Just got back from 7 days hunting in the Luke Samara block for buff and plains game. Was with one other hunter and Richard Bonham was PH. It was a foot hunt, no hunting car and the walking was vigorous. However, no shots were fired at buff. The closest I got was approx. 150 yards on a nice old bull, but he was surrounded by cows.

My buddy drew down on a bull at about 15 yards, but he lost in the scope and the bull was gone inside of about 3 seconds. My friend is not very experienced hunter and he beat himself about it.

We tracked, and tracked and tracked sign, but it was almost all a day old whenever we found it. Was frustrating. Only came into contact with buff on two days. It gets hot walking in those sand rivers and islands hours on end. Got very close to some elephant and we found three poached elephant in the bush. Some kind of stink, I tell you.

We each got an impala and I got a warthog. No complaints about the accomodations. We were in a tent camp and switched location once. Food was good and service was outstanding. Staff was outstanding. Bonham put us up in the Sand Rivers Resort the last night at Kiba point on last night because of our poor luck. He was very frustrated at the lack of game and said he had not seen anything like it in many years. Everyone had put a lot into preparing for the hunt -- I spent lots of time working up loads and getting into better shape. I hope that if I am able to go on safari again I will be able to shoot at more game.

Well, that's a bummer. On the other hand one has to applaud your attitude on it. Me personally, I might go through the roof!

Sorry to hear about your poor luck, but quite an experience in any case. I am curious if the Outfitter is giving you a chance for a greatly reduced make up hunt?

Sorry to hear about your bad luck. Look on the bright side, you were in Africa.

Better luck next time.

A greatly reduced chance of success is something you have to accept when you book a walking hunt rather than using a hunting truck to cover the miles. Most Selous hunting areas are something in the region of around 750 - 1000 square kilometres so a purist walking safari is going to mean you won't come close to covering the entire area with any effectiveness. (Esp on a 7 day hunt)

I admire you for booking that kind of hunt though and am also glad to hear you accept the responsibilities of your choice of hunt.

Can I ask you if you'd choose to book the same kind of hunt again or would you prefer to book a hunt that uses a truck to cover the miles and greatly increase your chance of success next time?

I admire your willingness to do it the hard way, but I wonder if the odds of finding a good Buffalo in 7 days, on foot, are simply too long. On my last Buffalo hunt, of the three Buffs that my friends and I took, we could have gotten one with out the use of the vehicle. The tracks of the other two were found well beyond walking distance. There was a reason those early walking Safaris lasted months. Even Teddy Roosevelt used a horse.

TerryR

I too am sorry to hear that you did not get a buffalo...but I have to say that the hunt itself sounds very cool. As Richard is apparently known for these trips, I would assume the success rate is pretty decent. Did Richard feel that this was unusual? Anything to do with the time of the year?

Per your post prior to the trip and Bwanamich's reply, were you actually on a "portered" trip hunting out of fly camps, or hunting out of more permanent camp(s)?

I would assume the trick is to stay on the move, checking known hot-spots, water holes/springs, etc. Is that how you guys did it?

Thanks!

PS - The Sands Rivers looks awesome: http://www.sand-rivers-selous.com/index.html

quote:

Originally posted by TerryR:
I admire your willingness to do it the hard way, but I wonder if the odds of finding a good Buffalo in 7 days, on foot, are simply too long. On my last Buffalo hunt, of the three Buffs that my friends and I took, we could have gotten one with out the use of the vehicle. The tracks of the other two were found well beyond walking distance. There was a reason those early walking Safaris lasted months. Even Teddy Roosevelt used a horse.TerryR

On that subject, the SGR is about 6 million acres in extent plus an extensive buffer zone. The Frankfurt Zoological Society tell us that Tanzania has more Cape buffalo than all the other southern and east African countries put together and the SGR has the largest single population. If I remember correctly, I once worked out that the average was something like 4.4 Buff per square kilometre. Then factor in that they're a herd animal and have specific habitat needs and they'll be in groups in certain areas such as near waterholes and swampy areas that are scattered throughout the bush and that they spend an awful lot of every day moving from one area to another and although I'm no mathmetician, it must work out that there's a heck of a lot of areas that don't have Buffalo in them at any given time.

Now bear in mind that we walk at around 3 miles an hour on average and you suddenly realise how much more productive it is to have use a truck to drive the roads to look for spoor to follow rather than just walk through the bush in the hope of coming across a Buff.

Quite what the point of this rambling mathmetical puzzle is, I'm not sure, but I just couldn't resist speculating on the odds.......

Getting back on topic, I also am very sorry to hear you weren't successful, but I'd have thought the failure rate for that kind of safari must be considerably higher than one using a truck for the reasons mentioned above.

There was no permanent camp. There were about 30 or so porters and we moved camp once. We were moving if not sleeping or eating. All my pictures except a few are of people's backs against a nice scene. Typically walk for a hair over 50 minutes, put rifles on a stand, drink water -- repeat from 6:00 a.m. to noonish. Find a tree, sweep the leaves of scorpions, porters lay down a mat. Sleep for 1.5 hours. Porters prepare chai and lunch over fire, back on the hunt around 3 and back at camp well after sunset.
Bonham was surprised and disappointed with the results. It was not until the last day of the hunt that we were making much in the way of contact with any buffalo, and we were hiking out toward the river. Saw tracks of some very large herds. Amazing how the animals carve up the bush.

Sounds like a grand hunt-adventure, appreciate your choice of such a hunt, it's going to be tough but the value of the experience would be worth it to me. Of course I'm the kind of guy that does not take trophies home just video, pics, and memories. You probably walked more bloody miles of Africa than most guys who have 10 safaris under their belt. Congratulations on a great hunt.

Dirk

Sorry you were not successful on buff. Was this a 2x1 hunt?

Are you going to post pictures? Not many these days can talk of a line of porters on the march.

why were there porters with you each day if you ended up back in camp at night? was it just to help lug the meat back on the offchance that you were successful?

The memory card in my camera committed hari-kari into the third day of the trip. I will have to wait on a friend's film camera to be developed and scanned to me from london before posting any game pics.

There was typically only one porter with us during the day. He carried about 45lbs of water and food for lunch. He also carried a tea kettle that was blackened by smoke. Kind of funny seeing that in the line of folks with rifles. There was also a game department ranger with us.

When game was taken, the ph would get on a walkie talkie and the fellahs from camp would come and take down the animal in no time flat, then carry out the meat on poles or in containers placed on the heads. Only four porters were non-muslim when I shot my warthog and they had to walk it back on poles. It is supposed to be a real sight when a buff is taken. Takes about two hours to completely take down the animal. They make a wreath out of leaves and put it on the head of the buff and carry it at the head of the party and sing songs all the way back to camp. Did not get to see it, but the professional hunter said it is quite a site.

The hunt was 2x1. A buddy of mine overseas invited me to go along with him. I am of fairly simple means with children and would not be able to afford such an outing on my own. We simply switched off who was going to be shooter after each stalk, or in any event after lunch.

Will try and post some pictures this evening after work.

Sorry to hear about the camera problems but I look forward to whatever pictures you can post.

Sorry about you luck-sounds like my 21 day baboon hunt earlier this year! 21 days for elephant and no cigar. shot two baboon for croc bait; again no cigar.I guess that is why it is called hunting!

What a fantastic experience. Too bad you didn't get into more buff. Do you know which of Luke's blocks you were in? As Steve says the areas are hugh. On our 14 day hunt last year we were in each of the 4 blocks at one point or another in our hunt but of course we used vehicles. BTW the only buff we saw from the vehicle was the old boy below.

Man, that is some tough hunting and a tough break. Tanzania is a long trip to come up dry.

I admire your audacity and willingness to buck the odds.

Of course, all hunting is a roll of the dice. But seven (as in days) was clearly not a lucky number in your case.

You need to go back and get yourself a buff!

You did it the hard way, but you did it the way you wanted to! I am sure the experience was unbelievable! Kudos to you on the effort, you are a better man than me!

Here are a few pictures. I will try and load some of the camp onto my computer.

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/390ish/plains.jpg


http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/390ish/warthog.jpg

I took the warthog basically between the tusks with a rifle.
http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/390ish/camp.jpg

Thanks for the pictures. I will check back to see if you get more posted.

Just tell me that this guy is not checking his text messages:

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/ff206/390ish/camp.jpg

That is the tracker, Kani sharpening a knife on a whetstone. My grandfather was old school and really took care of tools, I thought of him when I saw this guy using a whet stone sans oil. One thing I did notice is that Kani was able to get a knife sharper than my grandfather.

Once I maximized the window where the picture opened it was obvious. Should have had more caffeine before reading.

When I was in Zimbabwe there was spotty cell coverage and the game scout used to check his phone/text messages whenever we had down time. It struck me as funny!

390ish, now that's real hunting. Congratulations on doing it that way. If I understand correctly your buddy did have an opportunity so it's not like you were never in a shooting position. Plus, you got a warthog. And because I like to jab at the digital crowd, I'd like to say that the pictures posted look more "real" than what we normally see. Are they digitized from the film batch?

Damm. I know what it feels like as a Ph to work hard and nothing works. It is unfortunately the reality of really hunting.
A lot of clients starts of with ethics and lose it during the hunt when things don't go their way.
You stuck it out and you have my respect for that, it shows that you are a real hunter.
Don't let one bad trip ruin hunting Africa for you. Keep coming, in the long run you will succeed.

quote:

Originally posted by Bryan Chick:
Sorry about you luck-sounds like my 21 day baboon hunt earlier this year! 21 days for elephant and no cigar. shot two baboon for croc bait; again no cigar.I guess that is why it is called hunting!

Bryan, did you post a report?

Sorry that you did not come back successful, in regards to getting your buff. The memories will be with you though and that is a lot. As with anything that we do, with success comes failure as well. As Tred Barta would say: "I did it the hard way. . . ."

My buddy drew down on a buff at about 15 yards on the last day. It was his turn to stalk. I was right behind him and downhill and could not see anything but bush. From what the PH told me, he had about 3 seconds from start to finish. My pal had never killed anything larger than dove before this trip, so I can't fault him. He said all he could see was black in his scope and that the animal was gone before he figured out what was happening.

I could hear the buff and I think I convinced myself I could smell it, but I am not sure. My friend was carrying a 375 from Empire. I shot my warthog with it in the attached pictures. The PH was not wild about me taking it with the 458 Lott, so I abstained. Without a sling, that Ruger RSM was HEAVY and wore on the shoulders. Even though it was a lefty, I must say that the Empire my friend has is a fine product. I shot both my impala and warthog with this rifle loaded with 300 grain Barnes TSX pills from Superior. Flawless. First time I had shot a 375. Wonderful round.

The pictures posted are from another person on the hunt who was carrying some kind of film camera. He scanned and sent them to me today.

One other thing I will say is how pleased I was with my Courtenay boots. Wearing merino wool socks and going at it at least nine hours per day I did not have one blister. The guy I was hunting with has foot issues and was hunting with some kind of wierd looking boot made in Romania. No problems for him either.

One other thing I noticed was the selection of clothing. I wore an old khaki colored linen shirt that had a stain on all but one day. It breathed well. Thought I was going to die the one day I wore something from my designated safari shirt selection -- boyds cotton safari shirt. The boyd's trousers were outstanding. The shirt was not so good, kept me hot and did not breathe. My pal had all synthetic stuff that seemed to work allright for him. I wore a Tally cotton hat, which I always wear groundhog hunting here in the states and was given some 85 spf sunscreen. Great products.

The PH was shooting a 1912 mfg Rigby double in 470 NE. Pretty nice ride.

Jboutfishin: No, did not post a report: not much to report except for the sheer enjoyment of being in the field. Did return about 2.5 months later and shot a PAC ele.

Thanks, I had to smile when I read "21 day baboon hunt" and was looking for a good story.

Well, thats what we called it, for lack of a better term. Man, we were skunked! The rains lasted later than usual, the grass was tall and thick. We heard 1 group of elephants, but, they busted us and that was that. We really did not get a shot at anything, other than those two baboons. The villagers scrawny cattle were looking more and more like trophy size critters!

390ish,
Those trackers in the warthog picture are not Tanzanians are they? Are they not Wakamba or waliangulu tribesmen from Kenya?

If I am correct, those two "wazee" (Elders in Swahili) must be fine bushmen indeed!

The fellah looking away from the camera is from Kenya. The PH said he is from a people who historically specialized in hunting elephant. I was too tired to remember the name of the tribe. The guy looking at the camera, Nandi is Tanzania, but I don't remember what region, he is muslim. He is a game warden and carried an SKS. Those guys were really something else on the trail.