Dates: 11/13/2014 thru 11/26/2014
Location: Maswa Game Reserve (North)
Airlines: Delta/KLM Business class booked through Gracy Travel (San Antonio TX)
Rifles/Ammo: Dakota 76 .375 H&H with hand loaded 300 gr. Barnes TSX and Banded Solids, Dakota 76 .416 Rigby with hand loaded 400 gr. Barnes TSX and Banded Solids, and Merkel 140-2 .470 NE with 500 gr. North Fork Cup Point Solids and flat point solids.
Outfitter/agent: Adam Clements at Adam Clements Safari Trackers (San Antonio, TX)
Professional Hunter: Brian Van Blerk

I booked this hunt at the 2014 Safari Club convention. In many ways, I think this is probably one of the better deals available in hunting Tanzania. I booked a 12 day Buffalo and plains game hunt with a 21 day license- This allowed me to hunt basically all the special plains game that Tanzania offers, and 3 buffalo - with a caveat if we found a really good elephant I could upgrade by paying the difference on it. It turned out that USDFW screwed up that option before I left under the guise of "no evidence of benefit" in hunting elephant. As I had missed the Wildebeest migration last time, I wanted something around that time. To be honest, earlier in the year would probably be better as your visibility of game would be better.

Maswa Sunrise


Adam had expressed that this was what he would consider his flagship area, and it is priced higher than the others, especially for the big cats. They have pulled some impressive lion out of there in the past, and some awfully nice leopard as well. While not hunting cats, we had plenty of evidence they were there. We heard Lion most nights, and saw a lioness briefly. We also saw a hunting leopard one day as well. Cheetah were quite present, with me seeing 3 different cats on 3 occasions. Also, folks have been talking about Tanzania's elephant poaching problems (and I saw it first hand back in 2012 at Lukwika) but while we did not see any "big" elephant, we saw lots of them- several herds with bulls, as well as some bull groups. The largest looked like a 50# bull, and while I thought there were a bunch of legal elephant, Brian's view was most were pretty iffy, as they were quite slim at the lip. Nevertheless, it was quite a different picture than what we saw in the south 2 years ago. Lots of young elephant, and intact herd structure, without the presence of numerous elephant carcasses (we did not see a single dead elephant this hunt.) It also had some species that I have not seen before, and that really can't be hunted other than in northern Tanzania. I wanted to hunt Topi, Roan, White Bearded Wildebeest, Defassa Waterbuck and Robert's Gazelle as new species (to me) and Maswa is known for really large Tompson's Gazelle and Impala. While the Buffalo are not typically thought of as being as large as in the Masailand areas, there are good numbers (and as it turned out) really big ones. Adam told me that the Robert's would require some luck, as it only is seen sporadically. I was later told by the regional head game warden that they are seen more at Maswa south, and that they really don't come to the north. I also thought I would see some Grant's gazelle as well, but didn't. Wildebeest were a different story. I had missed the wildebeest migration at Lokisale back in 2011, but I managed to hit the peak of the first wave of the wildebeest migration off the Serengeti this time. In fact, the hunter who was in camp before me complained of the wildebeest pushing off all the other game when I met him at the charter- he had a tight schedule, so we didn't have much of a chance to talk, but if he was right, then the place must have been crawling with game before the wildebeest went through. Aside from the Wildebeest, I have seen numbers of some species that compared to the concentrations at Maswa, but never of all the species together that they have there. I think on the first day we saw everything except the gazelles and Roan (and the cats) at some point. Brian said repeatedly that we needed to hold out for good trophies, that it would be possible to essentially shoot out in 4-5 days if we didn't watch it.

Wildebeest herd milling around


My equipment, I had had some issues with the .416 last year. Dakota arms on examining the rifle said that it was essentially a smooth bore, and that it needed a new barrel. I guess I am one of the few folks who has shot out a .416 Rigby barrel. The rebarrel is more or less as accurate as it was when new- but since it was awfully expensive to rebarrel, I was not playing with the loads like I did with the old one- I am not interested in getting one hole groups with it at the expense of having to rebarrel it in another 10 years- 1" at 100 works just fine. The .375 is a known quantity, and I basically made sure that the load produced the same velocity as I wanted with the new powder lot, and pronounced it good to go as well. The .470 I did not really do much with as I had loaded a bunch of North Fork bullets up for it in 2012, and had not shot it much at all- 5 shots in 2012 (1 to check zero, 2 at a wounded cow elephant, and 2 at a Baboon) 3 in 2013 (1 zero check and 2 on the elephant bull) so there was enough to zero the new Trijicon RMR and still have a full box to go hunting with.

Tompson's Gazelle herd


I arrived on 11/13 late in the evening after a reasonably pain free experience with the airlines. Gracy Travel again organized everything and I had no issues with the flights or guns, and everything arrived as it should. The ability to lie down flat makes a world of difference in trying to sleep on the plane, and is worth a couple grand on these long flights. On the 15th, I met up with Brian and Albert at the Arusha airport and we got going. The charter was a fairly big aircraft and went well. The flight to Maswa was basically 1 hour via charter plane, and while I suppose its possible to drive out there, it would probably take you more than a day. We flew over the Ngorogoro crater and a pretty big swath of the Serengeti on the way out. The rains had come early this year and everything was a bit more green than the norm- meaning you could see a little green. When we were getting close and descended a bit we started seeing game from the aircraft- buffalo, waterbuck, impala, and wildebeest. Once we were down, and the plane was away with the other hunter and PH, we set a box up on the airstrip and checked zeros. The .375 shot almost 6-7" low, so I cranked it way up, and then it shot way high- I had forgot that the bore was coated with oil for the flight, and ended up setting it back to where it started out, and it was right on. The .416 also sent its first shot about 6" low, but I didn't muck with it and the second shot was dead on. Brian said we didn't need to check the double as it would be used only under 50 yards, as that was what I said I felt absolutely confident in without a scope, using the RMR sight- if I shot it more, I am sure it would have been fine to 100, but I sighted it in at 25 and 50, and wasn't going to commit to using it on something dangerous without having shot it to that point on paper. We then went to camp and got settled in and had a late lunch and were out hunting by 2:30 in the afternoon.

Impala Herd


The camp is quite large, with the skinning shed quite a ways away from the rest of the camp. This is the first camp that I have been in that I did not see game from, meaning it was not set up with game viewing in mind. It was close to the river, and from the tracks we saw every morning, there was a large variety of game that was wandering around in camp after dark, with Impala, Waterbuck, and (what looked to me like) Eland tracks as well as Leopard, Hyena, and Jackal tracks. The bird veiwing was very good, but as I am not much of a birder, I saw Lesser Hornbills, Maribou storks, Lilac Breasted rollers, White storks, and Vultures as well as guinea fowl and Francolin that I could identify.

Camp




There are 5 tents with a semi-permanent thatch roof and stone bathroom area as well as a stone and thatch eating/fireplace area for the hunters. There are a couple of permanent houses for the staff, although most are in temp structures/tents, but some stay out there year round. There are a couple of camps for the game scouts in the area, one is almost a village in appearance, the other looks like a walled fort. While there are some roads that are "there" from regular use (the park border road, as an example), really there are no roads as we think of them, just a pair of tracks, sometimes pretty heavily rutted. While it rained pretty much every day, and things got pretty greasy, we only got stuck once, and that was because the ruts were so deep that when we slipped off the tracks into a rut, the truck's axle bottomed out and we needed to jack it up and get logs, etc. under the wheels to get traction and once out, bypass that section of road. When we had to dig the truck out, I was surprised how quickly the mud quit and it became baked earth.

Marabou Storks by the skinning shed


That day, we drove around a bit, Brian getting his bearings and looking at a lot of game to see where it was size wise. The first animal we saw was a porcupine, and we spent about 10 minutes checking licenses to see if we could shoot it, which we could not at that point. Brian said that they are pretty territorial and that on monday they would get the permit and we could go try and get him. Of course, we never saw him again... Lots of small predators out there- fox, jackals, hyenas.

Bat Eared Fox


About 2 hours out, we saw a pair of dagga boys, lone bull buffalo grazing in a clearing a ways out. They were really oblivious to us, as the wind was blowing to us fairly strongly. We used the scrub around us to get to them without them noticing us. We got to about 100 yards and they were still contentedly feeding without thinking we were anywhere near them. The larger one on the right was fully hard and was 40" so he was a good target. Brian realized that this would be a good chance to get one with the double, so he sent our second tracker back post haste to pick up the .470. We carefully used a clump of trees and got to about 30 yards where we could not get any closer. I shot my first barrel on his shoulder and he bunched up and started running, but was easily identified, so I shot the second at him. He fell within 50 yards of where he was first shot without giving the usual bellow. He had a dramatic blood trail, and when we cut him open, the chest was full of blood, having cut the aorta with the bullet. With the angle of the shot, the first bullet did not exit, but was probably in the paunch somewhere, and was not recovered, the second was a bit high and went clean through.

First Buffalo


We came back for a chicken dinner, knowing that we now had game meat for everyone after this.

Jackal


Hyena in the grass



On our first full day, we got up at 5:30, and were out by right after first light. We spent a few hours looking around, and then we found an impala that made the grade. We followed him for a bit, and then he joined up with a bigger impala, who was standing out in the open staring at us 250 yards out. I took a frontal shot at him, but misjudged the drop a bit, hitting him low, with breaking his right front leg, slicing open his belly, and breaking his left rear leg. He then proceeded to show us about the toughness of african game, leading us on a 2 hour tracking run. He was heading in the direction of the park border, and while he was not moving fast, he was still going in the thick korongo overgrowth. Brian told me to stick with the trackers, and he was going to go off to the right and shoot if he started heading into the park boundary. After a while, he yelled that he saw it, and we needed to get down and safe, when we were in a depression and told him that we were, he shot and we had him in the salt. The bullet was recovered, and after going through two thick leg bones had lost its petals, but was lying right under the skin of the rear leg.

Impala


That afternoon, we looked at wildebeest for several hours, and then at the last light tried a stalk on a Zebra, but were unable to get a shot at him in time. We did see a fairly large herd of elephant- maybe 50-75 of them.

Elephant


The following day initially we were looking for Waterbuck. We had seen a couple of them, and one was bigger than the rest. We found him, but he was a little too close to camp, and since time was on our side, we let him do his thing and moved on. We then went out towards the concession boundary with the Serengeti. This was more open, and I have never seen Zebra so tame as here, they would let you get within 30 yards or so before running off. We found a number of Tommies, and started looking at them. I was surprised to hear I had 2 on license, but then the trophy fee is pretty steep on them- everyone wants to shoot one as they are iconic, and they also taste so good... Anyhow, we examined at least 50 or so of them before we found a good male, and were able to get him to stand still at about 150 yards. I didn't take the wind into account, and the shot hit a little too far forward of where I wanted it to go, but it did drop him on the spot. My taxidermist is probably going to have to be a little creative to get him to look right. The horns really seem outsized compared to the body size of these guys. This one is quite good, a bit over 14" long, with my previous being a bit under 13" with a bit less mass on the horns. After doing the pictures, we took him back to the skinning shed, and headed back out.

Tompson's Gazelle


We were maybe a mile or so out when we saw a hyena that was just huge. He didn't really seem too worked up about us, and ambled away, then stopped and looked at us, which was his last mistake. This guy I shot right where I wanted, and he dropped at the shot. While I have shot hyena before, this one was like a quarter again bigger than the others. Incidentally, his body was thrown on the scavenger pile and it took several days before the vultures and Marabou storks were willing to eat him- once they decided to, it went quick, but they wouldn't touch it for a while.

Hyena


Back to the skinning shed, and out again... and this time, about a km past where we shot the hyena, we found a warthog that was one that several folks had been trying to get. He had really good spread, but his body size was what was really impressive. Easily the biggest bodied warthog I have seen. His lower cutters were huge, and the tusks show a bit of wear. We later found several other warthogs that were even more impressive than him, but that is the way it goes sometimes. This area has lots of pigs! Anyhow, I shot him twice with the .375 as the first shot was a little further back than ideal. I do note to all the pig shooters that even though I was using a .375 H&H, with heavy bullets, neither bullet exited this guy.

Warthog


At this point, we went back to the skinning shed, and dropped him off, and again headed out again. We went to where the wildebeest were converging. We had done this the previous 2 days, and really it seemed that all of them were pretty much of a oneness, we were looking for a difference of maybe 1-2" of horn spread which in essence amounted to if the horns stuck out past the ears. While we were looking, Brian noted a few that had broken horns, but the he saw one that was "different" than the rest- he had a horn that was a spiral. He said look at that- that thing is going to put his own eye out! I then reminded him that I like odd critters and we decided that he would be easy to get as he would stand out... well, not exactly. We then spent about an hour trying to get him in a position that I was able to identify him and yet not have another in the herd be hit by the bullet afterwards. Finally I got the shot, and he went down pretty quickly, with a good heart/lung shot. Once we got him down, not only was he atypical, but his regular horn was quite good. He probably won't score all that well as his atypical horn does not have much of a boss on it, but still, I am pretty sure no one else has a White Bearded Wildebeest like this on their wall....

Atypical Wildebeest


We then went in for lunch, and despite getting 3 different animals, it was only 10:30 and while we intended to go back out at 2:30, it was closer to 3:30 when we went out as we had a heck of a storm pass through, which caused some damage to the dining area hut. This was a really heavy thunderstorm with almost solid rain. We first looked at the big waterbuck, but he managed to give us the slip again. He was staying in about the same area, so we knew that eventually he would make a mistake. We looked at a couple of groups of dagga boys, and would stalk up to them. None of these made the cut as being worth shooting, being either too narrow or soft. We did see a steenbuck that was pretty good, but he was not on my license and we could not shoot him, and we did not see another one the whole hunt. In fact, while we occasionally would see some of the pygmy antelope, in general the grass was too high to hunt them- they would give you a brief look and then they were gone before you could even judge their trophy size. They probably would have been much easier a few months earlier when the grass was dried out and low.

Dining area damage


When we got back in, Brian related that the head of antipoaching out at Maswa had died a couple weeks back of a fall and a broken back. He died at age 62, which Brian said was "way too old to be working out in the bush!" They had apparently just flown his body out. Rest in peace, sir.

That evening, we had Tommy steaks for dinner, and as usual, they were superb! The cook was the same gentleman who cooked for us when we were in Lokisale back in 2011. He really knows his stuff. This hunt, all of the meat was done just as I wanted it, and we always had a great variety of dishes. The bread and cakes were astonishing, as he does this with a wood fire.

Zebra Herd


On the 18th, we spent the morning looking for Buffalo. We did stalk a number of groups, and again, they did not measure up to what we wanted to shoot, basically, either something with no horns (scrum cap) or something over 40" in spread was what we were looking for. We ended up getting swamped by wildebeest; they were just everywhere. We saw thousands of them. We also looked at Zebra, but for some reason the Zebra we found were more flighty and did not give much opportunity (probably because the wildebeest would start running and they would follow all the time- The wildebeest have this low pitched bleat that is there warning cry and they seemed to be a pretty talkative lot. In the midst of this, a large wildebeest was found. Unlike the previous one, this one was easy to find and follow, but also unlike the first, he was a lot more bulletproof, taking 3 shots to put him down, and even then he took a long time to die.

Wildebeest


We gutted him out and we saw a group of buffalo and some Roan that we needed to look at. We got back to where I had shot him after maybe an hour, and the vultures had made off with all of the remains we had left- they just left a little bit of stomach contents to tell that we had shot him at that site. In essence, they clean up everything quickly. Usually you see some large bones lying around from naturals kills, and they look like they have been there forever, even if they had been there for only a day or two... We then headed in and dropped off the wildebeest. Afterwards we left camp and came across a big impala... we were just driving and Brian hit the brakes and said "he's big" and turned the truck off and sat there with his binoculars for about 10 minutes then said "get your rifle. We are going to shoot that impala." After a short stalk, I took a shot at about 200 yards. He ran a bit then stood head down behind some trees. I then shot him a second time and he dropped. Either shot was fatal, but these impala are just tough. This guy made the "holy grail" of impala with a 30" horn.

Bigger Impala


After lunch, at about 3 (again having a noon time thundershower) we again went looking at waterbuck. This time the big bull made a mistake, and stood in a clearing a bit too long, and I got him. This is an East African Defassa Waterbuck. They are about the size of an Elk, and probably one of the most regal looking antelope, even if they are a little too territorial to make them hard hunting like the Roan are.

Waterbuck


We then loaded him up and spent the rest of the afternoon looking for Buffalo and Gazelle on the border road. We saw a few impala, buffalo, but nothing impressive, and this was the time we got stuck to the point where we needed to get the jack out and put stuff under the wheels. we also had to get out and push a couple times, but that really doesn't count. We ended up getting back late because of the weather's lack of cooperation.

The following day we decided to check out the southern part of the concession. Maswa south is run by TGT safaris, and is their premier area. We went down there and really didn't see much- some waterbuck, none anywhere as large as the one I had shot, and some scattered impala, and buffalo were seen. We then ate in the field and then went looking again. At lunch time the trackers climbed a hill to look around, and all but stepped on a pair of male lion. We saw some buffalo, one of which was good. We stalked him and I was on the sticks to shoot twice, but I just wasn't fast enough and he got away into the park. On the way back in, we saw a good Topi, which we initially thought was on the park side of the road, but the game scout corrected us of that, and I made a really nice shot on him, maybe 150 yards that he dropped at the shot to.

Topi


After that we made a try at Reedbuck, but the one chance I had, he kept his head in the way, so I didn't take the shot and he ran off into the bush.

Drum Rock found on one of the hills- makes a metallic drumming sound when hit with a rock


The next day ended up being Buffalo day.

Buffalo Herd


We headed south again to look for buffalo. We really didn't see much other than baboon and impala and the occasional small spread dagga boy. We hit the wildebeest herd at about 10:00. At about 11:45, we see a buffalo herd. Brian is looking at the herd bull and said that he's big. We drive around to get to a point in front of the herd and then dismount and start stalking back towards them. We initially assume they will stay in the cover and are stalking that way. We don't find them, then Albert, Brian's head tracker sees them out in the middle of an open field, grazing. We get as close as we can, and then range them. About 300 yards. We then have to make a plan, and the only real option is to crawl up on them. We crawl over some rocky soil, and I cut my knees up pretty good. Finally, we get to a termite mound that we can't get any closer to them- they are starting to watch us- they don't know just what we are, but they have spotted us. Brian tells me that he's the one by himself facing to the left. It is obvious which one he means- this is a big buffalo. I take one shot and hit him in the crease behind his shoulder. He hunches but does not run, while the rest of the herd makes distance. I try a second hurried shot and hit him in the ear as he turns. At this point he still doesn't run, and is obviously sick. We then walk up to a good point and I put him down with a third shot. This is a huge buffalo, and my biggest one. He measured 47" with good drops.

Big Buffalo


Fly on the Buffalo


After a good lunch and rest, we head back out looking for reedbuck or bushbuck. We spent a couple hours playing hide and seek with a nice reedbuck, but don't seal the deal. On our way back, at maybe 6:20 or so, we see a group of buffalo. One has exceptional bosses and great drop. He is on the park side of the road, and after we stare at him for a while, we drive on. I say we will have to come and find him tomorrow morning. Brian said "Why? We are going to shoot him now." Apparently, as soon as we moved, they crossed the road and were standing in some brush on our side of the road. We got out and it was rapidly getting dark. Brian said he's the one on the right, and I asked if he was sure. He said yes, absolutely. Then I realized I was looking at the wrong buffalo. He was quartering towards me with his right side facing me. I lined up the shot and fired. It was a little far back and he ran a bit, into some trees. Brian said shoot him again- but I didn't see him. "Its the big black thing over there" so I shot the big black thing- a tree. However, that caused the buffalo to start a bit (he had been hit in the liver and really didn't feel too good...) and I then put two more shots in him. He then fell over. I then reloaded the rifle and we walked up towards him, and he jumped to his feet again. I put two more shots in him and he went down again. This time he stayed down. For a second, I thought he was going to charge us, but he just could not do it. This was the only one that gave a death bellow of the lot this time. This one is 42" and with a lot of drop. We get back to camp and I declare beer for staff as we did so well that day, to universal proclamation.

Third Buffalo


Buffalo Trophies


The next morning we get going about an hour later. We hunt reedbuck principally, and after a long stalk, I take a chance on a running shot, and miss him by a hair. Actually Brian thought I might have hit him, but the trackers and the game scout said no, and after spending an hour looking for any sign of hitting him, nothing was found, so it was called a miss. On the way back to camp, it was decided that now was as good a time as any to collect a Zebra, and after finding a good stallion, we walked up to maybe 100 yards, put up the sticks, and shot him. More a shoot than a hunt really on Zebra here.

Zebra


That afternoon we finally got the Reedbuck. We found a nice male, who kept running off, but lying down reasonably visibly. I finally was able to get set up at maybe 50 yards away, but he was hiding behind a stump and weeds, and while I could see an ear and the tops of his horns, that was it. Brian circled around in front to let it hear him moving, and finally, he got curious enough to stand and look at him, and then I shot. The first shot took out the heart and lungs, but he was dead on his feet, and as such I figured he would run off, so I shot him again in the same place (the bullet holes were about a half inch apart) and he fell.

Reedbuck


That evening, the regional manager for Maswa stopped by. He is the man in charge of the Game Scouts and managing the area. He lives in Dar Es Salaam but spends several months in the area. He was a very interesting guy to talk to, and was pretty clear that if the game does not pay for itself it will go away. He also noted that they are having a lot of trouble with the Masai bringing cattle in. Apparently there is little political will to do something that will make the herders not bring their cattle in, like allowing the game scouts to kill the cattle or raising the fines. He did think that poaching was coming under control again, but didn't disagree with Brian that it may be because all the big elephant are dead... He also admitted that a big issue is the Chinese and their willingness to go around the laws of Tanzania to get ivory and Rhino products; and that in a poor country there will always be someone who will do something for a buck. In essence, the local folks need to make enough that the price to get them to ignore the law is such that it is not economical to bribe folks to get illegal animal products.

The next day we went after Roan. We came across a group of 3 males, the one we wanted and 2 juveniles. We were able to get to about 250 yards and they ran off. We tried again and the same thing happened, so the third time, we decided that about 250 was where we needed to be. I shot at him, and he jumped, so I shot twice more, all 3 times he jumped. I was sick that I thought I had hit him, and he kept running. We followed him for the rest of the morning (3.5 hours) without any sign of injury or blood being found. Later it was shown that I was shooting low, and I shot under him each time. He was jumping because dirt was spraying him.

Terrain that Roan are found in


We then were driving around looking at animals. Brian found a Topi that might be a bit bigger than the one we had shot, and we had the license to shoot a second, but I said if he was dramatically bigger, I would shoot another, but if its "maybe" and a fraction of an inch, why kill a second one when we had plenty of meat in camp. He agreed, and we went on. Shortly afterwards we saw a big Coke's Hartebeest. Brian said this one was quite good, and we stalked him. He didn't even know we were there, and uncharacteristically just continued to graze. I shot him and he staggered and then ran a bit. he then fell over within 20 yards of where I shot him.

Hartebeest


The following day, we went out after Roan again. Brian was not optimistic, as the one I shot at was the only shootable one we saw, because we were not supposed to shoot into herds. Fortunately, he was back where he had been. We tried to get around in front of him on foot, and spent about 3 hours walking up on him, except he decided to go elsewhere. When we got out there, we saw Topi, Zebra, and Wildebeest, but no Roan. We did see a cheetah that was photogenic, however.

Cheetah


That afternoon we went looking around and saw him in the distance going pretty fast, so we left him alone, in the hopes that he would settle down. We then went looking for a bushbuck by walking the river. We eventually found a nice one, but he ran like crazy, and didn't stop in sight, so no shot.

The following day we again go after the Roan. This time, when we made our approach, he followed the plan. We were able to get on a hill behind a tree before they came in sight. He then stopped while his 2 companions started to graze, and he laid down. After about an hour of this, it looked like they were not going to move. At this point, Brian decided we needed to force the issue...crawl at them. My knees were not happy with this choice, but it was that or no Roan. We crawled maybe 150 yards to a tree, that was 250 yards away from the Roan. They just ignored us and we sat there for an eternity (maybe 15-20 minutes) and then he asked me if I felt OK shooting prone unsupported- I said if its not too far, sure. So we again started crawling up on him. Maybe 25-30 yards closer and he got to his feet. I then tried to catch my breath and then fired. He hunched up and started to trot a bit. I fired again and he hunched again (this was later shown to be another low shot) then Brian was yelling don't shoot (one of his companions was getting dangerously close) and I looked away to ask why, and then he said shoot now... back on him and fired and missed him running full out at 300 yards. At this point, he said that he thought my first and second shots had hit, but the rest were no gos. We started following, and I was having a bad feeling about this. However, within 200 yards we started finding blood, then a lot of blood. Then some thick clots and more blood. They thought I had hit him in the neck. we proceeded to start a long tracking job, one of the best I have ever seen. For the first bit, I was pretty mad at myself for screwing up. Then as I saw more and more blood and repeated evidence of him lying down, I started thinking we were probably going to find him. Then the blood trail started thinning, but his tracks showed he was walking very slowly. He was mostly bled out. At this point he was just walking in a straight line, and Brain told me to stay with the guys, and he was going to assume that the animal was going to keep going in a straight line so he would (like with the first impala) try and get in front and shoot him if he kept going. After about an hour, we heard a dull boom, and a hyena yelp. The guys all had great big grins and we started running forward. about 400 yards ahead, we found Brian with a still kicking Roan. The animal did not have enough blood to bleed where he had shot it in the chest. My first shot had hit him just below the chest in his front leg, but had taken out his leg artery and vein. Since this is similar to what I saw happening with the .416 when it started to go (shots at range going way low, but up to 100 or so, it was still dead on) I am going to need to check the .375 over now. Geez...

Roan (the hunting team)


Roan with Brian and I


That evening, we again walked the river for Bushbuck, but didn't see the big one. we did see a group of 4 bull elephants watering at the river, who really didn't react too much to us- they just finished drinking and then walked off. I thought one was good, but Brian said "never judge an elephant from behind- you always overestimate them." the bigger was maybe a legal bull- barely. The rest were about 30# a side he thought. We then ran into an immature male bushbuck. He was oblivious of us, and walked up to us, until at 20 yards he noticed us then ran off. We were hooted at by baboon regularly and saw lots of impala, reedbuck, and warthog.

Elephant Bull


On our final day, we went on a drive to see about Gazelle. Other than the Tompson's we did not see any Grant's or Robert's. We saw Giraffe, Topi, Zebra, Hartebeest, Buffalo, Elephant, Impala, Warthog, a few wildebeest, and some cattle. We did see a Cheetah again, but my photos of this one were too blurred to make him out. We also saw a Eland, and while we tried to get in front of him with the cruiser and turn him back in to the concession, he ran into the park. I would have liked to get a picture of him, as he had a bunch of tree branches tangled in his horns and he really looked impressive, although he really did not have a good set of horns on him.

Buffalo


That evening, we again walked the river, and this time we saw a Leopard (probably a young male) hunting along us on the opposite bank. Due to this, obviously, we did not see much game and ended up heading in without seeing anything other than monkeys, baboon, and a few warthog.

Sunset


We ended up having the charter flight pick us up at about 10:30. Albert was asked to stay and help take camp down. While the season lasts until March, my hunt was the last of the year for Maswa for the 2014-2015 season.

Overall, the camp and staff were great. Brian was as always a lot of fun to hunt with, and even if he was sick as a dog for 3-4 days, he didn't let it interfere with the hunting. This is as close as hunting in a "park" as I have had- tons of animals around, and good trophy quality. In some ways, some of it seemed too easy- like Zebra (they have always required a bit of effort for me to get them before.) The sight of the wildebeest migration really was like it is shown on the animal specials- a flood of animals as far as the eye can see. I think I got a better experience than the folks paying for a photo safari- I was able to walk amongst the animals and see them at shorter distance than they do, even excluding the hunting aspect of it.

Wildebeest Herd

Okay, the second and third buffalo are outstanding, but holy crap Batman, that impala is amazing. Shooting that one impala on a safari would be a success. Congrats!

What a fantastic safari you have had. Trophy quality just outstanding !! Congratulations.

Tommy - superb.
Buffalo - majestic.
Impala - Wow !!

Well done Brian and crew.

Truly amazing Trophys.

Nothing like a Safari in western Tanzania....

Great hunt and report! A couple of really nice buff.Did you video your hunt?

Those impala are awesome!

Stunned!

Great post Chuck!

Thank you for sharing your adventure. Your hunt report is better than anything I read in the hunting magazines

Jim

What a beautiful selection of trophies. Well done Sir.

Big Congrats, great report,Brian always produces,
awesome area, awesome PH.

This might be the most awesome hunting report i have ever read. congrat's on a amazing safari, those buff are huge and that impala is a jawdropper

thank you for posting

Congratulations on some mighty impressive trophies!!! Looks like a dang good time.

That is the safari of a lifetime. Some very impressive trophies. Congrats. Bruce

Great safari, those two buffalos are really impressive as well as that impala, congratulations!

Great trip. Great trophies. That has to be one of the most impressive limit of buffalo I've ever seen. Love the bosses on #3.

The 30 inch impala, 47 inch buff and Thompson's are AMAZING!!

What a great hunt you had.

I just love that last buffalo!

Great safari, great story and great photographs.

Congratulations.

Chris

Beautiful trophies - congrats. AIU

great hunt.

Love the helmet on that last buffalo. He is so ugly that he's beautiful

Charles,

Simply outstanding trophies. Well done! You hit that magic time of year and it all came together for you. Excellent!

Mark

Wow X 10! I am a sucker for big buff, and they all are wonderful, but like Mike said above that Impala looks like Walt Disney's work. Congrats!!

Thanks for all the kind comments.

I did not video the hunt, I guess I am too cheap for that. I know that Albert films the shooting, but I think that's more for checking for hits than anything, I have not gotten those films.

I don't think there are too many places with Impala like Maswa, as the first one I saw I thought was a monster, and was told that he was very immature... We looked at several hundred over the course of the hunt to find these two.

It was loads of fun, and hopefully I will be back in Tanzania soon.

Superb safari and some exceptional trophies. Well done!

Charles;

A bag of better trophies could not be had!!!! Great pictures and report.

Best regards, D. Nelson

Amazing report...like being there!

quote:

Originally posted by Rockdoc:
Great safari, great story and great photographs.

Congratulations.

Chris

+1

Wery Nice animals

Nice report thanks for share! have you a photo of final tableau?

quote:

I don't think there are too many places with Impala like Maswa, as the first one I saw I thought was a monster, and was told that he was very immature... We looked at several hundred over the course of the hunt to find these two.

how many inches the first impala? How big is a medium size impala in the zone?

Incredible hunt, congrats!

Love the buffalo, all three great bulls and two of them are spectacular.

TZ is on the list! Wowza.

quote:

Originally posted by lorefuma:
Nice report thanks for share! have you a photo of final tableau?

quote:

I don't think there are too many places with Impala like Maswa, as the first one I saw I thought was a monster, and was told that he was very immature... We looked at several hundred over the course of the hunt to find these two.

how many inches the first impala? How big is a medium size impala in the zone?

The first one is 28 1/2"

From what we were looking at, I would assume that 26-27"would be the "average" size there, but if you have some time, we saw 3-4 that should be in the around 30" range next year.

I didn't take a photo of all the trophies together at the end, partially because they were packing up, and partially because the Roan skull still had some meat on it, and I didn't feel it was worth pulling everything out of the truck to get the photo, but it sure would have made a spread.

Congrats on a great hunt and as said Brian certainly delivers! Maswa seems like the place for big buff- a client I have just finished an ele hunt with shot a 50" bull there with huge bosses also- amazing animal!

.
Congrats on a bag of excellent trophies! Superb buff, serious trophy impala and a great thommy! Plus the curled wildi is fantastic and am sure will be a conversation piece when hanging on the wall!

Well done and thanks for sharing

Fantastic.



.

Great report, photos and trophies. Congratulations.

Thanks for sharing your memories.

Good grief and just shows that the top Tanzanian concessions do offer the best buffalo hunting in Africa.

Congratulations on your 30 inch Impala and I thoroughly enjoyed your report.

Well done to Adam Clements and his quality team.

Really enjoyed reading your report.
Some superb trophies & well written.

Man, that looks tremendous!!! Congratulations.