30 April 2025, 19:48
larryshoresUganda aka the mud hole safari with Uganda Wildlife Safaris -more pics added
HUNTER- Larry ShoresOUTFITTER-Uganda Wildlife Safaris
PH- Christian Weth
DATES- started the latter half of April 2025 for 16 days .
GUNS- my old reliable 416 Remington made by Rifles, Inc. with 400 grain Swift A Frames factory ammo from Remington.
Christensen Arms 300 Win Mag with 180 grain Accubonds from Black Hills Ammo
WEATHER - it was warm/hot but not bad. We had rainstorms a number of days.
This was an interesting hunt for me. I had long wanted to go to Uganda. I have also long wanted to hunt sitatunga . My wife bought the sitatunga hunt at the ladies luncheon at Nashville in 2024. I was apprehensive as the weather reports showed the lowest change of rain at 60%. This was most unusual compared to my prior 32 trips to Africa . I brought rain gear which I took with us every day. I also brought rubber boots as recommended. In one camp, I wore them every day .
UGANDA- Personally , I found Uganda to be both impressive and depressing. The roads were far better than most places I have been in Africa . Cell phone service was good . Hell, I had better cell service at the sitatunga machan than I do at my ranch in Florida . The power system was much better than just about any African country that I have been to. The houses were generally much nicer than I normally see. Finally, I had no BS in the airport . That was a welcome relief .
I say it was depressing because there are a hell of a lot of people . In some areas, charcoal burners are cutting down all the trees .
We hunted 4 different areas. I will discuss each separately below .
LAKE MBURO- This was about a 7 hour drive from Kampala . The camp is a beautiful setting right on the banks of the lake . It was a tented camp. While more than adequate , it was the worst of the tented camps that we used .
I have never seen anything like this . There are staggering amounts of some game species . Notably East African impala, Boehm’s zebra and warthog. What was absolutely shocking is how relaxed the game was . I have done a hell of a lot of hunting in my life . I have never seen anything like this . My guess is that there were a hell of a lot of people around . These people survive off their cows. They don’t poach the game . I think the game is used to seeing people and are not bothered by them. Thus they are quite relaxed .
The impala were the largest I have ever seen . However , they were not as big as they appeared due to a small body size.
We spotted a large ram. Got off the truck and followed him. I took a shot off sticks at about 140 yards . Down he went . Critter number 1 down.
We continued on . We saw a nice stallion and made a stalk. I shot him with my 300. The hit was fatal. However , not immediately. The stallion ran straight for us . I shot again and dropped it in his tracks .
The warthogs on this place are large both in terms of body size and tusks . On day 2, we spotted a good one . I absolutely love hunting them. I could not resist this chance . After following him a few hundred yards , I shot him with the 300. He was down on the spot . He was quite nice .
After this, we packed up and left for a drive back to Kampala. This was about a 6 hour drive . We spent the night in a nice hotel before heading to the next camp. The next morning we take off for a 5 hour drive to the Kyankwanzi camp.
I might add that our last meal was incredible. Impala ribs . They were incredible.
KYANKWANZI-As noted earlier , we had a 5 hour drive to the camp . This was relatively smooth until the last 30 K’s. The roads were awful. Beyond awful but not as bad as it was going to get . The last 5 K’s were a mud bog. It was something I had never seen in Africa . I was glad I brought my rubber boots . I wore them the entire time . Something I would have never thought possible in Africa .
The camp was quite nice . An East African tented camp complete with 24 hour electricity due to a massive solar panel array.
The first afternoon was quite eventful. An incredibly productive afternoon.
We took off and before long we saw our first critter . A bush buck. Personally, I was not sure what species as there are two different species in the area. East African and Nile. At any rate , he took off. We carried on .
It wasn’t long before we spotted another . We got out and made a stalk. I did not have the best shot but it was all I was going to get . From about 130 yards, I took the shot with my 300. He was down . #1 for the day.
We carried on through the mud. We saw a large bohor reed buck. While I was not looking for one , this one was big . I took a shot with the 300. He was down on the spot . #2 for the day .
We could see a pile of water buck. We stalked them . There must have been 25 or more . The bull we wanted finally showed . I took a shot at about 225 yards . He was clearly hit. We could hear the shot impact the bull. He ran and disappeared shortly thereafter. We went to look for blood and found him laying not 30 yards from where he was shot. He is over 30 inches . #3 for the day .
We continue on . We see a bunch of bush buck . We are stalking one who gave us the slip. As we were walking back, we saw a Nile bush buck feeding on top of a termite mound . A large termite mound. I could not resist. I rolled him off the termite mound from about #110 yards . #4 for the day . It was an unbelievable day .
Our primary goal was sitatunga . This proved to be physically brutal . We got up at 3:30 every morning .
UWS has a bunch of machans built around papyrus swamps. The area we hunted was about 1.5 to 2 hours from the camp. We saw some sitatunga but no shooter bulls until the fourth day . On the fourth morning , we saw a large bull through the fog at 145 yards. I took a shot. There was a disagreement over whether I hit him or not . I thought I hit him. The PH didn’t.
Trackers were sent into the swamp. We guided them to the appropriate location . They promptly found blood. A lot of blood . The bull did not go far.
This bull was quite large in terms of body size. 257 pounds . I had no idea that they were that big . Apparently , this was the largest body size of the year .
We were having extraordinary success and likely had some time available. In our discussions, a python was mentioned. Hell yes I said . We put the word out to the villages who promptly advised of a python. The plan was to stalk the python’s lair. We quickly determined that this was damn near impossible. We would have to be very close to see the snake . Less than 10 yards . We decided to implement an alternative plan . We were going to dig the python out .
Fortunately, we didn’t have to dig far . The snake was putting up a fight . When it struck at us , we first learned of Christian’s fear of snakes . He got out there so fast . We accused him of dancing .
The python was 14’8”. The locals were glad to see it gone . This python could have easily taken a child .
We were informed that there was a big croc near the camp. The PH shot a varmint. We threw it on the bank . It was taken that night . Less than 100 yards from the camp I might add.
My cameraman is also a PH. We started talking about how to kill this thing . We agreed to a plan which was implemented. That night the sitatunga carcass was taken. Game on .
We got in the blind . It was raining . We discussed whether to bring my gun inside to avoid getting water down the barrel. I decided to risk it as I felt it was too risky to poke the gun out the hole when the croc showed. We had little room the blind . The hole was small and we were close .
After a couple of hours , the croc showed . I took a shot from a dead steady rest and I missed . I was shocked . Perhaps the water in the barrel was the issue . Perhaps where I had the gun zeroed was a problem. Perhaps a combination of both . Perhaps I just f’ed up. Who knows.
We left the next morning for a 5 hour drive to the next camp.
ASWA-LOLIM- We stayed in the Bwana Tembo Safari Lodge . The food was incredible. All Italian . The rooms sucked . It was very hot and humid . We were in sight of the Nile. Lots of mosquitoes. Glad I had Malerone .
We hunted for Uganda kob. There are MANY. We looked over thousands. Finally saw the one we wanted . He was clearly the boss . He was trying to mount ewes . We got out and made a stalk. I took a shot at about 175 yards . Down on the spot . He was quite large . The PH recons he would make the top 20 in the record books. I could care less as I don’t do the record book.
Off we go for a 6 hour drive to the next and final lodge
KARENGA- This area is in the Karamoja north . Obviously this regions has a long hunting history . The primary quarry was buffalo .
Our first day totally sucked . We saw one small herd of buffalo . Large number of Jackson’s hartebeest and defassa waterbuck. To a lesser extent oribi and reed buck.
Day 2 we headed south . It was increasingly clear that this day was going to be vastly different. We saw lots of buffalo . Mostly big herds. Let me digress and say that most of the area is very open . Most of the buffalo are in large groups . It is extremely difficult to stalk them.
At any rate , from the top of a mountain, we spotted a couple of big groups a mile or more away . We took off after them . We closed on the herd to about 200 yards . The big bull was on the left. I got on the sticks and flattened him. The PH grabbed the sticks and started moving toward the buff . I said I needed to shoot again. The PH indicated the buff couldn’t get up. We needed to get closer . I again said I needed to shoot again . The PH continued on. Well , let’s put it this way . We gave up the chase 10 miles later when it became impossible to track them further .
We made numerous stalked later during the hunt . For the most part we either abandoned them (no shooter) or got busted . However , one day we did come across two very old bulls . I managed to shoot one of them. He went down in about 30 yards.
We continued on looking for more buff. During this time , I shot a Jackson’s hartebeest and some sub species of oribi.
With 2 days left , it rained all day .
In short it was a highly successful hunt in as often challenging environment and at times in a shockingly beautiful environment.
ISSUES- there were a few issues.
1- weather was bad at times . The rains came early . Getting stuck was a very real possibility as was sliding off the roads . The early rains assured that there were many areas with water. This does not help concentrate the animals .
2- the travel between camps was a really grind. There was over 30 hours of driving mostly in daylight to change camps.
3- mosquitoes were really bad in some places. Glad I had malaria preventative with me.
4- I had to hunt 2x1 the first couple of days due to my PH’s illness. This illness returned near the end of the hunt .
INTERESTING NON-HUNTING THINGS- the first of the interesting non-hunting things occurred on the first day. While driving, we stopped at the 0 degrees restaurant for breakfast. Supposedly , the equator ran right through the restaurant.
At any rate, there was a guy there with a sink on each side of the equator. Water was poured into each . The water definitely spun a different direction on each side of the equator . Hard to imagine that less than 20 feet made such a difference.
On our way to the third hunting area, we stopped at the Mahindi Hotel to meet some others and get something to eat . The hotel is over 100 years old. When the African Queen was filmed , all the movie stars stayed at this hotel. Also, Earnest Hemingway and his wife stayed at this hotel for four months .
Much to my surprise, we got to see a portion of the actual train track that the Maneaters of Tsavo was based upon.
image hosting sitesFinally , most have probably read Hemingway’s book, The Green Hills of Africa . I know where he got the name after being in the Karamojo camp. I have never seen anything like this . It was absolutely beautiful. Massive open green areas .
Pictures will be added later.
