of the bullet lifted the bull's front legs off the ground. When he came down, he utterly collapsed. He kicked and rolled a bit, so I put another bullet squarely into his brain just to be sure he was dead. He was bigger than the other Selous hippo I had killed and I was happy to see that he had a good set of thick and heavy tusks.



WARTHOG

The next day, after hours of fruitless tracking of buffalo and eland, as we were heading back to camp along one of the dirt tracks they call a bara bara, Fred spotted a good warthog standing all alone across a narrow plain along the side of the road. The wind was favorable, and the sun was directly behind us and in the hog's eyes, so I don't think he even saw the truck or knew we were there.

After a very short and very fast walk to a suitable spot, Fred set up the sticks. The warthog was quartering away sharply to our left. From about 120 yards or so, I put a 272 grain Hirtenberger ABC bullet into his left hip. We later found that the bullet had penetrated the warthog completely and exited his ribcage on the right side.

He was still kicking when we walked up to him, so Kristophe administered the coup de grace with several thrusts to the heart using his long-bladed skinning knife.



BUFFALO SQUARED - CAPE BUFFALO NOS. 2 AND 3

I still wanted an eland, and we had seen ample sign that they were around in good numbers. So the next morning, we drove to a promising area where our trackers soon found the spoor of a good sized herd. We tracked the eland herd for a couple of hours, until we ran into another herd, this one comprised of feeding elephant, which effectively cut off our advance. We had no choice but to back off and see if we could move around the elephant in a wide circle.

As we were doing this, I saw all of our trackers and the game scout suddenly crouch down and point into the thick brush to our right. Fred and I, who were separated from the trackers by about ten yards, raised our binoculars and peered into the brush. Before I had seen a thing, Fred whispered to me, in a hoarse and urgent voice: "Nyati!"

I thought to myself: Only in the Selous! What a morning - eland, elephant and buffalo and it was far from over yet!

In a few seconds, I saw unmistakable patches of black and gray buffalo hide through the brush and trees, but neither Fred nor I could make out how many there were or whether they were bulls or cows. Still, they were clearly worth following up. So Fred signaled to Kristophe, and after we had joined up, the three of us began our stalk.

We soon saw that we were stalking two big dugga boy bulls. One of them was black and the other gray. They were feeding slowly along through the brush and trees about 100 yards ahead of us and didn't know we were there. Using cover, and with the benefit of a light headwind, we stalked to within about 50 yards of them. Fred whispered that both seemed to be good and set up the shooting sticks.

I put my .500 on the sticks, lined up the scope's crosshairs on the black one's left shoulder and fired. He was instantly slammed to the ground, as though struck by lightning. Fred then told me in a low voice that the second one was moving into a clear area to the right of the first, and that I might have a chance to take him too. I had reloaded and was ready.

Not twenty seconds after the first shot, the second buff stepped out from behind a mopane tree and offered me a chance. He was broadside to us. I shot him in the right shoulder, and he too was slammed down hard to the ground.

Just then, we heard the first bull bellow. I saw him struggling hard to get to his feet. It was clear that his shoulder was shattered. As he stood, I fired again. My bullet struck him just behind the shoulder and again he went down hard.

Then I looked back at the second bull. Despite a broken shoulder and God knows what other internal destruction my first bullet had wrought, the second buff was somehow managing to get back on his feet as well. I shot him again, just behind the shoulder, and when my bullet exited his off shoulder, it slammed his mammoth body to the earth for a second time.

Both of these buffalo had put up an incredible fight, but neither of them would ever rise again. The second one raised his massive head, looked at us malevolently - and who could blame him - then rolled onto his side and died. The first one simply did not move. We waited for about five minutes, then approached them. They were separated by fewer than twenty paces and each was a terrific specimen.



I truly love to hunt cape buffalo. Their tenacity is unmatched by any other animal on the face of the earth. Killing these two, within a minute of each other, as we had done, will always be a highlight of my hunting experience. Fred and our trackers were as excited and happy as I was, and once again proved themselves to be a terrific team of hunters.



We are convinced that my double on dugga boy buff was possible in no small part because I was using such a heavy caliber rifle. Those big .510 caliber bullets at 2,500 fps simply incapacitated these buffalo. As Fred remarked, again tongue in cheek, "Mike, I think we have proven that the .500 A-Square works on cape buffalo!" Here are the two 570 grain Barnes X-bullets we recovered from the big gray buff. The two I shot into the black buff, which had a smaller body than the gray one, were complete pass-throughs.



KUDU

Over the next and final two days of our safari, we hunted eland and hunted them hard. I must duly report, however, that our efforts were unavailing. To this day I have no eland blood on my hands. We spent hours and walked miles on their trails, but my eland jinx remains unbroken.

Still, on the next to last day of our safari, we did have more than our share of good luck with an East African greater kudu. As we were slowly cruising along a bara bara, on the lookout, as usual, for any sign of eland, we saw two kudu cross the road about a quarter of a mile ahead of us. The one in the lead looked big; the one behind him was clearly immature.

Out of the truck we jumped. The stalk was an easy one and we were soon within 150 yards. But we couldn't get any closer because the plain ahead of us was strewn with grazing zebra and wildebeest. Kristophe set up the sticks and I got the kudu lined up in my scope.

I liked the look of him, but I asked Fred if he looked big, and whether he was fully mature or might get bigger if we left him alone. Fred said he was big and mature, and that he wouldn't get any bigger than he was.

That was enough for me. I held behind his near shoulder as he quartered away to our right and pressed the trigger on my .375. We could hear the bullet strike him and see that he was well hit. We later found that my bullet had penetrated his heart. After the shot, the big kudu bull ran like the wind, as many heart shot antelope will do. But he quickly ran out of steam, and died on his feet, before piling up about thirty yards from the spot where I had shot him.



That was that.

We had a great time on this safari, and on this trip in general. We had no luck on simba or chui. We hung many baits, but there were just too many easy meals of antelope calf du jour walking around for any big cat to be interested in bait. As Fred would say, and as I must agree, "C'est la chasse."

So, after a month in Tanzania, we were ready to go home.

And of course, now that we have been home for a week, we again find ourselves missing Tanzania, and are eager to get back!

Wow, that buffalo on the left is awesome! Nice trophies, really nice waterbuck! Looks like you had a great time. Congrats on a successful trip!

CONGRATULATIONS on a very successful hunt!!!

Your underwater photos are fantastic. Very nice elephant and buffalo.

Exellent Report! Outstanding photos! Fantastic elephant! Congratulations.

Thanks for sharing your photos and story.

I am speachless......what a trip !!
Great trophies and great story !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations and thanks for sharing your adventure with us !!

L

Congradulations.Good work.Excellent buff and ele.I hope you get a nice lion the next time.Good shooting.Glad I bought a couple of boxes of the same bullets.

What can I say? Mike, excellent reading, and sure sounds like a hunt of a lifetime. Bully for you!

KG

MR, well done. Great trip. Congratualtions on your wonderful trophies, elephant and buffalo in particuliar.

Thanks for the report...

It was awesome!!!!

thanks for your report. i would love to hunt elephant some day.

Mike,

Outstanding report and love the pics and the camp...Telling people you hunt Africa and take our wives and they love it.. If they only knew how pleasurable a camp is with a great staff..
Welcome home and hope you make it to Dallas some day...

Mike "Selous Aug 09"

Great report Mike, and great photos. Man what a first class outfit and superb trophies. Congratulations. jorge

This has to be one of the best reports written! Outstanding!

Great story and wonderfull pics, i especially like the double on the buffs.

I have read postings on this site for a couple of years, and have never posted a responce, but I must say you did a great job with you photos, but especially with you story telling. Wonderful job.

Great report, and I must say that your 500 is the Hammer of the Gods. Awesome hunt congrats.

Thanks for sharing such a fantastic safari.
Congratulations on your no miror achievements.

I am really surprised that You used the ABC "banana split" bullet. I believed it extincted??.
Nonetheless all your bullets, like you, have achieved perfectly.
Thanks for such a vivid report.

Great report on a fantastic hunt. IMHO this report sets the standard for hunt reports. Nicely done.

Congrats on a very nice hunt and report.

Mike,

That's what I call a safari. London, Zanzibar and a 21 day luxury safari in the wilderness. Way to go!

Congrats on a great trip, trophies and a lot of fun.

Mark

Thanks for the splendid report. That should set a new standard.

Congratulations for your success as well.

Excellent report and pictures!

great report!

Awesome hunt and report. The team-picts are a great idea. That camp is simply amazing, certainly a step above boiled village chicken and sudza! You did it up right Mike!

You look in good shape, what sort of training did you do to prepare for this trip? I think I read about a year ago that you had shoulder surgery (?), you obviously worked thru that and the rehab. This trip offered some inspiration I'd bet. Well done!

The Under Armor shirt...is that a "HeatGear Loose T" in Sage? (WEB LINK)

Regards,

Bill

I don't post too often but I read many reports and view all the photos and I must say that your detailed report and accompanying photos are probably the best I've seen.

Congrats on a successful hunt and what appears to be an overall splendid trip.

Congratulations, what a fantastic trip! Excellent report and outstanding photographs.

Thanks for sharing.

Regards
Aziz

Mike,
Outstanding story and super pictures of the trip. A very well done hunt report my friend. And congrats on an excellent set of trophies... that ellie bull with the six foot tusk and the other broken tusk is character plus. I can only imagine how those tusks will look next to your big Namib bull. Also kudos on the brace of buff bulls... and some great plainsgame to boot. Very nice... now if my wife sees the pix of Zanzibar I may get a 21 day adventure in the Selous myself!

mriexma , just out of this worls hunting report ,very well done !

By the way what camera did you use ? I am impressed with the quailty and set up of the photo's.

Great report Mike! You have held out on us too long. Those two dagga boys will be a fantastic mount together, maybe sharing a pedestal? Also that is a beautiful kudu. Congradulations on a great hunt.

WOW! Thank you for sharing that.

Great report and congratulations on a fantastic hunt.

Great hunt! Congrats!

JPK

I'm too jealous to write anything nice.

Thanks, all. I'm glad you liked the report. I had almost as much fun writing it as I did living it. Writing it down, and reviewing the photos, really brought it back to the present for me.

Concerning the questions asked above:

JB - Yes, unfortunately, the Hirtenberger ABC bullets are no longer made. "Banana Split" is a good description of what they do. The key is that they do it every single time! I have never seen one fail. I hope that RUAG/Hirtenberger bring them back some day. They are among the best softs I have ever used. I will keep on using them as long as my supply holds out.

Bill C - To get ready for this safari - if you don't count a year of shoulder rehab! - I just did my usual (and sporadic) workouts involving weight lifting and cardio type exercises. I thought I was in pretty good shape going in, but I still lost ten pounds over the course of the safari.

And I have you to thank - and I do thank you - for recommending the hi-tech synthetic fiber T-shirts. I still wear lightweight cotton shirts, but like you I have found that the synthetics are the best for truly hot weather of the kind we ran into here. They just wick the sweat away and permit it to evaporate, and that goes a long way towards keeping you cool.

I took a couple of these (in sage/graphite) along on this trip and they really worked out well.

UA T-Shirt

lapua - The cameras we used were our old Nikon D70 - with excellent f2.8 telephoto and macro lenses - and a new Sea & Sea DX-1G, which works as a great wide angle camera on land, as well as underwater when fitted into its waterproof housing.

My wife took most of the photos, including the portraits of Fred and our hunting team. She has a real knack for capturing the real person in a candid shot with no posing whatsoever. Fred took a couple of the trophy photos, but I don't remember which of the ones posted above are his, and which are my wife's.

I learned that Fred is an expert when it comes to setting up a good trophy photo. The right set up is key, and is all too often overlooked.

What a great trip! I have to confess I am consumed by jealousy at this point.

Thanks for a fantastic report, and well done! Hats off to Fred for putting you onto awesome mature animals.

Hi Lex:

Fricken outstanding report and pictures. I am truly jealous.

The best of the best my friend, you win.

Regards... Jim P..

Congratulations on a great hunt and a super report!

Great report, I love that Elephant.