I have just returned from the historic Karamoja Region of Uganda. I went on an exploratory hunt there with PH and Grounds Operational Manager Nigel Theisen of W.D.M. Wildlife Company of Uganda.

W.D.M. Wildlife Company has a lease on the entire Karamoja Distric of Uganda.

I went specifically to look for one the wide-spread cape buffalo known to inhabit the area.

As stated previously, my PH was Nigel Theisen who is also the Grounds Operations Manager for W.D.M. Wildlife. Many of you know Nigel from Tanzania, where he still hunts with Brittingham's company, and also Zimbabwe, his native home.

I flew to Entebbe, Uganda on KLM airlines in which I got impeccable service. The flight went out of Dallas via Amsterdam.

My travel arrangements were made by the wonderful Linda Schrader of Falcon Travel in San Antonio, TX. I highly recommend her and she always arranges all of my African travel needs. She is the best!!!

Entebbe is on the north shore of Lake Victoria in the south of Uganda and is a sister city with Kampala...the capital of Uganda. We drove from Kampala to the Karamoja distric in the far nothern most aspect of Uganda just east of Kidepo National Park on the Sudan border.



As stated before, this was an exploratory hunt and this company is just starting to build its own camps. For my hunt we stayed in a camp already in the area for Park visitors owned by Patrick Devy and Lyn Jordaan who were the most splendid hosts.



My quarters.







We hunted hard and explored the northern extent of the Karamoja adjacent to Kidepo National Park. The habitat is pristine!!! There are great herds of cape buffalo and elephant. I walked in the largest herd of ele I have ever seen. Nigel said it was the largest he had ever seen out of a park as well. The were happy as clams.





For plains game...the northern region has to offer oribi, waterbuck, Jackson's hartebeeste, and reedbuck. Severeral of these are sub-species unique to the region or at least to East Africa. All of the above mentioned species were plentiful and viewed each and every day. Good trophies were abound! I was lucky enough to score a very good Jackson's Hartebeeste of almost 69".



And by choice opted not to take a reedbuck, oribi, or waterbuck although I could have taken a splendid trophy on any day of the hunt.

As I was mainly looking for an old Dagga Boy of >40" we hunted hard for them driving deep into the bush without the benefit of roads.





Consequently...we had a few minor mishaps but nothing that slowed us for long!

I looked at thousands of buffalo but unfortunately never found the exact head I was searching for so on the final hunt morning...I took this lovely old bull of great age.



He measured ~39" and was well worn down. We saw lots of old bulls and could have shot many similar. Nigel has seen very wide bulls in the region on scouting trips and took an over 40" bull last fall on another scouting hunt.

It was a wonderful hunt!!! As this company develops this region with it own camps and roads...it may well surpass Tanzania as the premier hunting region. In the southern aspect of Karamoja, Nigel has seen a Roan and Lesser Kudu is on quota with some sightings already. Other plains species are also available here such as Uganda Kob. The company has also picked up the horns and skull cap of a couple of Sitatunga.

Negatives??? Well the only negatives I had was the drive out of Kampala up to the hunting area. Kampala definitely reiterates that this is a 3rd world country.





But we did get to visit a very well run rhino sanctuary in mid-country.







To walk in the footsteps of Bell, see a vast pristine wilderness, and for a wonderful hunt...I highly recommend this company, area and especially the PH my good friend Mr. Nigel Theisen. He is a true Rhodesian gentleman and one the most knowledgable people on African wildlife I have ever met. He participates in our African wildlife DNA project that Texas A&M has started in Africa.

You may contact Nigel via his e-mail nigeltheisen@gmail.com

Even though you didn't get that 50"er, I want to congratulate you on that old bugger you brought down. He is a real brute.

What a great hunt in the footsteps of a legend.

Congrats, amigo.

quote:

What a great hunt in the footsteps of a legend.

It truly is a magical place. I will post more pics as I get time from catching up on work.

Congratulations! Thanks for sharing!

Lovely old buff!!! Nothing wrong with that old guy!!!

Congrats!!!

Fantastic old bull, congratulations and thanks for an excellent report. 'Gotta get there before the secret gets completely out.

Beautiful old buffalo and a nice report.

The area looks pretty thick and green. I imagine that the hunting would be a lot easier after much of the grass is burned off.

J Lane outstanding pics and lovely area. Looks like that buf in your photo 4th from right in the buf pics.
You have to tell us all about it in Dallas this year.

Mike

quote:

I imagine that the hunting would be a lot easier after much of the grass is burned off.

Definitely in the future management plans.

Hello ledvm

Congratulations, now this is the kind of hunt I want to hear about, a new area in a Country that is not on every African Safari goers itinerary.

You got an excellent buffalo with a lot of character. Thank you for posting this report.

Best regards
Aziz

beautiful buff, the pic of the herd is a little fuzzy but the bull standing to the left of the "red" one looks to be a brute with possibly a big one standing behind him as well. Are you an Aggie? What year?

That is just too cool. Interesting hunt in a new place with a great old buff to boot.

Good work and welcome home.

Great story and pics! I really like your camp setup!

Mad Dog

Well done Doc! Uganda is one of the places I have to see and kudos for jumping in and booking an exploratory hunt in this classic African hunting area. Karamoja, hell the name reeks of adventure!

Nice buff and the Jackson hartebeest is neat... reminds me of the Bubal or Lewlels in coloration and horn configuration. I don't know if I would have had your resolve in not shooting the other species though!

BTW, is this the area Tolmay is opening up? I think Mike Lindsay is due to hunt here in the future as well.

Again, good show and "gig 'em" from the class of '81!

Nice work there!

a most excellent adventure

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Are you an Aggie? What year?

I am an inbred Aggie! I got one of my bachelors from there in '89. I got a DVM from there in '93. I completed a surgery residency there in 1998. Was on faculty for a short stent.

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BTW, is this the area Tolmay is opening up? I think Mike Lindsay is due to hunt here in the future as well.

It is the area he is involved with yes. As far as Tolmay doing the opening...hmm...???

There is a coalition of people opening it up...to the best of my understnading. John Tolmay for one, Philip Chollet (who posts here and can feel free to jump in here), Nigel Theisen, and some backers who I am not sure I should mention without permission. Nigel has done the majority of the scouting work. Nigel and John go way back as they are both native Rhodesians. Philip is a very nice fellow who lives in Kampala and is a Uganda resident.

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I don't know if I would have had your resolve in not shooting the other species though!

Obama gave me the resolve by tightening up my pocket book.

Really though...I have never been a "Rats & Mice" collector. I like to hunt dangerous game and usually elect to collect a plains game specimen or two along the way.

The northern part of Karamoja is situated between to mountain ranges which make the valley even more beautiful.



The round top blue mountain the background of this pic is in southern Sudan.

One more interesting note...our own Shakari came to camp while I was there with another AR poster...ddrhook. Small world!

nice old buff, thanks for sharing the information, I look forward to seeing more photos when you get time.

More pics demonstrating the mountain ranges on either side of the valley we were hunting.

Congratulations on a successful adventurous hunt. Seems like a wonderful area where I will love to go, how is the Leopard population in the area?

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how is the Leopard population in the area?

We saw quite a few leopard tracks as well as some cheetah tracks. We also saw a caracal driving in one night.

Judging from the terrain and unbundance of small antelope...I bet there are a bunch of leopard.


Cheetah tracks.

Congratulation for the nice Dagga Boy.
Hope Uganda will be soon a great hunting destination.

Outstanding!

Brett

Wonderful report and fantastic hunt. They said that in the karamoja the game was rare but instead seems very abundant.
Do you meet philppe Chollet that is working in the company?

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Originally posted by Mario:
Wonderful report and fantastic hunt. They said that in the karamoja the game was rare but instead seems very abundant.
Do you meet philppe Chollet that is working in the company?

Well...remember...the northern portion is adjacent to Kidepo Valley National Park. That park has a huge population of Cape buffalo that seed the surrounding area. And...I was hunting in close proximity of the park. That said however...I saw as many herds of buff 20 kg outside the park as in and more ele outside. Reedbuck, oribi, and hartebeeste were very unbundant everywhere. Waterbuck seemed more rare the farther from the park you got. All the lion that I saw were with in the park however we saw tracks outside. No zebra or girrafe outside.

Then in the southern portion of Karamoja there have been roan sighted and lesser kudu sighted. Lesser kudu are on quota. I never made it to the southern portion as we had planned for various reasons one of which being weather.

Also remember nobody knows for sure. Many of the places I hunted had not been visited by anyone except a Karamojong Warrior in 40 years. Some were the first for Nigel. At the water hole where we saw the huge herd of ele...nobody knew it was there until we found it and the ele.

Yes...I met and became friends with Philip Chollet. A very nice fellow and partner in the opening coalition.

Well bloody done.

If you are wondering how the people are doing in Uganda never fear they are fat and sassy living high off of the hog (a hog called the USA, UN, and other NGO's).



And if you are worried about the country being dangerous well I was almost run over by a UN car twice.

Yep...they are buzzing all over the roads and they are assholes to other traffic. But if you see my signature line you can probably see that I might be biased against the UN.

Lane,
Congratulations on a great trip. Pretty nice accomadations for an "exploratory" hunt!
I almost went with ddrhook and Shakari, after seeing your pictures, I wish I had.
That bull elephant with the five legs must be in musth.

very nice

Congratulations on a fine hunt. I really enjoyed reading your report. That is one cool looking buff as well. I would love to hunt Uganda someday. Are there any Eland in Uganda?

That was a great hunt. Beautiful old bull.

Outstanding!

quote:

Originally posted by ledvm:
If you are wondering how the people are doing in Uganda never fear they are fat and sassy living high off of the hog (a hog called the USA, UN, and other NGO's).



And if you are worried about the country being dangerous well I was almost run over by a UN car twice.

Yep...they are buzzing all over the roads and they are assholes to other traffic. But if you see my signature line you can probably see that I might be biased against the UN.

I saw a stack of these tins in the Zim Communal lands last week. Now they only plant crops for their beer production.
Great report ledvim,
I have been considering this exact hunt and was recommended Nigel by Rob Styles and Stu Taylor.

quote:

I saw a stack of these tins in the Zim Communal lands last week. Now they only plant crops for their beer production.
Great report ledvim,
I have been considering this exact hunt and was recommended Nigel by Rob Styles and Stu Taylor.

Same in Uganda. They grow cane to make alcohol as the U.S. etc. feeds them. Many of the younger generation do not even know what it is to provide for themselves. The old saying: "Give a man a fish and he can feed himself...Teach a man to fish and he can feed his family and the community." definitely applies to Uganda.

We should be teaching them to farm instead of giving them sacks of food.

As far as Nigel...you can't go wrong there! He is as good as they come and a great human being.

The area is unbelievable!

A strip-mall in Kampala.