Just got back from 16 days in Tanzania. We did the entire trip in 3 separate segments.

I have always wanted to hunt Maasailand in Northern Tanzania as they have some

species that aren't really found anywhere else. Also Jim Shockey had a very nice

show about hunting Maasailand & it being the area where humans & therefore hunting

originated. We hunted the famous Rift Valley which actually runs from Jordan

down to Mozambique/Zimbabwe. My friend, Kent, & I have done 6 safaris

together & we wanted to take our wives on one so we thought a 5 day hunt for

plains game in Maasailand, with 5 days in Zanzibar & 4 days seeing the

famous parks doing photo safari activity would be ideal. We booked this 2 years

ago at SCI. I had already had a very successful leopard hunt in Sango with

Thierry Labat 4 months ago from a hunt that had to be postponed 2 years, so

2015 ended up being a busy safari season for me! Did Cabo & Marlin Fishing in

Feb 2015 & will be going with Kiri (Fallowbuck) to shoot grouse in Scotland

in 3 weeks. I feel like Aaron Neilson? Wish every year could be this

busy with international hunting/fishing.

DATES: Aug 22 - Sept 5

OUTFITTERS:
Cy Angelloz - Global Hunting Network
Matthew Lloyd-Sim - Far & Away Safaris

PH:
Gamshed - African Buffalo Safaris

ANIMALS HARVESTED:
Grant's Gazelle (2), Thompson's Gazelle (2) & White Bearded Wildebeest (1)

AIR TRANSPORTATION: United to DC, then Ethiopian Air to Addis Ababa - Kiliminjaro

FIREARMS: (Loaner) Browning 300 Win Mag with Leopold Scope


We drove (7 hours) to Denver & caught a United flight to DC, spent the night &

left early the next morning via Ethiopian Air to Addis Ababa. We used miles to

purchase 4 Business Class seats, had a bit of apprehension about Ethiopian Air

but were pleasantly surprised. All new planes, very clean with excellent service

& food. Had 2 hour layover in Addis then flew to Kiliminjaro. Gamshed picked

us up & we drove 3 hours to Loosimingor Camp/ MGCA hunting area (borders

Ngorogoro). Camp was the classic tented style surrounded by Maasai villages.


2 immediate observations, much drier area than I had hunted before in Africa (similar to

Sonora Mexico) & grossly overgrazed by the Maasai with cattle,sheep & goats.



I have cattle on my ranches in Wyoming & was amazed how they overgrazed.

To be fair, I was told this was an extremely dry year for them?

At first I thought we would have a hard time finding animals but

luckily they were prevelant! On a 5 day license we were limited to Grant's & Thompson's

Gazelle, White Bearded Wildebeest, warthog, impala & zebra. The highly

desireable species (Gerenuk, Lesser Kudu, Fringed-Eared Oryx & leopard)

require at least a 14 day license. The cost differential, including trophy

fees, is significant. In order to have time to sight see we limited the hunting to

4 days. We ended up getting everything we wanted in 3 days.

First we went after Grant's Gazelle, truly amazing how dry & desolate the area was.

Luckily, the loaner 300 Win Mag was perfect as many shots were around

300 yards +. Both Kent & I got excellent Grant's.



My wife with the Grant's



Kent, I and a Maasai with a Grant's



The food at camp was extremely good, perhaps the best I have had in my 9 safaris.

They made a phenomenal Gazelle Pizza for lunch one day that was perfect, hard to

believe they turn out quality food on wood burning stoves out in the bush.

Our second day we both harvested Thompson's, they were on a old dry lake

bed. Once we glassed a nice male, we stalked it out in the open by walking

at 45 degree angles to it. We never really got within 300 yards so had

to take long shots, prone on a backpack. Luckily we shot well & the rifle was accurate.

Kent stalking a Thompson's



My Thompson's Gazelle (about 2/3 the size of a whitetail)



Another B&W "retro" pic of the Tommy



Day 3 we went after Wildebeest, I had shot numerous Wildebeest before

so didn't take one, however this was Kent's first.
White Bearded Wildebeest:



Hard to see the blonde beard on these pics?

We were finished hunting so on Day 4 we just drove around to see more of

the area. Some areas were mountainous with more vegetation. We saw numerous

Gerenuk, a really nice lesser kudu, numerous dik-dik's but no Oryx.

According to Gamshed, our PH, the Maasai are slowly moving into the

more mountainous areas & he's afraid they will be overgrazed in a few years.

Here's a pic of a valley, the white spots on the left are Maasai cattle



We had a great last night in camp, gin & tonic's with Romeo Y Julieta No 1's that

we picked at duty free in Addis Ababa. Then we drove to Arusha for the flight

to Zanzibar. I will post that portion of the trip next.

Jim

Congrats and thanks for posting.

Tanzania holds a special place in my heart.

Congratulations on a great trip. I love Masailand and have wanted to take my wife on a trip to Arusha, Pemba, Zanzibar and Mafia Island for some time.

Send us more on how your wife enjoyed the trip.

Masailand is a cool place to hunt. Tommie and Grants are two of my favorite animals there. Looks like you had a great "short" hunt! Look forward to the rest of the trip details.

Massailand certainly has an air of charm and mystique about it, and is one of my favourite areas of Tanzania.

Sadly though the Masaai tribe are taking over, having been allowed to, and their massive cattle numbers are slowly but surely impacting on the wildlife numbers. Won't be long before seeing wildlife will be a treat.

Glad you all had a fun hunt and photo safari going on a photo safari along with your hunt is the perfect way to experience northern tanzania. To see Ngorongoro crater, serengeti park, Tarangireand lake manyara.

Great looking trophies!

I'd love to be able to hunt that area some day.

Well done and congratulations!

Neil is correct, of course. There is still time for me and my wife, but I doubt my children will ever experience it. Of course our ancestors would say we never experienced it as it once was.

Congratulations. Love that black and white picture. Looking forward to your report and pictures from Zanzibar and the parks.
Jytte

Glad to hear that you enjoyed Ethiopian. They have been a gun friendly airline with me. And they are in a class by themselves among African airlines. this year they have started a west coast service, too, to LAX.

Very nice!

Nice but you won't find me ever booking a hunt with Cy Angeloz; he screwed a ton of hunters when his previous booking company went BK. A lot of hunters lost down payments, etc.

Remember San Miguel Outfitters? He screwed a lot of folks.

Part 2:

After our 5 days of hunting in Maasailand we decided to head off for the second part

of the adventure, Zanzibar! It was a 1 hr 40 min flight from Arusha, no problem especially

since we weren't traveling with firearms. We stayed the first two nights in the old

Stone Town. It is a very old city with tight corridors between the buildings, too

small for cars so the taxi stopped about 6 blocks from the hotel & we walked

the rest of the way. Very high Muslim population & very interesting culture & history.

We stayed at the Emerson on Hurumzi hotel, very highly recommended. The rooms

were very exotic & Middle Eastern in decor. Here's our bathroom, open to the elements

except for the curtains!



We booked the rooms with roof top terraces, these gave great views of the ocean &

of Stone Town. The big patio on the right is the hotel's restaurant, we ate dinner there the

first night sitting on pillows, listening to the Islamic call to prayer followed by a group

of musicians & singers doing traditional Middle Eastern music (pretty exotic for a ranch

boy from Wyoming!)



They brought us breakfast every morning to the terrace. (Great Coffee!!)



I told my wife not to get too used to this! Here's the waiter coming down with the dishes.



We toured Stone Town & learned about all the different door types,...



Here's one we may buy if we can arrange for it to be shipped back with our trophies?



There are numerous books written about the doors of Zanzibar & there is the famous

photo of the largest elephant tusks ever taken in front of a pair of doors in Zanzibar.

It really was the hub of all trade (ivory, slaves, spices,...) coming out of Africa

for hundreds of years. The old slave market is still there with a sobering monument.




We then drove about an hour to the North part of the island to stay at a beach resort (Z Hotel).

Beautiful beaches, our room was right on the ocean & when the tide was in, the water

would splash up through the decking.



Great sunsets



We had seafood every night (lobster, fish, mussel's,...), they even put tables out on the

sandy beach at night. They dug small holes around the tables in the sand & put candles in them

The resort had tons of typical beach & ocean activities available.

Three days of this was a nice break, but we had to pack up & fly back to Arusha.

I will post Part 3 (Touring Ngorogoro, Tarangire & Manyara National Parks) later.

Overall this was a really nice side trip for the wives (& us as well). May consider

adding something like this to future safaris?

Jim

Looks fabulous. Yes, The Maasai are everywhere and the forest/grasslands are being degarded

I stayed at the Nungwe Beach Hotel whilst scuba diving there (Spanish Dancer Divers on Nungwe Beach). Lovely spot!

Thank you.

Thanks for posting.
I've always wanted to include a visit to Zanzibar on one of my Tanzanian safaris... Looks to be fantastic.

Most of the Maasailand species are browzers, so they will outlast the Maasai cattle once the graze is gone, it's the shoats (Sheep & goats)that are driving the ecosystem over the point of no return!

Great report. Thanks for sharing.

Sounds like a great trip Jim!