3/2017 EDIT - PICTURE SOURCE NOT AVAILABLE - NEED TO RE UPLOAD

HUNT SUMMARY - PART 1 OF 2

Date of Hunt: December 2005

Location: Loibor Serrit (Lobo) & Lolkisale Concessions in Masailand (Tanzania)

Animals Taken in Lobo: Cape Buffalo (42.5in); Fringed Ear Oryx (29in); Grants Gazelle (24in)

Animals Taken in Lolkisale: Lesser Kudu (24in); East African Eland (30in); East African Bushbuck (15.5in); Thompson's Gazelle (13.5in); 2-White Bearded Wildebeest (28 & 28.75in); 2-Cokes Hartebeest (17.75 & 19in); East African Impala (24in); Common Waterbuck (24.75in); Warthog (13in); Leopard (not recovered); Zebra; Hyena; Jackal

Animals Hunted But Not Shot: East African Greater Kudu (none seen); Bushpig (too fast); Honey Badger (too smart); MGM Lion (none seen noting short duration of trip)

Animals Seen But Not Hunted: Elephant; Lion (young male); Giraffe; Ostrich; DikDik; Klipspringer; Common Duiker; Baboon; Monkey; Mongoose

PH/Outfitter: Tanzania Bundu Safaris (Adam Clements)

Email: adam@safaritrackers.com

Phone: 210-698-0077

Website: Adam Clements Safari Trackers & Tanzania Bundu Safaris


BACKGROUND
I booked this hunt with Adam Clements, who with his partner Dale Harvey owns the hunting rights to the Lobo and Lolkisale Concessions. For several years I had been looking to hunt Masailand, and in particular hoping to find an end of the season, short-duration hunt that would allow me to take mature representatives of the desirable East African species. Although I do not consider myself a collector, I fully admit to wanting to complete my trophy room with mounts such as the Lesser Kudu, Grants Gazelle, East African Eland, and Fringe-Eared Oryx. And of course a big buffalo, which the area is famous for.

The caveat was that as with all end of season hunts, I had to come on short notice, and be flexible in terms of logistics and trophy expectations. However, I would be hunting in December, which historically represents an excellent time to hunt these areas due to the short rains in November and December that encourage the game in the adjourning Tarangire Park to migrate east from the Park and Tarangire River to better grazing in the hunting concessions. Typically huge herds of Wildebeest, Zebra, Buffalo and other animals can be seen grazing on the lush green plains of Lolkisale during December.

I researched the areas and talked to many people and references, including friends here on AR and my PH/friend Peter Chipman, who prior to getting his concession in Zambia hunted the general area many times since the early 90's. Peter in fact took the huge lion last November (2004) featured in the current Marc Watts "The Main Event" video. Adam and I were in close communications leading up to the hunt, and he answered all my questions accurately, and in a timely and professional manner.

Marc Watts with lion shot Nov-2004 with PH Peter Chipman in Lolkisale:


The Mane Event: Tanzania's Perfectly Shot Dangerous Game Video: http://www.sabletrailproductions.com

Having never been with Bundu, and considering all that Tanzania has to offer an observer, I asked my father-in law Bob along. Bob and I hunted buffalo together 2x2 in the Selous in 2001 with another outfitter, and had a great time. The plan was for Adam to be cat hunting in Lolkisale with a client, while I hunted with PH Brian Van Blerk in Lobo with the opportunity to visit Lolkisale for a few days as schedule permitted. My objective was big buffalo and a few representatives of the East African game as available and allowed to take, with the option to upgrade the hunt if a mature, MGM-type lion - significantly better then the one I shot in Zambia - was happened upon. But given the nature of the hunt, I was up for just about anything, and it was great to approach the trip without specific expectations or requirements.


DISCLAIMER
Following is my two-part report, which ended up being quite a bit longer then I would have anticipated. I enjoy putting these together, as in many ways it helps me relive, sort through and preserve the memories in my mind. At times, this was rather painful to write. However, the articles and reports that I respect most are those written by guys like Harold Wolf of Hatari Times, who has the courage to lay it out there in the open for everybody to see. As such, I decided to provide a detailed and honest account of the hunt, including the phenomenal highs and the gut-wrenching lows.

Please bear in mind that I am an optimist by nature, have traveled to Africa before, and that my experiences and perspectives may differ from yours. I would encourage anybody considering a hunt in Lolkisale or Lobo to give me a call to chat. Also, talk with others who hunted these areas recently and at the time of the year you are considering, so that you can form your own impression before making a decision. That being said, I highly recommend this hunt to anybody looking for a quality East African experience with a first-class operation, for anything from a 10-day buffalo hunt with a realistic and verifiable opportunity on a 40-45in plus buffalo, to a full-boat classic 21-day safari with lion, leopard and EA plainsgame on the menu.


TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS & REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION
I once again worked with Kathi Klimes to purchase our tickets and select good seats for the KLM flight from Dulles (Washington DC) to Amsterdam, then on to Arusha. Kathi also arranged for our Tanzania Visas. The other documentation required ahead of time is a Yellow Fever immunization card (which we had from my previous visit to Tanzania), Tanzania Gun Permit, and the Netherlands Consent Application for Firearms Transport. For these I worked with Jamie from Adam's office in Texas, who is efficient, friendly and very helpful. On most hunts, I have had to do much of the pre-travel grunt work, and it was a very nice change having a full-service agency handling the details for me, especially considering the compressed time frame.

Based on recent experiences of others including Don Causey and Wendell Reich, Bob and I decided to purchase medical evacuation insurance from MedjetAssist (aka MedJet). Although the hunting areas were only a few hours drive from Arusha, I wanted to make sure that the coverage not only included transport from a local hospital back home, but also bush evacuation provided by The Flying Doctors. Jamie was able to confirm with them that in the case of an emergency, the client (or PH) is to call MedJet and they will make the arrangements with their partner in that area, in this case The Flying Doctors. I cheaped-out and purchased the 3-week Short-Term program for $120. Fortunately we did not need this coverage, but it was reassuring to have.

Kathi Klimes (Wild Travel): kathi@wildtravel.net
Netherlands Consent Application Form: http://www.netherlands-embassy...icleref=AR00001345EN
Tanzania Visa Information: http://www.tanzania.go.tz/tourism.html & http://www.travisa.com/Tanzania/tanzania.htm
MedjetAssist: http://www.medjetassistance.com/


TRAVEL
We flew KLM from Washington DC (Dulles) to Amsterdam then to Arusha. The flights were long, but quite painless, even flying coach. The KLM and TSA people in Dulles were friendly, and I had no problem checking my rifles and ammunition through. Incidentally, the ammo was transported in my checked baggage (not with the rifles). The ammo was locked in a hard plastic case with the key attached, and I included copies of my US Customs Form and Netherlands Consent Letter with the ammo and the rifles. I noticed a slight difference in the food and staff between the two legs of the trip, but both were head and shoulders above what South Africa Airlines has to offer. The personal entertainment system on the flight to Amsterdam was excellent, whereas to Arusha it was the old fashioned drop-down screens, which makes this good for sleeping although as the flight lands at ~9pm - the trick is to stay awake in order to get your body clock set to the new time zone which for us was +8hrs.

A few travel tips - Remember to jot down ahead of time and carry with your tickets the address that you will be staying at in Tanzania, which is humorous as this will be somewhere in the bush. I used Bundu's Arusha office address and noted the hunting concessions we would be in. For the way home, after checking in the Arusha airport, when flying coach, instead of waiting downstairs in the passenger area, go upstairs and pay the $20 to get into the Business Class lounge. And skip the greasy breakfast and eat at the food court on the second level in the Amsterdam airport, which offers excellent pastries and fresh fruit, as well as a view of the shoppers below for those that have been in the bush too long.

Map of Tanzania from Tanzania's Official Tourism Website. We flew into Arusha and drove southwest to Tarangire National Park. Lolkisale and Lobo boarder the Tarangire to the east and south. There are a lot of site-seeing opportunities in this part of Africa.


Entry into Arusha's Kilimanjaro Airport was simple, and we were met as soon as we arrived by Bunduâ's affable office manager, Peter Larwrece. Peter is a terrific guy and an excellent ambassador for Bundu as well as Tanzania. Realizing we were semi-comatosed from the trip, he whisked us through the airport and into the brand-new and waiting Toyota Land Cruiser. We overnighted at the Mount Meru Lodge and Game Sanctuary, which is located about 10-miles west of town and perhaps a 30-minute drive from the Kilimanjaro Airport. Cost was $135/night per cabin for the "bed and breakfast" service.

Mount Meru Game Lodge front desk, with typical East African service and hospitality.


My cabin, note the tin roof and mature trees which the monkeys loved to traipse around on.


As usual, even with the help of a few Ambien, I woke at about 3am and futzed around organizing my luggage and writing in my diary until sunup at about 6am. On one of the travel websites it says “Mount Meru is situated in a Game Sanctuary which provides many of its visitors with their first exciting game viewing experience. I thought, "yea, right, not a seasoned guy like me". Well I must admit it was cool watching the animals come down to the water hole to drink, emerging from the tree line and from the reeds on the little island. I must have taken 25 digital pictures of a young Eland bull. Breakfast was a German-style buffet, and it was here that I began to experience the service and hospitality that East Africa is known for.

A young Eland emerging at daybreak from the reeds to at Mount Meru.


At 7:30am sharp, we were met by Peter and after a stop in Bundu's Arusha office we were off to camp. The first hour or so is on tarred roads, while the ~2-3 hour balance is via dirt tracks, noting that Bundu's new Land Cruiser is complete with AC and DVD, which makes the ride go quickly. When driving to a concession, be it Zambia, Zimbabwe or here in Tanzania, I am always struck at the lack of animals, including birds and small critters. For a first-time hunter this must be disconcerting, especially if one still has an idealistic view of what Africa is supposed to look like. In my experience, game is sparse until you get into the hunting ares. And if this does not speak volumes about the value of sustainable sport hunting to wildlife conservation, nothing does.

By the time we hit the camp in Lobo, I had come to terms with the lack of rain and vowed to just let the hunt unfold and have trust in my PH that he could find me the animals. As the saying goes, you only need one. As it turned out, this was not a problem and I had multiple opportunities on most all game, including a few chances on slightly better trophies if I had been more patient (although seeing them is one thing, getting them on the ground is another!).

Bundu's Arusha office manager Peter and the company Land Cruiser.



LOIBOR SERRIT - CAMP
As others on the forum have said, the Lobo camp is brand new and beautifully laid out on a hilltop overlooking the Masai plains. Although I love a tented camp along a river somewhere, this was the nicest permanent camp that I have ever had the pleasure of staying in.

The view from Lobo is spectacular, especially at sunset.


The tents were very spacious, complete with large beds, desk, and a permanent bathroom and shower complete with hot/cold running water.




My father-in law, Bob, who accompanied me on this trip. I hold Bob fully responsible for my African addiction!!!


Here we met my PH, Brian Van Blerk and his horse of a tracker, Albert. One look at Albert and I knew I liked him. Brian is from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, and like other PHs from Zim who I have had the pleasure of meeting and hunting with, proved to be an enthusiastic and disciplined hunter. Brian and Albert had been in camp since early in the year, May as I recall, and Brian was anxious to get home to his fiance which I can fully appreciate. Heck, I get a bit "anxious" after a week in the bush! To his credit, he never let this show and although I only hunted with Brian for a day and a half, I am sure had we stayed in Lobo he would have been the ultimate professional.

Top-notch Professional Hunter Brian Van Blerk.


Some of the staff at Lobo, including our colorful Masai security guard.


A subject that is often debated and which I tend to waffle on is sharing camp with other hunters. My feeling with an upscale destination like Tanzania, and specifically with a quality operation like Bundu Safaris who owns the exclusive tourist hunting rights to the area, is that one is likely to encounter only first-class people who have similar perspectives and objectives. Often, the person who you meet has considerably more experience then you do. On this trip, I had the pleasure to briefly meet up with Lee Lipscomb and his cameraman Ziggy of Osprey Film Company. Lee has hunted Africa 18 times and filmed numerous videos, some of which I have sitting on my shelf. Lee had shot a very nice lion with Brian days before while hunting in Lolkisale, along with three buffalo and some plainsgame including a White Bearded Wildebeest which he needed for his SCI award.

Lee was headed back to Arusha with Peter, but I quickly learned that he and Brian had hung numerous leopard baits in Lobo, which is known to be a terrific leopard area, and in fact had what appeared to be a nice Tom hitting one of the baits not far from camp. Although I had no intentions of hunting leopard, having shot and full-mounted a nice 7'2" cat in the Caprivi Strip, keeping an open mind I was willing to give it a go. Dinner, sundowners (the sunset in Lobo is awesome), fireside chat, and bed by what would be a late night compared to those that followed, 10am.


LOIBOR SERRIT - CONCESSION & TERRAIN
I did not get to see the entire concession which is some ~700 square miles in size. According to Adam, Lobo has three distinct types of habitat: along the ~50km western boundary with the Tarangire Park it is mostly Acacia trees and scrub; the southern area is mostly open plains similar to Lolkisale; and in the east the thorn bush is thick and offers the hands-and-knees type of hunting which Lobo is most known for. I would encourage anybody with specific questions about Lobo to contact Adam directly, as again, we were only there for a short time.

Lobo has year round water which by day is used by the local Masai for drinking and to water their cattle. However, at night the buffalo come in to quench their thirst, offering the opportunity to track them first thing in the morning as they make their way to the thick bush where they spend their day resting and feeding. For this reason, Lobo is said to provide more predictable buffalo hunting then Lolkisale, especially August-October before the early rains. I believe the best buffalo of the year was shot in Lobo.

There are a lot of leopard in the area, as well as lion. However, unlike Lolkisale where the Park lions tend to follow the game out, due to the number of Masai in Lobo they are harder to bring to bait, rarely seen in the day time and do not call as much making them harder to locate. Although one sees more plainsgame in Lolkisale, Lobo is visually interesting and provides the opportunity to track game thanks to the soft soil, versus strictly spot/stalk from the vehicle. The game was a bit more wary in Lobo versus the animals in Lolkisale, but nothing like what I had seen previously in the Selous where they gave you 400 yards and that was it.

Typical habitat found in the Loibor Serrit (Lobo) hunting concession.





LOIBOR SERRIT - HUNTING & TROPHIES
Our first day started with an exciting sprint after a decent Warthog spotted trotting across the trail in front of the truck. Brian and I were fast, but he was faster, and after about a quarter mile we lost him. On the way back to the Cruiser, the bush exploded as we jumped two Bushpigs. I was psyched, as these are still on my must-have list. But it happened too quickly, and I couldn't get a shot with the .300. A little later we crossed paths with a Honey Badger, which we again tore off after but never caught up with. That's okay as I had never seen one of these guys, who may be too cool to shoot. Oddly enough, we saw another pair of Bushpigs and four more Honey Badgers during my 1.5 days hunting Lobo.

FRINGE-EARED ORYX
Despite the action, the target of out efforts for the day was to be the Fringe-Eared Oryx. We drove south to where Brian had seen groups throughout the year. The problem was, although we found a nice bull, they stayed in the open and we were never able to get close. Shooting from the truck was not a consideration, so we would drive, stop and sneak towards the herd. Watching us, they would walk slowly until we got within ~250-300 yards, at which point they would gallop away, quickly adding distance between us. We would continue sneaking (basically walking hunched over trying to pretend not to be humans), and the cycle would repeat itself.

We did this for about an hour until Brian and I both decided this was pointless and no fun, and we waved for the truck. Sensing this, the Oryx stopped giving me about a solid 300-350 yard shot. I shouldn't have, but having faith in my Swarovski 3-10X scope and handloaded 180 grain Barnes TSX's, and after an hour of cat-and-mouse, I launched one. The shot was a little low and to the left. I immediately cursed myself for attempting it.

Continuing to taunt us, and probably expecting a continued barrage of incoming rounds, the Oryx left the plains and headed into the cover of scrub acacia. We chatted a bit, and made the decision to track them. This was great fun, and we actually got up on the old bull which had separated from the rest of the herd. However, he blended in perfectly with the bush and although I could see his white face and horns, I could not determine where his shoulder was, and elected not to fire through the brush. The team was disappointed, but we set off after him again, catching him in the open.

As I put the .300 down in the sticks and simultaneously turned off the safety as I had done many times before - this with a gun that had accompanied me on four previous trips to Africa including this past July, and 18-days in southeast Alaska - it discharged. Thankfully and of course it was in a safe position, but nevertheless it was very disturbing and spooked the Oryx for good. Dejected, we returned to the truck. Unloaded, I examined the rifle and tried to make it fail, but could not.

Anybody who hunts knows that often extreme lows are many times followed by amazing highs, and vice-verse. Not five minutes after boarding the truck, Brian slammed on the brakes and said "Oryx". It was a lone bull - better then the previous one - standing off in the distance. We stalked using a termite mount for cover to within 150 yards, slightly above the Oryx. Carefully I placed the .300 on the sticks and made a good shot through the shoulders. The bull ran off and fearing the worst I fired a long shot aiming for the base of his tail. It hit a bit low but traveled the length of his body putting him down for good.

The TSX was later recovered with the picture-perfect "X", although as the trip went on I began noticing that game shot with the 180gr TSX did not react the same as the dozens of animals shot previously (including this past July) with a 200gr TBBC. Although I like the long-range accuracy of the TSX, I believe I will go back to the TBBC in the future.

Ranging from northeastern Tanzania and into southern Kenya, the Fringe-Eared Oryx is slightly smaller and darker in color when compared to the "Gemsbok" commonly hunted in Namibia and South Africa.





BUFFALO
On day-2 we got an early start and drove to the spring looking to pickup buffalo tracks which we could then follow. Just before getting to the spring, the guys spotted a group of five dugga boys walking and slowly feeding in a clearing. We quickly got our rifles and spare ammunition, and ran to the edge of the field. Brian and I had previously discussed my objectives for the hunt, which was to take mature, hard-bossed 40+ inch buffalo. As I had three on license, I had intended to be more selective with each one, ideally getting one of the big boys with the huge boss and deep curl that the area routinely produces.

With this bull, to be honest, I never looked at the horns. Brain set up the sticks and told me which one to shoot, and urged me to do so before he left the clearing and entered the thick brush. I was using my Ruger .458 Lott with .500gr Woodleigh soft points (not the protected points) which I have used in the past to take two buffalo, lion and other game. The rifle was topped with a Burris 1.5-6x Posi-Lock scope which to date has held up perfectly under the Lott's recoil and specifically the abrupt acceleration.

The shot was much longer then I had anticipated for the area, about 150-175 yards best guess, but with the scope at 6-power I felt comfortable and fired. As we found out later, I hit him low, with the bullet passing below the heart/lungs and fortunately through his right leg before exiting. Side note that I can fully appreciate those who say that for Tanzania at least, a bullet which makes two nice holes (such as Mike Brady's flat-point solids, which do not feed in my Ruger) is the ticket.

Fortunately the Woodleigh did it's job and we had a very good blood trail to follow. Ideally, I had wanted to track the buffalo which for me is the most enjoyable and thrilling part of the hunt. For better or worse, we were basically doing just that. I always like when tracking the times that I am able to read the spoor. In this case the ground was perfect, and we could follow the group as they ran and later slowed to a walk. Here and there we would see blood on the grass and leaves, which was reassuring as injured buffalo often break off from the others, which may not always be immediately noticed by the trackers. The other possibility when tracking a small group of buffalo, wounded or otherwise, is that they will join up and mingle with a herd. This makes it near impossible to sort out their tracks for any length of time, and often they will separate while you follow the larger herd. But this is what makes tracking fun.

After about 45-minutes of brisk walking, Albert spotted the bulls standing in some thick brush staring at us not more then 30-yards away. Seeing Brian raise his rifle, I quickly shouldered my Lott, and with the scope set to 1.5x power, fired at the wounded bull which was easy to distinguish from the others due to the blood on his jet-black coat. He rocked and staggered at the impact, but in typical buffalo fashion turned to run. He only got about 20 yards when he stopped and I dropped him with a high-shoulder shot that broke his spine.

Although he was not the bull of my dreams, he measured an honest 42.5 inches (finally!) and clearly was an older bull who had reached his genetic potential, with a decent boss and characteristic white markings under his eyes. A perfect "first buffalo" to take. As Bob, Juma and I savored the moment, waiting for the truck, Adam called on the radio wanting to know if I would mind trading areas and hunt with him in Lolkisale, as his client was getting anxious for a cat and wanted to go after the leopard that Lee had on bait in Lobo (which he got by the way). Going with the flow, and since this was a clean-up hunt, I said "sure" and we agreed to meet at Lobo at noon and drive to Lolkisale.

A respectable 42.5in Dugga Boy shot on the second day of hunting in Lobo.





GRANTS GAZELLE
On the way back to camp, I asked Brian if it was possible to look for Grants before leaving Lobo, as between the two areas Lobo is better for Grants then is Lolkisale. He thought not, but of course we would try. As luck would have it, 5-minutes later rounding a turn we came across a small group of Grants with a very good male leading the way!

Afterwards, still uncertain about the .300, while purposely holding the rifle in a safe position and working the bolt ejecting the live rounds, it again discharged this time with a slam fire, and I retired the .300 for the remainder of the trip. From here on I used a camp M70 .300 with an old Leupold 3?-7x scope. It proved to be a reliable, straight-shooting rifle, but I missed the 10x clarity of my Swarovski on the long-range shooting that was yet to come. That afternoon we made the drive to Lolkisale with Adam, which as I recall took about 3 hours, perhaps a bit less, noting we were looking for game on the way.

On of the classic East African species, the Grants Gazelle is an awesome trophy. This is also one of my favorite pictures.



LOLKISALE - CAMP
The Lolkisale camp was revamped this year, and is made up of a central dining area with fire pit plus three spacious guest quarters. Behind the main camp are the PH tents, staff quarters and skinning shed. It is comfortable, clean, very well laid out and seemingly well located in the concession.

The main dining and meeting area in Lolkisale.






One of three guest quarters.


The staff at Lolkisale was very professional and courteous, and like Lobo, the meals were beyond belief. Typical dinners consisted of a homemade soup with fresh breads or rolls, followed by the main meal which often included several main dishes such as game meat and chicken or fish, fresh vegetables and a potato or rice. Deserts were excellent, although often I turned these down in favor of a plate of fresh fruit of delicious papaya and mango.

This may not look like much, but to me this represented a little taste of Heaven each morning. Of course one could opt for a full breakfast of eggs and bacon, or go light with just toast and coffee.


The head waiter in Lolkisale, Simon. Bundu has an open-fridge policy, but unlike on other safaris, I didn't need to rely on my PH to open my Cokes (some of you will know what I mean!)



LOLKISALE - CONCESSION & TERRAIN
Lolkisale is located north of Lobo, and east of the Tarangire National Park. A narrow 2km buffer zone separates the ~450 square mile concession from the Park for the length of the ~80km boarder. Lolkisale is predominately flat and open, just what one would picture when envisioning classic East Africa. Towards the eastern part of the concession, the terrain is a bit rocky and is where we found game such as the Lesser Kudu and even Klipspringer. There are small pockets of thick brush, where we hung leopard or lion baits.

An awesome view from a popular lookout point. Note the mountains to the north, on a clear day one can see Mount Kilimanjaro off in the distance.


Tantalizing showers moving in to camp.


This particular plot of land had showers early in the hunt, and within days new, tender shoots were already sprouting.


Migrating Wildebeest - neat on TV, awesome in person.



LOLKISALE - THE TEAM
My primary team in Lolkisale, consisting of my father-in law Bob Slusser, PH's Adam Clements and Paul Horsely, Videographer Richard, Trackers Doto and Riziki, female Game Scout Ela and driver/skinner.




I hunted most of the trip with Adam, who was a tireless companion and excellent host. Adam is a collector himself, and together we took most of the game pictured below. Besides a few hunts per year, Adam is busy managing and expanding Tanzania Bundu Safaris with his partner Dale Harvey, while also running his booking company, Adam Clements Safari Trackers.

PH & Bundu Owner Adam Clements:


Adam's lovely wife Chantelle came to camp for a few days prior to their departure to Zimbabwe where they were to spend Christmas with her family. As such, I had the opportunity to hunt with Paul Horsely, who was born and raised in Lolkisale. Although not chatty (something that others may find a problem), I found Paul to be an honest and sincere person as well as a good hunter. Paul knows the area and people well, and seemingly enjoyed putting in 12-14 hour days trying to get me on a big buffalo. I personally hit it off with Paul, and would hunt with him again.

PH Paul Horsely:


Anybody who has visited Lolkisale has most likely been atop Sunset Hill, which offers a stunning view of the surrounding savannah. When the wildebeest are migrating in mass, one can see thousands of animals below, which I hope to witness one day. In the picture is Richard, who was doing some promotional filming for Adam. From Bulawayo, Richard is not only a very good videographer, but excellent company, a hard-worker, and a talented and gutsy hunter.

Richard atop sunset Hill:



REPORT CONTINUED *********** FOR PART 2 PLEASE CLICK HERE ---> CLICK HERE

A fantastic report Bill!

I have joined both parts of the hunt into one

Bill,

Thank you for sharing your hunt with us. I enjoyed reading it.

JUST PLAIN AWESOME!!!!!!

Bill, fabulous!

I would like to nominate your report for the "Best Hunt Report of All Time" award.

I will certainly second 500's nomination! jorge

I just got done reading parts 1 and 2. Simply fantastic! Thank you for all the great information, and congratulations on a great Safari!

Bill your reports are the best of the best ,thanks for sharing your experiences with us .Juan

Excellent report !!!

Thanks for sharing it with us

That should be used as a template for future reports, very nice!

Wonderful and thorough report, not to mention the excellent photography.

Bull1

Great report and fabulous photos!!! Congratulations! D. Nelson

Enjoyed reading detailed hunt report. Thanks for taking the time to share it with forum members.

Finally, someone who can take decent pictures. Great post.

UPDATE - TROPHY SHIPMENT

I want to thank everybody for your kind comments here, on "Part 2", and via email/PM. Last week the trophies arrived to my taxidermist. It took just 12 weeks from the end of the hunt to when they left Tanzania on March 13th via British Airways. The balance of the time was for clearing at the broker (Fauna & Flora in New York) and coordinating with my taxidermist.

The total cost to ship the two crates (of considerable size and weight) via BA was $2238, or average $1119.00 each - which given recent price increases is very reasonable I think. F&F broker fees was another $410, plus shipping to a local approved facility for spraying.

I had wanted to pick these up in NYC to save the shipping to my local taxidermist, but as there was warthog and buffalo, F&F had to ship to a "USDA Veterinary Services' Approved Establishment" for treatment. Note that the folks as the USDA are taking this VERY seriously, as initially F&F had the wrong taxidermist which I quickly got straightened out, but not before paperwork had been submitted. I got a call from a courteous and professional [but interested] agent wanting to know why I was having trophies shipped to an unapproved establishment. He indicated that this would not have been the problem of the shipper or taxidermist, but mine. Cleared up quickly, but if you have unmounted warthog/swine, buffalo or primates, make sure they go to an approved facility. The list can be found at: http://www.aphis.usda.gov/vs/ncie/query-app-estab.html [1/07 UPDATE - Now ALL "ruminants" (any hooved animal) must be shipped to an approved facility.

Regarding the trophies, everything arrived in excellent shape and my taxidermist was very impressed with the way the skulls and especially the capes were packaged (per the photo below). The capes are on their way to Carolina Fur for tanning and eventually mounting as budget permits, which may take a few years although I will have the Tommy full mounted any a few shoulder mounts completed this year yet. I'll post pictures when they are done.



FOR PART 2 OF THE REPORT PLEASE CLICK HERE ---> CLICK HERE

Dec 21, 2006: Just over a year later and everything has been tanned, and the taxidermy is starting to trickle in. I picked these up yesterday, and expect the full-mounted Tommy early March-07. The mounting costs, with wet-tanning, was around $800 each.

Quality of these mounts is just awesome. I asked Wes to take pictures before leaving his studio, which I resized and merged together using Adobe Photoshop Elements.



Added 1/31/07:


Added 7/14/07: (Roland Ward East African / Masailand Bushbuck)


Added 8/15/07: (Thompson's Gazelle)


Added 2/25/08: (Lesser Kudu)



Taxidermy: Wes Good, Animal Artistry
(800) 809-8508 (Penna)
wes@wildlifestudios.com

Tanning: Carolina Fur


FOR PART 2 OF THE REPORT PLEASE CLICK HERE ---> CLICK HERE

Very nice taxi work!

Those photo's are excellent!!! Bill C, you take some killer photo's my friend!!!

Great photos and story!Thanks

Great story and photos and very nice trophy photos on the taxidermy.

That was a very entertaining report Bill. I am sure that I saw your second PH Paul on a TV show. Was his father taken by a crocodile? If
so, it is the same PH.

Frank, actually the PH who's father was killed by a croc is Peter Chipman's nephew. I hunted with Peter and Sarge in Zambia (there are some pict's in the Report Link in my signature below). Regards, Bill

Beautiful Animals and excellent Taxi work as well!