Hunter: Ahmed Sultan



Outfitter: Miombo Safaris, Contact: info@miombosafaris.com, Contact Person: Michel Mantheakis

PH: Darren Smit.

Rifles: 375 H&H Mag and 7MM Rem Mag

Bullets: 300 gr. Swift A Frame and PMP Solids for 375, 160 gr. PMP Soft for 7MM.

Date: 29th August to 10th September

Game Successfully Hunted: Elephant, Sable, Niassa Wildebeast, Red Duiker and Civet.

Game Hunted but not taken: Crocodile and Kudu.

Areas Hunted

Selous (first four days): The R3 Block is sandwiched between Makumi National Park and the Great Ruaha River in North Western Selous. It is Predominantly miombo woodland with mainly flat terrain with few hills.



Lukwika: Lukwika – Lumesule Game Reserve, with a size of 444 km2, is located in Masasi District between Mtwara and Tunduru, with the rivers Lumesule, Lukwika and Ruvuma demarcating the west, south and east boundaries. The Reserve is about 100 kilometres south of Mtwara town bordered with Ruvuma River, which is the international boundary between Tanzania and Mozambique. Lukwika is a part of the Selous – Niassa ecosystem in Southern Tanzania and acts as corridor for elephants moving up and down on the Selous – Niassa Wildlife Corridor.


Background: I have previously three times hunted elephant unsuccessfully, the main reason for my lack of success was that I always wanted to shoot a good elephant trophy and mediocre trophy bull would not do, even if it meant returning empty handed. For previous occasions there was always other trophies that were also important for those hunts, however, on this safari the main and only objective was to hunt a good trophy elephant bull in the class of 50 to 60 lbs, and if I don’t find one, I will return empty handed satisfied with the experience and the quest will continue…

When I started my research for a quality ele hunt there were many choices of area available, Botswana came straight to mind but I don’t like the short ivory, for me it has to be long ivory, so Botswana was out. Areas near Hwange Park produce good bulls but again the ivory there is of the same Botswana gene pool and rest of Zimbabwe is not consistent enough to be seriously considered for big ivory. Then there was Mozambique and Tanzania, I spent many hours reading whatever I could get my hands on about hunting ele in those two countries. My research channeled my options to four main candidates:

1. Niassa reserve Block B with Kambaku Safaris
2. Selous reserve with Pasanisi
3. Mawambesi Reserve with Tanzania Big Game Safaris
4. Lukwika reserve with Miombo Safaris.

Somehow or the other it clicked with Miombo Safaris and Lukwika it was with a 4 day side trip in the beginning of the safari to their Selous reserve R3 block. One of the main reasons of booking with Miombo Safaris was because their area Lukwika boarders the Niassa Reserve and also this option gave me a chance to visit Selous and hunt Niassa Wildebeest, as this will complete my collection of all the wildebeest.

I thank all those AR members who very kindly contributed in one form or the other to help / guide me to this hunt.


Note on the PH: Darren Smit is a very hard working PH, he is young but has vast experience in elephant hunting. He hunts Botswana in the early part of the year coming up in Tanzania as the season starts there. The main reason I requested Michel for Darren to be my PH was his experience in elephant hunting. He is a joy to hunt with and knows what he is doing, a thorough professional and an excellent companion. We talked about what I wanted from this hunt i.e. we work hard for quality trophies and will not shoot anything inferior, this is exactly what Darren delivered, he didn’t let me shoot anything that was not classy. His attitude and meticulous attention for the comfort of his client makes him one of the very best even at this young age. I will rate him as high as any PH that I have ever hunted with. He also enjoys making a very special salad dressing that we enjoyed so much on our field lunches, if you ever hunt with him ask for it, it is indeed very special.



Camp: Miombo’s both camp that I stayed in were traditional East African tented camps with excellent facilities. The camp staff and service was of the highest standards. The food in both camps was exceptional, I indicated that I don’t much cared about bush meat and I was served dishes like full roasted lamb leg, excellent fish, beef and chicken. The staff was the very courteous, they did simple things like one waiter ready with fresh juice as our vehicle approached the camp after hunting, this made the experience more enjoyable and comfortable.

(Selous R3 Camp)



(Lukwika Camp)



Travel: The Emirates as always was a joy, I bought lots of stuff from Dubai duty free for give away in camp and hunting vehicle and also some Arabic dates and Turkish delights with Honey and Apricot for those long walks on ele hunting. I was the first passenger to get of plane in Dar-es-Salam, this made me pass through immigration and custom in a breeze. Miombo’s representative Wies was there to take me to the charter aircraft office for a straight transfer to Selous. Soon I was on way, a 1 hour flight to R3. My PH Darren met me at the air strip along with another one of Miombo’s PH Georgie Ferreira, who is also their Anti Poaching Manager. We drove 15 minutes to the camp, where the whole camp staff was singing and celebrating on my arrival, as if I have shot a lion and it was a kabobi, a waiter was also ready with orange juice, I was impressed with the Karibu (welcome) and was happy to be back in Africa.


Hunt:

Day 1: The hunt started as 1 X 2 as I had the luxury of 2 PHs, Georgie the second PH was not occupied in the camp and kindly offered to film this hunt for me, which was a great gesture from him. The main objective of the Selous part of this safari was Niassa Wildebeest and Crocodile, it was a natural plan to hunt the wildebeest first and use it at as a croc bait. Georgie has been hunting Selous for some time and told us that he has been seeing lots of wildebeest in the air strip region and we should start hunting from there, so we went to the air strip region and sure enough there was a big heard of wildebeast with a good male in it. We stalked them to 100 yards and the male stood broadside giving a perfect shot, I thought it was easy and took careful aim and let go the 7 MM but was surprised to see the bullet hitting the ground just near the feet of the bull, Darren confirmed that I have missed. The bullet must have hit some brush on the way and got deflected, that 7mm proved to be useless on this trip as whenever I tried to hit something through even slight brush/grass it just wouldn’t hit the target. We chased that group for nearly two hours before deciding to give them a break as we didn’t wanted them to head out of the area to Mukumi park. We were driving to reach a hill to glass the area from height when we spotted another group of wildebeest, we quickly got of the truck and as we were walking towards them a lion jumped up and walked away.



The lion had earlier caught a wildebeest and was enjoying his lunch before we showed up. He was an old male with a good full mane, certainly a lot better than what I have seen coming out of Selous lately. We walked after the wildebeest only to find another dead wildebeest killed by the same lion, we realised that it will be very simple matter to shoot this lion if we build a blind there and sit that evening.



Darren asked if I would like to shoot him? I have already shot a lion and this one was not better than the one I got so I decided not to give him a try and concentrate on my objectives for this hunt. We returned to the camp for Lunch and on the way back we checked different spots on the river for crocs. After lunch we decided to give the Hippos just in front of the camp a try as a Hippo will make good bait. We dressed for our amphibian assault and walked into the knee deep river to the Hippos who allowed us to come near until 100 yards before going down in deep water.



We waited for 45 mins for a shot but the bull would not cooperate so we gave up, walked back to camp got dressed and headed back to the airstrip for wildebeest. We again got lucky with another group of wildebeest that had a good bull, we stalked them but they got aware of us and started to run but stopped after a while. I had the .375 this time and the bull offered a shot at 220 yards, which I took. I heard the bullet strike and Darren confirmed the hit, the bull ran 15 yards before collapsing, we had our croc bait.



Day 2: First thing in the morning we set the croc bait at a section of river where we saw very promising crocs a day before. This bait was on the Ruaha river, 800 yards down river from another safari company’s camp, which was on the opposite bank in R2 block. After setting the bait our objective was to hunt buffalos or one of those legendry blue eland bulls, however, it was decided to shoot only in case we find a really good trophy. This gave me a chance to see other parts of the concession, we saw part of the Dar-Lusaka railway track across which was the Makumi national park.

Day 3: We went to check the bait in the morning, there were lots of small croc but the big one was about 200 yards away in the river. As we were sitting there we heard some people and on investigation found that poachers have caught a hippo in one of their snare about 200 yards down river from our bait on the opposite bank. They were busy butchering the hippo, we decided to show them our presence to scare them away from the area.

(Poachers at work, view from our Croc blind)


We returned that afternoon to the bait but still only the small crocs, the big one were nowhere to be seen. As we were sitting in blind we again heard people, this time the staff of the R2 camp was fishing exactly opposite to our bait, oblivious to our setup.

Day 4: We had one last chance in the morning at the croc before arrival of our charter at 10 o’clock to transfer us to Lukwika. We went to the blind but no luck with the big croc, we tried but conceded defeat as the luck was not on our side. The charter was on time and the flight to Lukwika was pleasant, we reached there in time for lunch. Georgie came to Lukwika with us but continued on the plane to Dar-es-Salam for his well earned 10 day break from Bush. Lukwika is a beautiful area with flat miombo woodland and few granite outcrops that dots the scenery.




The Lukwika camp is on bank of Ruvuma river that forms the international border between Tanzania and Mozambique. We had a good lunch, the staff was very upbeat they told us that they have seen two huge ele bulls since the last safari. In the afternoon we went on a drive to have a feel for the ele movement in the area. 15 mins in the drive we saw group of waterbuck, impala and kudu then the trackers in the back tap and Tembo it was. We left the vehicle and walked up to the group but there was no bull. We radio the vehicle but one of the tracker spotted a lone bull about hundred yards further on the road. We went in to have look, the bull was walking as if he was going to a place, we walked alongside him and his ivory looked good. Darren said that we will walk in front of the bull to a have a look from front, if the bull is as good from the front as he looks from the side then we are going to shoot him. I told Darren that if that bull was above 50lbs I had no problem in shooting him. We cut the bull from the front but Darren said that he can’t give him 1 lbs above 45 and we must pass him, in a way I was relieved as it wouldn’t have been ideal to shoot the bull in first 30 mins of the hunt.



We drove further in the concession and were seeing lot more game and elephant then I expected.

(The sunrise view from Camp on the first morning in Lukwika)


Day 5: We started the day by following tobacco offering and prayers ritual, the legend has it that once an early Miombo’s client wounded an elephant that got lost until a tracker from Kenya arrived and he started by tobacco offering and prayers near a fig tree, then he went on to track that elephant one day later. Now most ele hunts in Lukwika starts with tobacco offering and prayers near that fig tree for a successful hunt and well being of everyone involved.



We started by driving Lukwambe river, one of the three dry rivers in the area that elephants like to dig for water. As we drove we saw many groups of elephants mostly cow and young ones. We completed the whole length of the river and decided to have lunch before proceeding to Lukwika river. In the afternoon we started our drive on the Lukwika river, soon we saw four bulls in the dry river bed. We got of the vehicle and went in for a closer look, the bulls were very calm and we got up to 50 yards of the feeding bulls who were oblivious of our presence. The biggest bull was a one tusker 60 pounder, Darren asked me of what I think of taking a single tusker? I replied in negative.




We went back to truck and continued the drive, there are palm forest in the area that ele like to visit and feed on palm fruits that fall of the trees, they also shake the trees for the fruits to fall off. We saw many young bulls that afternoon.

Day 6: Today the plan was to check Lumesule the third and last sand river before going out in the Tundru open area to check ele movement there. Not a lot of ele movement in that section though we did saw lots of Kudu and Sable in that area.

Day 7: We started the day by checking the Lukwika game reserve boundary road that had cashew plantation on the other side but no ele track crossing the road to invade the plantation. We reached the Lukwika river and were driving down river towards the Ruvuma river when we stoped to check a favourite digging place on the river bed. Sure enough we found a very decent track, which we decided to follow. This was the first actual tracking that we did on this hunt, I enjoyed the beautiful wood land that we were going through. After 10 mins we realised that the bulls are not very far as the signs were very fresh. 45 mins later we managed to catch the group as they were leisurely feeding. In all there were10 bulls, the one nearest to us was the best with matching ivory.



There was some conversation between the trackers and Darren and they all agreed that this was a very good bull. Darren told me that he is a solid 65 pounder and can go70 pounds! that got me excited. We went in for the shot but the bulls felt something was wrong and started to move off, we followed and 10 mins later managed to get in a good position, 51 yards broad side to the feeding big bull. Darren told me to shoot just a bit forward of the crease, I don’t know why but I was feeling confident and asked Darren if I could take a side brain shot? Darren said OK and I took careful aim 1/3 way up and four inches forward of the ear hole and let go the 375, recovering from the recoil I saw the bull collapsing, rear legs first and the front later.

(The very last moment of my bull alive, you can see the puff where the bullet is striking)


we went up to the bull I was about to put an insurance shot but Darren said that the bull is done. We walked up to the bull and admired the beauty of the ivory with a traditional dance, I kept one eye on bull as I was not as confident as Darren about braining the ele and those stories of brained ele getting up again were going through my mind. Our makeshift cameramen Toto Tembo managed to get the whole hunt very nicely on the film. We measured the tusk and they were 19 inches thick at the lip and 53” sticking out. We were really pleased with the outcome, somewhere during that day Darren told me that he hate to say but that ele could go above 75 lbs, it all depend on the size of the nerves. Darren also said that it was a very old old bull on its last set of molar this should reduce the size of nerves in the tusk but lets see.






Everyone involved was very happy, we had lunch there at the sight then off we went to hunt Kudu or Sable. In the evening when we returned to camp and there was a grand kabubi.

Day 8: With the main objective of the hunt achieved, it was now relaxed hunting but still I told Darren that if I shoot any further trophy on this safari it has to be of good quality otherwise I am happy to hunt the remaining part of the trip with no further kills. The head of my elephant with tusks arrived sometime during the night, Darren took some time to wrap it in plastic for it to rot quickly so that the tusks could be extracted and weighed, but this process will take at least four days.



We started from camp at about 7 and now we were mainly looking for a Kudu and Rosevelt Sable. The whole day we looked for a quality trophy of either of those animals with no success but we did saw lots of Kudu and Sable. We put a leg of the elephant just outside camp as Hyena bait with idea that I will bring my rifle with me every morning to the dinning hut when coming for the breakfast and as soon as the light permits, we will take a short walk to check the bait.



Day 9: No luck on the Hyena bait but as we drove out of camp towards Lukwambe river, we saw a very big heard of Sable about 50 animals in a very open area they were heading from forest towards Rumuva river. We got off the vehicle and stalk them but they got aware of us and they dashed back towards the forest. The heard bull was the last animal, he stopped to have a one last look at us. Darren said to me that he is a very good bull and probably the best that he has seen in the area this year, listening to this I said that I can shoot him from this distance, darren said OK and put the sticks down. I took aim and fired the 7mm Mag, the bull was far and it was a fraction of second until the bullet reached him and he buckled and jumped on the shot. We all agreed that it was hit, I ranged the shot through my bino and it was 320 Yards! I never thought it was that far, my rifle was zeroed at 100 yards and I didn’t compensated for the drop. We reached the spot where the bull was standing but no blood, we tracked him and picked his tracks leaving the heard. 15 mins later we found few drop of blood where the bull had laid down that confirmed the hit. We tracked him for a further 1 hour before the game scout spotted him running ahead, we continued to track him seeing him running ahead from time to time. Finally he offered a shot through grass and thick stuff, I fired twice but missed him on both occasion, that 7mm Mag is a useless rifle when firing through thick stuff. We tracked him for 30 more mins then suddenly I saw the sable standing in the grass, he was previously lying down so no one had seen him, in an instant I brought the rifle up and fired hitting him, he went down, Darren congratulated me and as the tracker was coming to have a handshake, I saw the Sable got up and running again. He was about 75 yards and running through waist high grass, I again fired and missed him. We again started running after him, we knew that he will not go far as he was already sick and now has been hit twice.

I only carry a single pouch of cartridges on me that has eight slots, which I always fill with five .375 and three 7 mm cartridges. When we start from the truck, depending on the animal that we are going to shoot, I ask for either 7mm or the .375 to be handed to me from the back. Each of the rifles has three bullets in the magazine, in all my African hunts I have stick to this combination and never had a problem. But now as we were briskly walking after this bull, I said to Darren that I am on my last bullet! and should I run out, he must cover me.

We tracked the bull for 15 mins then somehow Darren and one of the tracker got to the right of line, they were about 25 yards away from the rest of us when the tracker in front of me saw the bull in grass 15 yards away, I thought that he was dead and started walking towards him but all the trackers and game scout told me to shoot him, I stopped at 10 yards, I could see the black mass in the grass but couldn’t make out his vital. As I looked through the scope, I couldn’t make out anything but still fired at the black mass, I hit the bull again but the shot had a totally unexpected result, the bull got up facing me and aggressively snorted and was about to charge, this was the moment where everyone thought that I will put the finishing shot. But to the amazement of tracker, game scout and the other tracker who was filming this with the video camera, I was running out of there leaving a priceless look on everyone’s face.



What I managed to do, not many hunters can claim that feat i.e. out run trackers from a tight spot, I managed to do it because nobody knew that I was out of bullet and everyone thought that I will shoot the animal. As everyone retreated after me, the Sable started slowly running away Darren fired a shot from quite far away hitting the bull and it went down only to get up again and running. I was amazed at the strength this bull had, Darren fired again but probably missed as the bull showed no reaction this time. We followed but now the bull can only walk and we caught up with him, Darren put the final shot from his .500 Jeffery that went through the length of body. He was a very good Rosevelt Sable his horns touched the 40 inch mark. On examining the body, my first shot was about 5 inches low but travelled from one side of the body to the other thus causing considerable amount of internal bleeding. With all my shots and Darren’s first shot, we didn’t manage to hit any vitals or break any bone that’s why the bull kept running.




Day 10: No action on Hyena bait. We are seeing lots and lots of Kudu but we wanted a monster and they aren’t stupid, we managed to see one that was about 58” we tried hard for him but he slipped away as we tried to stalk him. We did found a great Red Duiker that we managed to get, Darren told me that it an exceptional trophy and measure exactly as the world no.1 but after drying out it will lose a fraction of its length making it probably new no.2, great result for an unexpected trophy.



Day 11: We continued our search for the big Kudu but no luck, we did got a Civat though.



(The sun setting on the last day of my hunt)


Day 12: I called the charter inn early and this was the last day of my hunt, on the breakfast table Darren told me that he has managed to get one of the tusk out and the skinners are working on the second. The good news is that the first tusk had a very tiny nerve making the tusk heavy. After breakfast we got the weighing scale out and hang the first tusk on it, it measured a staggering 82 lbs, the second tusk was 81 lbs. The result was much more then what I wished for but this is a great area with some known big bulls in the Niassa reserve that can come out. My bull was one of such great bulls that roam this part of Africa, one needs to be persistent and LUKCY.




Anyone who wants a quality elephant hunt, Miombo’s Lukwika is the place, the amount of effort that Miombo is putting in anti poaching activity in this area has greatly improved the quality of the area. In addition to elephant hunting, Lukwika has now also become a very good general bag area. After seeing the commitment of Miombo’s team and the result that they have achieved in improving the game population in their area, as a hunter I felt really proud to contribute my bit to Miombo’s effort by hunting with them.

This was my third safari with an elephant tag, I am happy that when I finally completed my elephant quest it was on such a great bull. I, for sure, will hunt elephant again and will enjoy the experience but if I ever pull trigger on an elephant again it has to be a better trophy than the one I shot and if this means that I will not shoot any other elephant in my life time, I will still be happy and in the end will proudly say that I have hunted elephant many times in my life with one great success.

Ahmed, Wonderful report
Congratulations on your Safari.

Congrats on some wonderful trophies.

Wow, that's amazing!

Congratulations on a wonderful elephant hunt!

Ahmed, what huge tusks! Your elephant is a once in a lifetime trophy, and then only for an incredibly lucky hunter!

Persistence pays off.

Congratulations!

Great report, too. Thanks for posting.

Ahmed,

Billiant pics

Brilliant hunt report

Brilliant trophies

But most important of all, by a country mile

Brilliant attitude to your hunting!

Ahmed!

Thank you very much for this fine story and great photos!!!!

Wonderful trophies and photos. Congratulations on all. What an ele and the sable and photo of it are great.

Ahmed
This looks to be be about as good as it gets.

One of the very best reports on this forum.

Really Great Ele Bull and Sable.

Congrats

Seloushunter

Ahmed,


I thoroughly enjoyed your photos and hunting report...

I felt like I was right there with you on the hunt and I commend your writing style.

I've never read a hunting report by a hunter that has inspired me so much...If I ever have the oportunity to hunt for a bull ele in my lifetime, I would love to have a hunt such as yours and with this outfitter in this region!

My congratulations to a very focused adventurous, humble, DG HUNTER...


Roland

Great report and photos. Congratulations on an excellent hunt and an outstanding bull.

Great Safari as usual.
Pity your father couldn't be there.

Great report, thanks for taking time to post.
And congratulations with the superb throphies.

Ahmed - Man, sounds like a great hunt! Congrats to you and Darren, you guys obviously did it right.

Aaron Neilson

OUTSTANDING!!!

Thanks for an outstanding report and congratulations on outstanding trophies!

Super elephant, congrats! Thanks for the great report!

JPK

Ahmed thank you for a great report highlighting the ups and downs of the hunt. I like your honest reporting re: the Sable.... the words "use enough gun" come to mind! Superb elephant but an even better red duiker!
JCHB

Thanks!!

That is my dream hunt brother!!!

Outstanding hunt Ahmed!!! Congratulation on an elephant of a life time!!!

Brett

HOLY COW! WHAT A ELEPHANT!
Great report, congrats on what looks like a perfect hunt!

Once in a lifetime elephant, I am so jealous!!!

Great report and a great attitude.

Simply OUTSTANDING!!! Congratulations my friend, on an amazing hunt! Wow, not only a fantastic elephant, but the monster red duiker of a lifetime as well!! I thought that it might be a southern grey duiker at first!!!

Great report and photo's as well. It almost seemed as if I was there with you.
Very well done!!!!!!!!!

Ahmed,

Just super! The elephant is a trophy of a lifetime. All the trophies are fantastic. The red duiker is so large that I did not recognise it as a red duiker at first. I just shot an excellent red duiker in Mozambigue and yours absolutely dwarfs mine. Incredible!

Congats on a fantastic safari.

Mark

Congrats
that is a great ele, and a beauty of a sable,
Thanks for your well written report

Wow, great report on your hunt! Those are some magnificent animals. Is that a kimber caprivi you're shoting?

Absolutely beautiful trophies...all of them...Ele, Sable, Duiker...Congratulations many times over !!!

Ahmed fantastic report and waiting for a big bull, outstanding.

Mike

Ahmed, reports and pics don't get much better than yours A+, congratulations on the great trophies and the great pics.

quote:

This was my third safari with an elephant tag, I am happy that when I finally completed my elephant quest it was on such a great bull. I, for sure, will hunt elephant again and will enjoy the experience but if I ever pull trigger on an elephant again it has to be better trophy than the one I shot and if this means that I will not shoot any other elephant in my life time, I will still be happy and in the end will proudly say that I have hunted elephant many times in my life with one great success.

Classy, and the way I'd do it, though you're well aware that it'll mean you may go a loooooong time before seeing one to top that beautiful brute!

Fantastic report with wonderful pics. Thank you for sharing it!

Congratulations on an outstanding hunt and a world class trophy.

Excellent photographs. I enjoyed your report very much.

Well done.
Regards
Aziz

Congrats to you, some wonderful animals!

Thanks everyone for the nice comments.

quote:

Originally posted by Zoboomafoo_dude:

Is that a kimber caprivi you're shoting?

My 375 is a Winchester Mod 70 and the 7mm mag is a Steyr Mannlicher Luxus.



I will post some video clips of the hunt shortly.

wOW!OUTSTANDING TROPHYS. I also won a race with the baka people in cameroon escaping from an angry Gorilla. it impresses them highly that you can run faster than them. well done

I have hunted that same area with Miombo, it is a great place( which you proved!)
Wonderful , beautiful bull... Worth the wait !
Well Done

this is really an outstanding trophy.
well done!

Congratulations on your hunt.
Magnificent.
I would like to have been there to try that Lion you pass. It was a wonderful old male.

Take care my friend