Tanzania March 2013: Ngaserai, Maasailand
Danny McCallum Safaris
PH: Michael Angelides

The captain announcing the commencement of descent into Kilimanjaro International Airport was when the reality of being back in Tanzania again really hit me. Despite my 30 hour journey to get to this point I was filled that mix of nervousness, expectation and pure excitement that we hunters are familiar with at the start of our next adventure.

Passing quickly through the formalities of obtaining my visa on arrival and collecting my baggage without any hitches (phew!), I could not hide my joy at seeing my old friend and PH Mike Angelides (Angie) again. Angie and I have hunted together twice before in Tanzania and this hunt would start our 32nd day together on safari. We make a great team and have had extraordinary success on our previous safari’s including a big Selous tusker, 5 buffalo , Sable ….and 20 odd other animals. We had hatched this plan to hunt Maasailand at the Dallas SCI convention in January and had for the past two months both been very much looking forward to being together in the bush again. Angie has recently taken the position as GM for Danny McCallum Safari’s (DMS)…..but first and foremost he is a great PH and as part of his job is able to spend a couple of months a year being just that. We were set to hunt DMS’s Ngaserai concession in Maasailand which lies on the Western side of the base of Mounts Kilimanjaro and Meru. This concession is essentially very flat country with vast plains although there are a couple of hills that we were to make good use of for glassing in the coming days. Vegetation, aside of the open plains, was a mix of acacia and various bushes that all invariably had some form of thorn to stick you. Hunting with the constant view of these majestic mountains as a backdrop was fantastic and always gave me points of reference when I needed to adjust my bearings.




The two hour drive from the airport to the hunting area, passing through the Arusha / Mount Meru National Park, went quickly as Angie and I caught up and discussed “the plan”. Compared to my previous Tanzania safari experiences this was clearly going to be very different…..the sheer number of Maasai villages, goats and donkeys in the hunting area had me intrigued. It was hot and dry and with several “dust devils” ….or as we Aussies call them “willy willy’s” …..visible I questioned Angie on how the very visible human population affected the game numbers and movements. He assured me that despite first impressions there were good numbers of the animals we were after in the area. On that note, whilst not being a species collector, I had always dreamt of hunting the unique animals that are endemic to this area…Gerenuk, Lesser Kudu, Fringe Eared Oryx, White Bearded Wildebeest and the Grants and Thomsons Gazelles.


Mount Kilimanjaro

Arriving into camp about 2pm gave us time to have lunch. Camp was very comfortable “East African tented” ……one of my favourite moments of any safari is walking into my tent for the first time and getting my gear sorted out. After lunch we checked the rifles. As my rifles are kept in Australia, however I live and work in Singapore, it was far cheaper and easier logistically for me to borrow one of Angie’s guns on this occasion. As I settled behind the scope of the Sako Finnbear in 300 H&H, I was instantly comfortable as I own exactly the same rifle however in .243. After a couple of minor adjustments to get me happy with the point of impact of the 180gn Federal factory ammo shooting 180gn Nosler Partitions, we headed back to camp for a cleansing ale and to rack up our first kill….a couple of good steaks.





Our MO for the hunt would be to get up at 5am, down a quick lite breakfast, a shot of strong coffee and get out of camp just before dawn.
The team was: Ally: lead tracker, Liseke : tracker, Mubarek : apprentice PH, Ado : Driver and Afonse : Game Scout.
On my license I had: Gerenuk, Lesser Kudu, Oryx, 2 Wildebeest, 2 Zebra, 2 Grants Gazelle, 2 Thomsons Gazelle, Dik Dik, Steenbok, Ostrich and Eland.


Mount Meru

Day 1.
The sun just breaking the horizon and silhouetting Kilimanjaro was all the motivation I needed…..and saw us on the ground stalking a Grants gazelle. We had spotted them from a kilometer or so away and whilst I had only caught a brief fleeting glimpse of the male , Angie’s immediate reaction of looking me in the eye and giving me a curt nod ….”let’s go get him”…was very familiar and I knew the game was on. We kept within the bushline on the edge of the plain and in what seemed like no time at all, but was probably 15 minutes, Angie put the sticks down and pointed. At the shot the Ram (I think that’s what they are called??) was hit hard and in the recoil I saw him jump and go down almost immediately. A beautiful mature 24” Grants was dead by the time we reached him and our safari had started in earnest. What a gorgeous animal.


Grants Gazelle


Mid-morning had us Glassing from the top of a small hill from which we spotted a herd of White Bearded Wildebeest. They were about 4 kilometers away so we planned our route and made our way there. By the time we got within sight the herd had camped up in the shade of a tree right in the middle of a huge plain. Ally and Liseke our two Maasai trackers conferred with Angie and suggested we “make like Maasai with shuka’s” and walk steadily at an angle to the herd pretending to not be interested in them at all. The plan worked perfectly. Angie told me which bull to shoot and I made a good shot from a couple of hundred meters to put him straight down.



With our lunch menu sorted we found the first big shady tree back in the bush line and settled in for what was to become the daily routine for the rest of the safari of a Maasai style BBQ in the field eating whatever we had killed that day. Brisket, heart, liver and the fatty strip of meat that covers the rib cage was the fare. This routine was something that Angie and I have done on both our previous safaris and we cherish it.



I really enjoy preparing, sitting and eating with the crew and some of the funniest and most memorable times on safari are had during this time of bonding and camaraderie. During the lunch preparation a herd of about a hundred bell wearing Maasai cattle, accompanied by 4 young boys whose job it was to watch them, came upon us. These boys were aged between about 6 and 10 and they spent the next few hours with us and shared our bbq lunch. They were initially scared of me and moved away if I got too close but this soon dissipated over the time we had together and in the end we were laughing and eating together.



After seeing off the heat of the day it was about 3pm when we got back to hunting. Two female Gerenuk were spotted and no sooner had Angie brought his bino’s to his eyes than he said there was a decent male with them and we commenced our stalk. The bush was fairly thick and despite moving very slowly we bumped them a couple of times. Picking our way along, I was ready when Angie threw the sticks down and pointed. I had a very limited view of the Gerenuk as he was in thick cover..…and it was a long way ….but the sound of a firm hit was clear. He ran 40 yards and piled up. The tape would stretch to 15” on the beautiful and unique “giraffe antelope”. What a trophy.



Gerenuk





Angie and I were recapping a great day in the cab on the drive back to camp when there was a tap on the roof. A short stalk later and a nice Steenbok lay at our feet. He was not huge but the trackers were very excited and said it was very lucky to get one. He is my first Steenbok and I was elated.
What a day. 4 great trophies.


Steenbok

Day 2.
Dawn saw us perched glassing on the top of a different hill than yesterday.


Meru at dawn.

I was on the opposite side to Angie and had seen Zebra, Gerenuk, Wildebeest and Ostrich……and lots of cattle, goats and donkeys!! Angie came over to me very excited and said he had seen a big Grants gazelle. There was a herd of about 25 gazelle grazing in some thick bush about 1.5 kilometers away. Two rams looked huge. Angie called one at least 27”. It was clear to uneducated me that he was very long and very wide. We commenced our stalk. As is frequently the case, when we lost height the contours and vegetation was very different at ground level. Lots of small gullies and the grass was very high and thick. We moved slowly to where we thought we had seen the rams but got busted by a couple of ewes. They must have only got a slight whiff of us because they were not too bothered ….but enough to start walking away and rousing the herd with them. Angie put the sticks down and about a couple of minutes later the herd started moving past us from left to right at about 150m. I saw the big ram come into view and while tracking him in the scope pointed him out to Angie. He confirmed he was the one and I took the shot. The photo’s speak for themselves. Amazing Grants: 28” and the biggest Grants Angie has taken in his career. The team was very excited by this great ram.



Grants Gazelle



A full body mount was called for so we moved to a big shady tree.Whilst skinning and getting ready for our bbq lunch a group of 5 Maasai warriors emerged from the bush. They were nothing short of magnificent with their carefully platted hair, jewellery, shukas, swords, spears and knobkerries. They were very fit and proud and obviously took great care in their appearance.One young man told us he was preparing to get married and we had lots of laughs about this. He proclaimed that he was strong as a bull and would have 3 wives…Angie responded asking if he had lots of cattle and goats with which to buy three wives….and without breaking a smile he said no …he was going to steal them !!. They did not want any photos taken of them but Angie managed to get a couple when I was showing them photos of my family on my Blackberry. We managed to eat half of the bbq’d grants gazelle with them over a few hours. It was a pleasure and honour to have met these impressive young men. I will remember this experience forever.



Angie wanted to hunt a particular area that we had glassed from the top of the hill that morning that was across the plain at the base of Kilimanjaro and clearly had thicker bush than which we had been experiencing to date. We made our way there seeing Gerenuk, Grants and Zebra on the way. Angie was on a mission and despite my desire to shoot a Zebra just gave me a dismissive look that I knew meant “don’t panic…there are plenty of Zebra here…..let’s keep moving”. Getting into the country that we wanted to hunt the pace slowed down and the tension ramped up. Almost immediately we started seeing game…3 Dik Dik that did not hang around….and plenty of fresh Lesser Kudu tracks. Winding our way slowly through the bush sticking to the open ground between thickets we could only see perhaps 50 meters ahead. We spotted a Kudu standing in the shade in a thicket and Angie and I immediately got our bino’s up. He was looking at us with his head back and I could clearly see good bases and two curls. Given this was the first live Lesser Kudu bull I have ever seen …he looked pretty good!! Angie glanced at me and nodded…..we were on. The bull turned and jumped away and was gone. We moved forward very slowly and found his track. As we moved around a natural corner between thickets Angie quickly put the sticks down. The bull was standing looking back at us and dropped at the shot. After calming down and stopping hugging eachother we moved forward together. There was no ground shrinkage here. I was astounded at the Lesser Kudu Bull lying at our feet. Angie looked at me and smiled …” I thought he was about 28”…but I am wrong”. We celebrated with the team and spent quite a while admiring our great bull. Another full mount was called for!!
It was not until returning to camp and putting the tape on him that it became clear what a huge Lesser Kudu we had taken. 33” long and a green score of 83.5 will eventually put him at number 6 or 7 in the SCI book. Amazingly he is the 3rd largest ever taken in Tanzania with all the rest coming from Ethiopia …in the 60’s and 70’s. Incredible. Needless to say it was a late night of celebrations around the campfire that night.






Day 3
Moving a little slow we got out of camp an hour or so later than had been “normal”. Our plan was to make our way to another glassing hill and go from there. The trackers had spoken to the Maasai warriors the day before and had learned that there was fresh green pick in a particular area and the Maasai were moving their cattle to that location.
The warriors had said they had seen Wildebeest and Eland in that area. From the top of the hill we thought we could make out the area about 8 kilometers away. We soon came across a herd of a dozen or so Eland but the bull was only young so we left them undisturbed. Soon after, the fresh track of a lone Bull Oryx caught our trackers attention and we got on the ground. We tracked him for about 3 kilometers and as the tension started to mount and I knew we were getting close, Angie put the sticks down and I picked up the bull instantly in the scope. He was onto us and looking back at his trail. All I could see was his head and neck …so placing the crosshairs on his neck I squeezed off. I saw him drop in the recoil. Another unique trophy was ours. Angie gave me that knowing look with a big smile and we embraced and savored the moment. The trackers were partying. He was an old bull with worn out teeth and heavy broomed off horns that measured 25”. What an incredible safari we were having.






After our customary bbq lunch…Oryx heart, liver and tenderloins ….Angie decided it was Tommie Time. It was an uneventful drive to the vast plains that are the prime habitat of the Tommies….and the Maasai goats and donkeys. It passed quickly as Angie and I relived our morning Oryx hunt. We were unanimous that the Oryx heart was the best thing we had bbq’d on the safari to date. Delicious…..especially with a sprinkle of skinning salt!!



It was about 5.30pm when after glassing several different rams, Angie finally liked the look of one ( I was keen to shoot the first one we saw!!) and we commenced our stalk. It was a long stalk that ended up being over an hour and covering ~4kms….it’s hard to get close to these wary little critters on a dead flat grass plain with grass that is half an inch high! Finally we got a lucky break with some sparse cover and I pulled of a 270m shot to put him down as the sun hit the horizon and the light was going fast. We were very happy with our mature trophy ram that later measured 13.5”.






That evening I made some biltong ...which turned out to be fantastic.



Day 4.
Soon after dawn we found a herd of Wildebeest. It was quite a large herd of 20+ and as they were grazing in and out of some undulating country we could not clearly locate a mature bull in the herd. Angie thought there must be one so we kept up the stalk until sure enough a mature bull materialized. The wind was good but the herd could see us clearly and so Angie threw the sticks down and I shot the bull from about 250m. He was much older than our first bull from day 1 and was a fantastic example of a mature White Bearded.




It was still early in the morning so after caping out the bull we loaded up and kept hunting. A Dik Dik broke cover and after a quick look through his binos I got “that smile and nod” from Angie. I quickly swapped out the Partition for a solid and five minutes later was on the sticks. The shot was good and a nice mature Dik Dik was soon caped and salted.



We decided to head back to camp for lunch to get the capes to the skinner as it was a very hot day. Kudu steaks were on the menu and went down screaming. The lunch discussion centered around the fact we did not have much left on quota. There were dark clouds building on the horizon and thunder in the distance so it looked like we were going to get some rain. We decided to head out and try for another Tommie. We had not been hunting long when I spotted a ram and ewe and even to my untrained eye he looked like a good one. Mike checked him out and confirmed we should try for him. Just like our first Tommie it was a long stalk on dead flat open plains in which you just have to be persistent and go steadily and wait for an opportunity to get within shooting range. Our opportunity eventually came and Tommie number 2 was ours after another long shot. Walking up to him I could see he was big and the look on Angies face confirmed it. He measured 15”. Awesome Tommie.







With the rain clearly coming towards us we spotted a herd of Zebra. I pointed out a very blocky stallion at the back of the herd to Angie….and this time he smiled and nodded……yes! The 180gn Partition on the point of the shoulder from 200m was devastating. He ran 30 yards and piled up. As we set him up for photo’s the rain started and we were blessed with a beautiful rainbow. That brought the curtains down on another memorable day of hunting with 4 animals in the salt.



Day 5.
With an Eland left on quota we decided we would spend the day trying to find a mature bull. We did come across a decent herd, probably the same herd from Day 3, but again there were only young bulls in the group. We came across a group of Ostrich and quickly deciding that some new boots were in order soon had a big old male on the ground.



As the day drew to a close, Angie let me shoot another Zebra….a big old stallion with virtually no mane.
That night I cooked a traditional Aussie BBQ on the campfire. We had Ostrich and Tommie backstraps. Both were very nice but both Angie and I, to both our surprise, thought the Ostrich was best. It was rich and tender. I did marinate it for a few hours beforehand …but the quality was superb. I cooked quite a lot of it and the whole camp staff had some. I think I converted quite a lot of non-Ostrich eaters that night.

We had no more animals on license except Eland. 14 animals in 5 days. We decided that the chance of getting a mature Eland were low…and it was not high on our list of priorities as we had shot a huge 37” in the Selous together on our last safari.
We headed back to Arusha on Day 6 and had a great meal with Mikes wife Helen and his father George that night. George is a legend in the hunting world. He has effectively been a PH all his life and I have had the rare privilege to listen to his stories of the hunts he has had over the last 50 years. During his career (not retired yet!) he has hunted , amongst other countries, Kenya, Sudan, Angola, Botswana, DRC, CAR….and of course Tanzania. As you can imagine, he has taken some amazing Big 5 trophies in this time including several Ele’s over 100lb.

The .300H&H proved to be great medicine on plains game. I must admit that I had some initial reservations about the 180gn Nosler partition projectile but it’s hard to fault it when 13 animals die to one shot within sight of where they initially get hit. The Nosler did exit on the smaller game. We only recovered two bullets from the others and the projectile was very badly deformed, had separated and was probably 30-40% of original weight.
What a great safari. Angie and I had done it again. Can’t wait for our next adventure.

What an incredible hunt. Excellent stories & pics, well done.

Absolutely one of the best reports seen here in a long while. Stunning photographs of some exceptional trophies.

The Lesser Kudu is in a league of his own.

Well done to all involved.

Shit that was good.

VERY NICE ! Congrats!

Thanks Gents. Appreciate the posts. Am having a few editing problems with the text and some photo's not showing up but will try to fix it.
Cheers
Steve

Wonderful report! Fantastic trophies! My dream hunt location.
Jim

Steve...Well done on the Safari,and the Report!

You took some really outstanding Trophies!

Excellent report! Congrats on your hunt, you took some beautiful animals.

Wow, wow, wow.

I often wondered how much a guy could get done on a 7 day safari in the DMS Maasailand area. Now I know.

Stellar.

Congratulations on a wonderful safari! Great report and photos. Thanks for sharing.

A great group of trophies there!

Great report and fantastic photos, cool stuff indeed.

Great trip and excellent game. I have a question for you. I have only done one Masailand Tanzania safari on a 10 day two buff hunt with the plainsgame that comes on that license. So how is this hunt done on a 7 day trip that you get Lesser Kudu, Fringe Eared Oryx, Tommy, etc. And some two? Not trying to start any problems I just really am highly interested in this hunt. I loved the area but know I will never get there on a 21 day hunt that I thought some of these trophies where on.

Mac you buy a 21 day license but only hunt 7 days.

Wonderful hunt!

Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks for the report. Fantastic,animal's, pictures, and report...Butch

quote:

Originally posted by A.Dahlgren:
Mac you buy a 21 day license but only hunt 7 days.

Gotcha....so if you want two animals of the same species to you need to buy two licenses?

Wow, what a great collection of trophies!
It's great to see quality animals that aren't really found elsewhere.

Truly a dream safari, thanks for posting!

Fantastic pics, great hunt report. Looks like a great hunt to have taken.

Wow!!!

Fantastic Safari and terrific report and pics...Congratulations

That is what my dreams are made of. Congrats.

Excellent report and beautiful trophies! Thanks for posting.

Outstanding. That area is amazing and the time of year is perfect. I hunted Masailand in March of last year and it was incredible. Subsequently stayed with friends whose house had a view of Meru out the front door and Kili out the back door. A truly magical place.

Great job! I want to do that!!!!

Fantastic report and some superb trophies in the salt.

Really liked the Photograph of the Zebra with the rainbow in the background.

Cheers,
Brent

Very, very well done on a fantastic hunt.

Congratulations on a great hunt!!

I would love to do a hunt there one day.

Thanks for the posts.
It took me awhile to figure it out but I finally fixed the text and photo's.
Incredible hunt with a great PH. Very lucky.

Outstanding Steve

Congrats. Beautiful trophies and an excellent report/photos.

congrats and a super hunt in one of the most spectacular areas of the world! Definitely a hunt done right, enjoying the people, culture, spectacular scenery, sharing meals with the hunting crew. Not to mention writing a great report liberally sprinkled with super photos.

Steve, thank you for such an excellent hunt report. This is hunt is on my bucket list and you have inspired me to get this going and quit putting it off for other hunts. Most exceptional trophies, photography, and report.

Great report and some nice animals. Congrats!

Excellent report and pics. Thanks.



Doug

Wonderful report, thank you. But as I understand it such a hunt cannot be repeated because TZ is not allowing hunts in the early months of the year anymore?

Wow Steve, congrats. You've had a few good hunting months following your Bubye hunt with Shaun.

WOW!!!!! Looks like another fantastic safari.

Steve,

Fantastic and you have to make our AR get together next year and tell all about the hunt. Fine shooting and looking forward to a verbal report.

Mike

Exceptional! Get that lesser kudu full body mounted!

One of these days....One of these days.....

Congrats!

Great report and nice trophies...If the Masai did not want any photos taken of them, why not honor their request?