rry.

Larry,
Sounds like an interesting hunt. I've never heard of the outfit you hunted with but it sounds like it was one heck of an adventure! Look forward to more stories and pictures!

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a great hunt indeed!

There is an explanation of how to post pictures at the top of the African Hunt Reports page. If all else fails, you can email some to me for posting. My email address is in my profile.

I would post a few if you like. mike@tradewindsair.com

Sounds like a great hunt. Congratulations, and thanks for sharing the report.

Larry,

Great hunt and Hillary is a great PH. Was Peter Mkumba one of your tracker? He is a delight to be with.

Jeff

No. My trackers were Andrew and Dongo. I don't believe this gentleman was with my son either.

I agree about Hilary. Plus he is Mr Personality. Laughing all the time.

Sounds very exciting and successful. Can't wait for photos!!!

Regards, D. Nelson

Despite all the pre-trip stress, I am glad the hunt worked out well for you Larry, congratulations. Hunting a new area for the first time must be very exciting. All the more so with your son along to experience it with you. Regards, Bill

Exciting story and interesting area as well! Thanks for sharing.. Hope you`ll be able to post some pictures later..

I have to admit when I first saw this I thought you hunted with Hilary Duff...

I would have much preferred that. It would have guaranteed that I would have always been in the bush. One way or another.

Larry,

Excellent read...Look forward to talking to you about the hunt...


Mike

Great report Larry. I can help with photos if need be. You have my email.

Thanks, Larry, for the detailed report. And congratulations on what seems to have been a great safari.

I am curious as to why you chose this area, even though it had not been hunted before, there were no or poor roads, the grass had not been burned, your PH didn't tie it up until after the season had started and the territory was unknown to him? Was it the nearby park border that enticed you? The price? Did you know the PH? All of the above? More?

It could have been disastrous, but clearly it wasn't and you seem to have made a good (or lucky? ) choice. Still, very risky.

I was once offered such a hunt, for elephant in a "new" area of Botswana. The outfitter was totally honest about it and offered it to me at a pretty big discount, but I declined.

BTW, I would guess that the PH who hunted buff with your son was named Hassan Ali, which is a fairly common Arabic name.

I decided to go there because it bordered the park. I also knew the PH. I am a little on the adventurous side.

I assumed (correctly) that they would employ local people that would help them. That was certainly helpful.

Hilary had been working on getting the area for about 4 years. The documents sat on the desk of the president for months before he signed them resulting in a delay.

Hassanali is actually one name. He is Indian.

Photos added for Larry. A few more to come shortly.

Nice sable.


A pair of nice cats.



All in all, a pretty generous college gift I would say!

"Nice sable"


I beg to differ sir. Very, very nice sable.

Agreed. I would be very happy to get one like that (44") and they got two of them. I like the father/son double on Mr. Spots too. How cool is that?

Larry and son, great looking animals...


Mike

Thanks for the photos. Great sable and leopard, and a big kudu too! Three of East Africa's finest times two, all on one safari, is truly remarkable.

Larry, being on the "adventurous side" sure didn't hurt you on this trip!

Congrats to you and your son!

A slight update.

I just got off the sat phone with the guys that were to hunt after us. They flew in Sunday afternoon and started hunting Monday. As such today was their 7th day of hunting.

One of the guys killed a massive lion,an elephant and 2 buff. All in less than a week.

Not bad.

Was this area on the Southeast side of Ruaha Nat'l Park?I hunted in Rungwa Ikili with Hilary 4 years ago. Does H. still have the .458 Lott I had made for him? Bwana dogo

Yup. He still has the gun.

Yes, it is on the SE side of the park. The turn to the main camp in basically at a village called Tungamalenga.

Larry,

I hope Hillary ends up with this area permanently. He is a ggreat guy and I would love to hunt with him again,

Jeff